L.Joe roamed around the large home and got lost. He tried to remember the directions the server had told him but they were too vague.

Go up the stairs, down the hall, but which door is it? There’s like a million doors in this house. Maybe it’s this one.

He opened the first door on his right but instead of the restroom, he stumbled upon Naeul’s room. He was going to close the door and go back to finding the bathroom but he grew curious. When he stepped inside, her scent of raspberries and mint grazed his nose. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around the spacious room. Everything was so organized and neat. She had a bookshelf that seemed like it was going to burst due to the vast amount of books and little trinkets. She had a book on her bedside table along with a picture.

His hands carefully held the picture frame and his eyes were glued to the people in it. It was Naeul and her family. It was most likely taken before she lost her vision because her eyes were fixated on the camera. Even back then she was bubbly. Her smile was huge and her eyes were smiling as well.

“L.Joe?” Naeul felt her way to the restroom but she found that the door to her room was open. When she took one step in, she felt that someone was already in there.

He looked behind him and saw Naeul in the doorway. He placed the picture where he had found it and apologized for invading her privacy. But Naeul didn’t care. She took careful and counted steps into her room and toward her balcony. When she stood out on the protruding platform, L.Joe followed her. He could see the backyard and the full moon from there.

“I’m sorry about what happened back there.”

“Don’t be. You couldn’t have known that they knew me.”

“But still, they were invited by me.”

“Those guys have always been like that.”

“Byunghun?” Don’t say my name. Not like that.

“Why don’t you care that I’m informal with you?”

“Because you’re Naeul.”

“Who’s Byunghun?” I guess the time has come. There’s no turning back now. She deserves to know.

“I used to be Lee Byunghun. I was one of those guys but we weren’t snobby like that. It was before we knew the value of money though. I wasn’t born into a rich family but I was given the opportunity to attend the same school as those bastards. We became close and I was perfectly happy with what I had.

But as I went to school, I found out that to be someone you had to have money. My so-called friends ditched me for richer people and I was practically a loner. And my family grew stressed with a bunch of personal things that they never told me about. I realized just how horrible the world was. How it messed with you and didn’t give you a chance to get back what you had.

I quit school while everyone else I knew continued on with middle school. I’m not in a gang like they think. I’m just trouble prone. Everywhere I go, I get into fights and I just end up hating everything more.

Those five who are always with me are my only friends. They’re like me and they understand what it’s like. Whenever I get into trouble, they get dragged along with me. That’s why I never told you anything because I was afraid that you would get dragged into this huge mess of a life.”

He grew afraid. Naeul didn’t say a word. She just kept nodding and her eyebrows were furrowed. If she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, it would devastate him.

“Why can’t I be a part of your messy life? Am I just not allowed to be? Or do you not want me to be a part of your life? Because if that’s the case, it won’t work. You see, you’re already a part of mine so I can’t let you keep blocking me out.” Why would you want to be caught up in this?

“L.Joe. Byunghun. I don’t care if you cause trouble. I don’t care if you hate everything, just don’t push me away. You don’t understand how much it would to lose you. I don’t care if I get hurt as long as I get hurt with you or because of you. It would be an honor.”

“Naeul?”

“Yes?”

“If I let you into my life, would I be allowed to fall in love with you?”

“Is it bad that I’m already falling for you?”

“No.”

L.Joe’s hands inched over to Naeul’s which were resting on the rail. He grasped them as if they were delicate jewels. Slowly, he ducked his head and gently pressed his lips against her glossed ones. Her eyes closed and they turned their bodies to get more comfortable.

<< >>

This fight was one of the things that he didn’t want her involved in but it was too late. L.Joe was busy pummeling one guy while his friends got some of them. He looked over his shoulder when he heard a guy scream out in pain. Naeul was on his back, biting his ear. It was amusing but he couldn’t help but worry for her safety.

When the guy beneath L.Joe passed out, he ran over to Naeul and pried her off of the guy’s back. He saw that the guy’s ear was bleeding. His attention went to Naeul who was screaming at the guy to watch who he was messing with.

The fight ended with a victory for L.Joe and his friends. This hadn’t been the first fight that Naeul got herself involved in. The other week, she beat a burly guy down with her white cane. It was touching to see that Naeul cared for him and his safety but her recklessness caused him to worry every day. What if one of the guys she hurt came back for her when he wasn’t around? What if she got hurt? What if she were killed?

“That ought to teach them a lesson! How dare they start that fight when they were the ones at fault?!”

The boys cheered her on, telling her that she was the best and that she should fight for a living. But L.Joe didn’t want her to live like that. She was supposed to be in her room, studying or just listening to music. She was supposed to be a normal teenager but she wasn’t because she was his girl.