I.

You were humming a random song while walking casually through the crowds. It was passed lunchtime, the sun shone so brightly, giving heat all over your body or simply frying you alive. But no, you didn’t care.

What you care for now is you are going to meet your beloved boyfriend. This morning he had called you for an ice cream date, and hell, you didn’t even need to think twice to agree with him.

Why? Because it was now summer holiday so you didn’t get to see him too often since there’s no school. You would only meet him for lunch or dinner. Sometimes he would only come to your house right before you sleep and it didn't even last more than 30 minutes. Aside from his busy daily life, he always tried to meet you every single day. Even though if it’s only for an hour or just a minute, he always tried to appear in front of your sight. And for that, you were beyond thankful to have a boyfriend like him.

You took out your phone from your purse before sliding the screen, giving you the perfect sight of you and his picture smiling together as the wallpaper. Immediately, you typed a message for him and smiled when you pressed the send button.

From: ____.

To: My hero.

See you soon, babe <3

You smiled again at the image on your phone screen before tossing it back inside your purse. Feeling happiness all over you, you began to walk faster to the place he had told you to go; already thinking about what flavor you would order later.

Today is going to be a good day~

It was all happened about 2 year ago, when you first met him as a freshman in high school. You started dating with him 1 year later when he suddenly confessed to you on a rainy day. Unbelievable, yes, but you need to admit that was the most memorable confession you ever had. Despite of his arrogant front and cold behavior, he was actually a cute guy with childish personality. No one knows about this, of course, since he only show the real him when he is with you or his close friends. Remained as a quiet boy in school, your boyfriend was indeed being respected by all the students. All girls were admiring his good looks and manly actions, while boys were wishing to be him, or at least, befriend with him.

Dating with a handsome boyfriend who got girls swoon all over him from head to toe was something you didn’t expect to be happening in your life. Especially when you knew that he was not just a popular kingka at school, but also a leader of one popular gang in Seoul. This is his true daily life, true, it was scary, but you didn’t care. You are dating him because of who he is and not because of his status or what he did.

And when we’re talking about popular, your name was on the list as well. You are one of the top students and the leader of the cheerleader team. To keep it short, you and your boyfriend are a famous couple at school. It was kind of surprising how you could ended up with him, since you didn't really into the rebel or bad boy-type, but yeah, it was true that love has no boundaries and unexpected.

Well, dating with a gangster was not actually bad at all, especially when your boyfriend’s gang is the one who took the responsibility to protect your school from other schools’ gangs. They are actually heroes, a hero behind the evil mask.

At least, that’s what you think about your boyfriend and his gang members.

Yes, your boyfriend named L.Joe, and his gang called “Teen Top”.

Begin dating with you, L.Joe gradually changed into the better. He stopped fighting senseless with people; mostly he solved problems between gangs by negotiations now. He talked more; he smiled more often and to your surprise, even throwing some random jokes. Even though he only did it when there were only two of you, but still, you were grateful.

You noticed L.Joe started to be more comfortable at school as well, he gains more friends and you hope people would stop to think of him as a scary monster that only know how to use his fists.

“Lee Byunghun… where are you…?”

You mumbled to yourself as you scanned through the crowds, hoping that you would see your boyfriend’s face. But much to your dismay, you couldn’t find any sights of him yet. 10 minutes already passed from the promised time, but Lee Byunghun couldn’t be found anywhere.

Lee Byunghun. Yes, that was his real name.

No one knew about this except you and his other 5 members. He was keeping it as a secret, much likely because he didn’t want to put his personal life together with his job, his “responsibility” as a gangster. None of his gang members dare to call him with his real name and you still don’t know the reason why even until now. But L.Joe only let you and only you, to call him with that name.

Sure, you were aware that L.Joe care the most for you. Only you. He always said how he couldn’t live if he didn’t see you for a day and you found it kind of corny but happy at the same time.

Calling him as a possessive boyfriend is an understatement and you would need to put another name in his dictionary, which is: jealous freak.

There would always be a time when L.Joe whining about how busy he was to keep you away from your fanboys at school and protect you from your secret admirers. You couldn’t blame him though; being a leader of a famous cheerleader team really gets yourself caught on the boys’ attention. Inside or outside the school’s building.

Technically, he is jealous with everyone around you, especially with your best friend, Kai.

Kai is your best friend since your childhood days, you knew him far before you met with L.Joe. He cares for you so much like an older brother and obviously has a crush on you. L.Joe knew about this, and so do you. But you vowed to yourself that you would never talk about it with Kai because you don’t want to ruin your precious friendship with him.

You didn’t want to think of him as more than just a best friend and Kai acknowledged it too, and that’s why he never confesses his true feeling to you.

“This is weird… He never late this long…”

A loud sigh came out from your lips as you noticed that you had been standing in front of an ice cream café for nearly 30 minutes now. You already tried to call him, but he didn’t pick up the calls. Worries crept to your head as you prayed that nothing bad happened to him.

He didn’t get into fights again, right…?

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get rid of all the negative possibilities would happen to your boyfriend. Hell, it wasn’t your fault to be like this. L.Joe was once late before and to your shock, he showed up in front of you with blood all over his clothes and that flawless face of his already covered with many bruises and cuts.

You grunted in annoyance and took out your phone again to send him another text message.

From: ____.

To: My hero.

Byunghun-ah… Where in the hell are you?!

Are you okay?! I’m at the front of the café already…

Ppali ppali~ don’t make me worried like this! ㅠㅠ

“He is really driving me crazy…”

You grumbled and decided to just wait for him inside the café. You were about to turn your body to get inside the fancy looking café, when suddenly someone grabbed both of your shoulders from behind.

“Yo!!”

“Kyaaa!”

You shrieked loudly in surprise as you turned your head only to see a familiar boy laughing while holding his stomach. He was laughing like a mad person and you swore you had this urge to hit him when you noticed some people looked at you weirdly.

“Ya! For God’s sake, Kai! Don’t scare me like that!!” You hit his arm playfully and the boy finally stopped laughing, but left a big grin on his sculptured face.

“Sorry! I can’t help but to tease you…” Kai tried to hide his laugh before he pinched both of your cheeks, “You should see how your face looked like, though… It was…” He faked a gasp before his lips curled up again, “…funny.”

“YA!!” You pinched his arm when he started laughing again.

“What are you doing here?” The boy finally stopped laughing when he noticed your frown expression.

“And what are you doing here?” You threw Kai the same question and the latter raised an eyebrow at you. “Don’t copy my question and just answer me first…”

“I didn’t copy you… I put an ‘and’ at the front…” You rolled your eyes but answered him before he could talkback at you. “I’m waiting for Byunghun… We are supposed to meet here…”

“So where is he know? I just see a lonely girlfriend here…”

That y smirk of him appeared on his face and you couldn’t help but staring. It was actually one of his charming points. His smirk alone would make girls melt into puddle, and that flawless look and model-like-body on him was something would definitely worth screaming for.

You ended your little daydreaming about your childhood friend as you shrugged your both shoulders. “I… don’t know… He doesn’t answer my calls and—” Your eyes darted to your phone screen that remained black, “—he doesn’t reply my texts either… I’m worried about him…”

Kai studied your face was now already turned sad and tried to cheer you up. “Maybe he is busy… or umm… forgot to bring his phone…?”

You slowly shook your head while looking down. “No… He never missed any calls or texts from me before and he definitely won’t ever forget to bring his phone with him… I am wondering what is he doing and where he is right now…”

Kai turned silent as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t know what kind of words to soothe you for now but then he spotted something with his eyes. An idea appeared inside his mind before he abruptly grabbed your hand and started to drag you somewhere.

“Come on, come with me!”

You were taken aback with his sudden action and tried to pull your hand from his. “W-wait! Where are you taking me!?”

“Somewhere to cheer you up…” Kai replied without looking at you as he just kept dragging your small frame.

“Y-ya! I can’t! What if Byunghun came here?!”

Kai stopped his steps then turned his body to flick your forehead. A soft “ouch” came out from your mouth as you learned that Kai leaned down to be at eye-level with you.

“And you are expecting a gentleman like me to leave a pretty girl like you waiting alone here? What if some reckless brats try to hit on you? Or worse, harassing and kidnap you? Gee, thanks, I don't want that…”

He continued to drag you again and you snorted at him. “You are over-thinking! It’s just 3PM now and this street is not like what you had in your imaginations… Besides, there is so many people in here!”

Kai scoffed before turned his body to you again, towering you with his tall height. “Oh, so you are a fortune teller now? How can you know what will happen later, huh? Do you think people would come running to save you when you are in trouble? Hello woman, this is Seoul, and there’s no something heroic like what you've seen in dramas…” Kai furrowed his eyebrows before he stared deeply at you. “And the last time I remember, there’s a girl who got her phone robbed when I left her alone at the park only to buy some drinks…”

This time, you shut your mouth tightly. You didn’t need to be genius to know who was the “girl” that Kai mentioned just now. It was you. If people asked you what is your weakness, it was none other than your clumsiness. And Kai knew this very well. He had been with you for a long time and growing up together with you. Kai looked at your guilty expression and he softened.

“Trust me… I won’t bring you too far from here…” He touched your chin with his free hand and lifted your face to look at him. “I would just bring you there… I will treat you with something delicious…”

You blinked at him and followed his gaze to see a café that painted in pink right across the street. Within only seconds, your both eyes widened and it was like you had forgotten about everything.

“Hello Kitty café!!” You excitedly chimed and Kai chuckled upon your reaction.

He knew that you are a big fan of Hello Kitty and he was sure that you wouldn’t refuse his offer. “So… what do you think?”

You looked at Kai again and bit your lower lips. Your head was now battling against your heart.

Eottoke…? Should I go with Kai and wait for Byunghun together…? But I’m sure Byunghun would—aisshh! But I really want to go there… It’s been a long time since I went to that café…

“Don’t be stubborn and just follow me, okay?” Kai put a strand of your hair behind your ear before he smiled, “Just text your boyfriend that you are waiting for him there… I believe he won’t mind…”

A minute passed and you finally took a final decision of what you should do. You looked at Kai and you saw him already putting his cute face, his eyes sparkled just like a kid begging for candies to his mom.

“Okay, okay…” You finally gave in and sighed, “I will go with you… But just until Byunghun came… Is that okay?”

“Yes my majesty!” Kai saluted at you and you unconsciously laughed at him.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!”

L.Joe running with all his might through the crowds. He was already panting and his shirt already drenched because of his sweats.

! ! I’m late!

He mentally cursed while bumping into several people, mumbling “mianhae” as he did so. Then he finally stopped in front of a café that both of you should meet at first, but to his disappointment, he couldn’t see the beautiful face of his girlfriend. He closed his eyes and bent his body, resting both of his hands on his knees to regain his breaths before he craned his neck and looked around to find you.

“W-where is she…?” L.Joe said between his heavy breaths as sweats running down from his forehead to his neck. He started to grow panic as he ran a hand to ruffle his wet blonde hair.

He rummaged into his pocket to get his iPhone and quickly unlocked the screen, only to be welcomed with many notifications from you. Missed calls and unread text messages.

. L.Joe bit his lower lips before he tapped his finger on the screen to open the text message at the very top; the last one that you sent to him. L.Joe noticed that the message was sent 45 minutes ago and he cursed himself under his breath for making you wait that long.

From: Baby girl<3

To: L.Joe

Byunghun-ah… I’m going to wait for you at the Hello Kitty café… It’s just across the ice cream café.

If you read this message, please come here quick.

“Aishh! She will definitely kill me this time… Damn…”

L.Joe knew you were mad since he couldn’t find any emoticon in the message. Usually you would put an emoticon on every text message you sent to him. And judging by what happened right now, L.Joe knew for sure that you were pissed.

L.Joe tiptoed to take a better look across the street since the crowds blocked his vision. He got his both eyebrows knitted together before he spotted the pink building on the corner of his eyes. He wasted no time to run to the café and pushed the glass door opened, producing a ding sound from the bell right on top of the door.

“Welcome to Hello Kitty Café!” A waitress dressed in pink with Hello Kitty headband greeted him.

L.Joe didn’t even bother to look at her and just stormed inside to search for you. He stretched his neck and scanned every corner of the café for your sign until he recognized a familiar back figure with long brown hair. You were back facing him and a smile instantly appeared on his face. He wiped the sweats on his forehead before he walked to your direction slowly.

Your name was almost slipped out from his tongue when suddenly he felt something hitched on his throat. His eyes enlarged at the view in front of him before he gritted his teeth and bawled both of his hands into fists.

Kai.

L.Joe spelled the three-letters-name inside his head when he spotted the man sitting right across you with a big smile. He could see the guy named Kai was laughing while staring at his girlfriend lovingly.

And he swore when your laughs penetrated his ears, he could feel hundreds knives just being stabbed to his heart.

What the hell?! What is that bastard doing with my girlfriend!?