“Where are we?” Jaemi asked as she walked outside the car.

 

“Follow me,” Kijoon demanded.

 

“I hope you’re not leaving me in the woods like in the story Hansel & Gretel,” Jaemi joked.

 

The whole walk was in silence. The only sounds that were heard were the birds chirping, water flowing, and the crunching noise of the leaves that were being stepped on.

 

After walking for 15 minutes, they finally reached a small cabin.

 

“I think you should meet him alone,” Kijoon said, “Call me if you need a ride back home.”

 

Watching her father walk away, Jaemi turned back to the cabin and walked in.

 

“Jaemi… ” Monk Seon crooned.

 

 

“AISH! Why isn’t she picking up?” Jieun yelled in frustration as she slammed her face on the desk.

 

Kai watched Jieun, and couldn’t help but worry about Jaemi all day.

 

 

School finally ended, and Kai walked home while thinking of Jaemi and the incident from before.

 

Without realizing, he ended up at Jaemi’s house.

 

“What the heck is going on with me?” Kai asked himself as he turned back around.

 

He took a few steps and looked up to see Jaemi walking home languidly. He stood there staring at her, not sure of what to do. Not even looking up, Jaemi walked passed him like a ghost.

 

“Jaemi-ssi!” Kai called.

 

Jaemi turned around, a little surprised, and bowed to him as she turned back and continued to walk languidly back home.

 

Kai ran and stood in front of her which made Jaemi stop to look up at him.

 

“I’m hungry, let’s eat!” Kai said.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m not in the mood right now,” Jaemi said trying to walk away.

 

“You owe me remember?”

 

Jaemi turned back to look at him and let out a deep sigh.

 

 

Sitting in her seat, Jaemi sat there watching Kai eat his udon noodles.

 

“Masisseo,” Kai said laying back on his seat.

 

Jaemi paid for the meal and stood up from her seat to leave.

 

“Where are you going?” Kai asked with a philosophical attitude.

 

“I don’t owe you anything anymore, right?,” Jaemi retorted and left the shop.

 

 

As Jaemi walked home, she began to recall what had happened a few hours earlier.

 

FLASHBACK

 

“You know my birth parents?” Jaemi asked again in complete shock.

 

Monk Seon nodded his head,

 

“What are their names? Wait, no. What do they look like? Where are my parents? Why did they…. abandoned me?”

 

“Jaemi-ah…”

 

“Monk Seon, jebal.”

 

“Jaemi-ah, your parents didn’t abandoned you.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“They had a reason —”

 

Jaemi let out a scoff, “A reason? A reason to abandoned me? No parent would ever leave a child for over 17 years, no matter what the reason is.”

 

Pissed off, Jaemi stood up from her seat and stormed towards the door.

 

“They are no longer here….” Monk Seon desperately replied with his eyes closed.

 

Jaemi held the door knob in complete shock. Frozen, she stood there tearing up, “Mwoh?”

 

END of FLASHBACK

 

 

It was getting dark and Jaemi hasn’t gotten home yet. Completely lost in her thoughts, Jaemi crossed the streets without watching out for anyone or anything. A bright light shined at her along with continuous honking coming from afar. However, Jaemi somehow blocked all of that and acted as if nothing was coming. Within seconds, the light became brighter and the honking got louder. And within a minute, the truck passed her, along with its fading honking noise. However, before the truck could have hit her, someone managed to save her.

 

“NEO MICHEOSEO?!?” Kai hollered, “Did you want to die?! Why didn’t you move out of the way?! Ah, paboya….”

 

Without looking at him, Jaemi turned away and continued to walk her way. Confused, Kai just watched her as she walked away languidly.

 

Wanting to make sure she’s safe, Kai followed her from afar, making sure he gave her some space. They walked for a few minutes until Jaemi stopped and fell to the ground crying. Not wanting to invade her space, Kai walked away. Left alone, Jaemi continued to cry.

 

 

The next morning, Jaemi decided to leave for school early since she wasn’t able to get any sleep last night. As she locked the door, she noticed a note hanging. She opened it and read it:

 

Smile. All the problems will soon fade away.

Kai

 

After reading the note, Jaemi couldn’t help but let out a little smile.

 

 

Walking into her class, she noticed a guy sleeping at his desk. Curious, Jaemi came closer to see who it was. L.Joe. He sat there, with his hand supporting his head, sleeping soundly. She had never noticed his face, but now that she’s close, she realized how handsome he was, even asleep, he was cute.

 

“Am I really that handsome?” L.Joe said blatantly.

 

Shocked from his awakening, Jaemi jumped back a little and walked back to her seat. L.Joe turned to face Jaemi and watched her. Finding it a little awkward and embarrassing, Jaemi quickly took out Unchangeable Fate and continued reading it. Still noticing L.Joe staring at her, she brought the book higher to cover her face, but he did not look away until —

 

“JAEMI-AHHHH!” Jieun shrieked as she ran towards Jaemi, “Where were you? Why didn’t you pick up my phone calls? Ugh, Jaemi you got me so worried!”

 

Happy to see her friend again, Jieun gave Jaemi a huge hug. Returning the hug, Jaemi couldn’t help but look at the back of L.Joe’s head the whole time.

 

 

“Jaemi, I’m going to talk to the teacher about the film project really quick. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria,” Jieun said and ran off to catch up with the teacher.

 

Looking around the classroom, Jaemi walked over to Kai’s desk, who was still packing up his stuff.

 

“Gomawo,” Jaemi slurred as she let out a small smile.

 

Kai smiled at her and walked away.

 

“Wait!” Jaemi called.

 

Kai turned around to face her.

 

Scratching her head, “Um…. do you want to go eat after school? I want to apologize for what happened yesterday,” Jaemi said stuttering a little.

 

Kai gave her a friendly smirk and agreed as he walked out of class. As he left, Jaemi couldn’t help but let out a small smile as she quickly went back to her desk to continue packing her things. Over on the sideline, L.Joe was still in class and heard everything. He quickly stood up, making the desk and chair move in a rough manner, and stormed out the class. Jaemi jumped a little from his sudden movement and watched him leave the class.

 

 

Jaemi went to the cafeteria after promising Jieun to meet there.

 

“Where were you? I was seriously about to call the police!” Jieun asked all concerned.

 

“I had a family emergency,” Jaemi answered giggling, “I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll see you in class.”

 

Jieun nodded. As soon as Jaemi left, Jieun began whispering to herself, “Family emergency…. then why didn’t your parents call in….”

 

 

As soon as their last class ended, Jieun stopped Jaemi, L.Joe, and Kai from walking out the door.

 

“We only have three weeks left before the film project is due. So we need to finish filming, NOW!” Jieun slurred.

 

“That’s a lot of time, we can film next week,” L.Joe replied trying to walk out the door.

 

Jieun blocked him again, “It takes about a week to edit and put everything together. A day to create a short presentation. We also have to memorize our presentation beforehand. On top of that, we will also need to go to different locations for different scenes, and one week isn’t going to do. Therefore, three weeks is not a lot of time. Got it?” Jieun retorted back.

 

In the back, Jaemi and Kai are trying to hold in their laughter. L.Joe glared at them which made them stop.

 

“If there are no more complaints, let’s get going,” Jieun said leading the way.

 

Jaemi let out a small laugh as she passed L.Joe and followed Jieun. L.Joe stood there frowning as he watched them walk away.

 

Kai laughed and placed his arm around L.Joe, “Come on,” and dragged L.Joe with him.

 

 

After filming for a few hours, everyone grew exhausted from walking to one place to another.

 

“Did you guys really need to take over an hour to film one scene?” Jieun said a little frustrated, “14 takes…. it took 14 takes.”

 

“We should wrap it up, it’s getting late. At least we got 2 scenes done,” Kai said.

 

Everyone nodded.

 

As Kai was putting his filming equipment away. Jaemi walked over to him and asked if he still wanted to go eat.

 

Overhearing them, L.Joe walked over, “Gosh, all that filming makes me hungry.”

 

Kai chuckled, “Alright, let’s all eat together.”

 

L.Joe placed his arm around Kai and began to walk to the nearest restaurant.

 

Jaemi stood there and glared at L.Joe from behind. Jieun laughed, “Come on!”

 

 

As they were eating, Kai got a call.

 

“I’ll be there right away, samchon,” Kai said as he ended the call, “I have to leave first, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

 

“I actually have to leave too,” Jieun said looking at the time.

 

“I’ll drop you off on the way,” Kai offered.

 

Jieun nodded and the two left, leaving Jaemi and L.Joe alone.

The two sat there eating in silence for a few minutes. And without realizing, they both reached over to grab the same glass of water in the center of the table. As their fingers got closer, there was a thin blue wave of electricity between them and when their fingers touched, they both jumped back from a sudden shock. Jaemi looked at her hand and looked up to see L.Joe who was also looking at her in confusion.