|| chapter two ||

 After the whole encounter with the elusive Kim Jieun, Woohyun's life basically changed for the better and he lived happy ever after!

He wished.

It still , big time. With the populace taking the side of Park Hyomin, people had stopped associating themselves with him as well (with the main exception of Hoya and Sungyeol), not wanting to be dragged down by his bad reputation. He couldn't believe that people in university where still petty this way. He still felt like the resident house ghost back at the Nam mansion; anything unpleasant that occured was his fault. Despite all this, he had not bumped into Kim Jieun again after their little chat in the infirmary, nor had he made any attempts to intentionally do so. After what she had did for him, he couldn't bring himself to disrupt the girl's peace.

Woohyun had arrived home from school one late afternoon to find his younger brother Boohyun invading his bedroom once again. The little devil snooping about was definitely not a good sign. This time, the eight year old preoccupied himself with rummaging through a box of his brother’s belongings.

“What are you doing in my room?”

“Hey hyung, if you’re not using this anymore, can I have this? It looks very cool!” Boohyun greeted, holding up a camo jacket that was way too oversized for his small frame. "Why do you have so much icky girly hand cream though? Blechh!"

Although he had only worn it once ever in his life, he instantly recognized that it was Hyomin's first ever gift for him on their first ever date as an official couple. His eyes widened the moment he realized that the box Boohyun was sifting through was the one with different trinkets and memorabilias that reminded him of the times when Park Hyomin was still his girlfriend. He had cleaned all of those things out with plans to return them to her, or at least bury them where he'd never see them again.

Speaking of cleanliness, it was only then when he actually took the time to look around his room properly. It was clean, alright-- a little too "clean" for his liking. His shelves were empty, his desk and drawers were emptied out, and he was missing several clothes from his closet.

“Okay, joke's over! What did you do to my stuff, you brat?”

“I cleared them out. Mom says you’ll have to sleep out in the streets now.”

“Why you little—“

Mrs. Nam was there to intervene before Woohyun could lunge at the younger boy and start an all-out wrestling match, pulling the two away by their ears despite sharp, pained protests. “Woohyun, don't you even dare!"

"Mom! He's messing with my room again!"

"I said you're sleeping out on the streets-- OW!"

"BOOHYUN, quit picking on your older brother! Didn’t we already discuss this in the car? No, we are definitely not kicking him out of our house, and yes, you still have to share a room with him, whether you like it or not.”

Woohyun’s lower jaw dropped. Sleeping on the streets sounded like a much better option right now. “WHAT?"

“Mom, I don’t want him in my room!" the boy whined cutely in attempt to win his mother over. "Hyung snores and drools in his sleep!”

"And Boohyun thrashes in his sleep and grinds his teeth as well!"

"We won't be able to sleep properly and we'll end up getting sick or doing poorly at school!" the two concluded, pulling out the strongest trump card excuse that they had. At least this was something that the two siblings agreed on. If they put up a united front, then maybe their mother would think about reconsidering.

"I've spoiled the both of you for too long, I think it's high time that you boys settle your differences and work that out together once and for all," Mrs. Nam shot down, her tone implying a sense of finality.

"Wait, mom, what is with all this? Why are you suddenly having me move out? This is my room, I think I have every right to know what's going on!"

“Ah, right, how could I forget that this was your bedroom? Silly me!" Mrs. Nam giggled gingerly before her face straightened into an unpleased look. "Of course I am fully aware that this is your room, sweetie, because I had this house built! And besides, have I not mentioned it to you? We have a very important visitor coming from London-- she's an old, trusted friend of mine, and when we were just starting out with the company, it was her who had lent us a big sum of money as capital. We wouldn't be living this comfortably right now if it weren't for her help, so the least the Nam family could do is show her the best hospitality that we can offer! Did I not tell you that?"

He blinked stupidly, taking those pieces of information for the first time in his life. "No, I don't recall you doing so."

"Well, now you know!" Mrs. Nam concluded before ushering him around. "So come on, help us move your stuff out. Your brother can't lift all these by himself."

"But what about my bathroom? I already asked you about it several times before-- the sink faucet's been broken for ages now!"

"We already had it fixed earlier today. When our guest comes, you'll be using the bathroom downstairs. As for your study area, the balcony would have to do because your brother will be using his desk. It's a little unsightly for our guest if she sees several papers and books scattered around the living room or dining table. Or you can go out to the nearest coffee shop--"

In a fit of rage, Woohyun threw all his books to the floor, not caring if he angered his mother by such a rebellious gesture. He was tired of being treated like a kicktoy in his own household. Instead of being cross, Mrs. Nam was taken aback, shocked that her very affectionate son had acted that way. Even her motherly instinct was telling her that there was something else bothering her first-born. 

"Woohyun! I know you're upset, but you listen here-- it's so hard to reason with you nowadays!" But Woohyun wasn't having any of it, grabbing the remaining hoodie that was hanging on the clothes rack and jogging his way downstairs. He knew he needed to cool his head off momentarily before he blinded himself with anger. His mother was screaming at him from the second landing balcony as he left the house. "Nam Woohyun, you come back here this instant, young man!"

"Let him walk it off, dear. It's for the best," Mr. Nam eased his worrying wife as he walked her back into their house. "Our son is not the type to do anything stupid. He'll come back home safe."

((((( )))))

After minutes of walking, Woohyun ended up inside a quaint coffee shop right outside the outskirts of their residential area. He had made his whereabouts known to their family chauffeur via text message, hoping that he would relay the message to his parents at the very least. Even if he was cross with his mother, he didn't have the heart to make her sick with worry.

Quickly, he pulled the hood of his jacket lower over his eyes and patiently got in line. Woohyun had been so caught up with looking at the menu board that he didn't realize that it was already his turn to place in his order until the girl at the counter spoke up.

"Hi there! Welcome to NIT Coffee! How may I help-- you!?!"

That voice!

He looked up to find Kim Jieun, who had momentarily stammered to a pause, standing at the other end of the counter. She was staring at him in recognition, seemingly surprised by his sudden appearance at her workplace.

"Uh, hi!" Woohyun chirped rather awkwardly, unable to piece himself together.

"Err... hi."

"Um... y-you work here? W-Why are you working?"

Due to his excitement in striking up a conversation, he was unable to watch his words, and they brashly came out in a way that sounded extremely mean and discriminating when he never intended it to. True enough to his suspicion, the girl had read it the wrong way and was seemingly insulted. “Because people like me are not as financially fortunate as you and need to earn our own living just to be able to put something on our dinner table,” Jieun replied with a forced smile. Her snarky reply definitely earned her a good smack to her upper arm from one of her co-workers, who had been zoning in on their conversation. "OW! Luna, did you really have to hit me?"

Jieun's co-worker, Luna, beamed up brightly at him despite such a violent attack. "Sorry about that, she normaly doesn't bite! Jieun will be taking your order now."

"Sorry, it was my fault in the first place, I wasn't thinking straight," Woohyun replied, still a bit disoriented. "Yes, I'll have a venti iced caffè moccha, 50% sugar, less whip cream." He gulped in guilt after that. Jieun's expression was still a bit dark as she took note of the specifics of his order, so he decided not to linger around the counter for too long. The girl went about with her regular shift thereafter, completely ignoring him as if he had never stepped foot into the coffee shop in the first place.

"Hey. Is your friend okay? He hasn't moved from his spot for about an hour now."

It was down-time at the coffee shop now. There had been no new customers for awhile, giving the two girls some time to relax and chat. Jieun finally turned her attention to Woohyun for the first time ever after he had placed in his order. He had been seated by the glass window, brooding and deep in thought.

She recalled how Woohyun had opened up to her about his family problems back then at the infirmary. And she's personally seen how from full-on worship, the entire university had suddenly turned their back against him in favor over one very publicized nasty break-up. In her opinion, it was a pretty petty and childish thing to do for people in the collegiate level. But that was how society was sometimes, volatile

"He is going through some major slump now, to be honest. And just to clarify-- we are not friends, Luna. We just happen to recognize each other from college."

"Are you sure about that? The way he's been staring at you every now and then says otherwise," Luna pointed out. True enough, she had noticed that when Woohyun wasn't busy brooding, he ended up watching over Jieun carefully. "Maybe he likes you?"

Jieun wanted to laugh at the thought from her boy-crazy friend. Woollim's perfect Poster Boy and her? They barely even knew each other, all they had was names attached to faces. "Love?" she scoffed. "I don't have time for something as nonsensical as that."

"Geez, you're so cynical."

"Because it's stupid, the way they think. They only start to revolve around your orbit because--"

"--they're clearly interested--"

"They clearly want something out of you for their personal benefit," Jieun firmly corrected, her bitterness obvious in her tone. "be it your brain, your body, your cash, your fame or whatever secret motive they have, they lure you around with enticing words, and once they have you dancing in the palm of their hands-- once they've milked everything they needed down to the last drop, they leave you in the dirt. It would do you some good if you learned to be skeptical at times instead of being absolutely boy-crazy over every boy you deem hot."

Luna huffed after such a charged argument coming from Jieun's side. "I think I beg to disagree, Ji."

"Really? Watch." From their point-of-view, Woohyun was ogling a little too much at the curvaceous lady that had just left the cafe. After he was done checking her out from head to foot, he quickly got up from his seat and went out to follow her. Exhibit Nam Woohyun was the perfect cookie cut-out example to prove her earlier point. “Boys, Luna? They’re all the same.”

“That’s funny, coming from a girl who hangs out with a bunch of guys for friends. What will Sungjong and the rest say when they hear that?”

“That’s exactly why I can make my claim with such accuracy. Believe me, you’d want to get out of the house when those four swarm into confederation. It's a human rights violation land once they're through.”

“Okay, you win this round Kim Jieun! But really now? Even a decent guy like your super hot older brother?”

“Unfortunately, even my older brother, in some aspects,” Jieun admitted as she folded her apron, placing it on one of the shelves for laundering. “And please don’t call him "hot". It makes me uncomfortable to know that you think of him in that way.”

Jieun was in the middle of pulling a fresh apron out for the person in the next shift to use when Luna began chattering in excitement. She looked up to see what the commotion was and her friend directed her attention back to the glass window, to where Woohyun and the y customer was. He was handing her something and she was profusely thanking him for it.

"That's a passport, Ji!" Luna squealed, "He was only returning it!"

The y customer had signalled about getting Woohyun a cup of coffee as a token of her gratitude, but Woohyun had politely shrugged off her advances and declined, getting back to the seat he had left earlier. That left Jieun pretty stumped. Woohyun had just gone ahead and disproved everything she had said within a few seconds.

"Not all people are like that, Kim Jieun. I hope you'll meet the person who can turn that notion of yours around," Luna smiled, patting her friend's shoulder happily before giving her a light shove in Woohyun's direction. "Well, now that you're off duty, be nice."

Knowing that Luna wouldn't be accepting her back anytime soon until she fixed this, Jieun warily approached Woohyun. She took one glance at his table and noticed that he had barely touched his cup of coffee. "Is it not to your liking?" she calmly spoke up. "Did I not get your order right?"

She had startled him apparently, because he panicked a little. "It's nothing of the sort!" Woohyun mumbled, "I was just busy and--"

"Relax, I'm here to apologize for snapping at you earlier. Sorry you had to see my snarky side."

"I should be the one who's sorry. I was a bit tactless earlier." 

"You seem to be in deep thought. Trouble in paradise?"

He made no response to that. Jieun observed his expression carefully. Woohyun looked even more miserable up close, clearly drowning in depressive thoughts. It was unsettling even for Jieun, who wasn't inside his usual social circle. Somehow she was feeling that unnatural compelling urge to help keep his mind off his problems, even for just a little while.

"Do you believe in magic?"

That got his attention. "We all grow older, Kim Jieun-ssi," Woohyun responded. "It's nothing but simple physics and illusion."

"That's quite a shame."

"But alright then, I'll let you indulge me."

That response seemed to please her. "Are you still using this?" she asked carefully, pointing to the toothpick that was used to pin down the contents of his sandwich. He shook his head and she gingerly picked it up. "Watch carefully. I can make this toothpick disappear into thin air," Jieun announced, holding out the toothpick between her thumb and index finger for him to clearly see. Woohyun's eyes widened afterwards. Although he had his careful attention on her hands, the toothpick vanished right in front of his very eyes with one snap of her fingers.

Ever skeptical to something as childish as magic tricks, Woohyun quickly bent under the table in attempt to find the toothpick, thinking that she had dropped it into her lap or thrown it to the floor in a sleight of hand. There was no sign of it anywhere and he quickly shot back up.

"I admit, you have quick fingers. So where is it?"

"Here?" she asked playfully, reaching forward as if grabbing something out of the air. She did it once more, even wiggling her fingers to show off that it wasn't there, before pulling the toothpick out of thin air once again. "Or here?"

It definitely piqued Woohyun's interest. "Alright, you definitely got me there! How did you do it?"

"That's much better. You're smiling now."

Jieun had continued to impress him with a few more simple tricks in her arsenal after that. Woohyun was hampering her every now and then for a big reveal as to how she did them, but the girl kept shut (A magician never tells her secrets, she mused). Deep down, she was very much glad that he was feeling much better compared to when he first entered the coffee shop.

Woohyun's phone rang, putting their little talent show to a momentary hault. It was his mother. Now that he was no longer hot-headed and angry, he excused himself and immediately picked up. "Mom?"

"Woohyun, it's your brother!" Mrs. Nam's voice spoke through the other line. She sounded like she was in complete hysterics. "He's-- he's ran away! I can't find him down the street or at the Do residence-- I--I can't find your brother anywhere--"

"WHAT?"

"Please Woohyun! He could be lost or hurt!"

He then ended the call, not before reassuring his mother that he was still nearby and that he was going to help out. "Stupid brother!" Woohyun hissed, shooting up from his seat, almost tipping everything on the table over due to his abruptness. "I-I have to go!"

"Hey, your wallet!" Jieun yelped, almost diving to the ground just to catch it. The moment she had righted herself up with his wallet in hand, Woohyun had already left the coffee shop with a hasty, mumbled apology. "HEY!"

Jieun shot a quick look over to Luna and despite her friend being occupied with a customer at the counter, she managed to give a little gesture to usher her off. The street was bustling with people when she exited through the doors and she craned her neck, looking around for any sign of Woohyun. When she finally managed to spot him in the crowd, he was pacing up and down the street frantically, his hair in a disarray and his eyes livid, unsure of where to start looking.

"Hey," she eased, grabbing him by both shoulders. He attempted to shrug her off, telling her that he had no time to lose, but Jieun held on strongly. "Hey, Woohyun. Hey! Nam Woohyun, breathe! Calm down! What's wrong?"

Woohyun briefly relayed the details of his mother's phone call and Jieun listened carefully before making her own input. She knew she only had seconds left to talk sense into him before his patience ran thin.

"You said you lived pretty near here? Within walking distance?"

"Yes."

"And that your eight-year-old brother has ran off on his own?"

Woohyun was starting to get a bit fidgety. "Yeah, but--"

"Do you want to try checking the nearby park first before entertaining more morbid thoughts? The kid couldn't have gotten far."

((((( )))))

"Oh, thank God!"

Jieun's deductive hunch was 100% correct. Over by the park playground was one Nam Boohyun who was leisurely enjoying himself on the swing set. After all, what kid wouldn't be completely gung-ho when he had a whole playground all to himself?

"NAM BOOHYUN!" Woohyun's voice thundered. The kid let out a little yelp and stopped swinging the moment he saw his older brother storming towards him with a dark, angry expression plastered on his face. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS? WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING? GOD KNOWS WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU!"

"Oh, hey hyung."

"Don't 'hey' me so casually! Do you even know how worried mom is?!? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Hyung can run away from home and I can't?" Boohyun huffed loudly, biting his inner cheek. "Isn't it the same for you then? You made mom worry too."

"I wasn't running away!" Woohyun protested. Every now and then, he was gauging Jieun's reaction to see any flashes of ridicule or disgust. But the girl had kept to herself, observing their current conversation from an outsider's point of view.

"Then what were you doing?"

His brother began shooting wary glares at Jieun every now and then; it took awhile before Woohyun got what his brother was implying. His cheeks immediately flushed red hot in embarrassment. "I--uh..."

Boohyun eyed Jieun once more before turning his attention back to Woohyun. "Mother will be hearing about this."

It pissed him off that his obstinate little brother had the last word to their argument. Woohyun could see it all now, it was going to be impossible to convince the kid to come home. He was going to have to resort to force, and that's sure to leave him with a huge migraine for the rest of the night.

"Hey, that's a pretty cool shirt you've got there," Jieun suddenly pointed out as she squatted to meet the younger boy's eye level. "Fan of Iron Man?"

"My brother told you that, didn't he?" Boohyun replied, but Woohyun just looked puzzled. How Jieun figured that out by looking at a mere shirt had him stumped. His brother's shirt wasn't even in the trademark red and gold that Iron Man donned on. It was pitch black almost entirely, except for the light blue pattern right in the chest area.

"No, it's your shirt, definitely. That's the vibranium arc reactor you've got right there," Jieun mentioned confidently, lightly prodding on the triangle in the middle of the circle pattern. And as if that piece of information wasn't impressive enough-- "Judging from the design, this was the new model used to power up the Mark VI, right after the whole palladium poisoning incident. You definitely look like a walking Tony Stark... well, minus the beard."

"Wow!" Boohyun interjected, amazed by Jieun's display of knowledge, and he got up from the swing he was sitting on. "Is Iron Man your favorite Avenger too?"

"Mine's Spiderman! Though Iron Man definitely comes a close second."

"Spiderman wasn't even in the Avengers movie," Woohyun cuts in with a small pout thereafter, a little upset that she was easily striking up a conversation with her brother, whereas it took her ages and one Kang Minho to just simply acknowledge his presence.

"Ah, that's where all you non-comic book readers are wrong. He's been an honorary member since 1991, and he would have made a great addition to the Avengers cast if not for the whole Marvel-Sony exclusivity dispute."

Boohyun beamed up at her afterwards. “You are definitely worthy of wielding Mjolnir, noona! Whoops— is it alright if I call you noona?” Woohyun could only watch in amusement as Jieun agreed to his little brother's request. Well, this was some progression in terms of Boohyun’s social skills. He never called Hyomin that despite the daily Herculean effort the girl made to befriend him. Here he was meeting Kim Jieun for the first time and he had already taken to calling her 'noona'. "You like Thor too?!? Awesome!"

"How about you come home with your hyung and we'll talk about it more on the way?"

"Okay, noona!"

After hearing Boohyun's confirmatory message, Jieun secretly sent a thumbs-up over to Woohyun to subtly tell him that everything was under control now and he could go ahead and bring the boy home. While the kid continued to chatter on excitedly about the Marvel Universe, Woohyun dialled up his mother. "Hello, mom? I found him, alright-- no, he's completely fine, he's not hurt. We're on our way home, so please don't worry anymore, okay?"

"MY BABIES! I WAS SO WORRIED!"

All this time, Mrs. Nam had been pacing at the garage out of worry while Mr. Nam parked the sedan and the moment she spotted the two of them coming through the gate, she immediately threw her arms around her sons one at a time, hugging them tightly. Once she was done peppering them with hugs and kisses, she reached out for the two of them simultaneously... and began dragging them both by the ears back inside the house. "What were you two thinking?!? I didn't rear you both to worry me this way!" she began to nag over embarrassed yelps from her sons.

"Ow! OW! Mom, this is seriously not the right time for this!"

"Mom. Mom! Not in front of our guest!"

"Guest? What guest?" Mrs. Nam whirled around to find Jieun still standing by the gate and she quickly let go of her sons. The girl could only give an awkward bow in response. "Hi, I'm sorry you had to see that-- it's tough love, rearing up two mischievous boys. And this is?"

"Good evening, I'm Kim Jieun. It's nice to meet you."

"Mom, Jieun-noona's a good friend of hyung's!" Boohyun piped.

"Jieun goes to the same university as me," Woohyun added. "She--uhh-- helped me find Boohyun earlier."

That was enough to enamor Mrs. Nam already and she began thanking the girl and apologizing profusely for causing her some inconvenience. "It's no problem, really. I happened to be there and really, I have nothing important on my schedule," Jieun tried to ease, but the elderly lady was already ushering her inside the Nam mansion. The girl turned to Woohyun for help, but he was silently chuckling in her wake, nodding to tell her that it would be fine.

"Come in, come in! It's very rare that Woohyun brings in his friends from school. Well, except Howon and Sungyeol, that is!"

Out of gratitude, Mr. and Mrs. Nam insisted that she stayed over for dinner. How could Jieun say no when they had already set the place up? Mrs. Nam had prepared a feast for the two boys as a sign of her apology to them, and true enough, the table was ladden with their respective favorites. Jieun noticed that Woohyun barely spoke the whole time, politely speaking up only when he was addressed to. Then again, Mr. and Mrs. Nam didn't talk about their children much and was more interested on topics like their business, the current government and the financial state of the country, especially after hearing that Jieun was majoring in Economics. That got the conversation going, aside from the fact that they were also enamored with her formal use of speech and politeness.

At downtime after dinner, Boohyun had also taken to showing off his prized action figure collection. The boy was busy clearing it away when Jieun finally managed to catch Woohyun alone by the living room.

"Your family is nice," she whistled.

"That's only because you're around. Of course everyone would put their best foot forward," Woohyun replied in dejection. The girl decided to leave at that, respecting his train of thought. Of course, only Woohyun would truly know because he's around them daily, so she felt she wasn't entitled to give her opinions. But Nam Boohyun, on the other hand, was a different story.

“Okay, let's take it your way then, but Boohyun--have you even tried talking to your brother? You know, like actually start a decent conversation with him without calling him ‘brat’? The kid probably just want your undivided attention, that’s all,” Jieun advised. "Take it from me, it's innately a younger sibling thing. Back then, I used to pester my brother all the time by contesting his shower singing with off-key notes of my own--"

“You have an older brother?” Woohyun asked out of sheer curiousity, cutting into their conversation. Jieun looked at him weirdly after that, expecting him to throw the punchline of his joke any time soon. When he made no response, she looked all the more bothered, just as if he had just asked her to do a whole school year's load of term papers.

"Really now?" she asked calmly. "You... didn't know?"

"No, I wouldn't have guessed! You give off that only-child vibe to me," he chuckled lightly.

"Do you really not know who-- scratch that, is it really not obvious?" Jieun asked, her tone bordering confusion and slight frustration.

Woohyun merely shook his head. "You should introduce me to him someday! Something tells me your brother's a pretty cool guy."

She honestly could not believe the words that were coming out of his mouth right now, but Woohyun sounded so sincere, putting her all her growing doubts aside. And speaking of older brother...

Jieun glanced at her watch and it was nearing nine in the evening. Her part-time shift ended two hours ago, meaning her brother was expecting her to have arrived home hours ago as well. If by some miracle, he had gone home before she did, she was definitely in big trouble. "I have to head back to the coffee shop! Like, right now!" she gasped in complete panic.

"I'll walk you back!"

"Thanks, Woohyun, but there's really no need. I'll be fine!"

She began bidding her goodbyes to the family soon thereafter. Woohyun's parents insisted to drive her back but Jieun politely refused, saying that it was too much kindness for one day.

"So, I'll see you around, yes?" Woohyun asked, sounding a bit too hopeful than he wanted to let on, as he saw her to their gate.

Jieun only gave him a knowing smile in response. "Do me a favor and be nice to Boohyun."

"Boohyun?" Woohyun huffed. "Whatever. I'll start if he starts being nice to me!"

The girl wanted to about how he had worried his head off earlier, but she figured Woohyun was already aware of the point she was trying to drive at. And she had her own brother to worry about as well. "You'll be fine, Nam Woohyun. Like I said, your family is nice."

Woohyun watched her carefully until she made her turn at the end of their road and finally disappeared, feeling quite uneasy that she was going on her own like that.

"Here."

He looked to see Boohyun holding up a hoodie and cap for him. "You--" Woohyun mumbled, a bit confused as to why he was doing this. The younger boy only pushed the clothing articles closer towards him.

"I'm not going to tell mom, don't worry. Just make sure noona's safe. You'll never know when she might need her own superhero!"

Smiling, he quickly ruffled the kid's hair in affection, putting the jacket and cap on before proceeding to follow after her in secret, making sure he remained unsuspected. Sure, it was a bit stalker-ish, but he just wanted to make sure she got back alright. He watched her cross the street to the coffee shop from a distance before deciding it was time to head back home before his mother started worrying again.

He was just about to make his way back in when he almost ran straight into his father, who had apparently caught onto his drift and waited for him outside their house. "Did you walk her back?" his father asked as he cleared his throat.

"Err... sort of. She didn't want me to. She comes off as the polite, stubborn, headstrong type," Woohyun responded before blinking. Before he knew it, his father had slung a friendly arm around his shoulder, giving him a couple of reassuring pats.

"It's nice to know that you're making other friends in school, son. That you're with good people. At least I don't have to worry about you so much any more," Mr. Nam admitted with a wistful twinkle in his eye. "You've grown up to be a responsible young man and I'm proud of you."

It felt so nice to hear his father's approval once again after the longest time now. Woohyun couldn't contain the warmth radiating from his chest and he ended up smiling from ear to ear after that remark. "I still have a long way to go, but thanks, Dad. It means a lot to hear that."

"Now come on! Who's up for Round 2 of your mother's cooking?"

((((( )))))

"You look rather winded," Luna teased the moment Jieun tumbled through the backdoor entrance of the coffee shop, gasping heavily, her hair in a complete disarray. Jieun held up one finger, indicating she needed a minute to catch her breath from all that brisk walking. "So, how did your date with Mr. McDreamy go?"

"Date?" Jieun barely breathed, "What date?"

"You took an hour and thirty minutes to give the guy's wallet back, Jieun. Sure, that's not a date," Luna giggled, ignoring the cross stare that her friend gave her.

"Look, I got to him on time but the guy's kid brother hadn't come home from playing. I got recruited last-minute into the search party and his parents insisted that I join them for dinner as a token of appreciation."

"Wow, that escalated quickly! You're already meeting up with the family?"

"LUNA!" Jieun practically squeaked and the other girl took it as a hint to give up on the teasing, at least for today.

"By the way, your extremely hot brother called up while you were out because his precious baby sister wasn't answering her phone," her friend admitted. Jieun instantly paled at the revelation, anxious that her worst fears would come true. "I told him you decided to work overtime and that you were currently busy. Aren't I such a nice friend? Forgive me for teasing?"

"Forgiven! But not a word to my brother about this. Don't even breathe it!"

"Oh, I don't know. What's in it for me if I keep it a secret?"

"Well, if he gets extra pissed, I could be eternally tethered to my house as a consequence and you'll lose your only ticket of getting to see him on an almost daily basis--"

"OKAY! Okay, you win!"

"Hey Ji! Ready to head home?"

A new voice rang through, putting their conversation to a momentary hault. Luna gave a loud yelp and immediately began to fix herself, smoothing out stray strands of hair and grabbing some lip gloss that she had in her pocket in case of emergency situations such as this. The other female staff on shift did the same at the sound of his smooth, honeyed voice alone. Standing patiently at the other end of the counter was Kim Jieun's older brother, Kim Sunggyu. Clad in a black leather jacket, a white v-neck and jeans, he had his electric guitar case slung over his right shoulder.

Jieun leapt up from the counter top she was leaning on, trying hard not to smile. "You said you were busy today."

"What, am I not allowed to get out of my gig early just to see you?" Sunggyu replied with an affectionate grin.

This time, Jieun couldn't help but mirror his facial expression, beaming widely herself. "I guess that's my cue to leave. My date's here," she jokingly brought up, quickly bidding her coworkers goodbye before scrambling to grab her backpack from the employee's area.

"I hope our Jieun-ie didn't give you too much trouble today," Sunggyu continued, giving the rest of the staff a polite bow. "Thank you for placing her under your care."

This was an almost-daily occurrence here at the NIT. Coming from either his part-time job or a gig, Sunggyu would always stop by so he could walk home with his sister. Before Sunggyu would leave, he would always make sure to thank the rest of Jieun's co-workers for their hard work. Frankly, they should have grown accustomed to the kind gesture by now and pass it off as good manners, but it was hard to contain their emotions when Kim Sunggyu was so gentlemanly and good-looking. Even Jieun's guy co-workers found him pretty cool.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Luna-ssi. New lipgloss? It looks better on you," Sunggyu added silently, giving her a small wink. Luna felt her knees melting into a puddle of goo after that compliment and she had to hold onto the counter before she could fall over.

Jieun was back with her bag in hand. "Hey, want some coffee for the road before we leave? It's on me!"

"Maybe I'll take you up on your offer some other time, Ji. I was thinking more of a stop-over at the convenience store for some ice cream today," Sunggyu mused, laughing when he saw his sister's face light up.

"You spoil me too much!"

"That's why I'm the best, aren't I? Now come on, let's go home!"

Sunggyu definitely did not dissappoint regarding his promise for ice cream-- he took the extra mile and bought a whole tub for the two of them to share. Jieun deduced that he must have gotten a bigger pay than the usual today and offered to pay for it, wanting him to use his extra income for his own expenses but her brother insisted. In the end, she let him do as he pleased. On the way home, Sunggyu began humming a tune which Jieun soon joined in after.

Somewhere along the way, Jieun's thoughts started to trail off to a certain idiot. From their first encounter, she had always questioned Woohyun's sudden and well-timed "friendliness". She believed that she was only there for the main intent of weeding the opposite camp's information out of her, which was why she intentionally acted so distant towards him.  At first, she didn't even believe the pity card he threw in but after today's big reveal, she thought otherwise. The big twist was that Nam Woohyun really had no clue that her brother was his archnemesis Kim Sunggyu after all. And after seeing him and his family, she was somewhat certain that his intentions all this time had been sincere.

"Someone looks like she had a good day today," he pointed out. Sunggyu didn't miss out on the fact that his sister seemed to be in high-spirits. There was a spring in each step she made, to the point that she was almost skipping, which he found rather adorable.

"Ah it's nothing much. Just some realization that people aren't shallow and bad as they seem," Jieun responded with a rather dreamy tone. "I think my faith in humanity was restored today."

"Oi, Jieun. That better not be because of some other boy!" Sunggyu grumbled, crossing his arms as he pouted like a puppy. Jieun wanted to laugh at that-- to think he was the older sibling!

"Gyu, this is why I'm going to die an old, fat spinster with seventy-two cats! Ah, with one giant hamster of a brother, too!"

"HEY!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Gyu-- stop seething, you big baby, our icecream is going to melt! No, don't open that-- what are you thinking?!? We definitely CANNOT eat Zorro's share! HEY!!!"

((((( )))))

The last thing he needed was another encounter with that asswipe Kang Minho and the rest of his wannabe gang. They had gotten more arrogant now that Minho had the sympathy of the whole school, highly thanks to Park Hyomin, and especially right after the whole fist fight Woohyun, Hoya and Sungyeol were on their way to their usual hangout and the gang had ran into them in the hallway. With their newfound confidence, they started their sad attempt of goading the three on.

What a way to ruin my good morning, Woohyun thought miserably.

"It's nice to see those bruises on your pretty face have healed up well, Nam. Shall we instill fresh ones?" Minho whispered dangerously, keeping the conversation between themselves and out of earshot to the public. True to what Jieun had told him, their one-sided fist fight was hushed up and word had not spread at all, save for a close few friends.

"I'm not in the mood for this. Get out of my way, Kang. I have more important matters to attend to," Woohyun replied, politely brushing the guy aside but he found himself immediately blocked by a mousy boy whose size was indirectly proportionate to the scary, aggressive look on his face.

"Look at you, still talking big like you're the king of this school. When Minho-hyung runs for President, he's going to beat your sorry in--"

The freshman immediately covered his mouth, saying much more than he was supposed to. His companions were dragging him roughly to the back, but the damage had been done. Everything finally clicked to Woohyun now that the puzzle pieces were starting to be completed. It seemed that Minho wanted to keep this thing under the wraps for awhile longer, judging by the way he was acting. He was using Park Hyomin's break-up as a propelling agent and Kim Jieun knew of his intent from the start, which was why she was personally sought out. But why Kim Jieun, of all people? Why would it concern her? Woohyun couldn't connect her to the picture just yet.

"Ah, so that's why you're so edgy around me lately!" Woohyun exclaimed in a loud voice, his pluck shocking the hell out of Minho and his cronies. "All these personal attacks on me--you could have said it earlier that you were contesting for the position of Student Council president as well! I would have completely understood."

His highly publicized ramblings managed to catch the attention of several people present and this time, the crowd began talking again, this time, with Kang Minho in the hotseat. Woohyun could feel himself burning up in excitement as the adrenaline rush got to him. So this is what it felt like to be on the other end of the equation. He had to admit, there was some kind of thrill in exacting revenge in the same way that his ridicule was handed over.

"Nam, you bastard--"

"I was only doing you a favor. It's instant publicity for your campaigning! Aren't I extra nice for an opponent?"

"W-What are you?" Kang Minho spat, his tone laced with more fear and embarrassment than he wanted to let on. With one last fidgety gulp, he began ushering his gang away from the hallway, parting the sea of people that had gathered as he stormed out in anger and humiliation.

"Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!" Woohyun howled out in glee after the guy just to spite him. His sharp comment had definitely attracted more attention than he thought it would have garnered-- Kim Jieun's. Call it coincidence, she had passed by the hallway, barely witnessing the fanfare. Despite that, sh was able to recognize who had spoken up. Their eyes met momentarily and Woohyun saw something that made him question whether he was dreaming or not. He wanted to pinch himself just to make sure but that seemed like the stupidest thing to do right now.

She smiled. Kim Jieun smiled at him today. In fact, she even let out a small chuckle, clearly amused by the Spiderman reference. And his chest was starting to hammer erratically in malfunction due to such a strange occurrence. As if it hadn't happened, Jieun took things out from her locker and fixed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder before moving on to the library. Hoya and Sungyeol stopped laughing and looked at each other before turning back to Woohyun for an explanation.

"Did Kim Jieun... just smile at you?" Hoya asked, unable to believe what had just happened. His ability to form coherent sentences had failed him momentarily. "I thought--- you said she wouldn't budge-- but more importantly, did she just--? She laughed at your joke-- I'm so confused."

"Something happened behind the scenes, am I right? Something clearly happened and you haven't been telling us!" Sungyeol squawked, repeatedly nudging Woohyun's shoulder (and eventually Woohyun, due to the force applied) forward. Woohyun finally gave in, nodding in agreement to his friend's statement. "That's great! You've already have half the battle won on your road to redemption!"

"And not only that! Look what the cat dragged in!" Hoya pointed out and they directed their attention to one far end corner. Park Hyomin was quietly lurking, her expression dark after having observed that quick interaction between the two. Right now she was glaring daggers in an attempt to bore through the back of Kim Jieun's head until she noticed the trio staring at her. Her look immediately turned docile before she scampered off elsewhere.

No way? Over something as small as that? Was she actually... jealous?

"Hate to say it, Yeol, but you might actually be right," Hoya concluded before turning his attention back to Woohyun. "I say you go for it, dude."

Woohyun could only process what had transpired in sheer amazement. Sungyeol's game plan was turning out to be quite accurate so far, down to the last detail of it. If the chain of events held true, then he might actually have a shot at gaining his reputation back.

"Ready to re-commence Plan A, Captain?" Sungyeol cheered.

 An excited smirk lit Woohyun's face, his drive and motivation now rekindled, overshadowing the possible consequences that it would toll onto his newly-formed friendship with Kim Jieun.

"What re-commence? The game, my friend, is already on." 

A/N: Hi, thank you for patiently waiting, here's a long chapter as my peace offering! The douchebag game is strong in this one! How is Jieun related to the whole Kang Minho issue? Is Sungyeol a genius or an idiot, and will his road-to-redemption plan work out? Who's your favorite superhero? And will Woohyun ever see the error of his ways before it's too late? Keep posted for answers in the upcoming chapters! Also, feel free to comment away while you're at it! :)

Also, for the disappearing toothpick magic trick, feel free to look up videos on Youtube for the big reveal. I won't post any links here-- let's give our magician Kim Jieun the benefit of doubt, shall we?