Jiyoung POV:

“Jiyoung-ah? Are you okay? You’ve been in there for some time now,” I heard Seungyeon unnie say through the locked door of my room.

Oh, that’s right; I still have my Seungyeon unnie. I know I could trust her. Not that I couldn’t trust my other three friends. They had been calling me the past hour but I didn’t really feel like dealing with their squeals right now. Besides, I don’t think they’d understand. They were the ones always breaking hearts, not getting heart broken.

I unlocked and opened the door, exposing a worried looking Seungyeon.

I walked back to my bed and she followed me. We sat on each end, facing each other. We both crossed our legs and laughed at our synchronization.

“Is Onew nice?” I suddenly asked.

She had a questioning look on her face but still answered the question.

“He wouldn’t be my boyfriend if he wasn’t.”

“Then is Shimmy nice?” She should know since Onew makes her meet them all the time.

“Shim...my? Oh, do you mean SHINee? Puhahaha, my little sister is so cute!” she clutched her stomach.

I ignored her. So that’s what they were called!

“Well, are they?” I repeated.

“Yeah, they’re alright. Why do you ask?” she gasped. “Could it be my baby sister has boy troubles?” she teased.

I shook my head, defeated.

“That’s not it,”

“Care to explain?”

Then I told her everything. It felt so good to tell somebody.

Once I finished, she seemed to be in deep thought.

“First, let’s not jump to conclusions. Go talk to Taemin and ask him what the real deal is. I met the kid before and I’m sorry to tell you but he is a playboy. It’d be normal for him to do something like this. I’ll go ask Onew about it so don’t worry. Okay, sishta?”

I laughed and nodded. Inside I felt sad though. Taemin WAS a playboy. He really did just use me for fun.

We talked some more about stuff until it was late into the night. We started to yawn and my eyes drooped even though I wanted to keep talking.

“We should go to sleep now. We still have school tomorrow,” she maturely said.

“Thanks, unnie,” I brightly said.

She smiled. “Anytime,” then left the room.

_____

The next morning, I was determined to know the truth. Nicole happily chattered away as I thought about ways to approach Taemin.

I still continued my normal routine in the morning and waited until the bell rang. I said my regular goodbyes to Hara and Nicole then walked to homeroom.

I didn’t know if I wanted to see him or not. I opened the door and my eyes landed on the empty seat behind mine. He wasn’t there or in any of my classes as well. I guess he switched back to his normal classes. He wasn’t at SHINee’s table at lunch either.

I wanted to ask Minho, Key or Jonghyun (I finally learned their names) but they seemed too intimidating.

School ended and I hadn’t seen him once.

I told Nicole I had to go somewhere so she could walk home without me.

“Well, this is happening a lot,” she said.

“Sorry, I promise I’ll walk with you every day!” I apologized.

She smiled.

“Be careful,” she warned.

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Yes, mother,” I sarcastically said.

I depressingly walked to the park. Nobody was there because of the cold autumn breeze so it was a good chance to clear my head. I laid my back pack on the grass and sat down on the slide.

My shoulders slumped as I thought back to everything that happened.

“You shouldn’t do that to your back. It’s not good for your figure,” I heard the familiar, smooth voice.

I swiveled my head to the right and saw he was sitting on the swings.

“Don’t pretend you actually care about me,” I acidly said.

“But I do,” he said tenderly.

I pushed myself forward and slid down the slide. I bravely walked up to Taemin and decided to get to the point.

“Were you really part of that bet?”

“Yes,”

My heart sank as he confirmed what I was afraid of.

“Why?”

He paused before he answered.

“Because I needed some money and thought it’d be fun. Nobody knew you except as the girl who hung out with the beautiful ladies,”

Tears were prickling my eyes but I looked up and forced them to stay in.

“Too bad you didn’t get your money, Taemin-ssi,” I my heel and had already walked a few steps when he called out to me.

“But now I know who you really are, a beautiful girl with a kind personality,” I turned around to look at him, shocked.

“You were the first girl to actually talk to me and find out what I liked to do. You didn’t squeal and faint at the sight of me. You were quite the opposite and just because you don’t think you’re as good as the other girls, you’ll always be first for me,” he finished.

I snorted.

“How long did it take you to write and memorize that?” I asked.

He sighed.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds. Look, I really am sorry,” he said pleadingly.

He stared at me just like in the corridor a few days ago but this time, his eyes held a gloomy shine to them.

I sat on the swing beside him and looked down at my sneakers.

“I know what you are though,” I finally answered.

He looked curious. “What?”

“A playboy,”

“How do you know that?” he raised his brow.

I glanced at him then looked back down at the sand.

“My Seungyeon unnie told me,” I told him.

Now he looked surprised.

“Seungyeon noona is your unnie?” he confirmed.

I smiled a small proud smile.

“Of course she is.”

“Did she really tell you that? Wow, all she saw me do was dump some girl and she thinks I’m a player,” he complained.

I scoffed at his sentence.

“I think anybody who sees you do that would have the same thought. You really are one though, right?”

“Depends on what you think is a player,” he avoided.

“How much girlfriends have you had?”

I mentally slapped myself. I really don’t want to talk about this. Why am I torturing myself?

He sadly looked up to the sky.

“I don’t really know the exact number. Do girls who last one day count? If they do then around forty, I guess,” he slowly said.

I looked at him with disgust; this made me even madder at him.

“That’s so wrong,” My voice dripped with loathing.

He flinched at the words.

I stood up abruptly.

“I’m not some girl who’s only worth ten dollars. Don’t talk to me again,” I coldly said and walked away.

After a few minutes, I felt a sudden sadness as I knew he wasn’t going to come after me but then I felt a pair of strong arms around my waist.

I gasped.

Was Lee Taemin giving me a back hug?

I suppressed the urge to hold the hands clasped on my stomach and to tilt my head back onto his broad chest. Instead, I squirmed in his embrace.

“Let go of me or I’ll scream.”

His hands twitched before they released me. They reto my shoulders and turned me so I was facing him.

“You forgot your backpack,” was all he said and that’s when I noticed it at his feet. I guess he dropped it when he hugged me.

Guilt was taking over me and I started to feel really bad for the way I was treating him.

“Oh…thanks,” I awkwardly muttered.

I clumsily bent down to pick it up and swiftly turned around to run walk away.

_____

I'm going to double update today so wait for the next chapter! The next chapter was actually one chapter along with this but I split it since it was a tad bit long. XD

WOOT! 5 subscribers. komawo to all the comments and new readers!~