When Ken, Ravi and Hongbin returned to the practice room, they were undoubtedly scolded by the two oldest members, but were quickly forgiven once they offered the snacks they bought from the convenience store. Hongbin subtly cringed and clenched his fists when he thought back to getting caught staring at the check-out girl for the second time.

                “Hey Kong, what are you smiling about? Are you thinking about the pretty girl at the convenience store?” Ken asked bluntly, causing everybody to stare at Hongbin’s now bright red face.

                “What? Pretty girl? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hongbin mumbled. “I was just…thinking…about…a dog. Yeah, I saw a really nice dog at the park.”

                “Eyy, don’t lie,” Ken continued. “I saw you staring at her.”

                “And his hands were shaking like an earthquake was happening when he took the bag from her!” Ravi added, earning a death glare from Hongbin.

                “Really? Wow,” N mused. “Tell me all about her, Hongbinnie.”

                Hongbin immediately stood up and walked out of the studio without saying another word. As the youngest member, he got his fair share of teasing, but being teased about a girl was just too much for him. He suddenly wondered if Hyuk felt the same way when they for his crush on Jaemi in their first year of high school. Who’d ever guess that Hyuk would actually end up with his dream girl? Those days seemed like they were more than 10 years ago, despite it only being about 8 years.  So much had happened since then. He, himself, developed a crush on Jaemi, and then a crush on Shinji, then briefly dated Shinji, then fell in love with Jaemi, then was scouted to be an idol, then had his heart broken by Jaemi, debuted as an idol, then fell back in love with Jaemi only to become heartbroken again, and now, was he finally moving on? His head was spinning just from thinking about it. He had had feelings for her for years, and now, his feelings for her were gradually fading away. The more he thought about her and their relationship, the more faraway it seemed. It was a strange feeling, to not have any feelings, but he enjoyed the lightness and freeness he felt.

                He happened to pass by the convenience store and peered through the window to see if the girl was still there. He couldn’t see very well because of the racks of snacks and magazines blocking the window, so he craned his neck and stood on his tip toes to get a better view. He was disappointed when he didn’t see her behind the counter. Just as he turned to leave, he heard the door open and a delicate voice call out,

                “Were you looking for something?” He was so surprised that she came after him that he didn’t even notice his heart skip a beat when he turned back around and saw her again. She seemed more petite and delicate than he thought. She reminded him of a glass flower or something along those lines.

                “Oh, um, no,” he answered unsurely. “I was just, um, passing by.”

                “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought I saw you looking into the store. Sorry for bothering you,” she replied with a polite bow. “Have a nice day,” she added before going back into the store. He lingered around outside for another minute, not knowing what to do. He wanted to go in, but he already told her he wasn’t looking for anything, and the more time that passed, the more awkward it would be for him to go inside.

                With a heavy sigh, he decided that it would be better to return another day and see her then. Just as he was crossing the street to return to the practice room, he received a text message from N telling him to get some painkillers for Leo’s headache before he came back. He immediately ran back to convenience store without a second thought.

                “Welcome—Oh, it’s you again,” the girl happily greeted him when he entered the store. He merely smiled and nodded at her to conceal the fact that he was out of breath from running back.

                “Can I help you find something?” she asked him.

                “Y-Yes, actually,” he replied after clearing his throat. “I need some painkillers for my friend’s headache.”

                She smiled brightly at him and led him to where the pills and medications where. Normally, she just stayed behind the counter and told customers the general area to find what they were looking for, but she had to make a special exception for Hongbin. He was the best looking guy she had ever seen. Better looking than the models and idols she worked with. And she didn’t think it was a coincidence that this was the third time she had seen him today.

                “Is that all you need today?” she asked him after he randomly grabbed a bottle of pills.

                “Um, yeah. I think this should be fine,” he answered nervously. He followed her back up to the counter to pay. He reached into his pocket and realized that he left his wallet in the practice room. His eyes widened in fear. What was he supposed to do now? She already scanned the bottle and put it in a bag for him. Would he just have to take it and run? How would he ever come back to this store? How would he ever show his face in front of her again?

                “It’s ok if you can’t pay right now,” she assured, seeing him panic. “It’s not going to be missed anyway.”

                “R-Really? Are you sure?” Hongbin questioned.

                She nodded and handed him the bag anyway. “Just consider it as compensation for bothering you earlier.”

                “But I feel really bad about just taking it,” Hongbin replied. “I’ll pay you back, no, I’ll pay you double, or actually, triple, the next time I see you,” he added, not realizing the implication he made. She blushed in response and assured him that it was nothing to worry about.

                “But, I mean…it’d be nice to know your name… in exchange,” she added shyly. It was Hongbin’s turn to blush. He smiled to himself and shyly told her his name.

                “Lee Hongbin,” she repeated quietly with a smile. She extended her hand across the counter and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Lee Hongbin.”

                He smiled back at her and gladly shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you too… um…” he hesitated.

                “Jaehee,” she chimed.

                Hongbin put his other hand by his ear and leaned over the counter slightly and asked her to repeat her name because he thought she had said “Jaemi” and he was hoping that he heard wrong. It would be too weird for her to also be named Jaemi. His cute gesture made Jaehee’s heart flutter and she couldn’t contain her smile.

                “Jae-hee,” she enunciated more clearly. “Jung Jaehee.”

                Hongbin let out a sigh of relief when he realized he had heard wrong. “Oh, Jaehee. It was very nice meeting you, Jaehee.” It was then that they realized they were holding hands the whole time. Hongbin immediately retracted his hand and awkwardly cleared his throat. Both of them looked away, trying to hide their flushed faces.

                “Well, um, thank you for the pills, Jaehee. I’ll see you soon, hopefully,” he quickly added before leaving so that she wouldn’t see how red his face was.

                After he left the store, Jaehee slid down to the floor and internally celebrated her meeting with Hongbin. She went on with her day with a big grin on her face and hearts in her eyes.

---

                “Ahh, I see. So you broke your brother’s toy, and you were too embarrassed to tell him, so you hid it from him all these years?” Hyuk clarified. He and Jaemi had spent the majority of the day confessing everything to each other over video chat, and of course, Jaemi had significantly many more things to confess.

                “He was really scary when we were kids! I’m almost positive that I was born with attached earlobes, but he probably pulled on my ears so much that they became detached,” she justified.

                Hyuk laughed cutely and pretended to pet the top of her head. “Ok, ok. I get it. Now… what about all that jewelry in the box? Did you rob a store or something?” he joked lightheartedly, not taking notice of her darkened expression at first. Jaemi held her breath, not wanting to say anything. Hyuk had barely forgiven her for keeping the baby a secret and she wasn’t so sure that he would be as understanding about Shin and… Hongbin.

                Hyuk had finally noticed that she wasn’t talking or smiling, and he began to get worried. He had thought the baby was the worst of it, but from her expression, it didn’t seem like it was.

                “Hyuk…” she started quietly. “You know I love only you, right?” He was really afraid of what she had to confess next. He desperately hoped he was imagining the worst of the worst possibilities and that he was completely wrong about it.

                “I wanted to tell you… but I was so scared… that you would leave me,” she continued. Hyuk felt a pit in his stomach. Please, he thought, please let me be wrong. “Even now, I’m scared that you’re not going to forgive me for this,” she said as tears fell from her face. “I would understand if you can’t forgive me, because I can’t even forgive myself. But you have to believe that I really love you, and it was all just a big mistake.”

                “Jaemi…please don’t say what I think you’re going to say,” Hyuk pleaded tearfully. He had a high tolerance for mistakes, especially Jaemi’s mistakes, but even this mistake might be too much for him.

                “I’m so sorry Hyuk,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry, but I cheated on you.”

                And with those four words, his whole world came crashing down. 

A/N: Ahhhhh!!! I know!! I'm a terrible author T__T I'm sorry for not updating in so long, but I guess better late than never right? Hope you guys enjoyed it! Happy New Year's everybody! THank you so much for sticking with this story :)