“Are you sitting down?” Inyoung screams. “I have amazing news for you!”

It’s the following night and I’m mopping around my room. I’m still feeling awful about Chanhee. He seems so disappointed in me. In fact, he’s been going out of his way to avoid me. He didn’t walk with me to school; he got a ride from Tiffany’s mom instead. And after class he hung around in the library until my mom could pick him up.

It’s depressing that he doesn’t want to be around me. I don’t know what to do to win back his trust.

“All right, I’m sitting down now.” I flop back on my bed.

“You’re gonna freak out when you hear this!”

“Freak out good or freak out bad?”

“FREAK OUT GOOD!” Inyoung yells.

I hold the phone away from my ear. “Geez, can you keep it down? I have a headache.” I’m not trying to be grumpy. But I feel so bummed out.

“Your headache is about to magically disappear when I tell you this. Guess what?”

“What?” I play along.

“Lee Sungyeol likes you!”

“Shut up,” I groan. But, secretly, I’m intrigued. “Why do you think he likes me? I already told you that day at Pike’s wasn’t a date.”

“Maybe not. But I bet Sungyeol wishes it was!”

I sigh. As much as I want to believe it’s true, I just can’t. “Inyoung, where are you getting all this?”

“A-hem,” she clears . “Go to MySpace.”

I move over to my computer and type the website into my browser. “Okay, what am I looking for?”

“Sungyeol’s profile.”

I log in and call up Sungyeol’s profile page. And there, right smack dab at the top, is a picture of me.

“Oh my God!” I shriek, nearly dropping the phone. I’m in Lee Sungyeol’s Top Eight! Not only that, but I’m number two! I’ve even displaced Tiffany! Out of all two hundred and sixty-seven people on Lee Sungyeol’s MySpace Friends’ list, I rate second.

It’s thrilling, all right, but part of me still feels sad. Until I get things worked out with Chanhee, I won’t feel right.

---

Things continue to be awkward with Chanhee, so I spend the next couple of days avoiding him altogether. Instead, I throw myself into my article for the Courier. Writing about plumbing is pretty much the dullest thing on the planet. Now I understand how Mom felt when she got saddled with all those craptastic assignments for the St. Louis Observer. No wonder she wanted to become a columnist.

I interview the assistant principal, the head of maintenance, and a few of the teachers who use that bathroom a lot. Everyone is really nice and forthcoming—with one exception. The creepy substitute teacher, Mr. Lee Soo Man, bites my head off when I try to talk to him.

“I know you want to be a hotshot journalist like your mother, but I don’t have time for this,” he says, literally shutting his classroom door in my face. Jerk! Mr. Jung would never do a thing like that. I swear, Mr. Lee is the worst teacher I’ve ever had. He’s mean, arrogant and he doesn’t even seem to know the material.

I finally finish my article and turn it in to our managing editor, Minho, before school on Thursday. I’ve just left the Courier newsroom when I run into Sungyeol.

“Hey!” he says, giving me a high five. He holds my hand for a second and squeezes it. “Did you hear the good news?”

“What good news?”

“You cousin’s got a date with Tiffany,” Sungyeol says.

My jaw drops. “He does?”

“Yeah, they’re going to the Valentine’s dance.” Sungyeol gins from ear to ear.

It looks like Mom was wrong. Chanhee and I don’t have a connection after all. I shake the thought out of my head. It doesn’t matter. I’ve got Sungyeol. Wonderful, beautiful Lee Sungyeol. Lee Sungyeol who put me in his Top Eight on MySpace. Lee Sungyeol who hugged me the other day. I shouldn’t even care about Chanhee...

“Give Chunji my congrats. A few weeks at Cop-a-Feel, and he’s already dating Tiffany Hwang. That’s some accomplishment.”

I stand there, dumbfounded.

“So I was thinking, this works out perfectly,” Sungyeol says, ignoring my pained expression. “Why don’t you tell your parents you’re staying at Tiffany’s house the night of the dance. And then Tiffany can tell hers that she’s staying with you.”

“Huh?” I stare at him, confused. “Why would I need to do that?”

“That way you can spend the night at my house,” he says, bumping his hip against mine. “You know, after the dance.”

I stare at him. “Are you asking me to go to the dance with you?” I say at last.

“Well, duh,” Sungyeol replies, as if it were totally obvious.

“So your parents are out of town or something?” A horrible feeling washes over me.

“No, they’ll be there. But they don’t care what I do. We can have the whole downstairs to ourselves. And, of course, we’ll have the privacy of my bedroom.” He winks at me.

“Oh.” I swallow hard. “I see.”

“So, are you up for it?” He leans down and brushes his lips gently against mine. For a moment, I feel myself melt into his kiss. Then we pull apart, and he says, “Don’t worry, Joonie, I have thick walls.”

“Thick walls,” I repeat, unable to stomach where this conversation is going. Please don’t let him mean that. Please don’t let things turn out this way. I’m not sure how to respond. “I don’t know, maybe.”

Sungyeol tips his head down and looks me in the eyes. “Come on, don’t be a baby. Your cousin and Tiffany are totally up for that.”

I feel sick. “They are?”

“Hell, yeah. All the guys score at the Valentine’s dance. It’s tradition.”

I take a deep breath and finally my brain starts to kick in. I can’t believe how wrong I was about this guy. “Sungyeol, I’m sorry, but I’m just not up for that.”

He shrugs. “Suit yourself. But you’re missing out. Big time.”

“I think I’ll manage,” I tell him snidely.

Sungyeol snickers. “I’m not the kind of guy to say ‘I told you so,’ which is why I’m going to get this out in the open right now. If you pass on this opportunity, Joonie, you’ll regret it.”

Now I’m starting to get pissed off. “Excuse me?”

“I’m just sayin’ that if you let me get away you’ll live to regret it. Girls always do.”

I can’t believe how cocky he is! Why did I never notice this before? “Let you get away?” I demand, feeling my anger grow. “So, what, you’re telling me if I don’t spend the night at your house, then our date is off?”

He shakes his head. “Of course not. But I don’t know if I’ll be up for going out with you again. It will kind of be over before it starts.”

“You know something,” I say, fixing him with my best pissed-off glare, “I think it already is.”

Maybe all the TV watching and spy training have paid off. Sungyeol looks completely stunned, as though I’ve just zinged him with a Sydney Bristow-style kick.

It’s a great line to exit on. So I push my way out of the newsroom and tear off down the hall.

---

“At least you found out what an he is now,” Inyoung says, when I catch up with her in the bathroom a few minutes later. Through tears I manage to tell her about my breakup with Sungyeol. Can it even be called a breakup when we weren’t officially going out?

“Maybe it’s not what you think about Chunji. Maybe Tiffany bullied him into going,” Inyoung continues. “It’s probably not a real date. They’re probably just going as friends.”

“Well, hello, girls,” Tiffany says, coming into the bathroom. I swear to God, that girl has impeccable timing. She always knows exactly how to show up and make a bad situation worse.

“Big plans for the weekend?” she asks, taking out a tube of Lip Venom plumper from her purse. “Oh, wait, I forgot. You two wenches are dateless for the big dance tomorrow night. I hear you blew it with Sungyeol.”

I ignore her. I couldn’t care less what she has to say.

Unfortunately, Inyoung takes the bait.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re choosing to go without dates.”

This isn’t exactly true. We’re more dateless by default. Byunghun is home sick with strep throat, and I’ve officially ditched Lee Sungyeol. There aren’t a lot of options at this point.

“Just because you tricked Chunji into taking you is no reason to be so smug,” Inyoung rants. “He’s probably regretting the second he said yes to you. If he weren’t such a gentleman I bed he’d take it back.”

Tiffany bursts out laughing, and then covers as if trying to hide it.

“What’s so funny?” Inyoung demands, squaring off against her.

“Nothing. It’s just kind of humorous how clueless you two are. My God, Heejoon, Chunji is your cousin and you barely know him at all! You spend all this time trying to pal around him. Yet everyone can see how much he can’t stand you.”

“Shut up, Hwang,” Inyoung says, waving her hand dismissively. “What do you know?”

“I know plenty.” Tiffany stands in front of the mirror, carefully applying Lip Venom to her already pouty mouth. “And trust me, Chunji can’t stand either one of you.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Please. Of what? I have a date for the dance, unlike you two losers. You and Byunghun are kaput,” she says, pointing a finger at Inyoung, “and Heejoon completely threw herself at Lee Sungyeol only to get a big fat rejection.”

“I did not throw myself at him!” I say hotly. “He asked me to go to the dance and I called it off when I realized what his real intentions were.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” Tiffany purses her lips in front of the mirror. Thanks to Lip Venom, is now reaching Angelina Jolie proportions. “This stuff tingles when you put it on. It’s supposed to feel awesome when you kiss someone while you’re wearing it. I guess I’ll find out when I kiss Chunji at the dance. You know something?” she says, as she heads out the door. “I’ve never broken up a family before. Friendships, yes, boyfriends and girlfriends, yes. But a family? That’s a new one. Should be fun.”

---

For the rest of the week, all anyone can talk about is Chanhee and Tiffany. Whenever a hot new couple debuts at school, they instantly become the center of attention. I try not to let the gossip get to me, but it’s hard. I know the second I see Chanhee and Amber together, I’m going to lose it. So the next day, when I catch sight of Chanhee coming into the cafeteria , I bolt. I leave my half-eaten chicken sandwich sitting on the table and I run out into the hall.

“Heejoon, wait!” Chanhee calls, coming up behind me.

I can’t talk to him now—I’m not ready. I need some time to cool down. I take off running and don’t stop until I’ve rounded the corner and ducked into the safety of the newsroom. The other staffers are at lunch, which is good since I don’t feel like talking to anybody. I plop down in front of one of the computers and throw my head in my hands. I take a few deep breaths to steady my nerves. I don’t know why I feel so emotional about all this. So what if Chanhee goes out with Tiffany? It’s not like he’s my boyfriend. We’ve only known each other a couple of weeks. And I don’t even have any reason to think that he likes me, except for what my mom said. And she’s my mom! She thinks every teenage guy should see my inner beauty. So there’s no reason for me to be upset about this. No reason at all.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

“What?” I look up to find Chanhee standing in front of me. I didn’t even hear him come in.

“It’s an expression my dad uses whenever he wants to know what’s on my mind.”

I stand up and turn toward the door. “I better be going. I have to get to class.”

“Come on, don’t give me that,” Chanhee says. “There’s still twenty minutes left during lunch. Can we talk for a minute?” His voice is really soft all of a sudden.

“Yeah,” I say, even though I don’t feel like discussing this. “I thought you were mad at me.”

He shakes his head. “I was. For a little while. But then I realized, after what you’d been through... everybody makes mistakes.”

I shrug. “I didn’t mean to go after Tiffany like that. Well, I guess I did. Look, I know she’s your girlfriend now and all, but there’s a lot of stuff you don’t know about her. She’s not a nice person, Chan—Chunji. I don’t mean to bad-mouth her, but I feel like I have to warn you.”

“My girlfriend?” he repeats, looking confused. “Man, things get twisted. There’s a crazy rumor going around school that I am dating Tiffany Hwang,” Chanhee says, brushing a lock of hair off his face. “That’s what I came here to tell you. I’m not dating her.”

“You’re not?”

“She asked me to the dance yesterday morning—as friends. Nothing more. I thought it would be fun. But I don’t want anything more with her.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” I snort. “Every guy in school would give his right arm for a date with Tiffany. Well, except the gay ones.”

“What am I waiting for?” Chanhee asks. “Your dad would say the same thing. He keeps encouraging me to ‘blend in,’ go on dates, be a normal teenager.”

I sigh. “Yep, that’s part of the plan.”

“And I’m okay with that,” Chanhee says. He steps forward until he’s right beside me. “But I don’t want to date Tiffany.”

My pulse starts to speed up. It’s electrifying being this close to him. “You don’t?”

“No.” He looks me straight in the eyes. “I like someone else.”

I can barely breathe. It’s happening. It’s really happening. I can feel it—that unmistakable moment when you know someone is about to kiss you. He takes my hands and slowly pulls me to him.

“Heejoon,” Chanhee says, his voice slightly above a whisper. He cups my face in his hands and moves closer, until we’re almost touching. Then he leans in slowly and his lips brush against mine. This kiss is soft and gentle, and it feels so good I think I might die. When he kisses me the whole world disappears. I can’t hear the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead, or smell the chemicals coming from the newspaper darkroom. I’m not aware of anything but him.

Chanhee kisses me for a minute and then pulls away. He holds my hands in his, rubbing his fingers over my palm. “Did you feel...?” he asks, his voice trailing off. “Was it...?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “Amazing.” I gaze at him for a moment. “I can’t believe it. I thought you just saw me as an annoying little sister type who’s always tripping over herself.”

Chanhee laughs. “Are you kidding? Heejoon, you are so funny and fun to be with. You’re nothing like the other girls I know, who only care about my parents’ money or the way I look. Being with you is so easy and natural. You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

“That’s how I feel about you, too,” I tell him.

Chanhee lets out a big sigh and sinks back against the wall. “So what happens now?”

“I don’t know.”

We stare at each other.

“You’ll be leaving soon,” I say. I can sense a lump forming in my throat. This is not the conversation I want to be having right now. I just want to bask in the awesomeness of it all.

“I will.”

“And we’re supposedly, um, cousins.” The second I say it I feel kind of sick. Why in the world did I bring that up? Am I trying to ruin the mood?

He drops my hands. “In other words, this isn’t going to work.”

“Chanhee, I wish it could,” I say. I have to choke the words out. “But I don’t see how it possibly can. There are too many obstacles.”

“Okay, then. That’s what I needed to know.” He looks hurt. “I’d better go.” He turns and leaves. I follow him out the door.

“Chan—Chunji!” I say, catching myself just in time. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he calls over his shoulder, but keeps walking. I slump against the wall and bow my head.

“Kim.” I look up and find Inyoung staring at me. I’ve never seen her so shocked. “I saw you.”

Oh, no! Please, tell me this is a bad dream.

“I saw you kissing Chunji. Kissing your cousin,” she says.

I chew on my lower lip. I have no answer for her. There’s nothing I can possibly say.

“Hold on a second. He’s... he’s not your cousin, is he?” Inyoung says, the realization dawning on her.

I don’t respond. I can’t. My head is spinning and my lips are still tingling from the kiss. And I’m scared. Terrified.

“What’s going on?” Inyoung asks, her hands on her hips. “’Cause you sure haven’t been telling me the truth.”

“I’ll tell you everything later,” I swear. “As soon as I can.”

“Why are you being so secretive?”

“It’s so complicated,” I say. I need to sit down. My knees are weak. I try to focus on the situation at hand. We’ve been busted. There’s no way I can continue lying to Inyoung. But I can’t tell her here. It’s too risky. “Please, just give me some time,” I say. “I can’t say anything right now, but I’ll tell you everything soon. It will all make sense, I swear.”

She looks worried. “Whoa... you’re serious.”

I nod. “I swear to God, Inyoung, I would do it now if I could. It’ll all be clear soon. But for the moment, please don’t tell anyone what you saw,” I whisper. “If you do, it could endanger Chunji’s life.”

“Don’t worry,” Inyoung says, making a zipping motion across . “My lips are sealed.”

I give her a quick hug. “Thanks, you’re the best.”

---

Dad is waiting for me when I get home from school. I’m surprised to see him. He usually doesn’t get off work until later in the day. He’s decked out in a ridiculous pastel green jogging suit with purple stripes down the side. He’s obviously been home for a while. Dad wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something like this to the office.

Now that I think about it, he’s been coming home early a lot lately. I guess they’re cutting him some slack since, technically, he’s brought his work home with him. Protecting Chanhee is a twenty-four-hour-a-day job.

“Heejoon, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asks when I come in the front door. He motions for me to follow him.

“Yeah, no prob.” I trail after Dad into the living room.

He brushes a stack of condoms aside—props for Mom’s column—and sits down at the desk. “I know this is personal, but we really need to talk.”

Uh-oh. This can’t be good. Maybe he somehow found out about the kiss and he knows Chanhee’s cover is blown!

“Chunji told me Tiffany asked him to the Valentine’s Day dance,” Dad continues. “He also told me about the situation between you two.”

I gulp. “He did?”

“Yes. And I know this is hard for you, Heejoon, but you have to distance yourself from Chunji. You can’t get personally attached. And you certainly can’t date him. That would never work with Chunji’s cover. And, unfortunately, his cover takes precedence over everything else. You have to put his safety first.”

I sink down on the couch. “Bow how am I supposed to distance myself? It’s a little tricky considered he’s living here.”

Dad shakes his head. “I don’t mean physically. I mean emotionally. That’s one of the first thing they teach you in the FBI. Never get emotionally involved in your cases. It will lead to failure every time.”

I pick a piece of lint off my skirt. “It will?”

“Yes, it will. Every single time.”

It’s ironic, really. I spent all this time preparing for my new undercover life. I watched films, I studied the Ultimate Spy Manual. But I broke the number one rule of being a secret agent. I got emotionally involved.

- - -

I actually took a week to finished writing this long- chapter. And I finally did it! Yay to me! xD Hah! Lee Sungyeol is such a jerk. Not the RL Sungyeol, of course. Sungyeol is a Choding. x) Anyway! Since I'm in a good mood today, I'll give you Myung's GIF that made my ovaries went *BOOM!*, literally. Haha.

Byyeeee-yeeoomm~!!!! *Off spazzing over Teen Top*