The phone rang for the third time in a row, the caller ID was the same, the desire to answer the call was intense, but Eun Ae simply stared at the device. Her youngest employee looked at her worriedly and asked if there was a problem, but Eun Ae indicated that she was fine with a movement of her head. It was a lie, obviously, she could not feel fine when she had been ignoring Myung Soo's calls for days. They had not met since they had come back from Busan. The memories of their trip were tarnished by his reluctance to kissing her regardless of how he had flirted with her. His every words lost their meaning. She could only think back to the moment when he had moved away from their intimate posture. She felt sad yet thankful for his action enabled her to understand that he considered her a simple friend. The situation also made her feel stupid, that was why she would rather avoid him than suffer a heartbreak.

She sighed when the phone rang again. This time, she turned it off and put it in the drawer of the kitchen counter before heading back to her tasks.

. . .

She was too frustrated to go back home after a boring day of work, so she strolled down the street, glancing at the people around her who were speaking and laughing loudly. The cheerful atmosphere contrasted with her state of mind. Myung Soo was not interested in her, as a result she felt the necessity to repress her feelings for him even though it seemed impossible. She could not even indulge in her sorrow because his professional future depended on their fake relationship, hence she needed to play her role in spite of how she felt.

The burden of worries was heavy upon her heart. She prayed to find a way to get rid of it, and the answer appeared in the form of a tent bar which she entered with no hesitation. She ordered some alcohol and a serving of chicken feet before settling down at a table. She smiled upon the sight in front of her. An elderly man sat alone at a table in the corner, drinking from a glass of soju while crying. His condition was comforting in the sense that it helped her realize that she was not the only miserable person in this city. As she drank from her own glass, her eyes were fixed on the man who could not stop sobbing.

She drank three shots of the soothing liquid before tasting a piece of chicken. Her vision became blurry as soon as her tongue came into contact with a layer of chili, and she was unable to hold back her tears. She tried convincing herself that her tears were caused by the spices, not by Myung Soo, and ended up crying heavily. The old man moved to sit in front of her after noticing her misery and, without words, he poured her and himself some soju. A bond of camaraderie was formed between them as they drank together in silence for almost an hour.

. . .

Eun Ae's heart was in pain even though she was drunk. Her only wish was to throw herself on the bed and cry for hours, but her plan was cut short when she reached home to find the man she both loved and hated sitting in the staircase that led up to the apartment. She took cautious steps towards him to greet him with a guffaw, persuaded that his presence was an hallucination.

"You!" she exclaimed while pointing an accusing finger at him, "you are a good, good, actor, and I, I..." she hit her chest while speaking, "I almost believed you. But! I'm your friend, and you're my friend. So! We're friends. Just friends. Not 'jagi', or 'Oppa', or 'it's hot', or blah blah blah. Okay ? 'Cause I'm your friend, and you-"

"And you're my friend. Got it jagiya."

"No no no! Not 'jagiya'!"

She flinched at his touch, wondering why the illusion felt so real. She let him help her up the stairs, then into the apartment before sitting on the couch. He sat in front of her, on the coffee table, then she abruptly caught his face in her hands.

"You're not my darling." she sounded upset. "You're a bastard, okay ? Repeat after me, 'you're a bastard', no, no, it's 'I'm a bastard'. But I'm not a bastard, right ? It's you. You are."

Myung Soo could not conceal his laughter. He held her face in his hands too, and asked : "why ?"

She shook her head to indicate that she would not tell him the reason, but then she puckered her lips while imitating kissing sounds.

So he figured out : "oh, you're mad because I didn't kiss you ?"

She was genuinely taken aback by his guess, "how do you know ?" And spoke the rest of her sentence in a whisper : "I'll tell you my secret but you shouldn't tell anyone, okay ? I think, I think I, really want to kiss you." She pouted disappointedly when he kissed her cheek. "Not here, idiot! Here!" she whined as she repeatedly tapped her lips with the tip of her index finger, "here, here."

"Let's wait until you're sober, alright ?"

She responded with a nod before lying on the couch because she was feeling more and more tired, an aftermath of alcohol consumption. She closed her eyes and, as she fell asleep, she heard herself reveal another secret :

"Oppa, I like you."