A smile tugged at Yi Jeong's lips as he dipped his fingers along the rim of his newly finished vase.

He almost hadn't believed it when he caught his waitress snooping through his phone last Friday. She seemed like the straight-laced type who would correct someone if they undercharged her at a market. A nice girl. Pure. Untainted.

But he'd forgotten something, had unintentionally dangled temptation in front of her, and she took it with both hands.

Literally.

He could still see the shock on her face. The earnest blush. How cute...no, how embarrassed she'd looked…caught doing something naughty.

He hadn't said anything—she looked flustered enough by whatever she'd seen—but he'd had a week to think about the incident now, and he'd decided to play a little game with her. Seduction was, to him, as well-crafted an art as pottery, and something told him it might be fun to mess with her a bit. Harmlessly, of course. He only meant it as a diversion from what was swiftly turning into speed-dating a bunch of nutcases.

He didn't normally mess with good girls, but maybe she wasn't as good as she appeared. In any case, he'd set himself up perfectly with that savior bit from the week before when he'd kicked his date out for being outrageously rude to her. At the time, he hadn't meant that as way to get her attention; Go In Na had been genuinely annoying and genuinely unkind.

But it could definitely work in his favor now.

With that thought in mind, Yi Jeong wiped his hands on a towel and started cleaning up so he could prepare for his date that night.

His date with an unsuspecting waitress.

And, of course, the other woman who'd happen to be sitting across from him.

---

Between the time he left for the restaurant and the time he entered the private dining room, dressed in a navy blue suit and tie, Yi Jeong's evening had already turned to .

His mother had called him while he was driving—another careless affair of his father's she wanted him to take care of. He told her he'd have to deal with it later, and she'd started crying and carrying on about how she didn't understand why his father couldn't love her. He'd wanted to shout the truth at her—it wasn't that his father couldn't love her; his father flat out didn't want to try, and there wasn't a damn thing she or Yi Jeong could do about that. Instead, he'd sat in the car and spouted trite platitudes until she calmed down enough for him to reasonably end the conversation; then he'd sent a message to the head of their home service staff for him to please keep an eye on her.

Sighing, he sat down and checked his watch. He'd still arrived fifteen minutes early.

Good.

Miss Ga Eul would be in soon.

Not that he was in much of a mood to talk now.

Maybe he'd go ahead and order the wine.

A minute or so passed before Ga Eul rushed in, looking flustered. She apologized for being so late, and he calmly reassured her that he was, in fact, quite early.

"Would you please bring out a bottle of pinot noir?" he asked as she poured him a glass of water from a chilled crystal pitcher.

"Yes, of course." Setting the pitcher off to the side, she straightened back up and folded her hands at her waist. "Is there anything else I can get you while you wait?"

"Nothing, thank you," Yi Jeong answered, his eyes sliding over to the lit screen of his phone, which showed his mother calling him back. Irritated, he flipped the phone over.

He wasn't sure why his mother always thought that this time something would be different. Because his little 'interruptions' had worked so well in the past.

Yi Jeong scoffed to himself.

To abuse an overused metaphor, there were far too many leaks in the boat of his parents' relationship to patch over them with any amount of well-timed interferences by him.

And too many more women for his father to chase after once he had finished.

He didn't notice Ga Eul enter the room again, lost in thought as he was, until dark red wine splashed into his wine glass, startling him.

Ga Eul carefully poured the proper amount into the glass and righted the bottle with practiced ease. Placing the bottle on the table, she backed away to stand at an appropriate distance.

Off to the side and a bit behind him.

Where he couldn't see her without obviously making an effort to do so.

Spreading his napkin in his lap, he waited a beat before taking a sip of the wine, then called her over.

"Yes?" She emerged in his line of sight, her demeanor a bit stiffer than it had been the previous week. Maybe she was worried about the incident with his phone.

"The wine is much better tonight." He flashed her a charming smile, and she visibly relaxed.

"Oh, good. I'm glad."

"Miss Ga Eul, may I ask how long you've worked here?"

She tensed again. Just a little, in the shoulders.

"Almost three years. But I was a waitress for three years before that," she answered confidently. He could hear the pride in her voice.

"Ah, where at?"

"Just a small porridge place. I'm not sure you would have heard of it. Bonjuk Shop, the Donam-dong Branch. It's in the Seongbuk District."

Yi Jeong pretended to think about that, though of course he'd never heard of it.

"Sorry, it doesn't sound familiar."

"That's all right. Like I said, it was fairly small."

"How did you end up here?"

"My uncle used to work as a chef here. Before he opened his own restaurant."

"But you don't work for him?" Yi Jeong shifted in his chair so that he faced her more directly and crossed one leg over the other. He sipped his wine.

"I started working here before he left. This is much closer to my college and"—she gave him a sheepish look—"to be frank, it does pay a bit more."

"I understand." Yi Jeong grinned knowingly and set his glass down. Letting his fingers linger on the base of the stem, he kept his other hand on his knee.

On the table, his phone buzzed.

He swore under his breath as he let go of the glass, turned his phone over, and silenced it.

"Excuse me for asking this, but...is everything okay?"

"I'm sorry?" He turned his head back toward the waitress.

His face must have betrayed his annoyance because she immediately looked apologetic.

"Sorry, it's just that...before you looked like you were worried about something."

"No," he said, without thinking. He never talked about his mother with anyone, except on rare occasions the other F4, and he certainly didn't want this doe-eyed waitress pitying him.

"Oh. Okay, well, sorry. It's really none of my business."

"No, no, it's fine." Putting his charming expression back in place, Yi Jeong uncrossed his legs, leaned forward, and continued, "I was actually meaning to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Do you have a pen? I'm going to give you my phone number."

Her eyebrows shot up.

"P-pardon?"

"In case my date this week"—Yi Jeong glanced at the empty doorway and dropped his voice—"is similar to the last one. If you wouldn't mind calling me so I can cut it short more... tactfully."

"Oh." A rosy hue colored her cheeks. "Oh. Oh, yes. Of course," she stammered out. "Here you are." Ga Eul proffered a ballpoint pen from her pants' pocket and handed it to him.

Yi Jeong pulled a slip of paper out of his wallet and wrote on the back of it.

She accepted the paper with her thumb and forefinger at the farthest end from Yi Jeong's own fingers. Yi Jeong held the paper in place a moment before letting go, causing her to look up at him.

He winked at her conspiratorially.

Her cheeks grew even redder.

"It'll probably go over better if I leave due to an 'emergency,'" he explained further, twining his fingers around the stem of the wine glass. "Let's just say my parents were not very amused at the way I kicked Miss Go In Na out."

"Ah, I see." Ga Eul rubbed the paper between her fingers. She stared at the inked numbers like she'd been given a sacred treasure. "Well, in that case, I suppose we ought to have a code or something," she mumbled.

"Good idea. All right, let's say—"

"Oh, you could—"

They both cut off.

"You go first," Ga Eul insisted.

"No, what you were going to say?"

"Just that you could ask for a coffee. That's really normal, isn't it?"

"Yes. Except that I really like coffee. What if I want one for real?"

"Then you should say, 'I would like a coffee, the best coffee served by your establishment.'"

"But if I don't actually want coffee, I'll say, 'Give me a cup of your tiest coffee,' is that it?"

Ga Eul laughed.

"Ah, I see where that might be a problem," she said.

"Okay, well, how about this? I like my coffee black, so if I ask for it with cream and sugar, that means I don't actually want coffee."

"Sounds good to me. But, may I suggest one thing?"

"Yes?"

"You should probably turn the volume on your phone back up." She pointed at the phone currently lying motionless on the table.

Yi Jeong steered his gaze to the offending object.

Of course his phone was on silent.

He'd just set it that way.

How could he have made such a blunder?

He'd devised the plan as a way to give her his number. Just to see how she would react. Of course, he didn't really intend to use it. He was So Yi Jeong. He didn't need escape plans.

But in his distracted state, he'd made a mistake, and she'd caught it.

As he laughed stupidly and turned the volume back up—all the way up—he tried to remember the last time he'd tripped over his own feet like that.

He couldn't remember a last time.

Precisely at that moment, his date walked in, and for once he welcomed the new presence in the room.

"So Yi Jeong."

"Park Se Ri." He stood. "Good to see you again."

Once they had greeted each other and Se Ri had taken the seat across from him, Ga Eul took her wine order and left the room. He surveyed the woman in front of him—narrow frame, small s, shapeless legs, and sharp, angular facial features that made her large almond eyes stand out like a frightened child's. She wore a cream blouse that was too thick to see through—not that it mattered, just an observation—and flowing back pants with a bow at the waist. On her face, a pair of slim, round, rose gold glasses enlarged her eyes further and betrayed her inquisitive, nerdy nature.

Se Ri wasn't unattractive per se, but she also wasn't exactly his type. He'd known her since elementary school, and she'd attended more than a few birthday parties for the different F4 members. A fairly shy girl, he remembered her for having her nose always stuck in a book or in a grownup conversation about business management.

Even so, before he'd started the dates, she'd been at the top of his list of possible candidates. For one thing, he'd never been terribly interested in the business side of the museum, and it would be nice to have someone more suited to handling that side of the equation. For another thing, it was better the devil he knew than the devil he didn't.

Unfortunately, as he'd asked after her a bit through mutual acquaintances, he'd found out that she, by all accounts, wasn't a devil so much as a saint, which, if proven true, made him reluctant to offer her an arrangement that would probably make her miserable.

That, and she was very much not his type.

A fact that came into relief all the more when Ga Eul returned to stand beside her, pouring moscato into her glass.

Clearing his throat, Yi Jeong asked, "Se Ri, you recently returned from Canada, yes?"

"Yes, I went there with my mother to inspect the branch there." Her glasses bobbed up and down as she nodded and spoke. "It's very beautiful this time of year."

"I've never been, but I'll take your word for it."

"You've been to a lot of places in Europe, though, right?"

Yi Jeong nodded.

"I should go to Europe, but every time I think I'll take a trip for myself, something with the business comes up. You know, it hasn't been the same since my dad's ."

"How is he, by the way?"

"Better. More or less." Her face lit up as Ga Eul presented them with their entree for the evening: Italian spaghetti.

"Oh! It's my favorite dish." Pointing at the plate, her full eyes grew larger, if that were possible, as she continued, "You remembered?"

"We only had it every year at your birthday party. Please, eat a lot." He extended his hand, palm upward, towards her.

"Thank you." Picking up her fork, she wasted no time twisting the strands of pasta around it.

She looked so entranced by the food that Yi Jeong let his attention wander for a few minutes as he dug into his own meal, satisfied that she was enjoying herself.

He'd made it halfway through his dish when he realized with surprise that she'd hardly eaten anything. Instead, she was twisting and re-twisting pasta around her fork, nibbling a bit every once in a while.

In fact, she looked nervous about something.

Sure enough, after a few more minutes of picking at her food, she set her fork down and asked, "Yi Jeong, may I be honest with you?"

"Of course." He set his own fork down, at a loss as to her sudden change in demeanor.

"Actually, I agreed to this meeting because of my parents, but since we grew up together, I wanted to tell you upfront that I've had a boyfriend for the past two years."

He blinked, surprised.

Well, maybe he shouldn't be surprised. Lots of people he knew had fleeting, closet romances before they were forced back into reality, either by business or by family or both. But Se Ri—he didn't remember her ever dating anyone or even paying guys much attention when they were in school together.

"Let me guess. Someone you met in college?" he prodded.

"I wish." Her face fell even more. "He works for my father's company. One of his junior accountants."

"Ah." He imagined the two of them hunched over an office desk, bonding over their shared love of sales data. He'd never had much of a head for numbers himself.

Sighing, Se Ri rested her elbows on either side of her plate and brought her hands to her face. Her softly curled, moderately long hair dangled precariously close to the spaghetti sauce.

"I've always been honest with him, about how far I could take the relationship, but he's adamant about asking my dad if he can marry me, anyway" she explained, "I know that's not possible, but he's being so stubborn about it. And ever since my dad had his , I've been even more scared to bring it up. What if he has another ? It's not like I don't know what my dad's going to say. He's only going to get himself fired."

Yi Jeong gave her what he hoped was a sympathetic smile. Comforting distraught women—at least outside the realm of —wasn't exactly his forte. He felt bad for Se Ri, but in the way one feels bad for anyone who steps into quicksand knowing, but not believing, that they'll be swallowed up.

"Do you have any advice? I mean...surely there must have been someone you were with before. Or someone you liked."

"Have you read the tabloids lately?" he asked.

Se Ri stared blankly at him. Like his public reputation had no meaning to her.

"I stayed away from all that. No use kidding yourself." Yi Jeong reclined in his chair, pushing his half-empty plate away.

Ga Eul swept up the plate and disappeared from the room with it as Se Ri persisted, a wistful look on her face, "You never met anyone...anyone you wanted to stay with forever?"

Ignoring her question, Yi Jeong replied, "You want my advice? I think you should break up with him. As soon as you can. There's no sense in stringing a person along like that."

Se Ri's face fell again.

"I suppose you're right," she mumbled. "I've just been postponing the inevitable. Oh god, I've gotten myself in such a mess." Se Ri groaned as she pressed her forehead into her hands. A strand of her hair dipped into the pasta. Yi Jeong tugged her plate to the center of the table.

Oh great. Now she was wiping tears from her eyes with her dirty napkin.

"Yah." Yi Jeong offered her the unused napkin that had been laid across his lap. "I'm sure everything will work out. Just break the news as gently as you can. To your boyfriend, not your father."

"Would you like another napkin?" Ga Eul reappeared at the table, giving Se Ri a friendly smile and holding out a clean cloth. Se Ri took it with a shaky smile and a small 'thank you.'

"Would you like me to take your plate?"

Se Ri nodded.

"Will you also get us a slice of chocolate cake, please?" Yi Jeong asked, handing off Se Ri's plate.

Acknowledging the request, Ga Eul swept off toward the kitchen once more.

"If there's anything I know about cheering women up, it's that chocolate makes anything better."

"I'm sorry, I'm not being a very good date, am I?" Se Ri commented, dabbing at her eyes before setting the napkin down and straightening herself out in her chair.

In truth, he'd hoped his date tonight would give him cause for a bit more interaction with Ga Eul. That, and he hated watching women cry. But Se Ri was a sweet person, and he felt genuinely bad for her. First her dad's , and now this. She'd been dealt a ty hand, and, as book smart as she was, he had a feeling people often took advantage of her caring nature.

"Oh, don't worry," he replied smoothly, "you're quite tame compared to last week's episode."

"Does that mean I've made it to round two?" she asked jokingly. Or not. He couldn't quite tell.

"I don't know. I've been thinking about drawing names out of a hat. Might be easier and a little more sane."

Se Ri laughed and took a sip of water.

"I always thought you were funny, Yi Jeong. I hope you find someone."

"That's the goal here."

Se Ri shook her head.

"That's not what I meant. You should fall in love. At least once. Even as miserable as I am now, I don't regret it."

Yi Jeong simply smiled, not wanting to spoil her lighter mood.

Love.

Right.

---

After Se Ri left—promising to let him know of any further developments with the boyfriend—he waited for Ga Eul to return and clear up, but when she didn't come back after a few minutes, he concluded she must have gotten occupied by something in the kitchen, or perhaps with her manager. Pocketing his phone, he made his way leisurely to the front of the restaurant.

The valet took an inordinate amount of time pulling up with his car, but once he'd been safely ensconced in the orange sports car, his mind flew back to Se Ri's question over dinner.

You never met anyone you wanted to stay with forever?

His hand hovered over the gearshift.

Yes.

He'd pushed her away.

She'd married his brother.

Jerking the gearshift into drive, he ripped away from the entrance, suddenly eager to get away. Get gone. Maybe get wasted.

But as he approached the exit out to the street, he noticed a familiar face at the curb.

He rolled his window down, letting the car idle.

"Miss Ga Eul!"

She turned towards him, still dressed in her uniform but with a bandage wrapped tightly around her right hand. She held it like she was trying to apply pressure to a wound.

"Is something wrong?"

Funny. She'd asked him the same question not too long ago.

"What happened to your hand?" he continued.

"Oh, it's nothing," she answered, looking flustered by his sudden appearance. "I mean, I cut my hand on a knife, and the manager thinks I ought to get it stitched. But the bandaging makes it look worse than it is."

"Would you like a ride to the hospital?"

"Oh, there's no need. I called a taxi."

"I'll take you. It's no problem." Getting out of the car, he ushered her around to the passenger side. "There's a good clinic on my way home, actually. One of my good friends works there. It's his grandfather's. He should get you fixed right up."

"Well"—Ga Eul hesitated while he held the door open for her—"I don't want to trouble you."

"It's no trouble. I don't have plans for the rest of the evening, anyway."

Except for the situation at home. Which he was avoiding.

Ga Eul shifted her weight and bit her lip, seeming to consider the situation.

"Come on, get in. I promise I'm not a serial killer, and if I am, the valets are watching us, so they'll know I took you." He gave a wave to her coworkers, who were gawking at them from the entrance to the restaurant. "I'll be sure to get caught." He gave her a wry smile. "Not that it would console you much, I guess, if you were dead."

That elicited a small laugh from her.

"Well, okay then." Ga Eul ducked into the car. "As long as you don't mind."

"It's my pleasure," he replied, closing the door.

Once he had pulled away and merged onto the main street, she said, "Thank you. By the way, you two seemed close."

"Hmm?"

"Your date for tonight. Have you known her for a long time?"

"Since elementary school."

"Ah, I see."

"We're not close exactly," he continued, unsure why he felt the need to explain their relationship to her. "It's just that we've been forced together by mutual acquaintances a lot. We had most of our classes together in school. In a sense, she's almost like family."

"Is that a good or bad thing, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you married her, would you feel like you were marrying your sister or something?"

"I don't have a sister, but...yes, when you put it like that, I guess it would feel a bit weird."

Ga Eul smiled, gazing out the window. One hand pressed hard against the bandages on the other.

"Does it hurt much? Your hand?"

"Oh, no. Not yet, at least. I mainly don't want it to start bleeding again."

"Don't worry, the clinic's not far from here. You mentioned you were in college," he said. "What are you studying?"

"Art, actually."

"Really?"

She nodded.

"My emphasis is pottery, but I'm double majoring in Early Childhood Education. I want to teach art to children."

Pottery, huh? She must know who he was then. Not to brag or anything, but...he was kind of a big deal in that particular field.

She said nothing further on the subject, though. Merely stared at the scenery as they flew down the road. Skyscraper after skyscraper.

After a moment, he cleared his throat and said, "I suppose you've been to the Woo Sung Museum, then."

"Of course." She turned her attention back to him. "When I was a kid, I begged my mom to take me so many times she started buying me annual passes. I remember when your first exhibit came out." She took a deep breath. "I'm not supposed to say this at the restaurant, but since we're in your car...I really admire your work. You're one of my inspirations." She gave him a shy, adoring smile, then looked back out at the road in front of them.

"Well, in that case," Yi Jeong said, warming with pride, "you should call me 'Sunbae.' Since we are in the same discipline."

"Oh, but...How could I call you 'Sunbae'? At least, 'Sunbaenim' would seem more appropriate."

"Ah, but we're going to be together for seven more weeks. I should at least be comfortable with one person in that room. Please, I insist."

"Well...All right, Yi Jeong Sunbaenim...I mean, Yi Jeong Sunbae."

Satisfied, Yi Jeong relaxed in his seat, and they continued the last five minutes of the drive in silence.

---

When they pulled up to the clinic, Yi Jeong saw Ji Hoo's white motorcycle parked out front. His friend was addicted to his work at the clinic, so he had been almost positive, even without calling, that he would still be there at that time in the evening. If there was one person he didn't see getting married anytime soon, it was Yoon Ji Hoo. Poor guy had never dated, though he always appeared too spaced out to care about that.

"Oh, you don't have to go in with me." Ga Eul stopped Yi Jeong at the door.

"I've been meaning to stop by and see him. Let's go in." He held open the door for her and led the way into the lobby, calling out Ji Hoo's name.

His friend materialized instantly, his normally perfect hair askew, glasses perched on the tip of his nose, and arms filled with medical sheets.

"Yoon Ji Hoo," he reprimanded. "This is what the state of our friendship has come to. I'm having to bring injured people here as an excuse to see you." He turned to Ga Eul. "Miss Ga Eul, this is my very good friend Yoon Ji Hoo. Ji Hoo, this is Chu Ga Eul. She's been...assisting me with a project."

"Nice to meet you," Ga Eul greeted Ji Hoo. "Yi Jeong Sunbaenim...I mean Sunbae...was very kind to bring me here."

"Sunbae?" Ji Hoo asked.

"We found out we're in the same discipline. Ga Eul is an art major. Pottery."

"Double major actually," Ga Eul corrected. "Early Childhood Education."

"Ah. So you want to teach art to kids?"

"Yes." Ga Eul nodded enthusiastically.

"She cut her hand on a knife, and she needs stitches. Can you do it?"

"Sure. Come on back. Let me take a look at it."

The two of them followed Ji Hoo to the examination room, where he had Ga Eul sit on the exam table and unwrap her bandage.

Blood had crusted around the edges of the wound which, located on the left side of her palm, looked moderately deep. Looking at it, Yi Jeong was rather impressed by how calm she'd been. Ji Hoo took several minutes to rinse the wound with a saline solution and soap. Then he numbed the area with an anesthetic and proceeded with the suturing process.

Ga Eul was quiet the whole time, surveying the room and staring at the infectious disease posters on the wall, probably to take her mind off what Ji Hoo was doing.

Taking out his phone, Yi Jeong scrolled through his list of missed calls.

Four from his mother. But they'd stopped after he received a message from his head of staff saying they had everything under control.

"Oh. Is this your grandfather?" Ga Eul spoke up, causing him to glance up at her. She was pointing with her free hand at a picture hanging on the wall that showed Ji Hoo and his grandfather on a fishing trip.

"Yes," Ji Hoo answered, keeping his eyes on his task. "He owns the clinic, but he's not here right now. He usually lets me close up."

"I can't believe it." Utter surprise washed over her face. "He used to come into the porridge shop where I worked in high school. He came in there almost every day, it felt like, for a while. But then suddenly he stopped coming. My friend Jan Di still works there. She's been wondering what happened to him."

Ji Hoo asked, "When did you graduate?"

"Hmm?"

"High school."

"Almost three years ago now."

"That's about right. My grandfather and I were reunited, and I moved in with him maybe...three and a half years ago."

"Oh!" Ga Eul laughed. "Well, maybe that explains it."

"Huh. What a coincidence," Yi Jeong thought out loud. First the pottery thing, and now this.

Ga Eul looked over at him. Their eyes met.

She looked quickly back down at the hand being stitched but averted her eyes to a small white stain on her dress pants. Picking at it with her thumbnail, she mumbled, "It's a small world."

Ji Hoo finished off the last of the stitches and began applying ointment and bandages to the wound.

Stepping over to them, Yi Jeong asked, "What was the name of the place you worked at again?"

"Oh, um, Bonjuk Shop."

"My grandfather used to talk about that place," Ji Hoo replied. "He said the food was terrible."

"And yet he ate there every day," Ga Eul responded. He could hear a hint of ire in her voice and had to stifle a laugh.

"Well, perhaps we ought to go there," Yi Jeong offered. "Pass judgment on the place ourselves. What do you say, Ji Hoo? It's been a long time since we met for lunch. Do you even eat lunch these days?"

Ignoring Yi Jeong's question, Ji Hoo smiled at Ga Eul and gave her instructions on how to care for the wound properly and when to return for the stitches to be taken out.

"Will I still be able to work with these in? It's just that I have to carry a lot of things in my hands all the time."

"Judging by where the cut is and how severe it is, I think you should be fine. Just be careful not to strain that hand too much."

Ga Eul nodded.

"So, let me give you my card, and I will make an appointment for you to come back in." Grabbing a card from the counter, he handed it to her, and the three of them walked out to the lobby. After Ji Hoo had determined a time for her to return, he turned to Yi Jeong and said, "Thursday. Noon."

"What?"

"You said you wanted to eat lunch." Ji Hoo set his clipboard down and leaned back against the front desk. "I'm free this coming Thursday. At noon. I'll meet you there...where was it again?"

"Bonjuk Shop," Yi Jeong and Ga Eul answered simultaneously.

Ji Hoo glanced between them, a strange look in his eyes.

"Right. Are you coming too, Miss Ga Eul?"

"What?"

"No."

Their answers burst out at the same time. This time, they looked at each other.

The glint in Ji Hoo's eye became more mischievous. He seemed to be having a private laugh at something.

"I thought you said your friend works there," Ji Hoo said, addressing Ga Eul.

"She does, but—"

"I meant for the two of us to go," Yi Jeong interrupted. Clearly, Ji Hoo was misinterpreting something about the situation. "Actually, I could invite Woo Bin too. I would invite Jun Pyo, but, as you know—or maybe don't know—he's flying to the States again tomorrow."

Ji Hoo stayed silent a moment. Surveying him. Them.

Yi Jeong had always hated how he could never properly read Ji Hoo. Like right now, he didn't know if the guy was thinking about the lunch or the enigma that was their friend Jun Pyo or the oddity of him bringing Ga Eul here or something else completely irrelevant to any of that.

Finally, he smiled at the two of them and said, "Tell Woo Bin to come too."

---

Ga Eul was silent for most of the drive to her apartment building except to give him directions on when to turn. Whether she'd been made uncomfortable by Ji Hoo's question or simply didn't have anything further to say to him, he wasn't sure.

Though, honestly, he didn't feel much like talking himself.

It was nice, actually. They weren't saying anything, but the silence didn't feel awkward. He'd forgotten about trying to woo her as the evening had gone on. But her presence had definitely taken his mind off the situation at home; being with her and his old friend had altered his mood for the better, and he was thankful for that.

When they pulled up in front of the tall complex near her college, she thanked him for the ride and then apologized.

"For what?"

"It's just that...I feel like you saved me two weeks in a row, and I haven't properly thanked you." She clutched her light pink purse in her uninjured hand, fiddling with the strap.

"Don't worry about that. My night turned out okay, thanks to you."

"What?"

"It's nothing. Get some rest."

Nodding, Ga Eul made as if to open the door, but she had to awkwardly reach over with her non-bandaged hand to reach the door handle.

"Wait." Yi Jeong got out of the car and walked around to open the door for her.

"Thank you." She removed herself somewhat awkwardly from the car and stepped up onto the sidewalk, where she stood at a respectable distance from him. "And thank you again for taking me to the clinic."

"Let me give you my number. In case something happens and you can't get in touch with Ji Hoo. He never answers his phone."

She giggled.

"What?"

"Um, you already gave me your number."

A flush crept up his cheeks. He cursed inwardly. Cracked a smile.

"Oh. Right."

Damn, he was off tonight.

"Well, I'm going to go inside now. I'll see you next Friday. Good night, Yi Jeong Sunbae." She bowed politely.

"Good night, Miss Ga Eul."

He watched her make her way into the brightly lit building, its lights piercing against the darkness of the night sky.

What an odd evening, he thought, slipping back into his car.

What an odd girl.