A sudden knock on the door caused Minah to jump in surprise and drop her school bag on the floor. She had just finished her last bit of homework and was putting it into her bag when the interruption occurred. She quickly made her way to the door and looked through the peep hole. Jaesun was there without his mask.

Minah blinked in surprise and shock. A flashback of their last conversation popped into her mind and her cheeks flushed red.

He didn’t mean like as in ‘love’, right? He only meant it as friends…right?

Another short knock jolted her from her thoughts and Minah lightly slapped her cheeks. Just stop thinking about it Minah.

Inhaling once and exhaling to clear her head, Minah carefully opened the door. She bowed slightly and gave Jaesun a tiny smile.

“Good morning Jaesun-ssi. I’m really sorry about yesterday. My friend was being annoying.”

“It’s alright. Your friends are more important than me.”

Minah’s eyebrows rose in astonishment and she frantically shook her head.

“No, that’s not true at all. You’re very important to me Jaesun-ssi,” she replied quickly. Jaesun smiled softly at her words. “So, what are you doing here? Did you leave something at my apartment?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“For the project?” Minah asked. She tilted her head very slightly in a confused manner somewhat resembling Joon when he was puzzled. Jaesun took a step closer to her and Minah backed away slightly. Before he could move any closer, someone cleared their throat.

“Hello there. I haven’t met you before, have I?” Minah’s father said as he gently separated the two. “I’m Bang Yongsul, Minah’s father.”

Mr. Bang held out his hand and Jaesun timidly shook it.

“My name is Do Jaesun. It’s a pleasure to meet you sir.”

“Are you the boy that’s in my daughter’s psychology class?”

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Bang clapped a hand on Jaesun’s shoulder. “Well, my daughter has said many good things about you. Like how you are very polite and you keep your space.”

He emphasized the last three words as he looked Jaesun straight in the eye. Jaesun nodded meekly. Tugging at her dad’s collar Minah glared into her dad’s eyes.

“Dad, leave him alone. He’s a nice guy and I don’t want you scaring him,” she whispered firmly.

“I just want my daughter to be safe,” he responded as his eyes unconsciously flickered toward the scar on her cheek. “I don’t want you to ever get hurt again.”

Minah’s expression softened and she hugged her father. “Thank you for being worried but I’ll be fine.”

“Alright then. If you need me just call. I’ll let you two go have fun today.” Her dad smiled and let her go. He nodded once at Jaesun before going inside the apartment.

“So, what did you come here for again?” Minah asked.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go for that walk today.”

Minah paused as she remembered how she had basically ditched Jaesun because of Mir. Her eyes grew wide and she turned her head away so Jaesun couldn’t see the fury on her face.

“That damn Mir,” she muttered under her breath. Then, in a flash she was smiling sweetly at Jaesun.

“I am so sorry about yesterday. I guess I owe it to you today then. So, where do you wanna go?”

“Let’s just…walk.”

Minah was puzzled by his answer for a moment but she went along with it anyway. She scurried inside to grab her bag and phone before leaving the apartment. The pair left the building and paused at the front. There were two ways to go and neither of them could decide which direction to take.

“Watch out!” a voice shouted.

Before Minah could process what was going on, Jaesun grabbed her and brought her out of the way of an oncoming biker. The biker whizzed by at an incredibly fast speed that probably would have caused them both injury had Jaesun not pulled Minah out of the way.

Now, Minah found herself pressed against Jaesun’s body with his arms wrapped tightly around her. Her eyes widened and she twisted out of his grip. Jaesun watched her carefully as her cheeks were tinged with a light pink.

“T-thank you for saving me.”

Jaesun smiled and shook his head. “It was nothing,” he replied. He began to walk in the direction that was mainly against the flow of traffic. Minah followed him with a bewildered expression, dodging people to catch up to him.

Jaesun smirked as he heard Minah mumbling apologies to people while she attempted to weave through the crowd. When he heard her voice right behind him, he reached back and caught her hand in his. He tugged her towards him making it so there was no space between them.

A tiny gasp escaped Minah’s lips when she felt their bodies come into contact. Jaesun smiled at her, his demeanor deceivingly innocent and sweet.

“It’s safer like this, right?” he asked. Jaesun held up their intertwined hands. Nodding uncertainly, Minah yelped and unconsciously moved closer to him as a passerby bumped into her.

“. Watch where you’re going,” she muttered under her breath. Jaesun chuckled lightly and brought her even closer to him.

Why is Jaesun-ssi acting this way? He’s always been afraid to touch me before.

“Umm, I think it’s alright to let go now. There aren’t that many people anymore,” she said. However, there were still several people walking around. In fact a large crowd was coming towards them right after Minah had spoken. Jaesun held in his laugh and slowly let go of her hand.

She is too innocent, Jaesun thought as he smirked to himself.

The pair pushed through the crowd as best they could without causing them or anyone else injury. It was a difficult process since most people were walking the other way. There were several times when Minah would find herself sticking close to Jaesun, gently holding onto the sleeve of his shirt. Then, she would realize what she was doing and quickly pull away accidentally smacking a stranger during the process. Jaesun would smile as he watched Minah frantically apologize to the person she hit.

After ten minutes of plowing through the mass of people, Minah and Jaesun finally decided to cross the street and walk with the flow. Minah practically sighed with relief when she was able to walk freely without crashing into someone every five seconds.

“Do you think the professor will like our project?” Minah asked in a weak attempt to start a conversation. Jaesun frowned and pulled her to the side in front of a CD store.

“I don’t wanna talk about the project right now,” he said. “I don’t wanna talk about school. All I want to do is be with you.”

Minah was at a loss for words until her cell phone rang. Oh thank God. Saved by the bell.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “Hello?” she said as she answered the call.

“Minah, where are you?” Mir’s voice responded. He held his phone between his shoulder and ear as he browsed through a shelf of CDs. Little did he know, Minah was standing right outside the store he was in.

“I’m out for a walk,” she replied briskly. Memories of their standoff yesterday were still fresh in her mind.

“Are you busy? I’ll come find you. Just tell me where you are,” he said. Mir had blown some steam after their little spat and now, he was looking to reconcile with Minah.

Minah was about to answer him when she looked at Jaesun. He had a dull look in his eyes and she couldn’t bear to ditch Jaesun again, especially when he was looking at her with such a melancholy look in his eyes. It went against every fiber of her being but she lied to Mir. Plus, she was still slightly irritated and annoyed with Mir.

“Actually, I’m heading back home right now because I forgot I still had some homework to do. Maybe next time.”

“Oh, okay then. Just you and me next time, right?” Mir replied.

“Yeah no problem,” Minah said. However, she hadn’t paid much attention to his words and hung up. Mir sighed when he heard the call end and he slipped his phone back into his pocket. I hope she isn’t pissed at me anymore. She sounded normal though. Maybe she forgave me.

Mir continued walking down the aisle, getting closer to the entrance. When he was close enough to see out the door, his eyes grew wide and his hand clenched into a tight fist.

He saw Minah standing right outside with Jaesun as she smiled brightly at him.

She lied to me. She never lies to me.

Mir stared at the pair and became angrier when he saw Jaesun curl a strand of hair behind Minah’s ear. She blushed and turned her head away, catching Mir’s eye. He saw open into an ‘O’ as she gasped in astonishment.

Storming towards the door, Mir went outside to confront Minah. She backed up and moved towards Jaesun as Mir glared at her with a look she was unfamiliar with. It was pure anger and hurt mixed together and it was directed at her.

“You lied to me,” Mir stated it as a fact rather than a question. “Why would you lie to me?”

Jaesun glanced between the two and he bit back his fury. Where the hell did this guy come from? Don’t tell me he’s one of her friends.

Mir blinked and looked at Jaesun as if just noticing him. “Who the hell are you?” he spat. Struggling to keep his cool, Jaesun smiled politely and bowed.

“I’m Do Jaesun, Minah’s psychology partner,” he said.

“You’re Jaesun? What happened to your mask?” Mir shook his head. “Never mind. I need to borrow Minah for a bit so have a nice day.”

He grabbed Minah’s wrist and started to tug her away until Jaesun stepped in front of them. Scoffing, Mir glared viciously at Jaesun.

“Look, I’m only being nice because you don’t seem like a bad guy and you’re Minah’s friend. But if you don’t get out of my way I will make you move myself.”

Minah could sense that things wouldn’t turn out right if she stayed still and let everything play out on its own between the two boys. However, she was struggling with who she should defend in their little stand-off. She also knew that is she hesitated for too long, it would turn disastrous. So, in merely five seconds she wrestled out of Mir’s grip and stood her ground.

A look of pure shock and hurt flashed across Mir’s face. Minah now stood in front of Jaesun, almost protectively, as she glared maliciously at Mir with narrowed eyes.

“That’s enough, Mir. You have no right to be threatening Jaesun-ssi in any way. You’re angry at me, not him. So don’t take it out on him. If you truly were my friend you would at least be able to show him some respect.” Her words were sharp and her tone was piercing. It struck Mir dead on as if an arrow just stabbed his heart. Had he really done that much to make her doubt their friendship? Did Jaesun start to become more important to her?

Yet, instead of feeling sadness Mir felt rage bubbling inside of him. He should have thought more clearly and calmly but when it came to Minah, he could never think right.

“Then I guess that’s it! I’ll just leave so you can spend more time with your ‘true friend’ because apparently I don’t count as one anymore,” Mir snapped. “You know what Bang Minah? You’re a horrible person. I know that you just hang around Jaesun because he reminds you of Byunghee. You’re trying to fill that hole in your heart and you’re forgetting that you have friends already by your side. But now, you just lost one of them.”

After his tirade, Mir turned around and stormed off without a single glance back at his “former friend”. As he was walking away, he immediately regretted every single world he had said. Wanting to apologize, Mir whipped his head around to look at Minah and his heart crashed to the floor shattering into a million pieces.

Jaesun and Minah were kissing.

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Hey! It has been soooooo long but I finally found the time to update! :) I apologize for the long wait but I have family over for the summer and I practically have to spend every waking moment of my life with them. Just wait until August and I'll definitely be able to update more often. So please be patient with me. Thanks!

Oh, and welcome new readers! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Don't be afraid to comment :)