CHAPTER ONE

I imagined my first love to be perfect, but I learned that it love can never be. My first love was shared with an imperfect boy. He was every girl’s dream, and he fought for me. He fought for my love. I loved him, and he loved me, but we had moved on from each other as we matured, and I learned that although the person you may love at the moment may seem like the person you would love forever, they may not be “the one.” My first love wasn’t a regretful first love, but I wished it my heart would have healed over it.

I first met him through a mutual friend of ours. I could remember it like a fresh memory...

------thefirstencounter

“Ryung-cha~ do you want to join me and another friend to a party?” I snapped out of my daze and looked up at Soo-young who glowed with the sun shining behind her. I picked a flower from a bush and shrugged, “I-I don’t know. I’m not that social, and I-I don’t like parties that much. I don’t know a lot of people.” I began to walk and twirl the flower stem with my index finger and my thumb. My childhood friend, Soo-young, is always out at social events making new friends and boyfriends while I sit at home and read my books and study my notes continuously.

“Come on, Ryung-cha! It’s about time you’ve popped out of that shell and made a new friend! I mean, it’s great to read and make good grades, but how are you going to make friends without me in the future? Come on, I’m inviting you because I want you to have fun!” Soo-young pouted and tugged on my arm. I raised an eyebrow at her and scoffed, “You only invite me to parties because you think I need a boyfriend, but I can assure you that I don’t need any love right now. That’s for later.”

Soo-young sighed dramatically and flipped her hair over her shoulder, “Come on, Ryung-cha. I promise you that you’ll meet that ideal guy you describe in your stories at the party. Please, just once?” I tightly held the flower in my hand and looked at Soo-young. Her eyes sparkled and she batted her eyelashes at me, “Just once. If I don’t like it, I’ll be leaving first.”

She squealed and shook me as she giggled, “You’re going to love it! I’ll have to introduce you to Kim Jong-in and Park Chan-yeol and Oh Sehun and all of my friends! You’re going to love all the boys I know. They’re so cute and funny.” She grabbed my wrist and dragged me along to her house.

I zoned out of her endless talk about boys and stared at my flower. If only I had a camera...

“Did you hear me, Ryung-cha?”

My eyes widened and I looked up at Soo-young who held up a coral pink dress in front of her. I blinked and stared at her, “What?” She waved her hand in the air and sighed, “You’re always zoning out on me. I asked you if I should wear this dress. So, what do you think? Should I go shorter or more modest?” I bit my lower lip and twirled the flower between my fingers again, “Well... I think that you should dress in whatever is comfortable. Isn’t this just a party?”

Soo-young groaned and plopped onto the sofa next to me, “Ryung-cha, this isn’t just some party! It’s the party of 2013 and I need to look my best. There’s going to be hot boys, and perhaps models!” I raised an eyebrow, “What party is this?”

She snorted and shook her head, “It’s just a party that some rich kids from the some Seoul academy throw at the beginning of the school year, and I want to look my best.” I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, but you’re not even going to see these people after that. What’s the point?” Soo-young scoffed, “The point is to look good and leave the guy thinking about you because you were so pretty. Don’t you read stuff similar to this situation in books?”

I averted my eyes back to my flower, “I don’t read books about girls who obsess over boys. I read self-help, textbooks, poetry, and adult fiction. I’m sorry that I’m not obsessed over boys like you.” Soo-young gasped, “Ryung-cha, I just wanted to help you—“

I stood up and exhaled, “Soo-young, I would love to accompany you to the party, but I’m busy... studying. I want to ace this test so...” Soo-young didn’t attempt to stop me, and I walked out of her house and to the park. I put the flower on a bench and walked through the park to the other side where my house was. Through the park, I breathed in the fresh air and admired the cherry blossom trees that were soon to grow and I smiled.

As I walked into my home, I noticed that my mother was home and walked into the kitchen to find her with her face in her rice bowl. I hurried over to her side and shook her awake. Her eyes were red and puffy and her face was still wet from trails of tears. She forced a smile at me, “Did you have fun with Soo-young today? What did you two do?”

“She asked me to go to a party with her, but I couldn’t do it... I’m not the party type. Mom, were you crying again?” I asked and sat next to her at our table. My mom wiped off the grains of rice that stuck to her face and sighed, “I guess I was. Once I reached inside the house, everything was a blur. It’s just been hard these last few days...”

I nodded, clamped my lips shut, and patted my mom’s hands, “I’m going to study some more. I’ll see you in a bit for dinner.” My mom gripped onto my hand, “I’m going on a date tonight so I ordered Chinese for you. The delivery person will be here soon.” I her cheek and nodded, “Okay, thanks. You should get ready; have fun at your date.”

I walked to my bedroom and was greeted by the same mess I left it in this morning when Soo-young dragged me off into the park. I grabbed the clutter of papers on top of my textbooks and found my phone under the pile. I turned it on and saw that I missed three calls from an unknown number and threw my phone onto my bed which was covered with clothes.

I grabbed for my textbook and began to scan the pages I had read over a dozen times years before, but the doorbell rang and I raced to the door and found an older man in a suit with a relaxed facial expression, “Hey Ryung-cha, I’m here to pick up your mother.” I forced a smile and my mother brushed past me and into the man’s arms, “Ryung-cha, be careful. Call me if you need me or if you’re going to go anywhere okay?”

“Okay,” I muttered, but I doubt she heard me over her giggles. I was happy to see my own mom smiling again, but I felt deep inside that I still wasn’t ready for her to be dating again. I slowly closed the door and watched the silver car pull out of the driveway and drive off.

I felt my heart plummet to my stomach and I shuffled back to my bedroom and dreaded the hours I would have to kill my eyes by reading over the same notes I’ve been reading over since the day I had written them down. I sat at my desk and rested my chin on the heel of my hand and stared down at the papers. The scribbles on the sidelines became more visible to me and I noticed that I drew such girly drawings.

Flowers, hearts, stars, and I scribbled someone’s name on the sides. I don’t even know who the person was, but I quickly erased the name and sighed. The more I studied, the more bored I get, and the more I start to daze off into my own world. Not long afterwards, the doorbell rang and I slowly moved to the door with my wallet.

I opened the door and a guy stood at my door without any food. I looked over his shoulder and didn’t see a Chinese take-out carrier on the back or any sign of him delivering Chinese food. I looked back at him and raised an eyebrow, “You are?” He scratched the nape of his neck and chuckled, “I’m Kim Jong-in... You’re Song Ryung-cha? Soo-young told me to come and pick you up for the party...” He awkwardly stood at the door and I rolled my eyes, “I’m not going to the party. You can just leave and return to my friend’s side. Tell her I won’t be accompanying her to anything anymore if she keeps on doing this.”

I began to close the door, but Jong-in caught the door with his foot and shrieked in pain. I quickly opened the door and looked at his foot that he grabbed and grimaced at. I pulled him into my house, “I’m really sorry! I didn’t think you would stop the door with your foot! You could have let me close the door and then knock on it!”

Jong-in chuckled, “I was looking for a nice apology and ice, but I didn’t expect for you to lecture me. No wonder Soo-young didn’t want to come and get you herself.” I raised an eyebrow and glared at him, “Excuse me? You don’t even know me and you’re going to talk improperly to me?” Jong-in looked at me and then quickly looked away, “Sorry, things just slip...”

I bit my lower lip, “I-I I’m really sorry, uh...”

“Jong-in. You can call me by my name.” He answered. I pursed my lips and sighed, “Yeah, uh, sorry again. Listen, you can just leave after your foot’s better because I need to study for a test and I don’t need any distractions.” Jong-in’s eyes flickered to mine and he smirked, “Soo-young said that I’m to stay over at your house until you agree to come to the party with me.” I scoffed, “Then you can sleep over tonight because I’m not going. You can leave now that your foot seems to be fine.”

Jong-in gawked at me as I walked from him and to my bedroom where I closed my door and began to study. I heard my door open and I closed my eyes, “What are you still doing here?” The door closed and Jong-in walked towards me, “Well, I’m going to stay and watch you study since you seem so persistent in studying,” he grabbed a small chair and sat behind me. I could feel his breath on my neck and I opened my mouth to say something, but I was lost for words.

“Why do I see Baek-hyun’s name?” Jong-in asked. I blinked and stared at my paper... it was the name that I had attempted to erase. I quickly covered the name with my hand and turned to Jong-in to find his face centimeters away from mine. His eyes gazed into mine and I held my breath. He looked more attractive up close... I backed away from him and exhaled, “I think I wrote it a while ago... I don’t even know who that is.”

“Well, obviously you do because you wrote his name on your paper. Do you like him? You know that he’s talking to someone right?” Jong-in asked. I clenched my hands into fists and gritted my teeth, “I don’t know why I wrote his name on my paper and I don’t care. Can you just leave me alone? I have a test tomorrow!” I turned around to my notes and violently began erasing Baek-hyun’s name, but it seems that the name would never come off.

Jong-in leaned into me and I could feel his body on my back. Why is he doing this to me? My hands began to become clammy and I felt his heart race against my back and I sighed, “Why is your heart beating so fast? Did you just run or something?” Jong-in quickly jerked his body off of mine and he flustered, “I-I-I don’t know... Maybe it has to pump a lot of blood because you injured my foot. You could have caused some heavy damage.”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed staring down at my notes. I can’t get anything done with this guy, “Okay, so if I agree to go to this party, will you leave me alone?” I asked. Jong-in mumbled something and I sighed and stood up, “Alright, let’s go.”

His eyes widened and he cocked his head, “What? You’re really going to go?” I nodded and followed him to the door. He walked outside the door and I closed it behind him and quickly locked the doors. I heard him knock on the door, but after a few knocks, it ceased.

I looked out the window and saw him on his motorcycle. I watched him as he glanced back at my front door before starting the engine and riding it out onto the road. I felt my heart start to pound against my rib cage and I listened to my heartbeat. Why did I feel so weird all of a sudden? I shook my hands and smiled. I was alone.

I was alone.

Again.

------o--------o--------o------

“So how about Soo-young clung onto my man all night long. She needs to get her sticky fingers off of my guy and somewhere else.” Ae-ri scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder and then sighed, “But it was about time I broke up with him anyways. I don’t like my boys all preppy and stuck-up.” Her friends nodded in agreement and I rolled my eyes. Girls these days don’t even know what love is anymore; true love. One of her friends seemed to notice my existence and tapped on Ae-ri’s shoulder and point at me.

Ae-ri looked at me with her newly double-lid eyes and snarled, “Her friend is nothing like her. I wonder why they’re even friends. Hopefully, that girl’s blandness will rub off of her.” I swallowed back the cold insult I wanted to snap at her, and inhaled deeply then exhaled.

Ae-ri wasn’t the only one who thought the same. I’ve received too many indirect insults from people like her because of Soo-young, but I didn’t care much because I was used to it. Girls picked on me instead of Soo-young herself because they were afraid of what she would do to their crushes or their boyfriends. I didn’t care; instead, I ignored their glares and their nasty remarks and went on. Who had time to think about all the things people called you?

I pulled back my straightened hair into a ponytail and rubbed the nape of my neck as I returned to my notes blocking everyone’s voices. I’ve learned how to block all sound and ignore my surroundings. I had learned a lot when I was a child because of my parents’ relationship.

A finger tapped on my shoulder and I grunted without looking up from my notes. I assumed it was Soo-young because she usually snuck into my classroom and talked to me, but the person tapped my shoulder again and I knew it wasn’t her. I looked up from my notes and saw Jong-in with a white rose in his hand. He laid it on my desk and grinned, “For you for caring for me last night. By the way, I had an awesome time being lectured by Soo-young at the party as she danced with some random guy. Thanks Ryung-cha.”

I stared at him with my lips parted in shock and I blinked, “Was that sarcastic or sincere because I can never tell between the two?” Jong-in shrugged, “I don’t know... you figure it out. Good luck on your test you were stressing about last night.” He walked out of the classroom and Ae-ri and her friends glanced over at me for once.

“You know Kim Jong-in?” Ae-ri asked. My body froze at her rigid tone and I gulped, “What about him? I just know him... I don’t have any relation to him.” My fingers searched for my pencil, but instead I grabbed the stem of the white rose and Ae-ri raised an eyebrow, “He gives a red rose to girls he likes, but I’ve never seen him give a white rose to anyone before... Are you seeing Jong-in?”

I averted my eyes to anywhere but at Ae-ri and nervously chuckled, “You’re kidding me! I’m not like Soo-young, and I don’t know him... not a lot.” She snickered at me and began to chatter among her group of wannabes and I looked back down at my notes.

Jong-in’s name appeared with roses around it and hearts. What is this? Did I draw this? I grabbed for my eraser and began to erase it, but I reluctantly didn’t and put the eraser aside and sighed. Maybe I could leave his name on these notes. It wasn’t like I was going to look at them anytime soon. I nodded my head to myself and glanced back up to see Baek-hyun gazing back at me.

I puffed out my cheeks and cocked my head and then turned my head to see who he was staring at, but no one was behind me. I turned back and saw him slowly detach his eyes and faced towards the front. Was he looking at me? I cleared my throat and nervously fiddled with the white rose that I still held. I noticed my fingers twirling the stem and I threw the rose aside on my desk and cringed.

“Ryung-cha,” a voice called after me. I turned and saw Baek-hyun with a nervous smile and watched him as he walked towards me and chuckle, “I-I didn’t think you’d wait for me.” I grinned and my cheeks burned with embarrassment. Did Jong-in actually tell Baek-hyun that I wrote his name on my notes? I stared into his eyes and searched for any other emotion besides nervousness, but only found embarrassment, like me, and then looked away.

I bit my lower lip and looked back at Baek-hyun, “Did you want to talk to me about something?” He let out a loud chuckle and his lips continuously and began to relax, “I wanted to ask you if you’d like to help me with something...” I averted my eyes, “Ah~ is it with the student council project? I can help you on assigning our classmates with the activities.” Baek-hyun shook his head and smiled, “I actually need your help with something else... I just need you to meet me at the café around the corner on the left when you exit the school. I’ll tell you the rest there, okay?” He patted my back and winked. I blinked at him and nodded, “O-okay!”

I chewed on my lower lip nervously. Was this considered a date? Did he just ask me on a date indirectly? I puffed out my cheeks and began to walk down the hallway and wander in my thoughts until someone pulled me aside and dragged me to the rooftop. I was already out of breath the moment we reached outside and I jerked my hand away from the male. I already knew it was Jong-in so I didn’t even try to act nice and sweet like how I usually was.

“What are you doing? This is considered skipping class and I asked my teacher if I could be excused because I needed to go to the nurse!” I scolded. Jong-in raised an eyebrow at me and then whipped out a white rose from his school jacket. I glared at him, “Stop popping roses from random places. The next time I see a rose pop out of nowhere, it’s going somewhere it shouldn’t pop from!”

He smirked, “You like seeing my white roses don’t you? You probably know that I usually give red roses to girls I like... so are you going to guess what a white rose means?” I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes, “I’m just going to give a stupid answer and say that you hate me. Just to make it seem like you’re the good child here.” Jong-in’s lip twitched and he hesitated to respond back.

I started to walk back to the stairs, but he called after me and I turned back to him, “White stands for purity... I think you’re one of the coolest girls at our school.” I sighed and continued to walk to the stairs and back to my classroom feeling something heavy weighing down on me. I don’t know if it was guilt or hopelessness, but I didn’t want to know.

Everyone stared at me as I entered and I struggled through the maze of desks to reach my desk. When I reached my desk, I found the white rose black and unconsciously I glared at Ae-ri and saw her raise an eyebrow at me. I grabbed the black rose and threw it out the cracked window when the teacher wasn’t looking and smirked. Two can play at this game.

Baek-hyun looked back at me and gave me an assuring grin and held a thumb up. I forced a smile and held up both of my thumbs to imply that I was okay and he silently chuckled to himself and faced the front with a bright smile plastered on his lips. I didn’t know why, but I had the feeling that Jong-in maybe had told Baek-hyun that I liked him although I didn’t. Either way, I was still going to that café.

“You came!” Baek-hyun chirped and stood up from his seat. He was sitting by the front of the café with two cups of coffee and a laptop. I grinned at him and sat in the other seat across from him, “You say it like I wasn’t going to...” He scratched his head sheepishly and gave a relaxed laugh, “Well, I didn’t know what expect because you never show up at any of the parties your friend goes to, so...”

We sat in silence staring at each other awkwardly and I cleared my throat, “You wanted me to help you with what?” He snapped back to reality and giggled, “I need your help with my filming project. I know you’re not in the filming and acting thing, but I think you’re really pretty with your natural face and I wanted you to star in it.” I smacked my lips, “Uh, well, I don’t act. I’m a terrible actress and I’ll probably end up failing you and I don’t want to be the cause of your bad grade in filming and... I don’t think I can do it.”

Baek-hyun pouted, “Ryung-cha~ it’s not your normal kind of film. It’s going to be an artsy music video, you see. It’s going to star you and a male, and it’s all on expression. I can see that you can display emotions very well on your face. Like now, you’re kind of scared of this.” I gulped and deeply sighed, “Baek-hyun, I-I-I... do I really have to do this? I mean, can’t you get someone really pretty like Ae-ri or her wanna—really pretty friends.”

Baek-hyun snorted at me trying to hide my rude name for her friends and grinned, “I know you can do it, Ryung-cha, so will you? Please?” He puckered his lips into a cute pout and tried to do all sorts of aegyo gestures. I laughed at his cute attempts and held my hands up in the air, “I give up. When do we start filming and what is it about?”

He opened his laptop and began to tap on his laptop’s key board, “The film is about love since that’s all what teenagers are into these days,” he paused and then turned his laptop around and played a catchy vintage song and smiled, “this is what the music will be. I just need you and this male to come up with a schedule to film and then we can start to take action! Ooh and we need to record your voice for the introduction though.” I bit on my lower lip again and fiddled with my fingers, “Introduction? Can we just not go with a monologue?”

Baek-hyun pouted again, “Ryung-cha~ it’s my project! Please work with me here.” I waved my hand in the air and scoffed, “Fine, fine. I’ll do whatever you need, but only this once. Who’s the male lead?” As I asked, Jong-in walked into the café searching the place. Baek-hyun turned around and waved at him, “Speak of the devil! Ryung-cha, you know Kim Jong-in correct?” My jaw dropped to the floor and Jong-in strutted over to our table with a cocky grin on his lips, “Nice to see you again, Ryung-cha. Looks like we’ll be filming together.”

“I have to star in this film with him as lovers? I’m sorry; I don’t think I can do this Baek. I mean, I love the idea and everything, but I can’t work with him. He’s a—”

Jong-in pulled a chair from another table and sat closely to me and gazed deeply into my eyes, “I’m what?” Baek-hyun clasped his hands, “This is perfect! That’s the look I want in the film for the first scene! Agh, you’re making my heart flutter!” My cheeks warmed as Jong-in smiled and he chuckled, “Just keep staring at me like that and you’ll get through this filming thing in no time. So, I came because you called?” He faced Baek-hyun and I gasped for air.

“I need you two to make a schedule of when you’re available to film so then I can get the props ready and... here are your scripts.” Baek-hyun handed us a small four paged typed script. I glanced at it and raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said that it was just all emotions,” He clicked his tongue, “Yeah, but I need to get you two to know what kind of emotions you are to feel so I typed it all up! Your little monologue is the first thing. You should take a look at it.”

I began to read, “Love exists with an absence of eternity. At the first moment of lovers’ encounter, there’s an affirmation of love. Psychologically lunacy, emptiness, panic, illusion that the moment will last forever... I’m ceased by desire. I hide behind my back and postpone all answers.” I gawked and stared at Baek-hyun, “Did you write this? You’re like amazing! You are a poet at heart!” I gushed on.

Jong-in shook his head, “Don’t make him think too high of his self. If you do, he’ll be the bossiest director ever.” I smiled at Baek-hyun and watched him as he flushed in embarrassment and he chuckled, “Thanks, but I’m not all that great. The filming teacher hates me for some reason.”

“Uh—it’s probably because you’re making films that could be bought with money! Hello Baek-hyun, you have talent!” I gushed again and smiled. Jong-in glared at Baek-hyun and sighed, “I can film anytime after school. What about you, Ryung-cha? Too busy studying?” I rolled my eyes, “I’m open anytime after school as long as it doesn’t exceed over four hours because I need to study sometime at night or else I’m up at four in the morning studying.”

Baek-hyun smiled, “Thanks you two! We can start filming tomorrow! I’ll email you about the location and what to wear.” He packed up his things and left the café. I looked at Jong-in who tapped on the table in boredom and sighed, “Did he pay for the coffee or am I the one who has to pay?”

I glanced over at the waitresses around the café and chewed on my lower lip nervously, “Why don’t we just ditch and pretend that we were never here?” Jong-in mumbled and scratched his head. I raised an eyebrow at him and watched him as he drew on the table with his finger and then look up at me, “What?”

“What are we going to do with you, Jong-in?” I shook my head and called over the nearest waitress. She gave me an annoyed look after she glanced at Jong-in and I forced a fake smile to make sure that I ticked her off even more, “Did the boy with the laptop pay for his coffee?” She looked at Jong-in and shrugged, “I think he did... are you two dating or what?”

Jong-in pretended to gag when the waitress turned around and I shook my head, “No. There would be no chance of him dating me anytime soon—or ever really.” She smirked at me and then finger-waved at Jong-in and I quickly exited the café. I knew Jong-in had followed me out and he caught up to me with his longer legs, “What’s with that waitress?”

“She was hitting on you, couldn’t you tell pretty boy? Or are you too used to it that you don’t even recognize when a girl likes you?” I coldly replied. Jong-in chuckled, “Jealous much?” I shook my head, “Shut up. You were the one jealous throughout the time I talked to Baek-hyun instead of you.”

“You’re so cute when you’re mean, Ryung-cha. Nice try but I know that you don’t like him so I wasn’t jealous at all.” Jong-in argued. I laughed, “You indirectly admitted that you liked me. The confession came by faster than I thought.” I took a sharp turn and made my way across the road to the park. Jong-in jogged by my side, “You walk really fast did you know—”

“Ryung-cha!”

I stopped and turned to see Soo-young with a bewildered expression on her face. Her eyes were puffy and she had dark bags under her eyes, “You look terrible!” I blurted and dug my nails into my flesh regretting what I just said. Soo-young nodded, “Yeah, I know. I kind of went a little overboard with the party and the boys. I’m glad you didn’t come because I didn’t want you to see how I really am.”

Jong-in opened his mouth to retort, but I quickly replied, “I already know the real you, Soo-young. I get beat up at school because of the real you. I know that you drink, you smoke, you sleep around with guys, and you lie. I know that you know that I get bullied at school because of you, and I’m fine with that because I know that I will be able to forget about it unlike you. Get over yourself and start thinking about things other than boys. There are plenty of other things to think about other than love.”

I my heel and sped off to my house, and this time, Jong-in stayed behind. I was shocked to find myself okay, and I felt my heart flutter. I felt like all the weight was taken off of me and I could now relax and breathe for once. When I entered my house, my mom greeted me with a happy smile.

“What are you so happy about?” She asked me. I touched the corners of my mouth to find myself smiling and I shrugged, “I finally got rid of something that has been bothering me for years. Oh—I won’t be home after school as much because I’m helping Baek-hyun with his art film project.”

“Ooh~ Byun Baek-hyun, the cute puppy boy that smiles really adorable? If I was your age, I’d be all over him.” My mom giggled and I felt my ears burn in embarrassment, “Mom! Please don’t say that! He’s just a classmate of mine.” She smiled and hugged me, “I’m just teasing you. By the way, there was a phone on the couch last night. Did someone come over while you were home?” I blinked, “A friend of mine dropped by last night before he headed to the party with Soo-young, but...”

My mom raised an eyebrow and handed me a Samsung Note II and snickered, “You’re making a lot of friends lately. Has Soo-young’s flirtiness begun to rub off on you?” I rolled my eyes and scoffed, “You wish. It was your charming personality that did.” She playfully pushed me and walked into the kitchen.

I stared at the phone and turned it on to see that the background on the phone. It was Jong-in’s face, no surprise there. I swiped the lock screen and saw all the messages he had received and never opened. My eyes widened in shock and my jaw dropped. He hadn’t opened forty-three messages since last night.

His phone vibrated and I jumped dropping it onto the tile floor. Now it was forty-four messages. I awkwardly grabbed the phone and walked to my bedroom laying it on my desk and stared at it. I didn’t want to pry, but I was curious. Who was texting him? Did he have a girlfriend that he never talked about? Who continuously texted him all this time? Was he ignoring him/her?

I in my cheeks and pressed the messages icon on the screen. I grabbed the phone and scrolled down the list of messages he missed. Byun Baek-hyun, Soo-young, Luhan, Sehun, and some unknown numbers which I’m certain are girls. I accidently pressed Soo-young and Jong-in’s conversation as I scrolled down the messages and held my breath.

Soo-young: Can you pick up Ryung-cha? :D

Jong-in: Whatever. Why?

Soo-young: We kind of fought and she won’t come to the party with me. Just convince her to come.

Jong-in: You do it! I’m not doing your dirty work for you! I’m not going to the party either!

Soo-young: I know you aren’t, but maybe she’ll go if she meets you -3-

Jong-in: ...

Soo-young: Please?

Soo-young: Did you get her?

Soo-young: Jong-in? Did you get her?

Soo-young: Are you guys coming or not? >.<

Soo-young: You better not upset me Jong-in!

Soo-young: You didn’t get her did you?

Soo-young: Jong-in! ANSWER ME!

I clamped my lips shut and turned off his phone. Soo-young thought that I would like Jong-in? I smirked jumped when someone knocked on my door. I held onto Jong-in’s phone and opened the door, “Jong-in?” He chuckled and smiled, “I think I forgot my phone here... did you see it anywhere?”

I handed him his phone, “I didn’t mean to look in your messages, but I accidentally did and... I’m not falling for you. Not now not ever.” Jong-in snickered, “Yeah, I know and she knows. We don’t need you to remind us that you aren’t boy-crazy like her.” I chuckled slightly, “I’m sorry that you had to see that. It’s just that Soo-young always make me so... depressed.”

“How long have you been beaten up because of her? Who’s bullying you?” Jong-in asked and stepped towards me making me take a small step inside of my house. I shook my head, “It doesn’t matter because it’ll stop soon. You don’t need to worry about me, Jong-in. We’re not even friends.” Jong-in bit his lower lip as if he was going to say something but I waved my hand, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Remember to look over your script for Baek-hyun.” I gently closed the door and sighed.

Why did I feel so nervous around him?