Even from a distance, she could feel the tension rolling off his body, his deep, expressive eyes a swirl of darkness. She had never seen him angry. Always fun and playful on- and off-set, he wasn't one to lose his temper even during rough times. So his anger confounded her.

"Oppa?" She asked, taking a small, tentative step in his direction. But a heavy arm swinging over her shoulder halted her movement. She found herself pulled up close to Tae-Joon as he gave his good friend a casual nod of acknowledgement, a grin spreading across his face. Chang Wook stood motionlessly, his posture stiff as his narrowed eyes bounced between them. After what seemed like ages, he finally spoke.

"Tae Joon."

"Hyung."

"What are you doing here?"

"Chatting with my favourite girl, what else?" Came the cheeky reply, accompanied by a cheeky smile. He made a show of tightening his grip on her shoulder, and it didn't go unnoticed by his friend, whose jaw ticked. "Just making plans to meet up soon," he added with a gleam of mischief behind his eyes.

What a liar, Ji-hyun cast him a sideways glance, obviously catching on. So his idea of "helping her" was to make his friend jealous? While she didn't usually approve of deceptive means, she considered helping him along. Not that she's expecting much, but what did she have to lose? In fact, she had everything to gain from the situation - to find out once and for all how he felt about her. If he didn't return her feelings, she could safely close the chapter on their ambiguous relationship and move on with life.

Being the actress she was, she threw an encouraging smile at Tae Joon and reached up to wrap her hand around his wrist, the one that was still hanging comfortably over her shoulder. Chang Wook's eyes followed the movement sharply, his mouth pinched into a tight line. A good few seconds passed and he was still staring, almost as if he wished he could drill a hole into the offending hand.  

Ji-hyun felt a twist of excitement in her belly. He had been so reserved these days, his face a perpetual mask of affable indifference, she was thrilled to see a glimmer of emotion slipping through his cold facade. Even if it was anger, and it was directed at her.

Tuning into his friend's darkening mood, Tae Joon stifled a smirk, peering down to give her an adoring smile, announcing brightly, "So we're set!". He threw a saucy wink into the mix. She didn't miss the double entredre. While it could be interpreted as that they were set for their date, what he actually meant was that he had done his part in getting Chang Wook sufficiently riled up. And now the ball was in their court.

She flashed him a smile, hope and gratefulness rolled into one. Then slipping his arm off her shoulder, he sauntered off, but not before he flashed an aggravating smile at his friend, who met it with flat eyes. And then...they were alone in the corridor.

Staring at the man before her, she felt her skin tingle as electricity buzzed in the air, zinging the space between them. As it always was the case when they were alone, soaking in each others' energies. His eyes were still on her, but with Tae Joon out of the way, his gaze had softened marginally. She watched a whirlwind of warring emotions set upon his face - anger, frustration, annoyance and pain - as he clenched and unclenched his fists, struggling to regain control of his composure. As he slowly rearranged his features back into the stony mask, she