Minah walked into her psychology class and her eyes somehow met with Jaesun’s. Hastily averting her gaze, she took a seat closest to the door leaving Jaesun to sit alone in the far corner of the room. She did her best to pay attention to the professor’s lecture but found it hard when she could feel Jaesun’s eyes boring a hole in the back of her head.

Although she had defended him, Minah still wasn’t sure she believed him. There was something about the way Mir had looked that had made her think twice. A tone of certainty in Mir’s words and the desperate vibe he gave off of needing someone to believe him struck Minah hard.

At the moment, she was still collecting her thoughts. She was trying to sort out what was right and wrong, what was the truth and what was a lie. Who should she trust or rather, who does she trust more?

Before she knew it, a pair of neutral gray eyes appeared in front of her merely inches away from her face. Those eyes appeared to have a storm brewing behind them, giving Minah a feeling of uneasiness.

“Can we talk?” His voice came out as barely a whisper as if he didn’t want anyone to listen in however there was no one around to hear. “Can we go back to my place and I’ll explain everything?”

Minah stood up and nodded slowly. The tiniest hint of a smile showed on Jaesun’s face. He started walking out of the room and she followed behind him silently. The hallways were mostly empty since all the classes were over for the day. The only people walking around were those who were studious enough to spend extra time at the university’s library.

It might have been a trick of the eye or it might have been real but Minah swore she saw Mir walking out of the school gates. Her feet moved for her as she ran after him. She stopped just outside the gates and glanced from left to right only to find empty air. Like a ghost, Mir was gone.

Minah shook her head as if to clear Mir out of her mind. She remembered his words very clearly since they were still ringing in her brain like an alarm. He wouldn’t show up in front of her until she broke off her relationship with Jaesun.

She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and turned to face Jaesun who was staring worriedly at her. “Are you alright?” he asked. She gave him a small smile of reassurance and Jaesun took that as a sign to start walking again.

“Okay, my house is this way.” He started walking and didn’t check if Minah was following him or not. Almost reluctantly, she trailed after him noticing that his home was in the opposite direction of Mir’s.

---

Jaehwa slyly glanced back at Minah to see if she was watching him or not. He saw that she was merely staring at the ground in front of her, following his feet. Shaking his head, Jaehwa gently rubbed his temples.

Ugh, this is too stressful. Her ing friend just had to go and see me at the restaurant.

The walk to his house took about ten minutes. It had been the longest ten minutes Jaehwa had ever experienced and he hoped he would never go through something like that again. Minah hadn’t uttered a word yet and it was driving Jaehwa up the wall. Although he didn’t really listen when she talked, he would still rather hear her talking then to deal with the deafening silence.

He opened the front door and allowed Minah to walk in first. Shutting the door behind him, Jaehwa continued walking and nearly crashed into Minah.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

Jaehwa had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. He was definitely getting sick of the quiet, depressed Minah. It was certainly easier when she did all the talking and he could just stare at her body.

“It’s alright. Let’s go up to my room.” Jaehwa’s lips quirked up in a tiny smirk when he saw Minah’s eyes grow wide.

“Can’t we just talk in the living room?” she asked, her voice trembling just slightly.

“Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you,” Jaehwa replied. He suppressed the laugh that was threatening to come out. He was lying through his teeth and she still believed him.

“I-I wasn’t thinking that. I don’t think you’re that type of person Jaesun-ssi,” Minah stammered.

Seeing how Minah still thought he was someone who wouldn’t hurt her was comical to Jaehwa. In fact, he was the kind of person that Minah should avoid but he wasn’t going to let her know that. Not when he had her in his clutches already.

Jaehwa walked over to the stairs and gestured for Minah to go up. With a slight bow and the words “Ladies first”, he managed to make her laugh just a little.

When they entered his room, Jaehwa shut the door and locked it quickly. He smirked when he realized that Minah hadn’t even noticed. She was standing in the middle of the room looking around and taking in everything.

The day before, Jaehwa had removed all the things in his room that would reveal his true personality. For example, he took down the posters of half- girls and shoved them under his bed.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl as dumb as her. Oh well, it makes my life a whole lot easier.

“Are you sure that your friend is gonna be okay?” he asked, immediately using his “innocent” voice. “I mean, he isn’t too angry is he? I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. It’s just that I really didn’t know what he was talking about.”

Jaehwa stiffened when Minah looked at him with an unreadable expression. It seemed like she was trying to glimpse inside his brain or his soul to find out the truth. He thought that his cover had been blown somehow when Minah exhaled sharply and turned her head away. He rubbed his hands on his jeans because they had started sweating.

“I’ll work things out with him,” Minah said with her back turned to Jaehwa. She suddenly whipped her head around, surprising Jaehwa and causing him to flinch. “Are you telling me the truth? Are you really not lying to me?”

Her questions caught Jaehwa off guard and he fumbled around in his mind for a good response. “You don’t trust me? I thought we were friends.” He hoped that if he could make her feel guilty, then she’d believe him.

“We are friend. It’s just that Mir is…a really close friend and I’d trust him with my life.”

Jaehwa had no way to reply to that. He remained silent, staring at his feet. This is not good. This conversation is only making her doubt me more than before. What should I say?

Abruptly, Minah got up to her feet jolting Jaehwa from his own thoughts.

“I’m sorry. I just remembered that I have to go home right now. My dad wanted me to do something for him,” she said quickly. She went to the door only to be stopped by Jaehwa.

Jaehwa’s eyes grew dark and hooded and he chuckled when he saw a look of fear cross Minah’s features. All of his former pretenses of acting innocent and timid were gone now. They were replaced with his true self, his real intentions coming forth as his main priority. He became the predator that had trapped its prey.

When Minah opened to scream, Jaehwa instantly covered with his hand. The only sounds that came out were muffled. Her eyes grew wider and Jaehwa could’ve laughed at the way she resembled a rabbit cornered by a wolf.

Minah raised her hand in the air to slap Jaehwa but he saw it and caught her wrist. She then attempted to knee him in the crotch but Jaehwa saw that coming too and brought up his leg to block it. Bringing one leg behind her, he swiped at her feet causing her to fall backwards. In a flash, Jaehwa had Minah pinned to the ground.

A grin appeared on Jaehwa’s face when he realized he had Minah right where he wanted her- trapped.

---

After his final class, Mir was the first to leave. It took him about ten seconds to run from his classroom to the gates. He had a mission in mind and he didn’t care about anything else. Although, he thought he had seen Minah walking with Jaesun so he screeched to a halt and jumped to hide behind a car. Peeking out, Mir saw that he was correct. Minah and Jaesun were walking down the road together.

Wait, that isn’t the way to Minah’s house. Don’t tell me they’re going to his house?

The thought made Mir furious, but he wanted to stay true to his words and did not follow them. Instead, he took off down the street towards Zelo’s place. Luckily Zelo only lived about five minutes away from the university. Even though he lived so close, he went to another university which puzzled Mir. When he asked Zelo about it, he responded jokingly about how he wasn’t smart enough to get into the same school as Mir. The pair both laughed at that since even Mir found it hard to believe that he made it into his current university.

Mir emptied his mind of those past memories once he made it to Zelo’s front door. Rapidly knocking on it, Mir started shouting loudly.

“Zelo! Jell-O! Open the door!” he hollered, causing such a ruckus that the neighbors opened their door to see what was going on. “Choi Junhong!”

The door whipped open and Mir ceased his incessant knocking. Zelo greeted him with a sour look on his face.

“What the hell do you want?” Zelo spat venomously. “And why do you have to be so damn loud?”

“Hey, can I borrow one of your motorcycles for a bit. I’ll bring it back in almost perfect condition, I swear. Okay, thanks!” Mir said rapidly as he darted inside and grabbed Zelo’s keys off the coffee table in the living room. He waved goodbye, got on the motorcycle, and sped off before Zelo could even realize what had just happened. When he did, he cursed under his breath.

“ you, Mir! When you bring that bike back, I’m gonna run you over with it!” he yelled even though Mir was long gone by then. With a slight shake of his head and a defeated chuckle, Zelo went back inside his home.

Mir was now speeding down the road, narrowly avoiding traffic as he headed towards his destination. It only took five minutes even though it normally would have taken twenty. He parked the motorcycle and went inside the Chinese restaurant that Jaesun worked at.

The host greeted him and Mir bowed absentmindedly. “Do you know a guy name Do Jaesun?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, sir but I’ve never heard of anyone with that name,” the host replied.

“I think I know who you’re talking about,” a waiter said as he walked towards the two. “I’ll take care of him Luhan.”

“Okay, thanks Chen.”

The waiter, who Mir could slightly recognize, gestured for them to sit at an empty table. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Mir expectantly.

“So, did he get to your girlfriend?” Chen asked.

“What? What are you talking about?” Mir responded, genuinely confused.

“Do Jaehwa, oh wait sorry. You know him as Do Jaesun. Well, he’s a disgusting type of guy that goes after any girl he finds appealing using whatever means necessary. He should really be fired from this restaurant and holed up in a jail cell or something but his uncle is the owner of the restaurant so that won’t ever happen,” Chen replied. He was playing with the silverware on the table nonchalantly while Mir’s jaw dropped to the floor.

“I was right then. Jaesun, uh I mean, Jaehwa was lying about who he really was.”

Chen nodded and chuckled softly when he finished building a tiny structure using the forks and knife. “He’s a lying, cheating bastard,” he said coolly.

“I heard that he’s gotten a lot of girls pregnant,” another waiter said. He had jet black hair and Mir was slightly intimidated by his eyes.

“He likes taking advantage of shy, innocent girls the most,” a different waiter with dark brown hair and slightly round cheeks said.

Chen glared at the both of them. “And who invited you two into the conversation?” The one with dark brown hair grinned and took a seat at the table.

“Tao and I were just passing by when we heard you talking about Jaehwa.” The waiter turned to Mir and smirked. “Hey, if you’re gonna kick Jaehwa’s , make sure you throw in a punch for me. Just tell him that it’s from Xiumin.”

“Did you see Jaehwa go off with your girlfriend today? If you did then you should probably go find them before Jaehwa does something to her,” the waiter named Tao said.

Mir’s eyes grew wide and he shot up in his seat. “Do you guys know where he lives?”

“I’m way ahead of you buddy. Good luck,” Chen said as he handed Mir a napkin with Jaehwa’s address. Mir thanked them and dashed out of the restaurant. He didn’t even bother to tell them that Minah wasn’t his girlfriend.

Glancing at the address, Mir was happy to find out that it wasn’t too far away. He hopped onto the motorcycle and drove off. His previous fight with Minah had disappeared from his mind and all Mir cared about now was saving her. He could only hope that he wasn’t too late.