"What do you mean?" I frowned and watched as Krystal slurped her noodle. "You have got something there." I pointed at her chin and she tried wiping it away but missed it. "There." I leaned forward and used the napkin to wipe it away for her instead. 

"T-thanks." She muttered softly and the next second was awkward before she laughed at herself. "Ah I am so clumsy." I laughed along as she looked quite embarrassed by herself. "Anyway, I meant like you have to show her that she can trust you." 

"You are saying that she doesn't trust me?" I said almost like a whisper because I could not believe it. 

Krystal shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe not yet. How long have you known her?" 

"Two months plus?" 

"What?" She looked shocked. "And you are together with her for?" 

"Two months." I said sheepishly. "I know we rushed into this but like what she said, it feels right." 

She just nodded quietly and took another spoonful of noodles as I did so too. "Maybe there is still some part of you she has yet to discover. And hers too." She said when I was still chewing. 

I raised an eyebrow. "Discover?" 

"Not as in... ." She said quietly, looking side to side to see if people could hear her. "But like, your character." She moved back to lean on the back rest. 

"You are saying we still don't really know each other." I concluded. 

She nodded slowly. "Not trying to offend you though." 

I shook my head. "No no. I am okay. I get it." 

"Do you guys hang out often?" She asked. 

"Hang out? Isn't that what friends do?" 

She raised her index finger to move it left and right in front of my nose. "Lovers should act like best friends too." 

"But Taeyong is my best friend." I was really getting confused. 

"Silly girl." She chuckled. "Do you guys have a lot of things to talk about?" 

I nodded. "I love talking to her." 

"That's good then. Maybe I worry too much." She smiled. 

"You are worried?" I teased. She threw the dirty napkin to my face which made my face scrunch up in disgust. "EWW Jung Soo Jung!" I picked the napkin on my laps with minimal contact between my fingers and tossed it back to her. She laughed out loud and that earned a shush from the older lady sitting beside our table. 

"Hurry up and finish your food. It is getting soggy." She gave me a disgusted look as she peeked at my bowl. I rolled my eyes at her playfully and then continued eating again. "Seulgi." 

I looked up and saw Krystal staring at me. "Yeah?" 

"Thank you." She smiled. 

"For?" 

"Talking to me again." Her smile never left her face. 

My mouth went dry and I didn't know what to say for a moment. It was my fault that I just rejected her when she confessed and then disregarded her feelings afterwards. I told her that we should stop talking because it would only make things awkward. She just complied. I thought we would be okay because we would go to different high school. Maybe when we met again the next time, she would have already forgotten about me but little did we know that we ended up in the same high school again. But she avoided me in the first few months, to an extent that she changed her chemistry class when she realised that we would be in the same class. Taeyong blamed on me for destroying our friendships but I knew that he always supported me no matter how bad my decisions were. 

"I'm sorry." I sighed. 

She stared at me without saying a word. I stared back because I was waiting for her to tell me it's okay and we could be friends again. "You can always come and talk to me if you are facing any problem in your relationship. I will be there for you." She said softly. 

I smiled. "Thank you Soojung-ah." We were friends again. I missed her actually. She was there for me when I broke up with Sooyeon. You might think that of course she would be there for me because she liked me but I thought it took more than anything for you to be there for the one you liked when she liked someone else. "Wanna go have a ride?" I grinned. 

"A ride?" She arched her eyebrow. 

"You know." I wiggled my eyebrows at her. We always went cycling in middle school after lessons and I knew she still remembered because her face lit up and nodded eagerly. "Let's go now." I stood up and pulled her up. We were almost done with our noodles but didn't finish it. I took my wallet out from my bag and placed some cash on the table, telling the waiter that I left it there and he nodded. Then I practically just dragged Krystal out of the restaurant in all excitement but not forgetting to wave goodbye at Irene. 

"Are we going to cycle in our skirt?" She asked me worriedly. 

"Nobody is going to see. It is afternoon and weekday." I assured her and pulled her again to catch the bus. 

"Yah Seulgi! Stop running I am tired!" She slapped my arm when we boarded the bus and she panted slightly. 

"You are so unfit." I said without having any difficulty breathing. She side-eyed me and then bursted out laughing. 

"I am the volleyball captain, remember?" She nudged my ribs. We found seats to sit down and I stuck my tongue out at her. 

"You just need to stand there and hit the ball." I folded my arms and said. 

She mirrored my action and looked at me as if to challenge me. "Do you want to try it one day then? Since it is so easy." She smirked. 

"Oh well. Sports is not really my thing." I raised both my palms up and she was about to tease me again when my phone vibrated. 

From: Irene :)

Are you going home?

To: Irene :) 

Nope I am going to the park with Soojung. 

"I assume it is Irene." Krystal said as she leaned against the window. 

I nodded and felt my phone vibrating again. "Sorry I need to reply her." 

"Sure, go ahead." Krystal smiled and then just looked out of the window. 

From: Irene :)

For?

To: Irene :)

We are cycling :)

From: Irene :)

Have fun then.

To: Irene :)

Sure hehe are we still meeting tonight?

From: Irene :) 

No I am kind of tired.

I frowned. No matter how tired she was she would never not meet me. When I was about to reply, she sent me another text again. 

From: Irene :)

Never mind. Still meeting. See you. Please take care of yourself. I love you, Seulgi.

To: Irene :)

Okay see you :) I love you too.

I put my phone back to my pocket and Krystal sensed some movement so she turned around. "Is she okay?" She asked unsurely. 

"Yeah why would she not be?" I asked back. 

Krystal shrugged and then pointed out of the window. It was the park that we always hung out at after school. "Let's go!" She nudged me to get off my seat and we alighted soon after. Enjoying our afternoon laughing and cycling around the park, catching up on what we had missed. 

"Have you eaten?" I asked when I saw Irene already on my bed when I reached home. She came on her own. She sat up and hugged my pillow close to her chest, watching as I picked out new set of clothes for shower. 

"Not yet." She replied when I looked at her from the mirror. 

"I will go shower first okay? I stink." I laughed and she nodded before I went to take a shower. 

It was a great afternoon spent with Krystal. Don't get me wrong. I didn't like her that way. She was a really good friend of mine and I was more than happy that we were friends again. She assured me that she had no intention to ruin my relationship and I knew she meant it because she would ask me to text Irene every hour or so when we were having fun to ask her what was she doing. A way of assuring Irene that my heart was hers, Krystal said. She taught me a lot of things that I should do to make a girl feel secure and that I should cut down on because it might make Irene think that I only lust for her. 

I stood in the shower and sighed as my muscles felt less sore from all the cycling now. After around 20 minutes, I was done and went back to my room again to see Irene looking at my phone. She got shocked when she saw me walking into the room. "I-I am sorry." She quickly said and put my phone away. 

Even though I was a little bothered by it, I still let it off. "It is okay. What were you looking at?" I smiled at her as I walked to the bed. She fiddled with my blanket and looked down. 

"Your photos." She mumbled. 

"Did you see any photo that you like?" I , embracing her in my arms and she leaned into my body. She s her arms around my waist and shook her head. I gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Let's go eat now. You must be hungry." I rubbed the side of her arm and patted a few times after that. She just nodded and followed after me as we went to the dining room. 

During the dinner, she was oddly quiet and most of the time she just nodded or shook her head when I asked her questions or talked about my day. I knew that something was wrong again. She wasn't eating a lot either. 

"Eat more hyun-ah." I reached out to touch her cheek and she just looked at me as if she was doubting me. I was quite stunned when she looked at me like that. "What's wrong?" I frowned, my hand was still cupping her cheek and she just looked away as she shook her head this time. 

I told myself to be patient as I felt that it was my fault this time because Irene wouldn't act like this for no reason. "Are you staying over tonight?" 

She nodded. 

"Can you talk to me, baby?" I sighed, almost giving up. "You are not talking much like your usual self you know?" 

"I am okay." She said softly. 

"Did I do something wrong?" She flinched slightly and blinked a few times looking across the table but not at me who was sitting adjacent to her. 

She didn't respond. I must have. 

"I am sorry?" I sighed again. 

"For?" She looked at me. 

I couldn't reply because I didn't know. "I... don't know. I just feel that it is my fault." She eyed me with disappointment in her eyes and before I could ask her again, my brother came out from his room and made a din. 

"Noona! Can you participate in my school event? It is international sibling's day next monday!" He grinned at me. 

I frowned at him and asked, "what is it about?" 

"Just about some sports. We need to be a team." Seungri said happily. 

"No." I rejected. 

"What?!" He raised his voice. 

"I said no." I rolled my eyes at him when he started pouting. 

"But it is sibling's day! Everyone is bringing their siblings to school!" He argued. 

"Not everyone has a sibling, Kang Seungri." I retorted and before he could speak anymore, I quickly shushed him by telling him that I would ask Taeyong if he would replace me and he just skipped away afterwards. I didn't even realise that Irene had already finished eating and she was taking her utensils to the kitchen already. I hurried and gobbled down my food but she was already walking back to my room when I was done, not even sparing me a glance but she bowed at my mother who was watching the tv. I left my dishes in the basin and scurried to my room. My mom threw me a look, asking me what's wrong with us and I could only shake my head. She just smiled at me encouragingly. 

I in a deep breath before I opened my room door to see Irene lying on the bed, back facing me. "You have a message." She said without looking at me. I bit my lip and went to check my phone. 

From: Soojungie

Wanna study together after lesson tomorrow?

To: Soojungie

Sure! My lesson ends at 12 30pm. See you! :D

From: Soojungie

Yay see you! ^^

I put my phone away and went to the desk to start doing my homework first. I thought I would just give Irene some time to cool down first. I still hadn't told her about my scholarship deal and I knew it was definitely not the right time now.

I didn't even realise that 2 hours had passed and it was near 10pm already. I yawned and put my homework into my school bag, turning around to see Irene still having her back facing me. It made me nervous like this because I didn't know what she was thinking about. 

Nonetheless, after switching off the light, I still climbed to the bed as quietly and gently as possible in order to not wake her up as I assumed she had fallen asleep already. I tucked the hair covering her face behind her ear and then leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before I lay on my back. My muscles were sore from all the cycling and the lactic acid. I flipped to lie on my side, our backs facing each other as I felt more comfortable in that position to ease my muscle from aching. 

My eyes were closing until I felt an arm circling my waist and I smiled when she snuggled close to me. I placed my palm on her hand and she finally talked to me again. "Can you hug me?" She said so softly and I nodded. She removed her arm around me and we rolled over to another side so that I was hugging her instead, with her back facing me still. 

Again, I was ready to sleep until she shifted in my embrace. I thought she needed more space so I wiggled back to create more space for her but she closed up the gap between our bodies again and so I let her be this time. I hugged her tighter before I loosened it again and closed my eyes again. But I couldn't fall asleep because she was too warm. 

"Is it too warm?" I asked her sleepily. "Should I adjust the temperature?" I was ready to reach for the remote control but she pressed my hand firmly on her stomach, not wanting my hand to leave her. 

"Seulgi-ah." She called gently. 

"Hmm?" I nuzzled to the back of her neck. 

"Am I not enough?" 

I didn't feel sleepy anymore and I knew she wanted to talk. "What? What makes you say that? You're never not enough." 

"Do you still love me?" 

I swear she was asking weird questions. "Of course, baby. I love you." I kissed the back of her ear. 

Then I heard a sob from her and I immediately sat up in shock, switching on the light on the night stand and turned her around to see that she was indeed crying. 

"What is wrong?" I asked, dumbfounded but she wiped her tears away and turned to let me face her back again. I jumped off the bed and went to the side, squatting down to meet her at eye level and she wasn't even looking into my eyes but her tears kept flowing out quietly as she tried not to sob. "Baby? What is wrong?" I asked as gently as possible and cupped her cheek. 

"I-I feel so in-insecure Seulgi!" She sobbed and turned to lie on her back so that she wasn't facing me again. I stood up and went to switch on the light instead and then went to her side of the bed again. 

"Can you sit up?" I asked quietly, wiping away the tear on her cheek. She didn't sit up straight away but she still did. I stood in front of her and cupped her cheeks in my hands gingerly, wiping the tears on her cheeks with my thumbs and I leaned down to kiss her lips. "Is it about Krystal again?" I tried to make eye contact with her and she avoided many times. "Look at me, please." 

She did, for awhile and then just nodded. "I saw." 

I frowned. "Saw?" 

"I saw y-you wiping her chin. I saw you ho-holding her hand." Her breathing was still hitching and I felt my heart wrenching. 

"I am sorry..." I sighed and looked at her apologetically even though she wasn't looking at me. 

"Do you think sorry will help?" She asked me, throwing a glance at me before she looked away again. "I told you I am insecure and you still did all th-that. All of that." 

"I am sorry." I felt like a fool for 'sorry' was all that I knew how to say. 

"I feel like it is my fault instead." She said. "My fault that I am so insecure and you will get tired of saying sorry every time I am insecure and you will leave me one day because I am a burden to you." 

"What?" I raised my voice slightly. "No you are not a burden and I will never get tired of you!" I protested and tried to meet her eyes again. 

"Why does it feel like you're not mine completely?" She sighed and looked down so I kneeled down in front of her to look at her. She stared into my eyes this time as if she was searching for a truth. 

I shook my head. "Joohyun, please. Please, never, never, say such a thing. I am yours. I love you and only you. I know action speaks louder than words. I am sorry that I did all that in front of you when you told me that you are insecure." 

She stayed quiet and just looked at me. 

I my dry lips and thought of what to say next. "There is no need for you to feel threatened by Krystal's presence. She has no intention of breaking us up, I can assure you. We are just friends. It is... it is just that I kind of owed it to her, you know. But we are nothing more than friends. Trust me, Joohyun-ah." I reached down to hold her hands tightly. 

"How can I just trust you like this?" She questioned. 

"You... don't trust me?" I asked, feeling slightly hurt and I also recalled conversation with Krystal during lunch. 

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I trust you." 

"Then?" I was a little dejected. "Since when have I lied to you?" 

She shook her head again. "But I don't know. I really don't know. I am so scared that you will leave me for her." She looked at me with tears b her eyes again. 

"Don't cry Joohyun-ah. Do you know how much it hurts to see you cry?" I winced. "I will never leave you. I promised you, remember?" I smiled softly at her and wiped away her tear rolling down her cheek again. "If you are worried, I won't hang out with her alone. Taeyong is her friend too. We will hang out together. We used to be like that too." 

She just kept quiet and stood up, pulling me to stand up as well and then she threw her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist and waited for her to soothe down on her crying first before I pulled away to kiss on her lips. She cried a lot that night. I felt like a jerk. 

"I was so worried that you won't come back to me." She mumbled into my shirt. 

I clenched my jaws. 

"I was so scared that you will change your heart." She added and tightened her grip on my shirt. "You acted so differently."

"How?" I asked quietly, I wanted to know my mistakes so that I could learn from them. 

"You didn't even bother to talk to me when we came back to the room after dinner." She explained. 

"I... can I say sorry?" I asked unsurely. She nodded a little and I smiled. "I am sorry. I just thought that you needed some time alone so I just did my homework." 

She sighed and hugged me closer. "I was waiting for you to come and ask me what's wrong again." 

"Oh..." I nodded and made a note at the back of my head. "Why did you feel so warm just now?" 

She didn't reply and I felt her breathing quickening and warmth radiated from her again. "I..." 

"You... wanted to..." I trailed off.

She nodded and I chuckled. 

"Silly girl. Never ever just offer yourself to me when you are insecure again. It is not your body that I want. I mean... I want your body as well but, I want your heart the most." I brushed her hair and she rubbed her face on my shirt. I knew she was feeling embarrassed. "I really love you so much, do you know that?" 

"I love you too." She replied and pulled herself away, looking at me shyly. "I am sorry that I was so childish." 

"No, it is not your fault." I brushed her cheek with the back of my fingers. "Even if it is your fault, I will always forgive you." I smiled. 

She jabbed on my chest and I chuckled. "Do I look ugly now?" She asked, rubbing her right eye. Her eyes looked a little swollen and red but she still looked beautiful. 

I shook my head. "You never look ugly." 

"Sweet talker." She rolled her eyes at me playfully and I held her closer by the waist. "Do you... want to..." she looked at anywhere but my eyes and I knew what she was referring to. 

"Nope." I said and it surprised her also embarrassed her as I rejected her. The first time ever she suggested it. 

"Forget it-" 

"No, I mean, tonight, I just want to hold you in my arms and sleep with you. I love you, not your body." I told her firmly and she blushed, still not over the fact that she initiated it. "I know you always find me needy and tell me to control my raging hormones, so I want to show you that I can." I said proudly and instead of a kiss, I earned a flick on my forehead. 

"You are trying to act mature, aren't you?" She teased and I pouted which she planted a kiss on my puckered lips. "Did you have fun today?" She asked me, I knew she was still affected by it. 

I nodded because I wanted to be honest and she just nodded back too. "I am bringing you to cycle with me this Saturday. Time to get fit." I grinned and kissed her nose. "We need to go on dates more often rather than staying in our rooms and let you moan all the time." 

She slapped my chest and blushed madly. "Okay." 

"I will always be honest to you, okay?" I said and she just nodded. "I am studying with Krystal tomorrow after school. But I will go and fetch you after that. Okay? We will have dinner together. And there is this new movie, we will catch it after dinner. Okay?" 

I saw how she tense up when I mentioned that I would be studying with Krystal the next day but then she relaxed and the smile was plastered on her face again when I told her about my plan. She nodded with a small smile and I couldn't help but kiss her on the lips. "Remember to bring a jacket and not wear short skirt." 

"Okay." She said shyly and then she rested her chin on my shoulder again. 

"By the way," I said and she hummed in response. "Can you not wear those short skirts again? I can totally see the shape of your and I bet people are checking you out too." I felt kind of annoyed at the thought of that. 

She giggled quietly but just nodded. "Anything you say." 

"Can we sleep now?" I asked, yawning and felt my eyes getting drier. She nodded again but didn't break the hug away. "Uhm..." I didn't have the heart to push her away. So I surprised her when I lifted her up, hands supporting her bottom and she immediately wrapped her legs around my waist as she was scared of falling. Then I walked a few steps to my bed and dropped her on it. "Good night. Sweet dreams." I smiled and kissed her lips, letting my lips linger on hers a little longer. 

"Good night." She smiled at me again. I walked to the switch and off the light, climbing back to the bed and turning off the light on the night stand as well. She held the blanket up for me to get underneath it and I snuggled close to her, hugging her tighted than other nights. 

"I will try my best to not make you feel insecure again." I whispered into her ear and she moved closer into my embrace, pressing her lips on my chest as she hummed again.