"Joo Eun!" Jaehyun grabs her wrist. "Are you okay?"

"Jaehyun, it's not like that, we're not dating," Joo Eun cries almost on the verge of tears.

"I know, he was just teasing you," Jaehyun hugs her.

"I have no intention of going out with him," Joo Eun says as she looks up at Jaehyun.

"Do you need me to yell at him for you?" Jaehyun chuckles as he releases her.

"No, I just overreacted. Sorry," Joo Eun apologizes. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"I think it's better to just go home today," Jaehyun smiles. "We can hang out another time. I'll bring you home, Youngdoo will be worried."

"Thank you Jaehyun," Joo Eun looks up at him sincerely. "You're a really nice guy."

**********

"I'm home!" Joo Eun says as she steps into the apartment complex.

"Weren't you supposed to be with Jaehyun?" Youngdoo asks as he walks out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel. 

"Ah, some things happened and we decided to go somewhere another time," Joo Eun shrugged. "By the way, you said you had something to tell me earlier."

Youngdoo looked at her as he walked towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. He drinks a sip before sitting down on the sofa. He pats the seat next to him telling Joo Eun to sit down.

"I wanted to talk to you about Doha," Youngdoo said calmly.

"Don't talk to me about him, I don't want to know anything about him," Joo Eun rolls her eyes angrily. "Do you know what he did to me today?"

"Joo Eun! Listen to me first," Youngdoo held her shoulders. "There's a reason why he's like that."

"You mean why he's so rude?" Joo Eun scoffed. "He's so two-faced. He acts so nice around people and they all think he's an angel but he's secretly a devil underneath."

"It's because of his mother," Youngdoo sighed as he let go of Joo Eun's shoulders.

"His mom?" Joo Eun raised an eyebrow.

"His mother left him when he was young and left him some painful words," Youngdoo shook his head. "She was the one he trusted the most, but after that painful experience, he no longer believes in women. He hates women and he believes nobody will ever love him sincerely. He also believes that he will never be able to love a woman sincerely."

"Just because of his mother?" Joo Eun frowned.

"I don't really know that well what happened to him, but it was a very painful experience for him," Youngdoo continued. "I don't know why Doha is like this when Teacher Park is fine."

"Why bring Teacher Park up in this?" Joo Eun asks confused.

"Teacher Park is Doha's older brother," Youngdoo replied. "He was probably hurt as well, but because he is older, he feels the need to take responsibility and help Doha."

"What about their father?" Joo Eun asks.

Youngdoo simply shook his head. "I don't know if I should be the one telling you this, but try to be nice to Doha. He wasn't always so mean."

"I didn't know he had this kind of past to him," Joo Eun bites her lip.

"So don't be too harsh on him," Youngdoo responds. "Just ignore whatever he says. Don't take it to heart because he doesn't really mean it."

**********

After the words Youngdoo said, Doha has been stuck in Joo Eun's mind for a while. Even though he was being a jerk to her, she couldn't help but think about his difficult life. Although she did not know the full story, she could tell it was hard for him to put a smile up to the world even though he had a scarred heart.

Just as Joo Eun was thinking about Doha, she saw him walking towards the entrance of the school. She decided to go up and apologize to him. Before she could take a step further, three girls blocked her way.

"Morning, loser," Hee Ra smirked.

Joo Eun rolled her eyes at the snobby three girls.

"I'm feeling a bit hungry today, but I forgot my wallet at home," Hee Ra looked straight at Joo Eun. "Give me yours."

"I don't want to deal with you right now," Joo Eun sighed as she tried to walk past them.

Doha saw Joo Eun from the corner of his eye and he immediately knew what was going on. Doha instantly felt worried for Joo Eun and was about to walk up and shoo away Hee Ra and her followers before he saw someone else do it.

Jaehyun walked up to Joo Eun and pulled her behind his back.

"What are you guys doing?" Jaehyun asked holding tightly onto Joo Eun's hand.

"N-nothing, we were just having a friendly conversation," Hee Ra stuttered. "Uh... if you'll excuse us."

Hee Ra shot Joo Eun a glare before walking away. Jaehyun released Joo Eun's hand and turned around.

"Are you okay?" Jaehyun asked.

"Oh, yeah thanks," Joo Eun replied quietly. 

She quickly remembered the reason why she had been standing there in the first place and turned around to look for Doha. After spotting him, she quickly bowed to Jaehyun and ran off. Jaehyun frowned when he found out the direction Joo Eun was heading.

"Park Doha!" Joo Eun panted as she caught up with him.

"Oh, it's you," Doha said with an eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry," Joo Eun said out of nowhere catching Doha by surprise.

"For what?" Doha asked.

"For being mean to you, even though you were being a jerk to me first..." Joo Eun whispered that last part but Doha had heard it.

"Is this really an apology?" Doha snickered.

"Youngdoo told me about your past," Joo Eun bit her lip.

Doha's face immediately turned sour. "Why? So you could make fun of me?" 

Doha stormed off before Joo Eun could mutter another word. He didn't want to hear anything from her. 

"It's not like that..." Joo Eun sighed.