No One’s POV:

After Joo Eun asked out Sooyoon for a second chance, she kind of rushed away from there without giving him any chance to answer her then and there as she was kind of afraid of what his reply might be.

When she reached her friends, Jiwoong asked, “So how did it go?”

“Well, I asked him out.” She replied.

“And then?” Mijin asked impatiently.

“And then I ran away.” She smiled at them sheepishly.

“What? WHY?” the two of them shouted at her.

“I don’t know. I was just scared of the outcome. Not yet ready to take the rejection I guess.” She shrugged as if it was nothing.

The two just shook their heads at her before leading her away to celebrate their graduation. They partied out for some time but soon got bored and decided to head over to Joo Eun’s home as her mom has invited them over for dinner.

A few days passed by, and whenever she happened to come across Sooyoon, she turned the other way and ran away from there. She called it her instinct.

“Joo, when are you going to listen to his answer?” Mijin asked.

“Mijin unnie, can’t I just go on without listening to him and act like nothing happened?” Mijin looked at her with raised eyebrow. “I’ve this gut feeling that he’s not going to give a positive reply.”

“Oh dear! What did we say? You should be ready to accept the rejection too. You know you cannot force someone to have feelings for you when they don’t want to.”

“I know,” Joo Eun sighed. “It’s just that I need some more time to prepare myself to listen to him and accept his rejection without turning into an emotional mess.”

“But why do you think he’s going to reject you before listening to what he has to say?”

“It’s just my gut feeling, unnie.”

One weekend, when she was spending time at home, the doorbell suddenly rang. “Joo Eun-ah, could you get the door for me?” her mother called out from the kitchen.

“Sure ma,” she replied and went to open the door, only to stand frozen soon after. “Sooyoon-ah, what are you doing here?” she looked at him wide-eyed. “Did you come for James? He isn’t here.” She tried escaping.

“I came for you, Eunnie-ah.” He stopped her by the wrist. “Are you free now? Can we go out and have a talk?”

“Now? I don’t think I can. Got some things to do. Mom is here,” She came up with excuses.

“Then I’ll talk here itself,” he was about to walk in but she quickly stopped him.

“Joo Eun-ah, who was at the door?” he mom called out.

“Give me a few minutes. I’ll quickly get ready and come with you.” Then she shouted to her mom, “Ma, Sooyoon is here for me. I’ll get changed quickly and head out with him for a while.”

She quickly got dressed and walked out to see her mother and Sooyoon having a chat on the couch. “Ma, what are you talking with him about?”

“Nothing. It’s a secret.”  Her mother smirked while she shook her head.

“Shall we go?” she asked Sooyoon while he politely excused himself from her mother and accompanied her out.

They walked quietly until they both reached a tent bar. “Do you mind if we have a drink here? Or should we go somewhere fancy?”

She let out a chuckle, “I’m okay with here. Come on, let’s grab a table before it gets full,” she grabbed his wrist and led him into the tent.

They both sat down at a table and placed the order with a few bottles of drinks. And they sat ate the dishes and took a few shots, they both remained silent.

Joo Eun didn’t want to bring up anything as she was still afraid of hearing the answer to her asking him out while he was silently drinking his shots.

After observing him silently taking shots after shots for a few minutes, Joo Eun finally grabbed his hand and stopped him from drinking anymore. “Sooyoon-ah, is everything okay? Why are you being like this?”

Without replying anything, he simply let go of the shot glass that Joo Eun was holding onto and just stared at his now empty hand. Something struck her when he wasn’t responding to her for quite a few times.

“Has this got something to do with me asking you out?” she asked, taking hold of his hand while he slowly wriggled out and took a few more shots. “KIM SOOYOON! If this is your way of rejecting me, then please stop. I get the message.”

She let go of his hand and grabbed her shot glass before pouring and gulping down a few shots while he looked at her, feeling sorry. He reached out and stopped her from drinking any further. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“What are you sorry about?” he looked pained, hearing her tone while she let out a sigh seeing that. “Sooyoon-ah, stop treating me like a child or an immature brat. I’m matured enough to understand that feelings change. Can’t you just reject me to my face?”

“You don’t understand. And I was only trying to not cause you much hurt.” Then he started babbling which was starting to attract the other customer’s attention.

“Sooyoon-ah, you’re drunk. Let’s go home.” She grabbed hold of him and forced him get up, then left the tent after paying for the drinks they had.

Since they weren’t that far from their house, she decided to walk back home. Sooyoon wriggled out of her hold and said, “I’m fine. I can walk on my own.”

She shrugged and let him do so but just a f