No One’s POV:

It’s been a few days since Joo Eun had asked out Jiwoong officially. Initially, the boy was too shocked that he couldn’t even understand the situation. However, when he did, he then couldn’t believe that it was really happening.

He wasn’t sure if he should be happy that he finally got the chance to prove himself or if he should be concerned of her since he could see that she was still in love with Sooyoon, even though she was doing her best to hide it from him.

But then he decided to just play along and soon, overwhelmed by his emotions, he kind of forgot that he was just playing along and let his feelings grow.

On the other hand, Joo Eun only had one thing in her mind. And to achieve that, she did everything she has to, even forgetting that she might be hurting another soul while doing so.

However, no matter what, he never crossed the line with her. The most he generally did was either hug or peck her cheeks and smooching was only done to deceive the crowd.

One day, when Joo Eun returned home after hanging out with Jiwoong, James wasn’t there. But it wasn’t an unusual for her since he stays back at the college to take care of some work.

The bell rang sometime later, and when she opened the door, she was surprised to see the unexpected visitor. “Dad?” she smiled widely, before wrapping her arms around him. “When did you come?”

“Just this afternoon, dear. And why do you look so thin? Don’t you eat properly?”

“Oh, c’mon dad! I’m healthy enough. So did you come alone?” she asked as she closed the door and took a seat on the couch beside him.

“No, I came with your mother. She’s still doing some shopping with James.”

The father and daughter duo spend the next few minutes chatting about this and that. Sometime later, they heard the door getting unlocked and James and their mother walked in. And very soon, Joo Eun was nowhere to be seen, only to reappear at the dinner table.

“Where will you both be sleeping?” Joo Eun asked, when it was time for them to head to bed.

“Your dad and I would be sleeping in James’ room.” Her mother said.

“Then James?” she asked, worried.

“We’re throwing him off to the streets,” Her mother laughed out loud, “he’s going over to Sooyoon’s place.” She replied with a smile.

James walked out of his room at that moment, “James, why don’t you sleep in my room? You know I’m comfortable with sleeping on the couch.” She said.

“It’s okay. You sleep comfortably. Sooyoon doesn’t have any problem in having me at his place.” James smiled and went back into his room, only to return a few minutes later with a bundle consisting of a spare blankets, pillow, etc.

She stared at her brother and then at her mother, who just patted her head before walking into James’ room. She quickly followed James out, “do you want me to help you with that?” she pointed to the bundles he was carrying.

“Why? So that you could meet Sooyoon?” he asked with a teasing tone.

“Are you serious? I’m not with him anymore, remember?”

“Then why? You know I could carry all this on my own. Also we have a lift.” He said, pressing the button for the lift.

“Well, I followed you to see if I can convince you to take on my offer of sleeping in my room,” she mumbled.

James shook his head with a smile and walked inside the lift, after gently patting her head. “Go to bed, Joo Eun. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The lift closed and she let out a sigh.

She hesitatingly walked back into her house and saw her mother getting ready for bed. “I thought you and Sooyoon were dating.”

“What made you think so?” Joo Eun questioned, instead of addressing the topic.

“I just felt that, the last time I was here. Too bad if you two aren’t dating. I would have loved to have a son-in-law like Sooyoon.” Her mother said.

“Mom!”

“What about Moon? He would make a good son-in-law too.” She said, jokingly.

“MOM!” Joo Eun shrieked.

“No more dating my friends!” James said as he walked into the house, while the two females gave him a questioning look, “What? I just came to take my phone. But seriously though, both of your stop getting all funny thoughts. And goodnight.” He wished them both before heading out again.

Joo Eun thought this was her chance to escape too. So she quickly her mom goodnight and rushed into her bedroom. A few minutes would have passed and she started hearing mild argument.

Though she couldn’t really hear what they were arguing about, just the thought of them arguing simply brought some unwanted childhood memories of hers.

She curled herself into a fetal position and covered herself with the blanket, hoping that would shield her from her memories. She had difficulty falling asleep for the next few hours but even after she fell asleep, it wasn’t a peaceful sleep.

An hour or two later, she woke up with a jolt after having experienced a nightmare and she couldn’t fall back asleep after that. After giving it much thoughts, she dialed up Jiwoong’s number, hoping he would be able to calm her down.

However, even talking to her dear friend couldn’t calm her down entirely. She really couldn’t blame him though as she didn’t speak out what was exactly bothering her. It was from a small trauma she experienced when she was small, whi