Chapter 15

I looked at my best friends for a few seconds before actually hitting my forehead with my hand. I really couldn't defend myself even if I wanted to. There was no way that they would believe anything I say even if I tried to explain the things that have been happening. It's true that I lied to them about seeing Chen and it's true that I was kind of trying to keep it a secret, but it made no sense that they were acting like this was such a big deal. The way they had reacted to any of this just showed the reason to why I had done what I did. I didn't want to make them think like this. I couldn't even say I liked Chen. Chen and I barely got along. We never actually even knew how one another honestly felt and right now, it honestly felt like it was like that all of the time. It was more than frustrating just thinking about it.

"I'm sorry, you guys. I'm sorry that I can't even explain myself right now." I finally broke the silence between the three of us. I shook my head as I ran a hand through my nappy hair before speaking again. "It's not like I'm trying to do anything bad, I swear. I just... I just wanted to be friends with him. It's not like I was trying to go behind anyone's back at all. Everyone... Everyone already knows that Seung Ho and I are kind of something and if anyone sees me talking to Chen like this... Or even hanging out... Everyone will take it the wrong way." I looked at my two best friends and realized that for once, they didn't try to interrupt me. "I know it seems a little off that I'm doing this, but Chen... He's... He's different... And I know I've said things around the words of me not wanting to make anymore friends, b-but... There's just something that makes me... Makes me want to be his friend..."

"Why are you even apologizing, Ga Eul? There's nothing for you to apologize about." Jae Kyung said as she stood up from my bed. "I don't even understand why Ji Min and I would even say anything like this to you. You should be living your life. Us acting like this? It's not good at all for you." She walked over to me and grabbed my hand before squeezing it lightly. "Look, no matter what happens, we should be more understanding and let you do whatever you want. We shouldn't even care what you do... Well, technically, we do care no matter what, but the point is, we shouldn't act like we're your parents... It's wrong of us to." She smiled at me and looked me in the eye. "So don't apologize for wanting to be someone's friend, okay?"

I managed a small smile because even though she said all of that, it still didn't settle me down. I was loss for words with everything. I didn't know whether or not I should say anything to what Jae Kyung had said. She was right. I should be living my life while I can and I shouldn't be letting them act like they were my parents, which they have been doing for awhile now. How could I blame them either? They were just trying to be people who watched out for me when no one else could, which I really appreciate, but then again, there was a limit to it. I closed my eyes and squeezed Jae Kyung's hands back.

"I'm sorry too, Ga Eul." Ji Min spoke up finally after a few moments of silence. "I'm the one who has been acting like I'm your father or your brother who won't let you do anything. I was just... I was just worried that you'd get hurt... Or that your actions would have hurt someone else, but who cares. I just want you to be happy with whatever you do." He looked very apologetic and it made me want to reach out to him. "Why does it matter who you like or why you're doing what you're doing? I'm stupid, Ga Eul. You should be living your life. Go do something exotic, something that'll give you a real heart attack, or go to the galaxy where you'll be free. As long as you're living it, that's all that'll matter."

There was nothing I could say to these two. I was more than happy to see that they were being sincere with their words and that they honestly wanted the best for me no matter what I did. How would I live without them?

I've been laying in bed for the past few hours ever since Ji Min and Jae Kyung had left my house. I've been thinking about what to do since tomorrow was going to be Friday anyway. There wasn't much I could do on a Thursday night, but after thinking about what to do for awhile, I decided to grab my backpack and head out the door to go do whatever that had popped up in mind. As I walked around Seoul at night, I couldn't think of anything that I really wanted to do. I came across many things such as stores that I wanted to shop in only to realize that I didn't have that much money on me. My stomach growled only to make me realize that maybe I should just use my money on food.

I found the nearest convenience store and went inside. I bought myself a cup of kimchi ramen noodles and a bottle of water before I went over to the counter to eat. As I waited for my noodles to soften up, I opened up my water bottle and took a few sips, savoring the coolness of the liquid. I closed my eyes for a few seconds as I sighed. It felt like the longest day. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Chen walking past the convenience store with Xiu Min. It didn't look like they noticed me. I couldn't help but follow the both of them with my eyes still. Chen was wearing a baggy hoodie sweater with soccer sweat pants that looked like capris and a beanie to cover his hair. Even though his style was really relaxed, he still caught my attention.

Chen and Xiu Min stopped right in front of the convenience store and looked like they were talking about something interesting before Xiu Min bid his goodbye and left Chen alone. Chen made his way into the store and this made me turn away immediately. I didn't want to make it seem like I've been staring or watching him the whole time so I looked down at my cup of ramen, which had now softened up a little bit more, and decided to eat it and pretend that I didn't know he was in the store with me... If that was even possible... Just when I thought things wouldn't get even more obvious, Chen sat down beside me and rested his arms on the counter as he leaned forward closer to the window in front of us. I had ramen in my mouth as I caught a glimpse of him through the reflection of the window. I didn't want him to recognize me while I ate like this awkwardly so I chewed and swallowed before I lifted my head up and casually looked outside pretending that I didn't see him. I took a sip of my water again and just as I did, I saw Chen turn his face towards me.

"How long have you been here?" Chen asked suddenly, making me almost spit my water out onto the window, but I managed to hold it in and choke on it instead.

"S-sorry." I hit my chest and tried to stop coughing, but my throat hurt from choking on my water. This was embarrassing. "Y-you s-scared me."

He chuckled, taking me back by surprise. "I swear we made eye contact when I was standing outside, but maybe I was wrong."

So he noticed me? I wanted to scoff, but then it would really be obvious that I did see him and that I was ignoring him, which would be embarrassing if he found out the truth. I took a sip of my water again and it cooled my system down a little. I turned to look at him and saw that he was still staring at me, but now he had his signature blank face on, which disappointed me a little. I don't know why, but I kind of wanted to see him smile since I heard him chuckle. I guess I just had to be lucky to see it.

"What are you doing out so late?" He turned his attention away from me and went down to his bowl of ramen that he had just bought. "Don't you know you have school tomorrow?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have school tomorrow too?"

"You could say that." He shrugged and slurped onto his noodles. After he was done chewing, he straightened back up and swallowed. "Are you going home after this?"

"Why? Are you going to ask for your pictures again or are you going to take my phone away again too?" I looked away from him and watched as people walked by the store. "If so, I'm going home."

"Then should I ask for those two things?" He asked as he held out a hand out in front of me.

"Heol." I rolled my eyes as I turned my face, hoping he didn't see it.

"I saw that." He said, catching me by surprise. "I can see your expression through the window."

"Do I apologize?" I asked jokingly as I looked over at him again. "Or are you getting sick of those words that I say often?"

"I'm getting sick of it." He replied rather quickly.

I scoffed as I stood up from my seat so I could throw away my cup of ramen noodles that I didn't even realize I've finished. I grabbed my water bottle and walked out of the convenience store without saying anything to Chen. I didn't think he'd care anyway since well... It's not like he would show me any emotion or anything anyway. He was good at that and my reactions weren't good with it. I held the straps of my backpack and looked around to see what I wanted to do. I went through an ally and found Ssamziegil, an underground workshop that did crafts from pottery to hanji and more. I walked into the small building and was greeted by an older man, who happily greeted me.

"Ah, welcome, miss. Are you and your boyfriend here to make something together?" He really took me by surprise by his last statement.

What boyfriend?

"Ahjusshi, you got it all wrong." I heard a male voice say behind me. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Really? You two look really good together." The ahjusshi raised his eyebrow.

I turned around and saw that Chen was behind me. My mouth fell ajar. Did he really just follow me here and how did he do it to the point where I didn't even notice or hear him at all? When our eyes met, he looked confused and shrugged before he walked right passed me and went to an open table and sat down. How could he be so expressionless with me at a time like this? I rolled my eyes and walked over to a different table that was diagnal from him and sat down. The older ahjusshi that had talked to us helped clean some dust and left overs from our tables before he went to the back and brought a few things out for us to work with.

"Would you two like to make something together even if you two aren't dating each other?" He asked as he wiped his hands with a wet towel.

"No." "Yes." We both said at the same time.

"No." I said again as I eyed him.

"Why not?" Chen smirked at me, taking my breath away without warning.

I looked away from him and tried to catch my breath. "I-I want to work alone."

"I guess you two could always change your minds later." The ahjusshi said chuckling at how ridiculous we both were. "Miss, what would you like to do? Pottery? Hanji? Make an accessory? Or maybe even a paper lamp?"

"Can I do pottery and maybe hanji as well?" I asked as I clasped my hands together from the excitement of my imagination running through my head.

"And what about you, sir?" He turned to Chen, who looked like he didn't know what to do.

"A paper lamp." He answered after a few seconds. "And about the pottery, can I do it with her instead?"

My eyes widened, but before I could even say anything, the ahjusshi answered a "yes" and went to go get our supplies. I looked at Chen and glared at him, but he ignored me with a small smile on his face. I wish I could retort or anything, but I didn't want to make any hassle for the ahjusshi here. At least if anything, I had gotten to make hanji alone while Chen made his paper lamp.

During the process of making hanji paper with the ahjusshi, Chen had worked on making small paper lamps that were connected by thick wires that the ahjusshi had given him. When he was done, he put his name onto one of the lamps before he made his way over to my table and sat across from me. The ahjusshi gave us a blob of clay, a bowl of water, and tools that we could use to cut and design. I was more than excited, not because I had to work with Chen, but because there were so many things I wanted to make. I was going to make a plate or maybe a vase, but if I had to do this with Chen, that would mean we'd have to do something together.

"What did you want to make?" Chen asked as he dipped his hand into the water. "Should we make a cup for coffee and tea or would you like to make a vase for flowers?"

I tilted my head as I dipped my hand into the warm water. I honestly wondered what was going through his mind that made him ask me what I wanted to do. What did he want to do? I took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "I don't like flowers."

"Let's make cups... Matching cups..." I could tell, from looking at his face, that he was trying really hard to not smile because of the way he was biting onto his bottom lip.

I nodded my head as I grabbed some clay and started on my own cup. I was never creative, so I had to try my hardest to finally turn on that light bulb to help me out. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Chen like this. While we worked in silence, the ahjusshi played soft music for us. It was really relaxing and it didn't even feel like we were in the shop. It was as if we were somewhere else no one would be and I really liked it. The atmosphere around us was more than wanted. I closed my eyes a little as I listened to the music before I opened my eyes and saw Chen concentrated in front of me. His hands slowly moving around the clay smoothly with his eyes so focused, as if he had forgotten me took me away.

"Do you like staring at me that much?" Chen took me out of my thoughts immediately, causing my face to turn red from being caught red-handed. Did he know I was staring at him like this for awhile? He suddenly lifted up his head and our eyes met, making my feel as if all the air in my lungs were out and emptied. "Would you like to take a picture of me so it can last longer?"

"W-what?" I froze.

"Isn't that what you always do anyway? You take pictures of me." He lifted up his head and looked right at me.

"Will you really let me take a picture of you?" I asked as I reached down to my bag.

Without even answering me, I watched as the corner of his lips curve up and form a smile. I was so taken aback by him smiling that I couldn't even get myself to pull my camera out of my bag. Chen was so handsome.

**A/N: Did I make you guys wait too long for this chapter? Sorry everyone :( I had to actually rewrite this whole chapter and a few other chapters after reading through it. I hope this wasn't a disappointing chapter!! Enjoy the update! Please read and comment. I'd love to hear about your opinions, so please don't be a silent reader. Thank you and read with lots of love! Keke~! Muah