'Cause love took her hand like a thief
took her heart like a robber
and the feelings that scare her
become her relief

---

“How is Chaerin today?”

That was a daily question his mother always asked every time he got home. Even after years he still couldn’t understand why. Why are his parents so caring about her, he almost thought that maybe they wanted him to marry Chaerin or something crazy only parents in dramas would do.

Everything started when he was 18, in the final year of high school he moved back from Japan to Korea, but instead of being a new student, it was more like coming back to where he belonged. All his childhood friends were there, although he couldn’t remember much about them, since it had been more than ten years since they last played in the mud together.

Later that day, he found out that his childhood friends were the Kings in the school. Well, their good looks didn’t go for a waste. That day when they ‘forced’ him to hang out together in their basecamp to recall the old memories as Taeyang put it, was when he first saw her; Lee Chaerin, the cousin of Lee Seunghyun that looked nothing like him.

Jiyong still remember the way she stared at him that night, she stopped dead in track when their eyes met and he could’ve sworn that was one of the longest seconds he ever had. They were just staring at each other and not doing anything until the boys came in and broke the tension. Those seconds he felt like he was lost in her eyes. The eyes were so full of emotion, but also empty. She was always a contradiction, he knew it from the start.

He recalled feeling some sort of familiarity when he first saw her. He couldn’t pinpoint why so he shrugged it off, thinking it wouldn’t matter because that would be the last time he saw her, or even if it wasn’t the last time because she is Seungri’s cousin, it still wouldn’t matter.

But oh boy how wrong he was.

“Did you meet a girl named Lee Chaerin?” Was the first question his mother asked when he got home from his first day of school, he couldn’t help but raising an eyebrow, he nodded anyways. Mrs. Kwon smiled at him, “Good, take a good care of her, okay?” she said while preparing the dinner. Jiyong couldn’t understand why or how his mother knew Chaerin, but he didn’t give a second thought, and the dinner his mother prepared was distracting enough. Soon, he found his mother questioning about a certain Chaerin became a habit.

He saw her every-single-day of his life after that day. It wasn’t that surprising since they studied in the same school, though. Usually they met in the hallway, and maybe he was hallucinating but he felt time slowed down every time they met. She would stare at him with that stare, he felt like she was saying something, like she wanted him to figure out what she wanted to say through her eyes. But of course being the Kwon Jiyong that he was, he shrugged it off.

A year went silently, until one day he found out that Chaerin threatened a girl to stay away from him because he was hers. She hissed, and whispered to the shaking cheerleader Yoona to never dare flirting with him anymore. It might sound weird but instead of hating her for claiming him without his consent, all he saw was how cool she was. And he was surprised when he figured that he actually didn’t mind her statement.

“There’s plenty of fish in the sea, stay the away from my fish.” She said coldly, and the shaking girl could only nodded. When Chaerin took a step back and turned her heels she met his stare. Instead of being nervous and clumsy for she was caught off guard, she only smiled at him and said her very first word to him; which no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t take it off of his memories, “Hello boyfriend,” she greeted sweetly and seconds later went off like a Queen, letting him breathe again while staring at her long blonde hair and perfectly shaped body.

He was a casanova in Japan, but this was his last year in high school and he decided to stop playing around and start caring about his future. So he told himself that Chaerin was some sort of help. Knowing her power, he stayed single for a long year. Everyone thought he was Chaerin’s, while he was really not. During that year, except for the “Hello boyfriend,” they had never really exchange words, only stares. People said they met outside school, they said she was the reason why he was so close to the Kings, people said a lot of wrong things about him but he never really cared about it.

Until one day he heard them, bunch of juniors talking wrong things about him and Chaerin. He heard them saying Chaerin slept with each and every one of the Kings, including her own cousin, and of course when Jiyong came to the club she had to sleep with him too. They said that was how she became the powerful Queen and not the cheerleader squad. Things got more heated when they said that maybe she even slept with the teacher and school employees and they joked around that maybe they could sleep with her too.

Kwon Jiyong was never a fighter, but that day he couldn’t help to throw a punch or two, or maybe even more. He got into detention because of her, and she knew nothing about it. He got into a fight trying to save her reputation, while she herself didn’t give the slightest care about it. Oh, what a good ‘boyfriend’ he was.

And now he was in his second year of college. Three years passed quickly, and surprisingly, nothing much had changed.

He was still Chaerin’s.

“She’s fine like always, we’ll go on a date tomorrow,” Jiyong answered while munching his dinner. His mother nodded and smiled.

---

Just let me run where I want to run
Just let me love who I want. 

(Copeland - Love Affair)

Author’s note:

Is this chapter too long? Too short? Sorry that there’s not much conversation in this chapter. I hope it didn’t bore the hell out of you.

Thank you so much for the comments and subscribes! Keep them coming and tell me what you think. Encouragement and Constructive critics are warmly welcomed!

♥ littletea