"Oh. Wow."

Chae Min exhales loudly. Standing before her is a man who is impossibly handsome. There is no other words to describe him. Hot or cute are understatements and insults to his beauty. Not to also mention that body which models would kill to have.

She is unable to tear her eyes away. She is also subconsciously batting her eyes at this fine piece of . 

"Are you ing serious?" Young Do's voice pierces like a dagger. He is obviously judging her. She smiles apologetically, though not sure why she needs to be.

"Young Do ah, sorry, looks like my charms still works better on girls than you." Kim Tan says in amusement. He speaks informally as if they have been best friends for years. The way he calls his name so warmly, it seems they have great history together. But the way Choi Young Do treats him is completely the opposite. He is cold, wary and keeping his distance.

Chae Min is very confused. Is Kim Tan a friend or foe? Young Do has actually told her to leave 5 minutes ago. She refused to come and go like a dog so she simply stayed. For some reason, he did not want her to be around this man. It can't be for a petty reason like because he is good looking. There has to be more to the story but for now, she decides that Young Do is probably just acting like a little . As always.

"You bet." She winks mischievously. Kim Tan bows lightly, in the same playful manner. They both glance at Young Do who has a not-so poker face on. He keeps a straight face but those dark eyes are glaring hard. Chae Min imagines smoke puffing out of his nose.  She senses it is best to stop joking around now. She gives Young Do a side hug and links her arm around his. 

"Just teasing ya!" Chae Min smiles innocently. She tip toes and pecks his cheek.

Young Do tugs at her hair lightly so her head is tilt back and she faces upwards. He looks into her eyes possessively, as if to say 'you are mine, don't flirt with other men in front of me'. He plants a kiss on her lips. Electricity jolts through her body, her knees feel weak. The power this man has over her is not to be underestimated.

She is aware that Kim Tan is staring eyes wide open at them. She nudges Young Do's ribs with her elbow and releases him. He wraps his now free arm around her shoulders and plays with the ends of her hair. 

"Well then, I shall leave you boys to your matters. I think I'll get going now." Chae Min says. 

"No, no. Please stay." Kim Tan says. He looks at her then at Young Do then at her again, a little puzzled. "Me and Young Do are going for lunch, you must join us!"

"Poor baby, you must be hungry. You didn't eat breakfast just now." Young Do ignores Kim Tan but is concerned about Chae Min. Her tummy is indeed grumbling for food after all that studying. 

"Typical Choi Young Do!" Kim Tan interrupts. "How can you let such a pretty young lady starve?" 

"And it is very untypical of you to speak so freely in front of strangers." Young Do replies, raising an eyebrow. "In fact, it's odd that you're even speaking so much for a dummy!"

Chae Min holds back a giggle. Though they may sound like old friends bickering but she is not sure if it is appropriate for her to laugh at their jokes. 

"The dummy himself is surprised!" Kim Tan says cheerfully, he takes a step forward and ruffles her hair. Young Do slaps his hand away effectively. "Hahaha! Maybe its because of this cute little girl here, I feel right at home around you. Somehow you seem very familiar.."

Kim Tan scratches the back of his head. He studies Chae Min, she blushes under his gaze. Young Do clears his throat and starts walking towards the door, dragging her along. She can hear Kim Tan's laughter behind them.

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Kim Tan chuckle with laughter. Young Do wants to punch him in the face. He keeps telling embarrassing childhood stories that Young Do does not want to relive. Besides, it is totally ruining his image in front of Chae Min.

"Aww, that's adorable!" She laughs pleasantly. He watches her twirl her fork to form a ball of spaghetti and pops it right into . That sweet little mouth that he is dying to kiss again.

"We were 8 for God's sake!" Young Do throws his hands in the air. He and Kim Tan has been friends since forever. To be honest, deep down inside, he actually enjoys taking this walk down memory lane. "Well, that was the last time I ever lose anything to him anyway."

"I think the appropriate way to say this is that it was the last time I ever tried to take anything from you." Kim Tan opens his mouth wide to fit a huge chunk of steak. Young Do frowns in disgust and gives him a judgmental look. 

"Oh really? So you guys became super best friends afterwards?" Chae Min asks. "No girl problems? I'll be surprised if you say you've never fought over a girl before!"

Chae Min is just a little too good at guessing and predicting things. She always hits the jackpot. 

Cha Eun Sang was the girl they fought over for. Or now that he thinks about it, she was just one of the reason that Young Do was convinced that Kim Tan is his rival. Their friendship was already broken before she came into the picture.

Maybe he just wanted to find a solid reason to blame Tan. A reason to hate him. He was always better than him in everything. All those years of living under his shadow! And when Tan left him without saying anything, it made Young Do feel worthless. Was he not important enough as a friend?

"My lady, if I'm not engaged and to marry soon, I'll fight over anybody for you." Kim Tan says flirtatiously. Chae Min laughs out loud to hide her blush. 

'God damnit, Tan, still smooth as hell!' Young Do thinks to himself, silently cursing his frienemy. 'If he tries to hit on my Chae M-'

"Wait, engaged?!" Young Do exclaims. Chae Min jumps a little in her seat, startled.

"Erm, yes." Kim Tan scratches the back of his head. "Actually, this is the reason I came to see you. To tell you that Eun Sang and I are engaged and getting married soon." 

Young Do is speechless. This news come too sudden. He is not mentally nor emotionally prepared for this. He lays the cutlery in his hands down and clenches his fists under the table. He feels Chae Min's eyes on him and tries to control his facial expression.

"That is one of the main reasons why I am home. We plan to have our wedding in Korea." Kim Tan continues warily.

Tan also sounds like he does not want to give a and is as direct as possible. It has always been that way between them. Honest and straight to the point. They were forced to behave like adults since young so their attitude and ego are shaped like bastards too. Never really considerate of each other's feelings. They were taught to never let petty things such as emotions get into their way.

"Congratulations!" Chae Min says, breaking the silence. Her eyes shift between Young Do to Kim Tan, noticing the pressure in the air.

"Thank you." Kim Tan replies with a smile. "You are definitely invited to our wedding!"

Young Do feels his inside boiling up with just the thought of his Eun Sang walking down the aisle and into Kim Tan's arms. It should have been him next to her for the past 8 years. He should be the one Eun Sang is about to start a family with. 

"Has the wedding date been set?" Chae Min says, excitedly. She keeps glancing at Young Do, he is aware that she catches onto things fast and probably have got the idea of the situation right now. He is half grateful because she is distracting Kim Tan with her conversation so he get his together; but he is also about to rage because she keeps asking questions that he does not want to hear the answers to.

"Well, we were actually planning for a simple wedding with close family and friends but somehow Eun Sang and my mother changed their minds." Kim Tan sighs. "So now, we are aiming for the title of 'Wedding of the Century'."

"I bet that is going to take a while to plan." She laughs. 

"You got that right. So there isn't an exact wedding date yet but maybe in approximately 3 months or so." Kim Tan says. "I don't want anything fancy, I just can't wait to get married to that girl!"

'Breathe.' Young Do tells himself.

"Look at you, head over heels for your fiancee!" she giggles. Young Do finds himself staring at Chae Min. For a moment, he forgets about Kim Tan and Eun Sang. What if, just what if, Chae Min is his fiancee? Oh, she would be the loveliest bride ever. He gulps down his glass of water, surprised at how far ahead he is thinking. This girl sitting opposite him is still in high school for God's sake! Has he lost his mind?

"Young Do ah, will you be my best man?" 

His jaw drops open. He closes it immediately and regain his posture.

"Of course." He replies. "It would be my honor to do so. We are best friends after all."

Kim Tan is silent for a spilt second, trying to figure out the current situation. He then burst into a big smile, glad that Young Do agreed regardless his sincerity.

"Yes, we are, always have been! We've really never fought for anything!"

'That's just what you think, I was always silently competing against you even though I forever lived under your shadow.' Young Do thinks bitterly but nods his head.

"Seriously! We shared a bond closer than blood brothers!" Kim Tan continues happily. "Especially during our school days, we were really something, weren't we?"

'Oh no. Don't say it.' Young Do knows what's coming as soon as he said that. And it's too late to stop him. 

"You know, Young Do and I, we were kings of the school!" Kim Tan brags cheerfully to Chae Min. "Even though we were kids, we know how the world works since we were born with the desire to rule. So we came up with this hierarchy system in school where students are ranked based on their family background and connections."

Chae Min's expressions darken. She stares coldly into Young Do's eyes. He feels a shiver run down his spine. He wants to tape Kim Tan's mouth and seal them up forever. He seems to not catch on and keeps blabbing.

"It was actually really mean because the kids with less powerful families get bullied and us richer ones.."

"Get to be the big bullies." Chae Min finishes, unable to mask the hurt in her voice.

A spear seems to penetrate Young Do's heart, leaving a sharp pain. Now she knows, the person who came up with the so called system that is causing her so much misery in school, is him. And she also knows about his twisted and ugly personality. How low she must be thinking of him. He wants to dig a hole and bury Kim Tan in it. (Well, he isn't going to bury himself, he ain't a )

It's also amazing how the engagement matter is completely out of his mind now. He does not even give any s about Eun Sang and whoever she chooses to marry. That seems to petty as compared to how Chae Min thinks about him. 

"Chae Min, I-" Young Do begins.

"Well but of course, we tried to end what we started but the juniors carried on anyway." Kim Tan interrupts. "During our senior year, Young Do became such a kind soul, we almost didn't recognize him."

It is so obvious that he is trying to cover up and Chae Min is not an idiot. He is only making matters worse!

"Great for him." She says, emotionless. "Now, would you excuse me, I'm going to the washroom."

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"Oh my god." Chae Min says to herself. She already suspects that Young Do was a bully back in school, she just didn't want to admit that to herself. She did not want to believe that the man she is falling so hard for is capable of inflicting so much hurt to others. But finding out that he was the one who came up with the idea of being mean to others just for the fun of it is just disgusting.

She walks out with her head down and bumps into a tall figure. At first she thinks it is Young Do but looking up, she sees Kim Tan. 

"Hey." He says.

Chae Min wants to ignore him. He is also one of the culprits, a person with an evil mind. 

"Judging from your uniform, you must be in Jeguk High. And by the way you react, chances are that you are being victimized. So, I just want to apologize, I feel that it is somewhat my fault that this is still happening."

"No ."

"Yeah, you have every right to get mad. But know this, back then, I was pretty ed up. Young Do has always been such a good kid, I was always the naughtier one, dragging him into trouble with me. He is a good friend, always had my back all the time and stood up for me when I was weak."

"You're telling me this because?"

"Because I want you to know that Young Do is a good person, one of the kindest I've known. The idea of the hierarchy system came from me and Young Do was so against it. Those were some dark times for me and I wanted to feel what it was like to have power. When he saw how much stronger and supposedly happy I became, he supported me."

Chae Min keeps quiet. Young Do was still wrong to do something he did not believe in. 

"It's common for us 'rich kids' to have dark periods. He also had his own problems at one point. His moth-" Kim Tan pauses. He clears his throat before continuing. "Well, I'm not in the right shoes to tell you about that. Anyway, he felt really betrayed by someone. And when I was forced to leave to America, I'd call that my exile, Young Do was crushed. It was like double betrayal and I think that was when his personality really hardened. He"

"Ohh." She is a little taken aback. She understands how much pressure it must be to grow up in such environment, eyes on you every moment of your life. Family problems are inevitable too when there's too much money. She suddenly wants to give Young Do a hug and listen to him talk about his problems. "Is that why your relationship with him is so awkward?"

"Hahaha!" Kim Tan laughs. "Awkward is one way to put it. He basically hated me and still do, I suspect. But I don't blame him. I would probably be the same. And even after I got back to finish high school, we never really reconciled. And then there's the Eun Sang thing.."

"Who?" 

"My fiancee." He says. "We both fell for her and.."

She sort of had that figured out, Young Do was not very subtle about it earlier. She just wishes that Kim Tan would finish his god damn sentence! Why is he trailing off and looking at her like that?

"What?"

"Erm, nothing," He says. "You just remind me a lot of her in that uniform.."

"I do?"

"Yeah, that uniform brings back memories." Kim Tan replies quickly. A little too quickly. Like he's trying to cover up for something. Like she's not supposed to find out about something. But what?

"Right." She says quietly.

"I see the way he looks at you though." He says after a pause. "He seems a little different from the last time I saw him. And he has never so openly show affection for a girl in front of people before. You must mean a lot to him. I hope you realize you can change that man."

The tone that Kim Tan uses brings chill to Chae Min. He sounds sincere but there is also another meaning behind his words. A warning.

"I know." Chae Min says confidently.