“You’re annoying.” Eun Ji scowled as she chucked the game controller at Taeyang.

            “You’re only mad because I keep winning.” Taeyang teased.

            “I hate you.” Eun Ji pouted. She sat down and crossed her arms with a sulky expression. Taeyang chuckled.

            “You love me.” He grinned and kissed her cheek. The moment his lips met with her cheeks, her face flushed bright pink.

            “No!” She quickly denied and shoved him away, trying hard to keep her angry face on.

            “I’ll make you admit it.” Taeyang declared. Eun Ji snorted, which was very unladylike of her—a side of her only Taeyang knew of. He smirked at her.

            “How about Hooroorook Noodles? On me.”

            Eun Ji smiled happily as she slurped her warm Hooroorook Noodles. They warmed her right up after the walk with Taeyang outside in the snow. Taeyang felt a pang of jealousy as he watched, not even eating his own bowl of noodles. If only he could touch her pouty pink lips and make her that happy. How silly. He was jealous of noodles. Taeyang didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh at his stupidity and jealousy, or at the fact he was so head-over-heels in love with her.

            “Do you love me?” Taeyang asked.

            Eun Ji couldn’t help but smile at how persistent he was. “No. I love Hooroorook Noodles more.” She shook her head and continued to slurp her noodles contently. Taeyang frowned and lightly pushed her head back with his fingers.

            “If you love them so much, you can pay for the meal yourself.” Taeyang huffed and quickly stood up, leaving Eun Ji alone with the bowls of noodles. She gasped and quickly finished her noodles before she went to pay for their meal.

            “Despicable jerk.” She muttered as she opened her panda wallet and took out her last bills. Tch. Making her pay for the meal. She glared angrily at her photo of them in her wallet and quickly handed the money over to the cashier.

            “Thank you! Have a nice day!” The girl behind the counter called as Eun Ji ran after Taeyang.

            “Yah! Monkey face!” Eun Ji called after Taeyang. He stopped walking and smiled before turning his head back to look at her with a blank expression.

            “Do you love me now?” He asked, his voice void from emotions.

            Eun Ji rolled her eyes. “No you jerk, I—”

            “Yeah. I know.” Taeyang cut her off. “I’m a jerk and you hate me.” He smiled softly. “It’s late. Be careful little panda. Goodnight.” And with that, he walked off in the opposite direction.

            “Argh! Idiot!” Eun Ji groaned and stomped her tiny foot in the cold snowy street. Then she sighed. “Goodnight idiot monkey face.”

            Eun Ji repeatedly bit her poor, already-abused lips. It’d been a week and she hadn’t seen or heard from Taeyang—which was bothersome. Taeyang couldn’t go a day without seeing her or hearing her voice. She checked her phone again. Zero voicemails. No new messages.

            “Is he giving me the silent treatment? Ugh. Where is that jerk? He’s not even answering my calls!” Eun Ji thought aloud. Suddenly, her phone lit up and her cute, bubbly ringtone echoed in the room. Eun Ji scrambled to get her phone, anxious.

            “Hello?” She said, trying not to sound excited.

            “JiJi sweetie? This is Dara.” Eun Ji held in her sigh of disappointment. She loved Dara—after all she was Taeyang’s sister—but she wanted to hear Taeyang’s relaxing and soothing voice, not Dara’s happy, singsong voice.

            “Hi unnie. How are you?” Eun Ji asked, doing her best to sound upbeat.

            “Sweetie, I have something to say.” Dara’s voice trembled. “A couple nights ago, Tae got into a car accident.” Eun Ji nearly stopped breathing. Her heart seemed to have skipped a beat.

            Dara broke into sobs. “I-I’m so s-sorry! He’s alive, b-but he doesn’t remember a-anything. He d-doesn’t remember you. All h-he remembers is his life before y-you. Y-you’re gone. He’s st-stubborn and refuses to ac-acknowledge you. I-I tried. I showed his p-pictures and videos, but h-he says it’s a l-lie.”

            Eun Ji felt a constricting pain in her chest. Tears were streaming down her face. She couldn’t lose him. She couldn’t let him go back to his past life. She couldn’t stand to see him in gangs and fighting. Her breathing became shaky. She felt something wet on her cheek. She was crying. She was actually crying. A strong girl like her was crying. Crying over a monkey face jerk who claimed not to know her. She loves him. She really loves him and it took her until now to realize how much he meant to her.

            “Taeyang!” Eun Ji beamed cutely. Taeyang frowned at her.

            “Let go of me. You’re so annoying.” He lied. Honestly, Eun Ji was the cutest girl he’d ever lay eyes on, but he didn’t want to ruin his tough image. No matter how many times he brushed her off and snapped at her though, she still clung onto him. Surprisingly, she didn’t scare him though. He didn’t find her clingy, but rather caring.

            “You love me!” She sang, giggling as she took his hand in her tiny ones and swung their arms back and forth.

            “No.” He scowled, yet he didn’t take his hand away. He only scooted away when she got too close to him.

            “Yes! I’ll treat you to noodles! My treat!” Eun Ji beamed. She tugged Taeyang into Hooroorook Noodles and made him sit down next to her.

            When he wasn’t paying attention, she whispered, “One day you’ll remember,” and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. He turned to look at her, surprised, only to see her sincere smile and eyes full of love and affection.

            He smiled in return.