I got through the next couple of days as though I were sleep walking. Everything seemed so surreal. There was no more Ren.

Of course I still saw him. He talked to me and laughed with me as a group. But I noticed that he made sure not to touch me in any way and that he never sat next to me. He went out of his way to make sure we didn’t speak unless it was necessary and when I spoke to him; his replies were polite and formal.

To give credit to JR, he was trying his best to give me space. He could probably tell my head was all over the place.  I spent most of my time in the dance studio, listening to First Kiss and trying to brain storm ideas for choreography. Every time I thought of a dance move that would involve some sort of touching, I got a queasy feeling in my stomach. Not because I didn’t want to touch JR but because of what happened when we did touch. This is going to sound horrifically cheesy but it was like I was falling. Like I’d took a running leap out of window and had no control on where I ended up. JR slowly made me lose control.

-------------

JR’s point of view:

Friday afternoon and I hurried towards my rehearsals with Minjae. I was over half an hour late because Baekho had been starving to the point of insanity and of course it was too much effort for him to cook himself something to eat. I thought that maybe she would have given up and gone back to her room.

But no, she was still there. I pushed open the door gently and walked over towards her. My face softened as I saw she was sleeping curled up against the mirror. I could hear the song First Kiss blaring out of her headphones and a notepad was clutched tight in her hand. Silly girl was exhausted. I gently shook her shoulder to see if she would awaken.

“Minjae-ah.” I whispered, nudging her. Her face shifted over to the side, a slight crease furrowing her eyebrows. How she could be sleeping with the music pumping out of the earphones I didn’t know. I gently took the headphones from her ears and wrapped them around her phone, switching off the music. I slipped the notebook and pen from her hand and placed them on top of the stereo and then I tugged her keycard out of her pocket and transferred it into mine.

Bending down, I slid one arm under her knees and the other around her back. As I stood up carefully, picking her up, she stirred in her sleep, clutching my t-shirt and sniffing. A soft smile broke out her face as she mumbled “JR”.

“Yes?” I said, seeing if she was awake. She didn’t reply. I looked down at her, frowning slightly. How had she known it was me?

I gently made me way out of the dance studio and down the corridor, still holding her like a bride. Girls did double takes when they saw Minjae in my arms. She was still fast asleep when I got to her door. My fingers scrambled around in my pocket for her key card and I inserted it in. I was about to step in when I realised what I was doing. Minjae shared room with another girl.

“HyeSu?” I called hesitantly, fearing she would be in the shower or getting dressed. When there was no response, I carefully edged my way into the room and shut the door.

I went over to Minjae’s bed and laid her gently down. Then I stood dithering. Should I take her shoes off? And her jacket? Should I put the covers on her? What if she got to hot?

I mentally slapped myself. Get a grip JR.

I unlaced her shoes and placed them by the door. I figured that if she became hot then she would wake up and take off her jacket, so I pulled the covers over her and tucked them under her chin. She immediately settled into the pillow and burrowed into the covers. I smiled and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead before leaving the room.

As I was walking back to my room, my phone buzzed with a text.

Tonight it’s over. Just me and you. Meet me at the bridge near the shopping centre.

I stopped dead in my tracks. The number wasn’t one I recognized but I could give a damn good guess who it was. I clenched my fists and marched toward my room.

Time to prepare.

Tonight had finally arrived.

----------------------------

I knew he wasn’t going to come alone, if he thought he could fool me like that then he had lost his mind. I gathered up my boys and then a couple of others who had shown interest at a fight. We sneaked out of the school at half past midnight.

We arrived at the bridge as it gleamed under the moon light. As expected, Hyun stood with a line of his men behind him. The tension crackled as we face each other.

“I knew you were too much of a coward to come alone.” He sneered.

“Or maybe I’m too smart to know you were lying.” I shot back.

“Well aren’t you a…”

“Enough of the small talk.” Baekho interrupted. Hyun’s eyes flickered towards him. Then he smirked and took of his jacket, passing it to one of his men.

I pulled on my gloves with the spikes on and prepared to do some damage.

Baekho received the first attack.

One of Hyun’s men lunged towards him, his fist raised. Baekho acted fast and raised a leg, his foot smacking into the man’s face.

That was like the gunshot to the start of the race.

Before I knew it, there were fights happening everywhere. I couldn’t even tell which side was winning, kicks and punches were flying everywhere. Through the crowd I glimpsed Hyun advancing towards me.

This fight was one on one.

------------------------

Minjae’s point of view:

“Minjae!”

I awoke to HyeSu shouting my name and shaking my shoulder.

“Quick, wake up!”

I sat up blearily, rubbing my eyes.

“What’s up?” I peered at her.

“There’s a fight happening at the bridge.”

I was instantly awake.

“What kind of fight?”

“JR’s gang against that man Hyun’s.”

“What!” I gasped, rocketing to my feet. “They’ve gone to fight?”

“Well they certainly haven’t gone to dance!” HyeSu said anxiously.

“Oh my god oh my god what was he thinking.” I cried. “What if they get hurt. What if he gets hurt. I told him not to do this.” I tugged my shoes.

“Where are you going?” HyeSu’s eyes were wide with alarm.

“We have to go and stop it!” I said, “Come on!”

We managed to sneak past the security guard and climbed over the gate at the end. I set off at a run, dragging HyeSu behind me.

We ran down pavements and down alleyways. The moon shone brightly against the night sky and it followed us like a spotlight as we skulked quickly towards the bridge.

Arriving on the scene, we both came to a halt.

There were men down everywhere. Some of them I even recognised. Blood was splashed across the ground and there were shouts and grunts and screams littering the air.

My eyes locked on to a figure at the far end of the bridge. He was wearing a long black coat and gloves with pink spikes. His hair flashed about as he whirled around, dodging punches. I saw anger in every move he made and his face was set tight with fury.

To the left of him, I saw a man sneaking towards him. In his hand, a silver glint flashed in the moon light that made my heart drop. A knife.

“JR!” I screamed, running towards him.

 A crowd of men blocked my way, fighting and throwing themselves at each other. They looked like animals.

I desperately tried to look for a way out, but I seemed to be surrounded by fighters. I felt like I was going to go mad.

As if by magic, the men cleared.

I got a view of JR only a few meters away from me.

He stood still, looking down at a man on the ground. Looking closer, I saw it was Hyun, bleeding profusely from a stab wound to the neck. A knife shone brightly from the ground at JR’s feet.

JR had stabbed him.

His head turned towards me. I saw the shock bloom on his face. I stood still, only being able to look at him. The shock on his face turned to anger as he stormed towards me.

I began backing away hastily. For the first time in my life, I was scared of JR. He looked furious.

He grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and dragged me out of the fight. When we were by the wall of a near building, quite a way away from the fight, he finally stopped.

He twisted my shoulder round to look at him.

“What the are you doing here?” He demanded. I flinched at his vicious words.

“I could ask the same thing about you!” I retorted.

“I’m meant to be here.” He cried, shaking me. “Do you not understand that this is a fight? You could have got hurt.”

“You’re such a hypocrite!” I shouted angrily. “You could have got hurt too. And I’m not hurt, as you can see.”

JR let go of me and walked away a few meters. He seemed to be trying to calm down.

“I came here to fight.” He said, walking back towards me. “I was prepared to get hurt.”

“Well so was I!” I lied.

“Don’t say that.” He smacked the wall in anger. Standing in front of me, he pressed a hand onto the wall on either side of my head until I was trapped in between his arms. “I try my hardest to protect you all the time and then you come waltzing out into the middle of a fight just to find me. People have knives here Minjae. People are dying.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here.” I cried, tears pouring down my face. I pounded my fists against his chest. “Why are you fighting him? I asked you not to because I didn’t want to see you get hurt and now you’re telling me people are dying. Once you die, you don’t come back JR or have you forgotten? What if I’d never seen you again? Did you really just expect me to stay at home and let you fight it out? sake JR you could have died. I’d have never seen you again. Do you not understand that? Do you not understand how much I-”

All of a sudden, JR pressed his lips against mine.

And just like that, we were kissing.

I was stunned.

JR broke away from the kiss and held his face close to mine.

“What were you going to say?” He whispered.

“When?” I said disorientated.

“Just now. You said “Do you not understand how much” and then you stopped. What were you going to say?”

I shook my head quickly and bowed it. I hadn’t even known what I was saying before; I’d just said whatever I was feeling.

JR used a finger to gently tilt my chin back up. He stared at me for a while, looking at my eyes, my lips my nose, every inch of me. I could only stare at his eyes as they held me captivated.

“You’re in love with me.” He said finally.

Without even thinking, I automatically shook my head. Not even giving me chance to speak, JR leant down and pressed his lips against mine again. Turning his head to the other side, he gently nudged my lips open with his. I complied and felt his tongue swipe against my lips, soft at first and then more quicker as the heat of the kiss increased. Reaching down, JR took my arms and gently placed them around his neck, bringing our bodies closer. I kissed him back, letting my tongue run against his, entwining my fingers in his hair. I felt a stirring in my lower stomach, like I wanted more, like we weren’t close enough already. He leant his head back, stopping the kiss. I slowly realized how heavy I was breathing and how close I was trying to get to him. A blush surged towards my cheek and I tried to step away but JR’s arms were still tight around my waist.

“I’ll ask you again,” He smiled. “You’re in love with me aren’t you.”

There was no question in his voice. He seemed so certain and confident. And as I looked up at him, my arms around my neck, I realised he was right. I, Park Minjae, was in love with the annoying, immature, overprotective and beautiful JR.