“Sina? Are you listening?”

Sina blinked and  looked at Jaewon. “Yes, I’m listening….”

She had options for this. She could accept and hope that by doing so she would forget about Niel quicker. But it would be unfair to Jaewon. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t be selfish and just trample on Jaewon’s feeling.

Another option, she could just reject him, that would be the easiest for her but harder for Jaewon. She didn’t know about Jaewon at all—actually this was the first time she saw him—rejecting him would be easier for her. As she glanced at him, she couldn’t bring herself to say such thing.

He looked like a good guy. With bright smile and honest eyes. When they talked earlier, Yoomi looked close with him too. She was not a good judge, but he looked fine. Maybe if she told him the truth, he would listen and help her. Still, it would be selfish for her to do that. And she saw no justification for her to do it either.

But how could she move on from Niel? She never knew the answer for that.

Maybe… just maybe…. Sina felt like ruffling her hair out of pressure. She couldn’t get the correct answer for this. She had to be alone and contemplate over choices she had, options which wouldn’t hurt her neither Jaewon.

Just as she opened to say something, the bell rang and the boys walked in. Changhyun and Niel were the first to enter the café. They looked at Sina who sat with a guy in a different table from Yoomi and Yuri. The boys who followed behind them even raised or frown their eyebrows. Sina and Niel locked eyes, but she quickly diverted her eyes.

The boys dragged chairs and sat around Yoomi and Yuri. Each of them looked at Sina with question mark in their mind. They knew that Sina was pretty popular with the boys, due to her preference for games and she was easy to talk to. But they never actually saw this guy, Kang Jaewon talked to Sina before. Jonghyun turned to Yuri, asking for explanation.

“What does Kang Jaewon want with Sina?” Minsoo said. He knew him too. They used to be in the same class on second grade.

“He confessed to her,” Yuri whispered.

The boys automatically turned their head to Niel—who rounded his eyes in horror. Chanhee—who seemed to know this would happen—hastily covered Changhyun’s mouth and pinned him down in his seat.

“What do you mean?” Chanhee demanded.

“Kang Jaewon asked Sina to go out with him,” Yuri repeated.

Jonghyun saw the emergency on this. “And Sina noona said?”

“She hasn’t replied yet.”

They looked at Niel again, who looked back at them with confused look. Panic surged in him. The urgency to do something about before everything too late came to him. He had to do something. Anything. So he rose from his seat and marched to Sina. He couldn’t think of anything to say to Sina, nor what he would do. His brain told him to think, but her heart hold him to just do whatever it took.

“Noona, come with me,” Niel said as he snatched Sina’s hands and pulled her up.

This extremely surprised Sina. She shrieked out of shock and pain. She lost her balance and almost fell in the process. “What are you doing?!” She pulled back, not willing to yield so easily.  

“Just come with me,” he repeated, with a tone of voice she never heard before.

Sina pulled back, trying to pull her hands. “NO! What the hell is wrong with you? Don’t you see I’m talking here?”

Jaewon stood up too, watching how Niel grabbed Sina’s hand, it must hurt her. “Ya! Let go of her. Don’t you see you hurt her?”

Niel wouldn’t relent, he glared back at Jaewon. “I don’t want to let go,” he said as he tightened his hand around Sina’s hand. He wanted to say, “She’s mine.” And it was already in the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t bring to say it, as she wasn’t.

Jaewon glared back, looked almost ready to hit him if he needed too. Niel never acted this rude to his sunbae, this pretty much surprise Sina and the group (they quietly watched, but the boys were ready to back him up if there was a fight).

Sina looked at them in horror. There was no height difference between them—Niel was as tall as the third grader, but there was a significant different with their body size. Let’s say, Jaewon was as bulky as Minsoo and most probably as strong as Jonghyun, while Niel… he was too thin. If Jaewon threw a punch, Niel would be the one who suffered the most.

If Niel wouldn’t yield and insisted to talk to her—for whatever cause it was—and Jaewon wouldn’t let this pass, there would be a fight. Sina glanced at the waiter who looked at them worriedly. She knew she made a commotion, another show. What the hell was wrong with her peaceful days?!

“Jaewon ah, let me talk with him. Could you give me some time to think?”

Jaewon sighed, but he smiled. “Okay.”

Sina smiled thankfully because Jaewon understood her situation right now. But seeing Sina smiled so happily to Jaewon only made Niel angrier. He could sense something was happening between them and he totally disliked it. It frustrated him. It pissed him off. He wanted to do everything to make Sina looked only at him.

“You,” Sina turned to Niel. “Come with me.”

Sina literally dragged him out of the café. Her friends followed them with their eyes. Changhyun and Jonghyun even sneaked into the window to get a clear view.

Sina let go of Niel’s hand. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” she hissed at Niel when they were outside.

Now that they were alone, Niel got his senses back and thought what he did wasn’t okay. But what could he do? This was emergency.

“Noona, I…”

Sina cut him off again, finally had the chance to throw tantrum.  “You’ve been acting so weird recently. I don’t understand you. You told me we have to keep a good distance, I did. I tried. But weird enough, you don’t. You… you kept… going closer. Is it just me feeling that or do you? Do you really?”

Niel tried to hold Sina’s hand, but she stepped back. “Noona, please listen…”

If she kept quiet, she might cry. “I don’t want to listen,” she said, keeping tremble from her voice, but it was useless. She felt enough pain that it started to feel tight in her chest. “Enough is enough, Niel. Stop bothering my life.”

Sina stepped back and turned to walk into the café again. But the next second she knew, Niel yanked her arm and pulled her into his arms. Sina froze for seconds but she quickly gained her composure and pushed Niel back.

Her knees felt weak and she stepped back, scared of what Niel would do next. “What are you doing?!” she demanded, raising her voice.

“Noona, would you please listen to me…?” Niel begged.

Seeing his eyes getting teary, Sina fell silent.

“I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. Whatever I did these past weeks… I’ve been trying to reach you. I’ve been trying to tell you how I feel. I’m sorry if it hurt you. I didn’t mean to bother you.” He reached Sina’s hands and held it gently. Sina flinched and this hurt Niel a little. Did everything he do only pain her?

Again, this made Sina got teary. She tried to bear it. But every touch, every second, every smile, every stare he gave her, hurt her more. For she know that it wasn’t for her to own.

Niel played with her hands as he looked deep into her eyes, trying to read what’s in Sina’s mind. But he saw nothing. He wavered. Should he say it? Shouldn’t he say it? But there was no turning back now.

“Noona, I love you.”

Sina was taken aback, not expecting this would be what she heard. But then she frowned. “Huh, that is not a joke to tell, Niel.”

“It’s no joke,” he answered, his another hand reached Sina’s hand.

Her hands held by Niel, trembled. Tears started rolling on her cheeks. Her knees felt weaker now. “You’re lying.”

Niel walked a step closer, still not moving his eyes from Sina’s. “I’m not lying, noona.”

“But you said… a girl… in your classroom, you like her….”

Now he placed his hand on Sina’s waist, to support her. “It was a lie. I just say that to protect you from the bullies, noona.”

“It’s a lie?”

Niel gently pulled Sina closer and hugged her. “Not once since the moment I met noona I stop loving noona. Not even once.”

“Liar,” Sina mumbled.

Niel chuckled. He kissed her forehead and pulled back. He maintained eye contact and gave her the gentlest stare he could. “Noona, will you be my girlfriend?”

She was too over-whelmed to say something, so she simply nodded and cried. Niel laughed and hugged her again.