“Seriously Daehwi? You buy pens almost every week,”

You stared at the younger boy in disbelief, picking up the said stationery from the basket he was holding onto for dear life. It was filled to the brim with different kinds of ballpens, highlighters, stick-it notes and what you guessed as a pair of craft scissors –that you could no longer be bothered to question. “Did you eat all of them as snacks?”

Your younger brother placed a hand on his chest with his mouth wide open, feeling wronged at your nonsensical accusations. It lasted for a split second before his attitude completely changed 180 degrees, as he started showing cute gestures and puppy eyes in order to persuade you, knowing very well that you would give in, because the sight of his so-called ‘aegyo’ was enough to make you nauseous. “Aww, come on noona (big sis). I’m in senior high!” He whined like a child that he is, his voice sounded like he’s having a cold.

You pushed his face away in annoyance and tossed the pen back in the basket, as you fished out the bookstore’s membership card from your handbag. “Fine. Pay with your allowance,” you replied wittily, passing the card to him and walking away to the novel sections as you heard him protesting from behind you.

Weekly yet unnecessary trips to the bookstore is your usual weekend activity with your five-years younger sibling, Daehwi who is currently a senior in high school. It still remained a mystery as to how he succeeded in luring you to accompany him almost every week, despite your fervent denial. As much as you adore and love your baby brother, there are times where he gets very annoying. Normally you two would start bickering over little things, but today you willingly agreed to join him, as your figured an outing would do you a favour of clearing some thoughts of a certain boxing star off your mind.

You didn’t expect that short encounter one afternoon at the boxing gym could affect you this much. Daniel’s interaction with the mysterious girl replayed as if they were scenes from a movie on repeat. The girl’s chirpy and sweet voice as she called his name, his radiant smile and welcoming expression, and the closeness they have towards each other that reflected that intimate hug. You tried everything to get that thought out of your mind; from thinking about what to eat days ahead, to humming your thoughts out loud. Even addictive songs failed to get rid off those thoughts as your brain recalled the event again like clockwork.

[Flashback]

Your smile faltered and then faded when your eyes caught the scene in a distance. A girl around your age or maybe slightly older, ran towards Daniel and enveloped him in a tight hug, which he reciprocated willingly with the same amount of force. Her melodious sweet voice echoed in the gym as she called his name. He looked very pleased to see her as he has a very bright smile plastered on his face. She cupped his cheeks and said something that made his smile grew wider and brighter –if that is even possible. She also did something that made you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut, she kissed him on the cheek.

You’ve officially eaten your own words as you hated the fact that you’ve proven Doyeon right. You were definitely jealous now, no doubt about that. Who is this girl who managed to make him smile bright enough it could light up the room? Why didn’t he smile that way around you? Their interaction and physical contact were so natural it felt like flowing water.

You turned to look at them again. The girl was now attending to him by dabbing sweat off his face and neck with a towel while handing him a drink to rehydrate after an exhausting practice. Daniel was not even slightly bothered by her actions and gladly accepted, even adding requests for her to massage him on the shoulders.

He was very friendly to her, apparently too friendly, almost affectionate if you might add. You bet she is someone very special to him. Someone that he shares a special relationship with, someone like a lover? You felt a pang in your heart, didn’t he say he’s currently not in a relationship? Or was he lying to you? You started to question your status with him. Were you just a fling, one that he only goes on dates with without wanting any strings attached? Was he just playing with your feelings?

Now that you thought about it, neither of you ever made it official that you both are in a romantic relationship. The closest thing to describe your relationship would be what people would call a ‘some’. A kind of relationship that ‘it feels like we’re lovers, it seems like we’re lovers but we’re not’, as the song lyrics would describe. But then again, you might be exaggerating since you’ve only been out on dates with him for about three times or so.

You gripped tighter to the folders in your arms, and decided to retreat as you couldn’t stand seeing them interact any longer for fear of being heartbroken. Woojin saw you glancing and asked, “Do you want to talk to Daniel hyung?”

“It’s ok. I’m in a rush anyways. Thanks for today’s interview.” You frantically shook your head, stopping him before he could call out Daniel’s name. “He looks… busy today.”

After that day, you focused all your efforts in keeping a considerable distance away from Daniel, even at the point of avoiding him completely. You don’t know what to say or how to act around him if you both ever bumped into each other. Surprisingly, he did not even send you any texts or call you for the past few days that you started ignoring him, even his surprise visits also ceased. You tried your best to stay positive and think of the non-judging side of things, as the last thing you wanted is to get the wrong idea and embarrass yourself. Maybe she is a family member or a very close platonic friend of Daniel’s. Yes, you’ll stick with that conclusion for now, your heart feeling more at ease when you do.

“Trouble in paradise?” Daehwi’s voice managed to knock you off your trance.

“What are you even talking about?” You retorted, mindlessly picking out a book from the shelf.

Your brother pointed to the sign above the shelf that read ‘Romance Novels’ and you jerked in surprise when you saw a kissing couple on the cover of the book in your hands. You were not a fan of romance tales, no wonder your love life . You hurriedly placed the book back in its place and walked towards the Non-Fiction section of the bookstore. “Mom told me about your date that night,” The younger boy added, earning a frown from you. He continued nevertheless, “She seems to really like him though.”

You sighed, scanning the shelf for a photography magazine while tracing your fingers over the title on each cover, “Why am I not even surprised,” you stopped when you found your target and pulled it out from the shelf.

“You just started dating,” Daehwi clicked his tongue, shaking his head disapprovingly. “You know what, I bet it’s your fault noona,” he remarked as he leaned against the shelf to look at you in the face.

“Excuse me, why does it have to be my fault?” You defended, flipping through the pages faster. “Besides mom’s wrong, there was no ‘paradise’ to begin with,” you clarified.

The boy nodded as if catching some emotional leakage from your words and tone of voice, “I see. So, he chose someone else over you,” he hypothesized.

“No, he didn’t! I m-mean h-how would you know?” Your hands stopped moving as you glance to look at him. If there’s one thing that your brother Lee Daehwi is an expert in, it’s mind reading –yours to be exact.

“Psychic Daehwi at your service,” He grinned widely, eyes turning into crescents as her held out his both of his palm in front of you. “That’ll be 10 bucks.”

“Do you take payment in smacks?” You taunted him with a rolled-up magazine. You ended up chasing him along the aisle. As you were reaching the end of the aisle, you collided into a stranger, making him drop the books in his hands. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” You let out a loud horrified gasp and hurriedly bent down to pick up the books. You passed the books back to the stranger and bowed apologetically a few more times. Your brother was watching from afar, keeping his distance as he stuck out his tongue at you for getting into trouble.

“Jooyeon? Surprise seeing you here,” The stranger spoke. On a second thought, you know this voice.

You looked up and met eyes with none other than the boy you have been avoiding all week. Kang Daniel was showing one of his million-dollar, diabetes-inducing smile that never fails to set off butterflies in your stomach. “Daniel! Hey… w-what a-are you doing here?”

“Just getting some reading materials,” he held up one of the books in his arms, that glowing smile still plastered on his face. “Hey, sorry about that. Did I hurt you?”

Before you could answer him, Daehwi appeared next to you at the speed of light. “Daniel? Kang Daniel? The Kang Daniel?” He repeated the name, his volume increasing each time. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jooyeon noona’s younger brother Daehwi,” the younger boy bowed respectfully.

Daniel nodded his head in acknowledgement, slightly taken aback at how fast Daehwi teleported himself in front of him. “He’s cute. I didn’t know you have a younger brother,” he shifted his attention back to you.

I don’t know much about you either, you muttered to yourself.

“He looks dangerous noona,” Daehwi whispered lowly from behind, enough for only you to hear.

“More like a cute troublemaker,” you quipped, messing up the younger boy’s hair as he grumbled and slapped your hand away.

“How did he know my name though? Do you talk about me at home?” Daniel asked, more amused than curious.

“My mom must’ve told him. You know how excited she gets,” You laughed awkwardly while your brother was busy with his phone. How did this boy get distracted so easily? Where did all the eagerness go? It somehow turned into an uncomfortable silence for you and Daniel as you both occasionally stole glances at each other and exchanged small smiles.

For the first time that day, you were very thankful of Daehwi’s presence in the room as he tapped your shoulder to get your attention. “Noona, mom asks us to get some groceries,” he showed you the grocery list on his phone screen.

You grabbed your brother’s wrist and waved goodbye, initiating one of your avoid-Kang Daniel-at-all-cost routine. “I’m sorry Daniel, I have to run an errand. See you.”

Daniel sped up next to you, “You mind if I join? I need to get some things myself,” he asked. Something tells you that you couldn’t say no to his request.

In order to prove his claim that he really needed to buy some things from the store, Daniel parted ways from you and Daehwi once he managed to get himself a trolley. You were partly relieved because you ran out of words to say to him to fill the awkward silences, but you were also partly disappointed because you missed having casual interactions with him after avoiding him for a week.

Grocery shopping went well for you and your brother as Daehwi was in charge of the shopping list while you were in charge of putting things into the trolley. After a good twenty minutes, you were only left with five items on the list. “Noona, I’ll get the orange juices. You need to get the seaweed and canned tuna over there,” The younger pointed towards the said aisle as he pushed the trolley to the opposite side.

Since you still had some time to spare, you took a detour, following your gut feeling. You couldn't help but to feel a figure creeping from behind as you abruptly turned around. “Are you stalking me?”

The said stalker did an emergency brake on his trolley before he could crash into you. “N-nope,” Kang Daniel replied, acting innocent. The word ‘stalking’ was an exaggeration on your side, but Daniel had intentionally been following you around from behind with his trolley. You sighed and crossed your arms in front of you, peeking inside his trolley –it was empty aside from a few packets of jelly worms and gummy bears.

“Do you mind? I need to get some… ladies things,” You pointed towards the rows of sanitary pads.

“Oh right, sorry,” He apologized, retreating away from the area while trying his best to keep his gaze on the floor. You chuckled to yourself, Daniel indeed looked like a lost puppy when you saw his cheeks turn pink as he realized which aisle he followed you into. In reality, you purposely walked into this particular aisle when you noticed him following you closely from behind. You’d expect him to be fairly decent in the art of stalking people considering how smooth he always is when he flirts, but you caught him red-handed five minutes since you entered the store.

Once you’ve made sure he was out sight, you headed straight to the canned foods section. You scanned the shelves and found your mother’s favourite brand of canned tuna placed at the topmost row, “Why does it have to be so high up?”

As expected, only the tips of your fingers were able to graze the can as you were vertically challenged to battle against the tall shelf. You jumped, hoping that you could push the can off the shelf and catch it in the air. Your plan was a success as you reach out to grab the can before it could make contact with the floor. You underestimated the time it took for the can to fall as it slipped pass your fingers and hit your forehead with a thud before landing on the floor.

“Ouch!” You cried out, your hands going up to brush your sore forehead. The fallen can was useless now since the impact from the fall left a huge dent on it. You sighed heavily at your failed attempt.

Suddenly an arm reached out above you and grabbed one can of the same brand. “Here you go,” the helpful stranger placed the tuna in your hands as you looked up and met eyes with Daniel again. No doubt, he was obviously stalking you. How did he get here so fast though?

“T-thanks,” you expressed your gratitude. Well at least, he’s being helpful this time.

“Silly Jooyeon. You always get hurt,” His right hand found it’s way to the side of your head, as Daniel softly the corner of your forehead where the can of tuna fell with his thumb. You grimaced at the slight soreness which soon went away when he gently blew air at the small bump, succeeding in reducing the pain. “How am I not worried about you babe?” His fingers caressed your hair for a bit before it falls back to his side.

That term of affection naturally and effortlessly slipped through his lips, his deep and rich voice making the effect ten times better. You figured that Daniel hadn’t notice of his slip up, or maybe he really did it on purpose, showing his flirty and smooth moves again. Cue more butterflies, this time with larger wings as they fluttered freely in your tummy while finding their way into your heart. Damn, you might as well open up a butterfly park by now. 

For the first time since knowing Daniel, you couldn’t deny your affection towards this attractive guy and his endless charms. It was safe to say that you were definitely falling for this heartthrob. Most definitely. But why do you find yourself taking a step back?

**********************************

[Flashback]

“Daniel!” A melodious sweet voice echoed in the gym as the said boy turned his attention to the source of the sound. A girl slightly older than him, ran towards him and enveloped Daniel in a tight hug. He’d recognize that pleasant voice anywhere, it was none other than his elder sister, Kang Ailee.

“There’s my puppy! I’ve missed you so much!” She cupped his cheek, smiling brightly at the younger boy who responded with the same gesture, his smile wider and brighter.

“I miss you too noona,” Daniel reciprocated the hug with the same amount of force. She pecked him on the cheek when they pulled away. “When did you get here? I could’ve picked you up from the airport,” he asked, pulling his sister to a seat.

“Then it won’t be a surprise silly!” Ailee replied by smacking him lightly on the arm. “Besides, my luggage won’t fit on your sports bike,” she reasoned.

Daniel chuckled as he nodded in agreement. His sister would definitely bring a huge luggage back from the States. “I’ve heard a lot of good stories about you. You even won the championship! I’m so proud of you!” she exclaimed, patting his hair affectionately. Although Daniel is taller and of bigger built compared to her, she still liked to shower him with affections.

“Thanks noona,” The younger boy rubbed the back of his head shyly, “Technically you already congratulated me by spamming my inbox for a whole week.”

Ailee shook her head in disagreement. “It’s not the same as saying it in person! Anyways, let’s get to the main topic. Are you dating anyone? I heard you’re quite famous in campus,” she wriggled her eyebrows, scooting closer to him.

"Not yet. Actually, I already have my eyes on someone special," Daniel replied, turning his head to look to the left as his sister followed  his line of vision. He smiled as he laid eyes on you who was talking with Woojin right after finishing up your interview.

It was safe to say that he is definitely falling for that beautiful soul. Most definitely.

I apologise for the delayed update. Writing two stories of the same person at once is definitely not easy. I had a minor writer's block for this story ><". The mystery girl has been revealed! But of course, 'you' are still unaware of this fact hehe.

I hope this chapter makes up for the wait ^^ As you can see I've changed some of the character's surnames to fit the plot better. So from now on, the main female character's surname will be Lee instead of Kim. I hope you enjoyed the update! Please let me know what you think, I always welcome comments from my readers ^^

I'll also be putting up a poll below to decide on something important. Giving the main female character aka 'you' a name. I will most probably still write the story in the 'you' format, but I thought that I should at least fill up the empty spaces when 'your' name is called as not to cut the flow of the story.