Hana's note: Annyeong!! Back with another chapter this time and I think this is the longest one by far! O.O Shout out to anditarasoekowijoto! Am always happy to see returning readers with comments! And also to JoDev0910 !! Your upvoting means so much to me, thank you!! And... here goes! ^^

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J Seph walked down the stairs. He was on his way to the convenience store when he bumped into Young-ji earlier on. It had been a while since he last saw her. A few months? It would not have been that long if she was able to make it for their last meet-up. They were supposed to meet up last month at a cafe but Young-ji had forgotten to inform J Seph about a last minute schedule that she had, leaving J Seph waiting for more than an hour. Since she did not have access to her phone (her phone was with her manager), J Seph's calls had gone unanswered and J Seph knew better than to send her texts. He did not want her manager to have any misunderstanding towards their relationship. Not that there was anything to misunderstand about. They were purely good friends and there was nothing going on between them.

Had she not pulled back that night or had you not chickened out, something might be going on between you and her now. The thought unknowingly crept its way into J Seph's mind, making him run his hand through his hair in frustration. He could not comprehend his frustration and at the same time, he was annoyed with himself for feeling frustrated.

It was not like he could not accept their friendship and even he knew this was the best for them. And unlike how BM was towards Somin, J Seph was really satisfied and contented with the way things were with Young-ji. But even logic itself was not enough to chase out the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens in his head...

"Ije na eottheokhae?* [What do I do now?]"

It was about one year ago when they were both sitting in his car, with a beer in their hands. J Seph had taken Young-ji on a drive as she had been feeling down. KARA was going to face disbandment as her members had decided not to renew their contracts with the agency and that meant her future was now filled with uncertainty. Would she be able to survive as a solo artiste? Would the agency be debuting her in another girl group? No one had the answers for her and that left her feeling lost and frustrated. She had worked so hard to get into KARA only to see her efforts vanished into thin air and for that reason, J Seph's heart had ached for her as he had witnessed her efforts during the competition.

He had gotten to know Young-ji when he first accompanied BM to an outdoor stage performance at Everland during the KARA Project days. BM wanted to show support for Somin by being there. J Seph had initially complained about having to tag along (like  what was he going to do to kill time when BM was at backstage with Somin) but BM had convinced him by telling him that he would not take long and that he would treat him to drinks afterwards. So J Seph went with him.

It turned out that BM could not get hold of some alone time with Somin as the filming schedule was tight but they managed to see the live performance from the audience area at least.

And that was when he saw her for the first time. Well, it was not the first time he had seen her. They had passed by each other a few times at the agency before but she never really stood out to him… till he saw her on the stage that day. With her long sleek hair and her black body fitting outfit, she was like this sparkling gem on the stage. She had looked really charismatic and dazzling performing 'Lupin' on the stage and J Seph had found his eyes unknowingly glued to her throughout the whole performance. And so it was like for the 'first time', he saw her.

Eventually, he was able to start a conversation with Young-ji at the backstage during one of her Baby KARA stage performances by confessing that he liked her stage presence and performances. To be frank, being the shy guy he was, it was the first time he approached a girl so straight-forwardly to express himself. His compliments had probably sounded awkward too. But the awkwardness was what got the bright and cheery Young-ji cracked up and that was the beginning of their friendship.

They had gotten closer through daily texting and met up a few times for meals, even though Young-ji had been busy with her KARA schedule. With Young-ji being such a sunshine, it was not a surprise when J Seph found himself having additional feelings for her.

Had Young-ji not met Jackson during Roommate 2 and started dating him, he might have confessed to her about those feelings. However, seeing as how Young-ji was in a relationship, J Seph decided to keep a distance (not that Young-ji had seemed to notice), causing the both of them to drift apart. Unfortunately, their relationship ended pretty quickly a few months after the filming as both of them were too busy to maintain the relationship. They still remained close contact and were still good friends. Unsurprisingly, their separation had led Young-ji back in J Seph's life as she began talking to him more often again.

"Young-ji ah…"

"Oppa, why is life as an artiste so difficult?" Young-ji had begun sobbing in the car. J Seph winced when he saw her tears, regretting that he had not stopped her when she opened her third can.

J Seph had leaned forward then to wipe the tear from her cheek using his thumb. Surprised by the sudden touch, Young-ji had looked at J Seph with wide eyes and the two of them found their eyes locked in an intense gaze. J Seph was sure he was not the only one who had felt the electricity in the air around them changed and with Young-ji's face still cupped in his palm, his eyes travelled longingly to her lips. Her cheeks suddenly felt warmer in his cooled hands. Whether it was due to her blushing or the beer, he was not sure but he had decided to take it as a good sign and leaned in for a kiss. Just as his lips touched hers, Young-ji pulled away abruptly and looked away from him.

That movement had shocked, and in fact, hurt J Seph. Had he done something wrong? Was he the only one who had the feelings between them?

"It's getting late. I think we should get going." That was Young-ji's only reply after a long silence between them.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, so many things he wanted to tell her. But when he wanted to open his mouth to speak, no words came out. Young-ji was still looking at her side of the window. And so the only thing that J Seph could do was to start the car engine and drive her back to her place. The entire journey was filled with silence, a bubble that neither dare to touch for fear of bursting it. The silence was only broken when Young-ji mumbled a quick goodnight before alighting the car.

And that was the last he heard of her. Until a few months later, she texted him to inform him that it had been decided that she would be groomed as a solo artiste. They had met up to celebrate the news and it was just as if that night had never happened. The bubble that was formed in the car during that night was left untouched.

"Hey? Excuse me?"

"Oh sorry," J Seph said, as he moved aside quickly to let a customer reached past him to get an item from the shelf. It was then that he realised that he had been wandering down the aisles of the convenience stores aimlessly and had paused in front of a shelf for far too long. He tried to shake the old memories out of his head to focus on what he was trying to do at the moment - getting a drink from the chilled section. There was no point in reading into the past. It was obvious enough that Young-ji did not want anything more than a friendship from him. If she did not want bubble to be touched, then he would not touch it. What he should do now, was instead to move on and focus on KARD instead. And, was that not what he had been reminding BM to do? To move on from Somin?

"How are Somin and BM doing?" Young-ji had asked earlier in the hallway.

Young-ji had an inkling from long ago about what was going on between the both of them and J Seph had been the one who verified her observations. J Seph could tell she was worried as to how things between BM and Somin were going to work out from now on… since they had really dated each other.

Was she drawing parallels between their relationship and ours too? J Seph wondered but was brought back to attention when it was his turn at the cashier to pay for his drink. Did she tell Somin anything about us? Well, not that there is anything to tell in the first place. He sighed. In fact, he himself had not shared anything about Young-ji with him, seeing how BM had enough troubles himself.

He was about to take a sip from his drink when he heard a familiar voice coming from the pathway.

"Stop calling me!"

Jiwoo?

Jiwoo took her phone off from her ear, with a serious expression on her face. Her fists were clenched and as he approached her, he could tell that her body had gone rigid and she was taking quick breaths. She looks really mad. Did something just happened?

"Jiwoo-ah, neol kwaenchana*? [Jiwoo-ah, you alright?]" J Seph asked as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

Jiwoo flinched at the touch, and was surprised to see J Seph standing next to her. J Seph withdrew his hand quickly, "Mian* [Sorry], I didn't mean to scare you like tha-"

"Oh no, it's my fault for not seeing you earlier." Jiwoo gave a feeble smile.

"You look upset. Is there something wrong?" J Seph asked, a crease forming between his eyebrows. He was worried about their dear maknae* [the youngest]. Granted, they barely knew each other so it would take some time before they all became closer. But as much as possible, J Seph would like to treat his group mates like family members. He would not hesitate to lend Jiwoo his helping hand if she ever needed it. Though she seemed like the kind who will never want to ask for help, J Seph thought as he recalled how Jiwoo had brought up her own luggage the other day.

"Ah, amugutdo anieyo*. [it's nothing] It was... just a prank call," Jiwoo rushed the last few words out, and busied herself by keeping her handphone in her bag.

She's horrible at lying, J Seph thought. But if Jiwoo was not ready to share about it, he was not going to push her. However, it seemed like what he had just witnessed earlier on was connected to what he had observe the past few days.

She had been going out quite often and while it was not like they could not have their own privacy or individual activities, Jiwoo had never explained where she was going or what she had done for the day (BM had gone to the gym every day for the last few days and Somin wanted to shop as much as possible before the busy schedule kicked in). Even that morning, Jiwoo had told the members that she would meet them directly at the recording studio. Surprisingly, their manager had agreed without any questioning. It was as if she had a VIP pass to do whatever she wanted. But J Seph knew this had nothing to do with privileges. He could sense that something was amiss and that she seemed to be caught in some trouble. As to what the trouble was, he had no clue. If only Jiwoo could trust me a bit more, J Seph thought, and felt this sudden strong need to bridge the gap between them.

"Just know that I am here if you need me kay?" J Seph smiled, hoping he looked assuring enough.

"Ne*. [Yes] Gomawo, oppa." Jiwoo looked at her watch as if she was in need to get away. "I should go up now," she said, looking up from her watch.

"Yeah sure, let's go up together," J Seph replied. Let's hope it's nothing too serious, he thought as he followed behind Jiwoo.

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Hana's note: Just what kind of trouble is brewing for Jiwoo?! *Gasp* And I hope the translations in the brackets were not too confusing and disrupting. Let me know and if that's the case I'll use less Korean from now on. And of course my Korean may not be 100% accurate too so do correct me if I'm wrong. ^^

PS: To the JackJi shippers.. erm.. I'm sorry to burst your bubble? >.<