A couple coming in through the door shot them a curious look on their way out when Luhan barely knocked the door into them.

“Wh…what? Did I say something?” Jin Ho asked when the door finally flapped shut behind them.

Luhan let go of him and heaved a sigh.

“Why? Is it because of your girlfriend?” He assumed and raised a brow. “Is it because you’re afraid she might fall for me?”

Luhan felt him nudge his elbow and shook him off, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Really?” Jin Ho questioned surprised. “Oh…I thought she was. Can I get her number? She’s not seeing anyone is she?”

“She wouldn’t be interested anyway,” Luhan shot his friend a slight frown.

Jin Ho chuckled happily before asking, “I was going to say she looks different from Chae Yoon. How should I say it…nice and approachable? Chae Yoon always seemed mean and scary.”

Luhan shot him a short glance.

“What?” Jin Ho asked, wondering why he’d received the short glance of warning. “You still seeing her?”

“No.”

“Really?!” Jin Ho raised his voice and glanced around as if he’d disturbed anyone before turning to look at him. “You really broke up?! Wow…”

“Yea…she left me.”

Jin Ho let out a snort in disbelief, “She what? Oh wow…does she even realize who she lost? You’re such a great person and she left you first? This is really…wow, but I don’t think you would have been able to dump her first. You were literally head over heels for her.”

Luhan pressed his lips together, a heavy cloud forming over him.

“Well at least it’s over. To be honest, I never really liked Chae Yoon; not after what she did to Hye Won.”

Abruptly turning to him confused Luhan asked, “What do you mean?”

Jin Ho shot him a guilty look, “I wasn’t supposed to tell you, but you know how Hye Won stopped coming out to hang out with us. The reason was because of Chae Yoon.”

Luhan frowned. “Why? What did Chae Yoon do?”

“You know how they used to work together at that grilling restaurant,” he continued, “one night after closing they were busy mopping. After they finished, instead of dumping the dirty water out Chae Yoon poured it over her to tell her to stay away from you. That’s why Chae Yoon quit working there and Hye Won was fired because of the mess.”

“No,” Luhan shook his head. “Chae Yoon wouldn’t do that. She might go overboard sometimes, but she wouldn’t do that. She liked Hye Won.”

Jin Ho stared back at him with pitiful eyes, “Sorry, Luhan. That’s what really happened.”

Still shaking his head he said, “Let me hear it from Hye Won myself. I can’t believe you.”

“She doesn’t want to see you,” Jin Ho stated. “Why do you think she hasn’t come out to see you in a whole year? I’m sorry, Luhan, but it’s the truth.”

Luhan felt all thoughts within his head collude into a jumbled mess. Part of him screaming no while the other small part of him believed Jin Ho. He was in disbelief. Chae Yoon was an angel. She’d been on in his eyes; she had been such a lovely person.

“You should go back in. Your friend will be waiting,” Jin Ho suggested. “It was really nice running into you. I’m happy to see that you’re doing well. During all this time I thought you might have no one else to hang out with besides Chae Yoon, but looks like you have good friends too.”

Jin Ho smiled at him and reached out to pat his arm, but Luhan couldn’t feel his sincerity. Instead his mind was still droning over Chae Yoon.

“Remember to give her my number, ok?” Jin Ho smiled before walking away.

Luhan watched him walk off, his heart congested with doubt.

Namjoo was sipping the broth of her soup when he returned, “Sorry, I couldn’t wait so I started eating first.”

“Oh…it’s fine.” He replied as he sat down.

“Is he a close friend of yours?” Namjoo asked, looking at him while she ate.

“Well…I guess.”

“You guess…” Namjoo repeated in a flat tone.

“We used to hang out, that’s all,” Luhan replied pulling his bowl closer to him.

When they separated he ran over in his head the image of a long haired girl who he had known as Hye Won. Like Jin Ho they’d been close mates all throughout school before he met Chae Yoon. Hye Won suddenly stopped coming out and before Luhan knew it almost a whole year had passed before he’d seen her.

Had his infatuation with Chae Yoon been too strong or was the story a lie?

Luhan still couldn’t imagine Chae Yoon doing such a thing to Hye Won. She’d said she liked his friend. He couldn’t count up the many times Chae Yoon had told him how cute Hye Won was and how envious she was of her.

How could someone like Chae Yoon do that to his friend?

It didn’t make sense. None of it did.

“=====”

The wedding for Ki Chan’s sister was quickly approaching and Chae Yoon didn’t want to go to the wedding dully dressed. She wanted to flaunt her body, her pretty face, and her ability to woo men. She wanted to charm Luhan’s eyes and make him regret treating her so coldly the past few weeks in favor of Namjoo. Chae Yoon would show Luhan that she was much better than her friend.

Namjoo would never be able to compare to her. Namjoo couldn’t even meet her standards.

Swiveling in her desk chair she picked her phone up. It was a sunny Tuesday morning and she was sure Namjoo was just probably sleeping in as she usually did. After a few rings Namjoo picked up as expected.

“What are you doing?” Chae Yoon started.

“Heading home from work.”

“You worked today?” Chae Yoon raised a brow and scribbled doodles onto her paper as she eyed the clock.

“I had to cover for Bo Young for a few hours,” Namjoo answered. “Why?”

“You haven’t forgotten the wedding Ki Chan invited us to, right?”

“Ah…of course not,” Namjoo replied.

“Have you seen him lately?”

“No.”

“Namjoo,” Chae Yoon started, “want to go dress shopping with me?”

“Tonight?”

“Mmm…of course. Lets go, ok?” Chae Yoon prodded.

Namjoo remained quiet before answering, “Alright, lets go.”

Smiling, Chae Yoon put the phone down and tapped her fingers against the desk.

They met up at the mall where they started browsing through the stores before riding the escalator up. During the three hours they spent there Chae Yoon made sure to keep an eye out for any better quality dresses than the ones Namjoo seemed interested in. Yet, Namjoo’s style of dresses differed from hers greatly which made it a huge challenge for Chae Yoon to keep up.

Namjoo wanted a solid colored dress so she could easily match it with one of the blazers she had in her closet. Chae Yoon wanted a y dress that would bare her shoulders.

“Don’t get that one,” Chae Yoon said when Namjoo pulled out a solid blue dress from the rack. “It’ll make you look old. The one over there with straps is cute, why don’t you try that one on?”

“I don’t really like it…”

Ignoring Namjoo, Chae Yoon stepped toward the dress and pulled it off the rack, “Try it on. Trust me; it’ll look good on you. Isn’t there anyone you want to appeal to at the wedding?”

Namjoo glanced at Chae Yoon who just shot her a sharp smile before pushing her toward the dressing room. When Namjoo stepped out Chae Yoon looked the dress over and thought it made Namjoo look younger than what she’d intended.

“I guess it’s ok,” Namjoo commented and held her arms out. “What do you think?”

“Not bad,” Chae Yoon agreed without much sincerity.

Suddenly she thought it didn’t matter what dress Namjoo wore after all. She’d still look and dress a tad bit better than that girl. After all, what did Namjoo know about dressing up when all she did was wear scrubs all day?

After shopping they finally stopped by a little restaurant on the lower floor for fill up their stomachs before leaving. That was when Chae Yoon finally caught sight of the fancy pink blouse Namjoo was wearing. It looked familiar and after a few seconds Chae Yoon recognized it from one of the magazine articles her co-worker had covered. Its brand was currently trending, becoming more popular as the year went on.

How did Namjoo have such a shirt?

“That’s a pretty shirt,” Chae Yoon complimented. “Where’d you get it?”

Namjoo glanced down from her smoothie to look at her shirt, “Ah…it was a gift.”

“Gift?” Chae Yoon felt her brow go up.

Kai got her another gift?

Namjoo nodded without answering her and Chae Yoon felt irritated. Namjoo should have told her who got her to gift. If it was Kai Chae Yoon would be really flabbergasted. Whoever loved his sister so much to get her such expensive clothing? Chae Yoon would have to wonder then, how far the two had gotten.

Leaning forward in her seat she questioned, “From who? I doubt it would be Ki Chan.”

Namjoo looked surprised by the comment, but only managed a smile after, “It’s from Luhan.”

Chae Yoon felt her insides swell up before her brain literally exploded from the shock. When she was still there…how dare he?!

“Really? How lucky of you,” Chae Yoon told pulling a smile on. “Does he like you?”

“Huh?”

“I mean,” Chae Yoon leaned back and crossed her legs, “why the gift? The shirt is pretty expensive; some forty to fifty bucks at most. He must like you a lot to give you such an expensive gift. You’re lucky, Namjoo. I envy you.”

All the while speaking to Namjoo Chae Yoon felt like she wanted to twist her head off, rip the shirt off her body and put it on herself. Namjoo didn’t deserve such an exquisite gift from her man!

Namjoo’s expression darkened, “It’s not like that. Luhan doesn’t like me, but I didn’t know it was so expensive.”

Chae Yoon’s eyes burned into Namjoo’s innocent face and watched her expression become apologetic for receiving such a gift so happily. After they split Chae Yoon slammed the door to her car and hit the steering wheel. She needed to get this dirty fuming jealousy and anger out of her system.

Her heart rammed into her chest hard and she could feel her blood burning up. She was angry at stupid Namjoo for getting such a great expensive gift from a popular brand. She was even angrier at Luhan for giving it to her. This couldn’t go on. Luhan…she would never allow Luhan to be with Namjoo. They didn’t deserve each other. They didn’t even look well together!

Without further thinking she sped home and tossed half her clothes out of her wardrobe before finally coming across the crummy shirt she’d taken from Namjoo. Chae Yoon felt the urge to cut the shirt up to pieces, but she had to restrain herself. She would return the shirt she’d planned on keeping. Even wearing it had made her feel disgusting. Such a gift from a brother in love with his sister was despicable.

Squeezing it within her hand she gritted her teeth before stomping out of her apartment.

“=====”

Luhan was currently flipping through Namjoo’s handmade cookbook when the doorbell rang. He hadn’t expected any visitor, but he thought it might be Namjoo stopping by. Luhan didn’t realize how wrong he was until he opened the door to find Chae Yoon standing on the other side.

“You just want to piss me off, don’t you!” She screamed in his face.

Luhan stared at her appalled by the suddenness of the situation and watched her rummage through her purse before pulling out a familiar shirt.

“This, was it this?!” She asked clumping the material into her fist. “Were you angry I took this from your crush? Was she so upset she lost this shirt that you bribed her with a new one!? Then here! Have it!”

He felt the shirt fly toward him, landing on the ground after hitting him. Luhan was merely dumbfounded.

“What the hell are you doing?” Luhan started.

“I should be asking you that!” Chae Yoon screamed; anger tied to every knot of her voice. “Why are you looking at me like that?! How dare you look at me like that?! How the hell could you buy her something like that!? Namjoo doesn’t deserve that shirt! Why? Are you expecting to get her in bed with you? You don’t even know her! Who the hell knows if she’s ever slept with that scumbag of her brother? You should be ashamed!”

Luhan stared back at her trembling with rage he didn’t think he could suppress.

His insides boiled up from all sides. He was angry she was putting down her friend and he was even angrier that she was making assumptions.

“Do you know how angry it makes me knowing that you care for some other girl!? She’s not me, Luhan! Why do you even like her!? Why are you doing this to me!”

“Yes,” he coolly stated, “I’m angry with you. I’m angry that you left me for another man; I’m even more pissed off with what you put me through. I was bleeding, my insides were bleeding, my heart was bleeding! Every day was a hell and I even wanted to go there! I’m angry because you only want to talk now when you should have come here earlier! I’m so angry that I almost hate the sight of you! I’m angry because you’re using Namjoo, your friend, as an excuse to come here and give me ! And you think using Namjoo like that will make me take you back? Chae Yoon, is this all you can do?”

Chae Yoon stared up at him with her large fuming eyes and gritted her teeth.

“So what if I bought her a shirt,” Luhan lowered his voice, “so what if makes her pretty? Do you feel threatened?”

“Luhan!” Chae Yoon screamed.

“Chae Yoon!” Luhan raised his voice in return.

The two stared at each other heated from the anger suppressing the air around them.

Chae Yoon’s breath shook as she muttered, “Fine, be that way, but I’ll make sure you can never be together.”

He saw tears well up in her eyes before she her heels to run down the hall. Luhan heaved a heavy sigh contemplating whether he should go after her, but instead reached for the doorknob and gripped it.

Jin Ho’s story about Hye Won was still swinging in his mind. He wasn’t sure about anything that concerned Chae Yoon anymore. He thought he knew her really well, but suddenly it didn’t seem like it. Chae Yoon had never acted like this toward him before. What made it worse were the insults she’d directed at Namjoo, her very own friend.

He stepped back to close the door before catching sight of Namjoo’s beloved shirt sitting by his feet. Picking it up he held it out before him and wondered how Kai must have felt when he saw the shirt at the store. Had he imagined Namjoo wearing it as she walked around with that smile on her face? Had he anticipated seeing her wear it when they met up to hang out? Had he perhaps envisioned how a simple shirt would make Namjoo’s beauty stand out among all the other normal women?