NAMJOO’S POV

“I’m glad you’re not grounded anymore” Yeollie says as he holds my hand and kisses it.

I put my free hand on his arm to get his attention as he looks down at me questionably.

“Yeollie, I’m-I’m not ungrounded yet. I-I- snuck out with-without my bro-brother knowing.” I stammer.

He widens his eyes. He lets go of my hand as I felt disappointed, certain that he would be mad at me for doing that without telling him. What I didn’t expect was for him to embrace me is his arms and put his chin on my head.

“Aww! My boo snuck out for me, that means a lot Joo” he says as he pulls back and kisses my forehead.

He grabs my hand as we resume walking. I blush as I realize what happened. “I was sure you would be mad at me, Yeol”

He turns to me “Now why would I be? My beautiful, grounded girlfriend snuck out to see her handsome boyfriend” giving me his cheesy grin.

“You shouldn’t encourage me to do bad stuff Yeol” I pout.

“That’s true but I’ll only allow it if I benefit from it” he says winking at me.

I slightly hit him on his shoulder “You’re such a bad boy”

“Only for you Joo” he grins.

I smile. "Hey Yeollie?" He turns to me. "Yea?"

"Where are we going?" I say as I look around the street.

"Somewhere"

"Where?" I ask again.

"Somewhere, Joo. Be patient."

"Yeollie tell me, pretty please" I say as I bat my eyes.

He blushes but answers with a strong "No" and I reluctantly give up, clinging closer to him.

I blink several times. It's so cute! But I also process what Yeollie just told me. Since when did he have a job?

I pout staring at my boyfriend sitting across from me. “Why did you never tell me before Yeollie?”

“What?” he questioned.

“That you have a job, Silly!” as I kick his leg under the table.

“I need the money to take you out, Joo. What kind of a man would I be if I couldn’t take or buy my Boo anything she wanted.” as he pokes my cheek.

“Ooh that reminds me.” He reaches for his pocket and holds out something in front me. “I know it’s not your birthday yet, but I’ll rather give you early presents like the tulips because I can’t wait for your birthday.” he grins while placing the object in my hands. “Now we have couple panda keychains.”

I look at the keychain of a panda with a pink dress and pink bow in my hands. I look up to see his panda that has a blue shirt and baseball cap. I grin stupidly. “They’re wonderful Yeollie! Thank you so much! I’m going to put it on my bag.”

“Glad you like it, Joo. They’re actually really cute.”

“They are! I wouldn’t have thought you were the kind to like couple and cute things, but I’m glad that’s not the case.”

“I’m not ashamed of us” perking my attention to his statement.

“Neither am I, Yeollie.” I grin at him.

“So why are we hiding our relationship” Sungyeol ponders.

“So, why didn’t you tell me that you had a job?”

“I already told you, Joo”

“I understand but that still doesn’t explain why you had to keep it away from me” I turn to face away from him.

Looking out the window, I see familiar faces outside Cafe Blu.

“I’m sorry but it’s the same with you keeping your family a secret, Joo.”

I turn to face him and see his rejected face and it tears my heart. He gets up from his seat slowly.

“Chai latte and coffee cake right?” he asks as I nod at his disappearing figure to the register. I’m guessing he can be the only one that goes up because I realize there are servers at this particular cafe.

I turn downwards to my hands on the table and then my phone. Why am I hiding them?

Is it because mom is eccentric? Nah, everyone knows that.

They won’t let me date? I won't be a child forever.

Myungsoo being an outcast? That’s a given.

Am I afraid to lose anyone one of them if they don’t like each other? Will I have to choose sides? ...yea....I don’t want to lose anyone of them because I’m serious about Sungyeol...they probably won’t understand…they’ll think I’m too young...

I'm interrupted of my thoughts when I hear my name. I turn to the voice and smile.

“Are you daydreaming Namjoo?” she gives me an eyesmile.

“Hey Eunji. Didn’t expect you here” I say as I get up and greet her.

“Why?! Is this cafe exclusively for Kim Namjoo?” She bows to me. “I’m sorry your highness”

I grab her arm to stop her from embarrassing us. “Shush Eunji. Take a seat, but no really, what are you doing here?”

“Ahh...Dae and I were shopping for a present for our parents. It’s almost their anniversary but the bro got distracted at a hat shop across the street.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s going to take a while there so I decided to get something to eat and laugh at him when he’s hungry.”

“You’re so evil” I shake my finger while she shrugs.

“Anyways enough of me being an awesome sister, what are you doing here?” she looks at me questionably as she looks at Sungyeol’s empty seat.

“I’m on a date with my boyfriend. He went to the back since he works here.” I say nonchalantly.

She gapes at me. “Since when!!”

I look down at my watch. “4 o’clock, why?”

She snorts. “Not since when today dummy, but since when did you have a boyfriend!? I thought we were best friends Namjoo!?” she crosses her arms across her chest as she also gives me a hurtful look.

I blush. Oops. Did I really not tell her? “ Um..a few months”

“How many?

“A few”

“HOW MANY?!”

“Seven” I whisper.

“SEVEN!?” I look down at my hands.

“Yah! Kim Namjoo! You do not just leave something like this out of our friendship!”

“Hehe it slipped my--”

She puts up her hand.“Don’t even think about giving me an excuse.”

"Sorry Eunji, I seriously thought I had told you"

"Well you didn’t. Who else knows?"

"No one, technically I'm not allowed to date. You know my parents. So don't tell anyone please!" I bring up my hands together.

"Yea, thanks to them my parents thought it was such a marvelous plan to prohibit me from dating until third year of high school" she says rolling her eyes. "Fine I won’t because I’m a loving best friend.  Anyways, how have you been able to date without your parents knowing?"

I avert my gaze towards the counter hoping for Yeol to come out so that I can steer away from the question but he didn't appear.

I look back at her and see her raised eyebrow waiting for my response.

"I said I was hanging out with you" I said quickly praying she didn’t hear.

Her eyes squinted indicating she heard everything.

“So you used me?! That’s so mean!” she huff angrily at me “I’m staying here” she abruptly says.

“Eh? What do you mean? Why? Don’t you need to get food?” I ask alarmed.

“Are you trying to get rid of me? That’s rude.”

“But- but I’m on a date Eunji…”

“So? I’m going to meet your boyfriend, duh” she rolls her eyes. “I have to meet the person who you used me for.”

“Plus, I need to approve of him dating my best friend” She says grinning.

Right after she says that, her order is served none other than by Yeollie.

“Good afternoon, here is your green tea latte with turkey pesto sandwich and the house’s kettle chips, Miss.” he says as I look at him act so professional.

“Ooh thank you” she grins looking at her food salivating.

He turns to me “I’ll be back with your order as well, Miss” as he turns to leave he winks and grins leaving me red with embarrassment.

“Woah, Namjoo was that waiter hitting on you?” Eunji asks as she chews on a chip.

I look back at her and play along “Of course not silly, he was just being nice” I smile brightly, inwardly laughing.

“I don’t know, it’s not waiter like to wink at a customer”

I roll my eyes.“You’re overthinking his gestures Eunji.”

“I have eyes Namjoo and it looks like you may like him too. What is your boyfriend going to say?” she looks at me judgingly as I laugh inside.

“Did it seem like that?” I ask innocently.

“Yea, it di--”

“I hope so” she was interrupted by the male voice as she looks up to see Yeollie again.

“What kind of girlfriend would she be if she didn’t like her boyfriend, right Joo?” Yeollie finishes as he sets down our orders and sits down.

I nod and grin widely as Eunji squints her eyes at me.

“You’re so mean Namjoo. You could’ve told me he was your boyfriend.”

“You were concerned, I could not let the opportunity of teasing you pass by.” I laugh.

“You made me sound like a fool!”

"I didn't put those words in your mouth Eunji, you did."

"Joo, don't be mean." Yeollie told me with a small smile. I pout.

"I'm sorry for making you sound like a fool Eunji" I say.

"Apology accepted!" She chirps as she munches on her sandwich.

"Anyways...Yeollie this is my best friend Eunji. Eunji this is my boyfriend Sungyeol"

“Nice to finally meet Joo’s best friend. She’s talked about you quite a few times” Yeol says as he extends his hand towards Eunji.

“Hi, I see she speaks about me sadly, I can’t say the same. She kept you a secret.” Eunji says as she shakes his hand and glares at me.

I saw Yeollie’s smile falter and a slight pain in his eyes as he turns to look at me but turns back to Eunji with his bright smile as they start talking. The look he gave me made me self conscious and guilty of concealing my relationship from everyone. But I'm just afraid of rejection. I look down at my hands on my lap for awhile thinking about what I've done until Yeollie grabs hold of my hand and tells me to drink my latte or else it would get cold. I do as I say with a lump in my throat.

Eunji stays until she finishes her meal because she needs to approve of my relationship by animatedly talking with Yeollie and get acquainted to his personality. I added a few words here and there when we talked about past memories of us being dorks.

Once Eunji gets up to leave she tells me she’ll text me later.

“Eunji seems nice” Yeollie says as he grins at me.

“She is, ever since we met we’ve been inseparable but she has to share with you now” I giggle.

“I don’t mind, she’s a great person to be around. So cheerful just like you”

“Yep, too bad her brother and my brother didn’t have the same luck. They actually met first. That’s how we met.”

“How so?”

“They were both in our church’s choir but my brother stopped.”

“I see. Come to think about it, you haven’t really talked or mentioned your brother or parents much.”

I look away from his face and look out the window to avoid the topic.

“Joo, you can’t avoid this topic all the time. We need to talk.” he says grabbing my hand.

The serious tone catches my attention as I turn to face him.

“About what Yeollie?” I whisper.

“About us.” My heart beats faster, my face heats up scared of what he wants to talk about after he mentioned my family. I close my eyes preparing myself.

“I know this is not really the best place to say this since we are in a public place but I thought I should let you know as soon as possible because I don’t think I can hold it in anymore.”  Please tell me it’s not what I’m thinking. I open my eyes to see his stern but soft eyes.

I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out because of the fear running through me. I thought everything was fine between us.

“I'm not really asking for much. I know your parents aren't really fond of dating at such a young age. I totally understand, it's just... I want to get closer to you but I feel I can't if I'm not fully accepted.” He says with a sad tone.

“--but--but I do accept you Sungyeol..” I quickly assure him as I rub my thumbs on his hands.

“Joo, I want to be accepted by your family. I don’t want to be hiding anymore, it’s become more of a burden for both of us. I can’t boast about you as much as I would like to because you’re always watching your back.”

“I’ve told you everything about my family, the reason why you haven’t met them because of my parent’s abandonment. How I live with an uncle who’s basically a stranger to me for years now. He’s just waiting until I’m 18 to not help me out anymore. How I acted in school so I wasn’t a loner in school, hanging around with the popular kids until I met my only friend now” he looks into my eyes as tears start rolling down my cheeks.

“Yeollie, I di--”

“Yet, I know nothing about your family, how you grew up with your brother or how your parents are”

“You’re the closest thing to a family Joo. And I--I need to feel like I belong, that I’m- I’m not something everyone is ashamed of…” he finishes with a whisper.

I get up from my seat and hug him tightly.

“You mean everything to me Yeollie, don’t ever forget. I didn’t know your feelings were burdening you while I was selfishly asking you to do this for me without understanding your feelings.”

“I'll promise to start talking about my family and I'll slowly break it to them okay?” I look at him. “It’ll take awhile though.” I hug him once more. “Just don't be sad anymore and thank you for being honest with me and making me realize to be more trusting.” I peck his cheek as he holds my hands.

“Thanks Joo, that'll mean the world to me.”

“You know I'm glad I took my friend's advice.”

“Really? What was it?”

“Honesty is the best policy. Relationships are all about trust.”

“Your friend is wise Yeollie.”

“Yea, I'm glad he's my friend.”

“So am I, now then. Let me clean myself up. I’m a mess  and we can head out okay?”

“I'll be right back” I say as I head towards the bathroom.

Sungyeol sighs in relief. He did it. He was able to tell Joo his feelings just how Myungsoo advised him to do. He would have to thank him later.

A/N: A very late update. I know I've kept you waiting for almost 3 months! I can't believe myself, but hopefully you'll like it. Anyways thanks for the support! Any comments is appreciated!