The atmosphere was painfully tense.

Jieun stared at Chanyeol, who refused to look her way. Jungkook, who was sitting at the head of the table, heaved a loud sigh to catch his breath. It had taken the poor boy nearly half an hour to convince Chanyeol to stay inside the house when the man found out that Jieun was coming over for dinner. Jieun couldn't believe how terrified Chanyeol's eyes were when he saw her. If anything, wasn't the situation supposed to be reversed? Wasn't she supposed to be afraid of Chanyeol?

"I don't know what is wrong with the two of you," Jungkook started, catching his breath, "but you two better calm down before I get really mad. Uncle Kiha expects me to be the good boy and keep you guys together until he gets back." He glared at the two adults. "Don't underestimate a kid's determination to make a good impression on an adult. We will do anything to get them to think that we're the good guys."

Jieun and Chanyeol scowled. Both of them slouched in their seats, avoiding each other's gaze. Jungkook checked his watch, then back at the clock.

"I think Uncle Kiha is running late," Jungkook told them.

"Tell him to come faster," Chanyeol muttered, obviously crossed.

"Don't tell my uncle what to do," the boy snapped, glaring at him. "If he wants to take a slow walk, then I will let him take a slow walk."

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and tapped his foot against the ground. He continued to look away, refusing to meet her eyes. Jieun glanced at him, watching his every move in case he showed signs of danger and intimidation.

A few more minutes passed. Jungkook stared back at the clock, then he glanced down at his watch. He sighed and grabbed his jacket from the chair. When he started to slip it on, Jieun turned pale.

"W-Where are you going?" she asked him, biting her bottom lip.

"I'm just going to wait outside. Uncle Kiha might be holding something heavy and I want to help him," Jungkook told her.

"You're leaving me alone with her?" Chanyeol asked, turning ghostly white.

Jieun shot him a cold glare. "Shouldn't I be the one to say that?"

"As long as you guys are sitting down, I have nothing to worry about. Chanyeol, if you even try to leave this house, I guaranteed that I will make you lose your job as the editor's assistance." Jungkook stared at Jieun. "If you try to go back to your house, then Uncle Kiha will come down and pick you up. Don't cause him any trouble and just stay here, okay?"

"Okay," the two said in unison. They looked at each other with wide eyes, then looked away. Jungkook frowned at the two, rolled his eyes, and walked out of the house.

It only seemed like the atmosphere got even worse when Jungkook left the two alone. Neither of the two even tried to look at each other. There was an unpleasant aura between the two, dragging down the mood of a possibly nice dinner. Silence enveloped the room, and the two remained that way for a long time.

In the middle of their awkward alone time, Chanyeol coughed. Jieun, startled from the sound, quickly got up from her chair and held it in front of her. Her hands shook with fear while she furrowed her eyebrows, trying to look tough.

"D-Don't you dare come near me," she warned him.

Chanyeol seemed more terrified from the chair she was holding compared to her words and facial expression. He slowly held up his large hands, which only made Jieun flinch at the memories of what those tough-skinned hands did to her.

"I don't want to start anything," he said slowly. "All I want is for us to go through this dinner as smoothly as possible. I will not do anything. I promise."

"Why in the world are you here?" Jieun asked him, clenching her teeth. She put the chair down and ran her fingers through her hair. "Why are you here? Why couldn't it be someone else? Someone better?"

"I should be asking you that question," Chanyeol said. He glared at him. "Why did you move here?" He stared at her. "Did you follow me? If you're looking for money, I have none."

"Did I follow you? Are you seriously asking me such a ridiculous question?" she cried out. "Why would I follow you? Give me one good reason why I would ever go back to you."

Chanyeol opened his mouth to say something, but didn't dare to reveal his thoughts. He only kept quiet, allowing Jieun to continue on with her small rant.

"I came here to start fresh, to start anew, but then when I do, I meet you." She looked up at the ceiling for a brief moment before looking at his solemn eyes. "I didn't want to meet you! You should know that best!" She let out a shaky sigh. "Oh gosh. If Jiho finds out that you're in the area, he's definitely going to ask me to move…"

Chanyeol frowned a bit. "So you're still in contact with that guy? He was a jerk."

"At least he didn't beat me up."

Chanyeol twitched at her words, but he didn't say anything. Did he even have the rights to say anything?

"I'm sorry," was the only smart thing that he could say.

Jieun's fingers curled up into a fist and sat down. "No. You're not sorry."

Before he had the chance to say anything else, the two heard the door click. Jungkook and Kiha came in, holding a couple of plastic bags full of ingredients. Jungkook looked at the adults, then smirked.

"See, Uncle Kiha? Nothing happened," Jungkook said.

"Good job, kid," Kiha said, patting Jungkook's head. He turned to the guests. "I'll get the food done in a few minutes. Meanwhile, why did you go outside and check out the garden? If you want, go ahead and pick out some fruits on the tree."

~ ~ ~

"…and those are the new flowers that Uncle Kiha planted," Jungkook said.

He had been going on and on about how his uncle was a great gardener. It was a tedious topic for both Chanyeol and Jieun, who were still not used to having his uncle as the main topic. The two could only nod their head in false agreement or shoot out a quick word or two that would praise his uncle. To Jieun, it was kind of funny to see that the boy was more happy to hear praises about his uncle compared to hearing praises about himself.

They must be really close, she thought, giving him a small smile.

"What's your uncle making?" Chanyeol asked.

"I don't know. He's probably just microwaving a bunch of food for us to eat."

"Again?"

"My uncle isn't the best cook in the world, but he's a busy man. He doesn't really have time to cook."

"Doesn't he stay home all day?" Jieun asked. She flinched when Jungkook glared at her.

"He doesn't just 'stay home' all the time. He needs to go out and watch people."

Jieun blinked her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"He does something we like to call 'people watching.' It's basically when you watch people and observe their behavior," Jungkook explained. "I'm going to go back in. You two stay out here."

Jieun's eyes widened. She looked at Chanyeol, who only looked down at the floor.

"Um, I'll go inside, too," Jieun said, scurrying over to Jungkook's side.

Jungkook stopped her with another glare. "No. You two stay out here. I'm going in to help Uncle Kiha."

"I thought you said he was just microwaving stuff," Chanyeol said, playing with his bangs that covered his eyes.

"Someone has to set up the table," the little boy pointed out. "Later. I'll call you guys when we're done."

He stepped inside, leaving the two alone outside. Jieun continued to stare at Chanyeol, who slowly started to notice that she was growing weary of his presence. He looked around, then started walking to the other side of the garden. He reached the fence and sat next to a random tree.

Jieun frowned. "Why are you sitting all the way there?"

"You think I might do something to you, so I'm staying over here," Chanyeol said. He picked out a tangerine and began to peel it. "Besides, I don't even know if I'm going to do something to you, either."

She only paled and took a step back. She sat on a small rock close to the doors. The woman watched the other man pick on the tangerines one by one, popping into his mouth to keep himself occupied until dinner. She continued to gaze at him, observing his actions and watching out for any signs of danger.

After a while, Chanyeol stopped eating his tangerine and glanced up at Jieun. He noticed the way she positioned herself on the rock. Her back was arched forward and her legs were pointing towards the door. In any case, if he ever did something to her, she was ready to run back inside. He let out a small sigh and looked away.

"Look," he said, "I just don't want to lose my job, so can you at least pretend to be comfortable?"

"So that you can grab me by my hair and throw me against the ground or something?" Jieun asked, clenching her teeth.

Chanyeol squeezed his fist. "No. I won't do that. I don't do that kind of thing anymore."

"You're a fool if you think I'll trust you," she said in a cold tone.

"I was always foolish," he admitted.

Jieun looked at him for a bit longer. "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What happened to all the money? You had money. You had a lot of money. You even took my money when you transfered schools."

Chanyeol let out another sigh and put his hands over his face. "Spent it."

"On what?"

"Whatever I needed to spend it on. Whatever I wanted to spent it on."

Jieun didn't' try to push him to say more. Knowing his personality and the kind of guy he used to be, she already had a good idea of what he did with the money.

"What about school? You transfered without saying anything," Jieun said.

"Dropped out." Her eyes widened while Chanyeol finished his tangerine. "I didn't see the point of going. School wasn't fun anymore."

"What do you mean that it wasn't fun anymore?" Jieun asked. "Fun or not, you were a star student—"

"Yeah, but there was no one to amuse me. The new schools that I kept transferring to didn't give me the chance to establish myself. It was boring."

"You mean lonely." Chanyeol looked at her for a brief moment before she continued. "You were lonely, so you dropped out of school, didn't you?"

He gave her a crossed look. "No. I was not lonely."

"But—"

"I. Was. Not. Lonely." Chanyeol shot her a glare, causing shivers to crawl up her spine. "Is that understood?"

"Y-Yes," she stuttered, playing with her fingers on her lap. She mentally cursed at herself for being so pathetically weak.

In minutes, Jungkook came over and poked his head out into the backyard. "Uncle Kiha said that it's time for you two to come in—" He stopped and stared at the two's awkward state. "Did something happen?"

Chanyeol looked at Jieun, checking to see if she was going to say anything. When he figured that she was going to keep quiet, he let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Nothing," he muttered. "Let me excuse myself today. I don't feel to well."

I feel the same, Jieun wanted to say. However, she was too frightened by Chanyeol's menacing glare and ending up nodding her head in silence.

Jungkook dropped his jaws. "What? You can't just leave like that! Uncle Kiha is going to get mad."

"Talk to him for me. He'll understand if you talk to him. I'll come eat another time," Chanyeol told him. He glanced at Jieun. "Have a nice dinner."

I don't even want to be here right now, she thought. She tried to smile, but she just couldn't. She couldn't even look at him. She only nodded her head, her eyes on a batch of flowers. Chanyeol went inside first, getting ready to leave.

Jungkook looked at Jieun. "You did something, didn't you?"

She only shook her head. "No. Nothing happened."

"Uncle Kiha is going to find out sooner or later," he told her.

"So?"

"You should be careful. Uncle Kiha likes broken relationships. He likes to fix it if he can find a way to do so." Jungkook sighed. "It's not good for Uncle Kiha to be so nosy. That's why I'm hoping that you and Chanyeol can figure things out before Uncle Kiha catches on. He will catch on, and you're going to regret him finding it out."

Jieun looked at Jungkook. Then, she giggled and patted his head, causing the boy to flinch at the spot.

"Okay, okay. Thank you for the warning, Jungkook," she said, smiling at him. Her smile faded before she went inside. "However, I'm afraid that Chanyeol and I will always have a broken relationship."

Jungkook watched her head inside. Before he stepped inside the house, he touched his head, looked at his hand, shook his head, then followed behind her for dinner.