“=====”

“Is that for you?” Chae Yoon asked when Namjoo picked up some soda off the shelf.

“No, it’s for Luhan.”

Chae Yoon eyed the soda then Namjoo. Were they that close already to be comfortable of doing a favor for one another?

Why…did it make her feel jealous?

“Are you that close already?” Chae Yoon wondered.

She watched this smile spread over Namjoo’s face as if she was shy or maybe embarrassed. Namjoo never smiled like that whenever she mentioned Ki Chan, but one of her crushes. What was Namjoo trying to hide? Didn’t she already say she didn’t like Luhan?

Chae Yoon felt her heart tighten up with all the thoughts constricting within her. She knew it was wrong to be jealous in this kind of way and to doubt Namjoo, but she couldn’t help it. When it came to such thing as her feelings and love…Chae Yoon wasn’t one to lose. Losing the guy she liked to someone else made her…angry.

She was always a winner when it came to relationships. She could still remember that girl Luhan had been friends with. Chae Yoon had seen that glint in her eyes when she looked at Luhan and it had taken some time to tell her off before Luhan finally stopped seeing her.

Now that she wanted Luhan back she wouldn’t let go of what was before her.

“No,” Namjoo replied again. “I don’t think we’re close. We only met a few times.”

“But,” Chae Yoon went on as if to instigate Namjoo to tell her some truth, “guys and girls can get along pretty quickly if they hit it off well.”

Namjoo snorted and waved her off oblivious to her motive.

“Bo Young said he has no attraction to me since he says I’m like his mother,” Namjoo reminded.

Chae Yoon bit her bottom lip wondering why Namjoo was playing so hard.

“Why? It could just mean he’s interested in you,” Chae Yoon pressed on as they started toward the checkout aisle.

Namjoo only made a face before shaking her head in denial.

“Why does he say you’re like his mother then?” Chae Yoon asked to which Namjoo shrugged.

“I don’t know, he just said it after telling me about his mother,” Namjoo explained.

Chae Yoon felt something explode within her head. Luhan’s mom? What about her?

“What about her?” Chae Yoon questioned motivated to learn more.

Luhan had never told her about his mother. Every time she took to asking about his parents he’d wave the subject off and tell her he’d bring it up when he was ready. She’d seen that he was utterly uncomfortable talking about them as if they were some bad memory. Thus, she never found out what it was about his parents he really hated…but of all people…Namjoo?

Why!?

Why would he take to telling her something he never cared to talk to her about?

Chae Yoon lightly gritted her teeth unhappy with the thought of it.

“Mmm…” Namjoo droned on as if teasing her impatience, “I don’t think I should talk about it. It’s something personal to Luhan. Sorry.”

“Oh…that’s ok…” Chae Yoon faked a smile before staring at the soda Namjoo was carrying.

As they headed toward Luhan’s apartment Chae Yoon zoned Namjoo’s voice away. The building was still so familiar. Suddenly Chae Yoon was overfilled with nostalgic memories of making her way over every day to spend some time with Luhan, bringing some takeout with her. They’d talk, watch movies, and argue but nonetheless loved each other. Sometimes she’d surprise him when he came in, but that extra key he’d handed her was already returned to him.

Would he one day…give the key to someone else?

Perhaps…Namjoo?

Feeling a loss Chae Yoon stared up at his apartment. His veranda was empty of her extra shoes and the cactus she’d bought him. She was nervous when Namjoo parked the car and stepped out.

Luhan…would he close the door on her?

No, no, he wouldn’t do that. She was confident he’d let her into his place again and maybe…maybe they could talk…

He’d tell Namjoo to leave so that they could talk…that would be it. He would do that when he saw her and Namjoo would be quick to leave the picture. Namjoo and Luhan would no longer be close.

“Have you been here a lot?” Chae Yoon wondered as she followed Namjoo up.

She hoped…Namjoo hadn’t been here more than once. It’d hurt her pride to know that Luhan had allowed another woman – her friend – into his place so easily. Chae Yoon always hated all the woman that neared Luhan.

“A few times.”

Chae Yoon bit her bottom lip and felt her fingers clamp up into a small fist.

She watched Namjoo knock on the door and waited a second before the door opened and Luhan appeared. She watched Luhan’s eyes land on Namjoo before he glanced over at her, that expression of expectancy disappearing immediately. He didn’t look happy and he didn’t send her the smile she’d been waiting for.

“Sorry, I ended up bringing Chae Yoon with me,” Namjoo apologized. “You don’t mind, do you?”

What…was Luhan going to say? He would let her in, wouldn’t he?

The moment of silence protruded on and she felt Namjoo turn to look at her with uncertainty.

“It’s fine, come in,” Luhan turned away and stepped back to widen the entrance for them.

“I brought what you asked,” Namjoo told setting the soda down onto his table. “Do you want your bandage changed now or should we do it later?”

They spoke…so comfortably with each other. It was…unfair. It was…not what Chae Yoon had expected. She wanted Luhan to look at her and to ask Namjoo to step out. She wanted to only be with Luhan.

“Lets eat first,” Luhan suggested. “I didn’t burn up the food this time.”

Namjoo’s face brightened up when she uncovered the dish on the table and Chae Yoon felt Luhan walk by her toward her friend.

“Does your friend want to eat too?” Luhan asked playing stranger.

Chae Yoon felt her heart ram across her chest in an aching manner. She was also angry with the way he was being toward her. He had no right!

“Chae Yoon, are you hungry? Should we set a plate out for you?” Namjoo called out. “Why are you standing over there, come here.”

How could Namjoo act as if this place was hers? She even had the nerve to mention ‘we’?!

Chewing on Namjoo’s words at the back of her head she walked forward and stared down at the fried noodles on the table.

What was this?

Luhan…actually cooked?

Chae Yoon shot her eyes up to look at Namjoo. She wasn’t kidding after all about those cooking lessons…

When Namjoo and Luhan sat down Chae Yoon felt inclined to sit next to Luhan, but gave up when he chose not to meet with her eyes.

“It looks delicious,” Namjoo commented and took a bite.

Chae Yoon watched Namjoo chew ecstatically before glancing over at Luhan who was waiting for her reaction or maybe he was just playing along with Namjoo. Chae Yoon really hoped that Luhan was just playing with Namjoo; that he didn’t mean anything by cooking this stupid dish.

“Mm!” Namjoo sounded and held her thumb out. “It tastes just right!” Turning to her happily Namjoo urged, “Eat, Chae Yoon. It’s really edible this time.”

“What do you mean by that? Even burnt food is edible,” she heard Luhan talk and felt like grinding her feet into the floor.

What was he actually doing!?

Taking a bite out of the food Chae Yoon chewed before recognizing the hint of flavor in it. The way the noodles had been fried tasted very familiar. It didn’t take long for Chae Yoon to recall that Namjoo had made this dish for her on several occasions. A second later he saw Namjoo’s cookbook sitting on Luhan’s counter and gripped her hand into a fist under the table. She refused to believed that Luhan had actually put effort into cooking this just for Namjoo to have.

It couldn’t be…

Why was Luhan doing this!?

“=====”

Of all persons, Luhan had least expected to see Chae Yoon standing behind Luhan. At first he thought it had to be some sort of joke, but now that he was sitting in his kitchen with both of them he realized Chae Yoon and Namjoo were really friends.

It’d taken him almost a mere hour to copy this exact same dish out of Namjoo’s cookbook. His first few trials were sitting in the garbage and he hoped neither of them would find it in there. Actually, Luhan just wanted to do a small thing for Namjoo since he was incapable of doing much for a person like her. Even if he was a little spoiled and inconsiderate, he at least knew where he stood.

With Chae Yoon there though, he felt clouded up. He still couldn’t understand why he wasn’t as happy to see her as he thought he’d be. The longer he sat there the more he had to focus only on Namjoo. The second he looked at Chae Yoon’s face he thought he might grow angry and lash out at Namjoo who knew nothing.

“Did you really cook this?” Chae Yoon spoke up.

Luhan trained his eyes hard on the food. He didn’t want to talk to her.

“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” Namjoo asked. “He used to be so bad before.” There was a large smile on her face as she turned to look at him. “How many times did you practice in order to make this?”

“What are talking about? This is my first tryout,” Luhan despicably lied.

He could tell Namjoo didn’t believe him before she turned to Chae Yoon.

“It tastes almost like mine, don’t you think?” Namjoo questioned.

“Huh? Oh…yes,” Chae Yoon absentmindedly nodded.

What exactly did Chae Yoon think she was doing there? Was she planning to use Namjoo as an excuse to stop by after all the chances she had before?

“That reminds me,” Namjoo started, “my mom is celebrating Kai’s birthday this weekend. They want me to invite people for him. It’d be nice if you two could come.”

“Kai?” Chae Yoon repeated the unfamiliar name.

“My step-brother,” Namjoo replied. “He was studying abroad in Japan, but just returned. My Aunt thinks it’d be nice if he could make some friends. You’ll come right?”

“Sure,” Chae Yoon replied right away.

Namjoo’s family…the wealthy family…Luhan didn’t know if he wanted to see what her family was like. He always felt intimidated by people of great stature.

“I’m sure he’d like to get to know you, you’ll come right Luhan?” Namjoo asked. “There’s someone else who wants to meet you too.”

Luhan felt his ears perk up. Who else would want to meet someone like him? Why was Namjoo trying to bring him out into her social world?

“Who?” Chae Yoon asked surprised.

“Ki Chan,” Namjoo answered then turned to him, “you saw him before, when you came to the hospital that one night.”

And he immediately felt Chae Yoon’s eyes rove over to him as if suspecting him of how many times he’d approached Namjoo. He remained all the more silent. He wanted to say no, but at the same time he wanted to do it in order to spite Chae Yoon.

“Come,” Chae Yoon urged, “Namjoo’s family is really nice. You won’t regret it.”

Luhan felt his quiet eyes glance at her without much expression. In that split moment as Namjoo ate away hungrily he caught the movement of Chae Yoon’s elbow before Namjoo’s plate suddenly slid off the edge of the table, spilling its contents onto her shirt. There was a surprised shout from her before she stood and he watched the plate slide off her. A split moment of shock hit the kitchen as the rest of the fried noodle slipped to the ground. Never minding the mess Namjoo immediately reached for the plate before it might hit the floor and let out a brief sigh when she did so.

“Sorry about that,” Namjoo apologized reaching back to scratch the back of her head. “I must be out of it.”

His eyes sat on the empty spot on the table where Namjoo’s plate had been earlier as she walked by to set the plate into the sink. He could hear her searching behind him for some towels to clean up the mess. His mind almost blurred before he glanced at Chae Yoon who was comfortably sitting there.

Luhan didn’t know what he felt at the moment, but that had been a dirty trick and he didn’t like dirty play. From the corner of his eye Namjoo walked by again and bent down to clean up the spoiled food on the ground. Getting up he grabbed her arm to pull her up.

“Go clean up,” he ordered.

“Huh?”

He peered at her dirty shirt and felt immediately sorry for her. Namjoo, who didn’t know anything was standing under this atmosphere of embroiling tense emotions swerving back and forth between peace and discontempt. Namjoo, who was oblivious to it all was who he felt sorry for.

“Wash that off your shirt if you don’t want it to stain; don’t worry about the mess. I got it,” he assured her.

He grabbed the towel from her hand, but Namjoo didn’t let go of it. Instead she looked up at him, those larges eyes of hers scanning his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized again, “I let the food you worked hard on spoil.”

Luhan almost hated how kind she was.

“You don’t have to be sorry, I can just do it again,” Luhan said.

There was a short firm smile from her before she let go of the towel and walked away. When he made sure that she was far enough from overhearing them he turned to look at Chae Yoon.

“What are you doing?” He finally interrogated. “Did you really have to do that?”

Chae Yoon twisted her head up to look at him as if angry, “Me? What about you? You’re hitting on my friend now?”

Luhan lightly gritted his teeth, “You shouldn’t be here.”

Her brows slightly coerced as if sorry she’d said what she did before pleading, “Can’t we just talk?”

“I don’t want to talk to you. Just go.”

“Luhan,” Chae Yoon quickly glanced toward the bathroom, “please, I’m sorry. Just hear me out.”

“What do you want me to do?!” Luhan spat out in a hushed tone. “You want to play innocent? You poured food on your friend!”

“I had no choice. I need to talk to you,” Chae Yoon begged.

Luhan bit his tongue before Namjoo walked out and shot Chae Yoon a short glare before wiping up the mess on the ground. There was slight tension in the air as Chae Yoon turned away so that Namjoo wouldn’t catch the angry expression on her face. As Luhan stood up with his back to Namjoo he tightly gripped onto the towel.

He was angry Chae Yoon was finally begging now when she should have done it earlier instead of letting him go through what he did. That emotional roller coaster had been enough to kill him when he was still desperate for her. And now…now she had to guts to approach him like this?!

Pausing in her steps Namjoo glanced at them a little confused by the atmosphere, “What’s going on?”

***Well isn't Chae Yoon a conniving little thing? You know what they say, when you think you know someone you actually don't. There comes a point when you realize who's really your friend and who's not. Lessons in life...

***Anyway, I guess I somehow added Kai without planning for it. But bby Joo needs someone else on her side other than Ki Chan