Disclaimer: We do not own boys before flowers.

                                                                                                          *

Woo Bin made his way to the dusty crowded bus-stop of Macau. He hated it. The waiting, the constant pushing as people tried to be the first to board, and most of all the noise. He hated every bit of it. However, as the future head of the mafia, it was important for him to understand the lives of the ordinary people. With that in mind, he boarded the bus. Even though living an entire day as a commoner was taxing, there were parts of it he enjoyed: like observing the people around him. Commoners were fascinating. On his left side sat a highly dolled up old lady. Dressed from top to bottom in pink, she was quite a sight. Before he could dwell on this further, the sound of an object hitting the ground caught his attention. Being the gentleman he was, he reached to pick up the fallen iPod. The song on display, “my gym partner is a monkey”, made him switch his attention to the owner of the iPod instead.

 “That’s a rather interesting song you were playing”

“One of my favorites”, she smiled mischievously as she seated herself beside him.

And so began the weirdest encounter in Woo Bin’s life. Soon enough the conversation moved to other things: dogs, the pink lady, unicorns and finally stopped at a bet. The last thing you would want to do is bet with the future head of a mafia, especially, with Song Woo Bin. He was sure that the couple seated in front of them was dating, but she insisted that they were siblings.

“Look at the way they are seated, hardly any distance between them. That is the mark of a couple.”

On hearing this, she closed the distance between, leaned in close, and whispered: “oh look, we’re dating now.”

“Very funny”.

“Siblings can also sit close together. But couples, hold hands, cuddle, and stare at each other a lot.” We then took a peak to see if they were staring at each other. They weren’t.  They were, however, now eyeing Woo Bin and his seatmate suspiciously.

“Is there anything wrong, sir”, the man asked.

Woo Bin was saved from answering by the bus coming to a halt. Both he and his seatmate ran for the exit. 

All that observing had made them hungry. So they decided to go for lunch. During the entire meal, Woo Bin couldn’t take his eyes off the girl. For one small person, she sure ate a lot. She ate her soup. His soup. The neighbors’ soup.

“I’ m Ha Jae Kyung, by the way”, she said after finishing her third bowl of soup.

“Song Woo Bin” .

He couldn’t believe that he had spent two hours with a pretty girl without even asking her name or without hitting on her. But then again, most of today was unbelievable, he thought, as he reached for his wallet. Jae Kyung looked at him, as if she was about to say something, but was interrupted by his phone ringing.

“Excuse me”

The phone call was from Yi Jung, his best friend, who was mumbling something incomprehensible on the other line.

“Yi Jung, slow down. What did you do this time?”

“Gu Jun Pyo”

Gu Jun Pyo, the reason for most of the hysteria in the group.

“He has completely lost it! He has been calling Jan Di and hanging up for the past 20 minutes! It’s crazy. We need to do something about this!”

The fun time was over. Now it was the time for the F4 emergency meeting. Woo Bin hated having important meetings over the phone, but it didn’t look like he had choice. The Gu Jun Pyo problem was increasing by the minute. It was time they put an end to it.

*

The F4 lounge was in utter chaos today. Gu Jun Pyo had always been crazy but this time his actions had even worried Yi Jung. They had let this Jan Di thing get too far. In the beginning watching Gu Jun Pyo go bananas over a girl was amusing but now it had the potential of causing serious harm.

                “We have to talk to Jun Pyo”, advised Woo Bin through the phone.

                                 (Yi Jung’s phone was on speaker)

                “But you know Jun Pyo. The chances of him listening are slim” Ji Hoo added.

As sad as it was, Yi Jung couldn’t help but agree.  When it came to romance, Jun Pyo was highly unreasonable. Actually, he was like that with most things. Jun Pyo was known for his money, power and good looks, not for his rationality.

                “Perhaps we should speak to Jan Di”, Ji Hoo suggested.

                “It would be weird. Try influencing Jan Di through one of her friends”, advised Woo Bin.

                “Going by Yi Jung’s skills with women, I think we should send him to talk to that friend she has, the one from the porridge shop,” added Ji Hoo.

It was not that Yi Jung did not see the validity of this argument, but he hated the idea of trying to reason with a stranger. Flirting with a girl he could manage without problem but this involved serious conversation, something he was not so sure he was good at. Reluctantly, he hung up the phone, picked 

up his coat and made his way for the door. However, before he could step out of the Lounge, he was stopped by a rather hysterical Jan Di. She looked like she had run a marathon.

                “Where is Woo Bin. Is he alright?” she said while panting

                “He is in Macau and he is fine. What happened?” Ji Hoo asked.

                “I got 23 miss calls from Gu Jun Pyo. I thought something terrible had happened. Everything is okay, right?”

“All is fine. Jun Pyo has just lost it”, Yi Jung commented while making his way past her.

It was time to get it over with. Yi Jung was not familiar with this part of town. But then again, he never really went anywhere but the posh areas. After a little wandering around, he found the porridge shop. It was not as shabby as Jun Pyo had described, in fact, it looked rather cozy. Then again, Jun Pyo was not known for his descriptive skills either.

                “Does Geum Jan Di work here?” he asked once he had entered.

                “Yes, but she is not here right now. Do you want me to take a message?” A rather beautiful girl asked.

                “Are you her friend?”

                “Yes. Since kindergarten.”

                “Come with me”, he said while dragging her to his car.

She eyed him suspiciously, but came in after him after some hesitation.

                “I’m saying this for the sake of Jan Di. This kind of thing is important to girls. You should warn her.”

                “You think you can manipulate anyone with that expression don’t you. Well, you tried it on the wrong person. It is not your concern for Jan Di that has brought you here but your belief that a commoner is not good enough for your precious Gu Jun Pyo,” she smirked.

                “Well… that’s not how I would phrase it…”

                “But that is the gist of it. Rest assured, Jan Di has no intention of climbing that tree.”

                “Hey, listen”, he said while taking her hand in his, and flashing her the most charming smile he could muster.

She retracted her hand and said, “Don’t flatter yourself; you’re not that good looking.”

With that said, she walked off, leaving behind a highly startled Yi Jung. 

*

As Woo Bin entered the F4 lounge, he was greeted by the sight of a mumbling Yi Jung, who was inspecting himself in front of the mirror.

                “She called me UGLY! Am I ugly! Am I? Am I?”

                “Is not that your plight doesn’t wound my soul, but I just got back from Macau and I’m tired.