Rocky POV

“Hey.” I wave at the others with my newly casted fingers.

“Ah! What happened to you?!” JinJin asks.

“Nothing. It’s just broken.” I said looking over at Areum and can see the guilt eating at her. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“The three middle fingers are casted on your dominant hand. How is that not bad?!” MJ shouts. Areum buries her face in Bin’s chest.

I chuckle. “It’s ok. Time will heal it.”

“What did you do to get your fingers in a cast?” Eunwoo asks.

“I smashed them between doors.”

“You are not that clumsy. Did someone do it on purpose?” Sanha asks. “Should I get revenge?”

“What are you going to do?” Bin confronts Sanha.

“Eh?”

“Areum was the one who smashed Rocky’s fingers between the door. What are you going to do about it?” Bin asks once more.

“E-eh? Areum noona?” Sanha said and everyone’s eyes widens turning to look at her.

“I-it was an accident.” She mumbles out. “I-I’m sorry.

“Ah, well, then you deserved it.” They said dismissing the topic. I roll my eyes. So much for friends. 

As recess rolls around, I’m struggling to open the water bottle in front of me. Damn. I should’ve thought this through. I continue to fight and struggle throwing it onto the floor in frustration. Areum picks it up and opens it handing it to me.

“Thanks.” I said to her. 

“Well, it’s my fault after all.” She says. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s cool. No biggie.” I shrug it off. “Rocky swag.” We both say in sync and I look at her surprised. How did she? She just smiles at me and walks over to join Bin and the others.

Great. Just great. Lunch time came and here I am, staring at my lunch, cause I can’t eat with my left hand. Chopsticks and left hand does not go together. Does anyone have a spoon? I look at the others and nope. They’re all using chopsticks with no spoons in sight. I let out a small sigh. Stupid Rocky. You just had to cast your fingers so she’ll feel guilty. Such a stupid idea. 

“What’s wrong, Rocky? Not hungry?” Sanha asks. I lift my casted fingers.

“Ah. Poor Rocky.” They all sigh in sympathy. 

“Areum, why don’t you feed him?” JinJin suggests.

“Why would I do that?” She asks.

“You’re the one who broke his fingers.” Eunwoo points out.

“Ah. Ah. Ok.” Areum agrees, breaking my chopsticks. She grab some food and bring it to my mouth. “Ah~” I stare at her. “Ah~” she repeats. I open my mouth and she feeds me. Maybe this wasn’t such a stupid idea after all. 

Between feeding me and feeding herself, she keeps having to switch chopsticks back and forth. Suddenly, after feeding me, she use my chopsticks to feed herself. “Ah. I’m sorry.” She apologizes when she realizes what she did. 

“I-it’s ok.” I stutter out and we stare at each other still chewing our food.

“Ah~” Bin offers me food and I shake my head. “Yah, don’t refuse me.”

I swallow my food. “This is all you’re offering me?”

“Ah, should I give you a little bit of everything?” He suggests grabbing more food with the chopsticks. “Ah.”

“Now we’re talking.” I say. He brings it to my mouth. “Don’t drop it.” I cup my hand together in case he does drop the food.

“I think I’m getting a cramp. Hurry. Hurry.” He stuffs the food inside my opened mouth. “Wow~ you have a big mouth.” He laughs and we continue to eat with Areum changing the chopsticks again. 

“Is there a point in you switching chopsticks anymore?” MJ asks Areum. “After all, you already used Rocky’s to eat with.”

“It was an accident.” She replies, to her best abilities, with full.

“We know, but, I don’t think it matters anymore. You already used his.” JinJin states.

Areum sighs. “Fine.” She uses one pair of chopsticks, turns out to be mine, for the rest of the lunch.

“What’s wrong, Areum noona?” Sanha asks as he realizes she stopped feeding herself.

“I...can’t finish it.” She says.

“Give it to Rocky. He’s a big eater.” The others chorus.

“Or she can give it to me.” Bin offers.

“Of course. Bin too.” The others nod. She then grabs her lunch and scrape some food onto Bin’s plate. She turns back to mine and put the rest in. My eyes widen at her action.

“What? They said you are a big eater.”

I shake my head. “I just...you’re sharing with me.”

“You didn’t want it?”

“No, that’s not what I’m trying to say. Thank you. I appreciate it.” She smiles and continue to feed me. Bin clears his throat and we look at him. He’s glaring at me.

“Binnie, I shared some with you too.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Bin says shoving more food into his already full mouth.

“Ignore him.” Areum whispers to me and continue to feed me until there was nothing left.

“That was good.” We all sigh in satisfaction. 

“You know what would be better?” Areum asks making everyone look at her. She smiles. “Ice cream after school.”

“I’m in!” MJ and Sanha shouts in sync.

“Sounds great.” JinJin agrees. “I’m all in for ice cream.”

**********

I wait in front of the school gates for the guys to show up for ice cream after school.

“The others aren’t here yet?” Areum asks walking up to me.

I shake my head. “No. Not yet.”

We both stand there in silence waiting for at least five minutes before I received a text.

Operation: Help Rocky obtain Areum’s heart

JinJin: All of us will be a bit late. Have a little trouble with something. 

Rocky: Why are you using this group chat? 

JinJin: Meet you at Baskin Robins?

He totally ignores my text. I roll my eyes.

 Rocky: Sure

“Uh, JinJin hyung said that they’ll be late because of something and to go wait for them at Baskin Robins.”

“Oh. Ok.” She said. “Let me text Bin.” She sent him a quick text before we head to the ice cream place. We sit down at a table to wait for the others. I look at the time. Ten minutes already passed.

“Should we order first?” I ask her.

“I think we should wait for them.”

“Ok.” I nod in agreement. 
 

Operation: Help Rocky obtain Areum’s heart

Rocky: When are you guys coming? Should we order first?

JinJin: Go ahead and order. 
 

“Um, JinJin said to order first.” I say to Areum and my phone buzz in my hand again. 

JinJin: Good Luck

Huh?

MJ: Hwaiting.

Huh? 

Eunwoo: Work hard.

HUH?! 

Sanha: Enjoy your date.

“Ah!” I shout out making Areum look at me. “Sorry.” I look at my phone again. Now everything makes more sense. I cover my face with my hands. Ah, I hope she won’t hate me for this. Wait, this is their plan. She has no right to hate me, right?

“Is something wrong?” Areum asks.

“Uh, well, JinJin hyung said to order first. What do you want? Cup or cone?”

“Rainbow sherbet in a cone.”

“Ok.” I smile and walk off to the counter to order. I look at my phone again and let out a sigh. What am I going to do? With some difficulty, I successfully held my cup of ice cream with my casted hand, and held Areum’s cone with my free hand. “Here you go.” I hand her ice cream cone. 

“Thanks.” We sit and eat the ice cream in silence. “I wonder when the others are coming?” Areum asks.

I avert my eyes and look out the window ignoring her question. 

**********

JinJin POV

As Bin walk out of his last class for the day, MJ and I ambush him.

“Where are you rushing to?”

“Uh, we promised Areum ice cream after school.”

“Well, we have a little problem.” MJ said. 

“Eunwoo needs help in the library.” I add.

“And that concerns me, how?”

“Come on. Be a bro. All of us are helping him too.” MJ and I drag him to the library.

Sanha and Eunwoo had grabbed a lot of random books from random shelves and put it on three carts for us to “return” them to their correct shelf. The three shelves were five feet tall filled with books from front to back and top to bottom.

“That’s a lot of books you have to put back. Good bye.” Bin turns around and we all stop him.

“Please help me.” Eunwoo says. “I know that I work for the library and all, but this is too much. Binnie, please. Help me.”

Bin let out a sigh. “Fine.” Bin walks around as fast he can to “return” the books while MJ and Sanha takes their precious time. As we all return the books, I text Rocky to meet up at Baskin Robins.

I look up and Sanha and MJ are taking books from their shelves and putting them onto Bin’s shelf. Bin put the book on the shelf and turn back to the cart to come face to face with extra books.

“Yah. Stop transferring your books on your cart to my cart. I thought we’re helping each other.”

“Did you just say ‘yah’? I’m your hyung.” MJ complains.

“I was talking to Sanha.” Bin immediately defends himself. “But, you’re the oldest, hyung. Shouldn’t you be the one helping and not giving others more work?”

“I’m tired.” MJ says. 

“Must be from old age.” Sanha jokes, making MJ grab his collar.

Bin scoffs and returns to putting books away.

“Where do we go from here?” Sanha asks as we finish putting away the last book 

“Areum texted me to meet up at Baskin Robins.” Bin says. We all look at each other. . 

**********

Rocky POV 

Areum let out a sigh and look out the window. I took the last bite of my ice cream. If Areum know that the others aren’t coming, she’ll go home immediately.

“Um, JinJin said to wait for them at the arcade inside Destiny mall.”

“Ok.” She nods and make her way out taking her trash with her. Wait. She believes me? Just like that?! I follow Areum out and we make our way to the mall. 

We went inside the arcade and Areum went to one of the card machines to buy a card.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Might as well play and wait for the others to show up.” She explains, walking away. She stop and turns to me. “You coming?” She asks handing me a card. I just stupidly nod to her question and accept the card. We enjoy our time in the arcade playing different games. Ones that doesn’t involve my casted fingers, or course.  After using up all of our credits on the card, we decide to go eat and “wait” for the others.

“Since you treated me for ice cream, I’ll treat you to some food. What do you want?” Areum asks me.

“It’s ok! I’m a big eater, so I’ll pay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mm.” I nod. She tells me her order and I went to the counter to order. Thanks to my casted hand, the workers kindly pack the food and put it in a plastic bag for me. I bring the food and set it down in front of her.

“They’re not coming, are they.” She says.

“Uh.” I hesitate. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. I know.” Areum continues. “What the others are up to. I know they’re trying to help us reconcile but really Rocky, there’s nothing to fix.” 

I sit across from her. “I’m not apologizing for lying to you about the others not being here. I’m apologizing for hurting you. Please stop being mad at me.”

Areum shakes her head. “I’m not mad at you. I have no reason to be mad. No right to be mad. You have the right to get yourself a girlfriend if you want one.”

“If you’re not mad at me, then why do you keep ignoring and avoiding me? You even broke my fingers.” I show her my casted fingers.

Areum let out a nervous laugh. “I didn’t mean to. It was an accident, ok? But, I like you. That’s the reason why I avoided you. But you got yourself a girlfriend, so to stop myself from liking you more than I should, I decided to keep some distance between us.”

I let out a sigh. “I told you already that I didn’t like her, right? The only reason why I dated was because I saw you and Bin together and I...” I clear my throat. “I thought...that you were dating him and was playing with me. So I...wanted to distract myself with another girl. Which was a totally stupid idea because she was too clingy.”

“Ah.” Areum laughs. “I see.”

“Yeah.” I mumble. “Stupid move. I know.”

“Thank you for today, Rocky. It was fun.” Areum says. “I think that this should be the first and last date.”

“Eh? But, didn’t we just clear up the misunderstanding?” I ask.

“Yes.” Areum nods. “We have a mutual understanding.”

“Then why?”

“Bin will kill you if he sees us together. I made up excuses to save you the last few times, but I just can’t keep making up with excuses on the spot. I may be smart, but I’m not that smart.”

“So, we just have to keep our relationship a secret from Bin hyung, right? I’m up for the challenge. Date me.”

“Uh...” She hesitates. “I-”

“I like you and you like me too.” I smile. “So, let’s date.”

No POV

The guys all follow Bin to Baskin Robins. They look around and there was no sight of Rocky or Areum. They let out a sigh of relief.

“Where is she?” Bin tilts his head in wonder. “She did say to meet here.”

“Is it this one? It could be a different location.” Sanha said.

“Yeah.” MJ agrees. “I bet it’s the one furthest out from our school and home.”

“Why’s that?” Bin asks.

“Free time. Private time. Alone time.” Eunwoo says. “Sounds nice.” Bin pulls out his phone to text Areum but the others stop him.

“Let’s order ice cream since we’re here.” JinJin states.

“What about Rocky?”

“I wouldn’t worry about him.” MJ says. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”

“Yeah.” The others agree dragging Bin to the counter. They all order their ice cream and take a seat at a table. 

“She’s not replying.” Bin clicks his tongue and let out a sigh.

“You know, maybe she went home cause she waited for too long.”

“And Rocky?”

“Hey, was he even here in the first place?” Sanha asks.

“He’s probably off dancing somewhere.” Eunwoo says. “This is Rocky we’re talking about.”

Bin sighs and continue to eat his ice cream. As soon as Bin finishes, he leaves the shop with the others running after him.

“Where are you going?” JinJin asks. 

“Home.”

“Already? Let’s go play.” MJ suggests. “C’mon!” They drag him to a basketball court. The boys found a ball behind a bush and start shooting hoops. They split into teams and continue to play. During the game, Bin stops.

“My twin senses are tingling.” 

“Turn it off!” The others shout at him.

“Eh?”

“Uh, no, it’s just...you’re playing with us. Stop worrying about Areum?” MJ asks.

“She’s my sister. I can’t not worry about her.” Bin says, another shiver going down his spine. “Ah! I’m going home.” He shouts grabbing his bag and walking off.

“Eh~” The others run to catch up to him.

“I’m sure she’s ok.” JinJin says.

“Areum is usually in trouble when my senses go off.” The others look at each other and sigh knowing they can’t stall him any further.

“Fine. See you tomorrow then.” They chorus and wave him off.

Areum POV

I lock myself in a stall and cover my face with my hands. Minhyuk wants to date me. I squeal to myself then shake my head. Binnie wouldn’t like that. It’s not like I don’t understand why Binnie doesn’t want me dating his friends. If we have an argument, he won’t be able to choose between me or his friend. Not just that but if we break up, he’ll lose a friend too. I sigh. But I like Minhyuk. I haven’t liked someone, who is not a book character, in so long. What do I do? I want to like him. I want to date him, but Binnie...

I leave the restroom and walk back to the table where Rocky is talking and laughing with a lady who seems to be a few years older than us. What? Just because I didn’t reply to him, he already has another girl? I sigh and walk over.

“...lie about your fingers being broken? Did it work?”

“Heeeh~, so your fingers aren’t really broken?”

Rocky turns to me with wide eyes. “Areum, I can explain.”

“Yah!” I shout at him. “Do you know how bad I felt when you told us your fingers were broken? But, what? They’re not broken?” 

“Areum.” He reaches for my shoulders and I hold his hand pushing it away from me making him wince in pain.

“Hey! His finger may not be broken but the trauma is real! He’s in pain!” The lady shouts pulling Rocky’s hand away from mine. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” Rocky hiss. “Ah.” He rubs the cast.

“Yah! What is wrong with you?” The lady ask, pushing my shoulder. I scoff. Great. Now I’m the bad guy. But I do feel bad though. His fingers must hurt a lot.

“Noona!” Rocky grabs her wrist. “It’s ok. I’m fine, ok? Let it go.”

“I’m sorry.” I apologize taking hold of his casted hands. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“Can I...guilt trip you into being my girlfriend?” He ask and we stare at each other. I avert my eyes trying to suppress my smile and look him in the eyes.

“You don’t have to guilt trip me into being your girlfriend. I would’ve agree without it.” I feel my cheeks heat up at my own words and once again, I avert my eyes away from his. I look back at Rocky and he was smiling. We both stare at each other with shy smiles on our face.

“Ahem!” I jump letting go of Rocky’s hand. “I guess I’ll go home now.” She says walking off. “Oh! Rocky, avoid straining your fingers.”

“Um, who was that?” I asks when she was out of sight. “She was talking to you so familiarly, and you were smiling too when you two were talking.”

“Why? Are you jealous?”

“No.” I deny, turning away from him and going back to my seat. 

“You are, aren’t you.” He laughs. “You don’t have to worry. That was my cousin. She’s a nurse in the Emergency Department.”

“Hm. I see.”

“Now you know how I felt when I saw you and Bin hyung together without knowing that you two were twins.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”  

“I’m mad about that.” I point to his casted fingers. “You lied.” I roll my eyes and walk off. 

“Areum.” Rocky calls out running after me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie.” I enter a clothing store. “Really. Please don’t be mad anymore.” I start picking out some clothes. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll do anything.” I walk over to the register with the clothes. I put it on the counter. 

“He’s paying for it.”

“Eh?” 

I turn to him. “You said that you’ll do anything, right?”

Rocky stares at the credit card inside his wallet for awhile and I laugh to myself at his hesitation.

“Forget it.” I say, handing the woman my credit card, but Rocky stops me. 

“I got it.” I raise my brows at him. “I got it.” He repeats.

After Rocky paid for the clothes, I walk out of the store.

“Those are guy clothes.” Rocky says, his voice laced with confusion. 

“I know.” I answer. “I’m gonna go home now. See you at school tomorrow?”

Rocky smiles. “Yeah.”

==========

I swear I posted this chaper years ago. Guess I didn't. Teehee. 🤪