They ran out the establishment, and despite what happened to her, Jieun was smiling. Who wouldn't? She got the shoes for free. Now she didn't have to worry about paying that Woohyun guy anymore. 

The two of them stopped to catch their breaths, and realized they still held each other's hand. Jieun immediately released his and put her hands inside her pocket.

"How much was that?" L asked just to have something to ease the awkwardness brought by the unfamiliar skinship.

"300,000 Yen," she replied, and they both laughed. That guy would definitely be pissed when he realized that the money wasn't there. She purposefully made him think Seishirou had interest in it, too, even though she knew Seishirou had more money than that.

"What are these?" he asked about the shoping bag he was carrying.

"Shoes. Long story." She glanced back behind her. "Poor Seishirou. He'd be berrated about the money for sure."

"Who's Seishirou?"

"That guy who sat on his seat like a duck," she replied. They started to walk off now, and Jieun pointed to a direction. "Can we go somewhere else? He might still catch up with us here."

"Sure."

"You left your friend, though," she said, talking about the guy L was with.

"He'll be fine."

"I'm really hungry right now," Jieun said, looking around. "Hey, I know this place. C'mon. I know a good ramen shop around here. Perfect, I'm starving."

They walked for a couple more blocks and all the while he had been stealing sideway glances at her. He didn't want to let her know that he was staring, but he just couldn't take his eyes off her. And that was not just because she was so pretty. He was beginning to think this girl was smart.

Jieun led him too a ramen restaurant. Jieun sat in front of the bar right away. "Uncle!" she called out in Japanese. "One special spicy beef!" She turned to L. "Do you want one?"

"I just ate."

"Fine. We can share." She relaxed back in the chair. "Now I have to stop communicating with him for the next two years."

"Was he your boyfriend?" L asked cautiously. "That Seishirou guy?"

She waved her hands out in a strong NO. "We're just college friends. He was the only guy in my class that wasn't--he likes boys so he never tried to--" Jieun suddenly closed . "No, we're just friends. Now I hope he wasn't into that Tetsuko person." Then suddenly she put her face on her hands. "Who was I kidding. Of course he was! Gosh I hate that Tetsuko guy more than ever."

"What do you mean?" L was getting more and more confused as Jieun continued to talk to herself as if L wasn't there.

"Seishirou, that friend of mine, might have liked the--the other guy, the one trying to grab me," she tried to explain. "Which would explain why he wouldn't say anything else. Poor kid, he must be hurt. Gosh, I hate my face."

"What's wrong with your face?" L asked. "Did he hurt you?" His hands went to her cheeks and she slightly flinched.

"No, he didn't. If he had, he wouldn't be able to use any of his hands after a minute," she said and consciously ran a hand through her hair so it wouldn't interfere with her sight.

"They why do you say you hate your face?" Was she blaming herself because that ert guy tried to hit on her in front of her friend?

"Nothing," she said. "Why is that ramen taking so long? I'm starving."

"It's here," the uncle behind the bar came with a steaming bowl. "You're back! I thought you already graduated already."

"I did." She beamed at the man. "I'm here on business. Extra egg please."

The man chuckled and broke another egg on her bowl. "No charge for that extra egg for you."

"Really? Thanks!"

L smirked at her. "Wow. You get a lot of stuff for free, huh?"

She pointed to her right. "Around that corner is a takoyaki stand, and over there is a tonkatsu house." She pointed to another direction outside the window. "Back in my college days, I used to live in that building over there, so I always ate here. And uncle here--"

While eating, she smeared some soup at the corner of her lips, and Myungsoo spotted