“I mean it L. Joe, this time you've taken it too far!” Niel screeched as he stormed into L. Joe's house, kicking a few things out of his way so that he could get up into L. Joe's face, poking him in the chest. His eyes were blazing with his anger, and he looked like he was only a few seconds away from punching him.

“What have I done now?” L. Joe groaned, used to Niel coming round to his place in a rage about something he did or did not do, but still kind of alarmed whenever Niel did it. With the way Niel was glaring at him, he knew that whatever he'd done this time, must've been a doozy. He seriously looked like he was considering skinning him alive.

And to think they all thought that Niel was the nice one out of the two of them!

“You just had to go and get yourself a girlfriend, didn't you?” Niel mocked, completely ignoring L. Joe's question. He was supposed to sit there, listen and agree in all the right places in order to avoid getting his face smashed in. Not to talk. “I don't have a girlfriend.” L. Joe retorted, rolling his eyes.

“It wasn't enough to make Chunji like you, you just had to torment him by getting yourself a little piece of something on the side, as well.” Niel continued, ranting. “I did not.” L. Joe scoffed, shuddering slightly at the thought of Da-eun being his piece on the side. He'd never want to go out with her again, especially not if he actually had Chunji.

“You get off on hurting him, don't you? You must because that's the only way I can see that any of your thoughts make the slightest bit of sense!” Niel complained, smacking L. Joe in the back of the head with a manila folder L. Joe had only just realised that Niel had brought with him. “If we're still talking about the girlfriend thing, then I'm not hurting him. We talked about it; everything is fine.” L. Joe explained, sulkily rubbing the back of his head.

Niel smacked him again, this time hitting his forehead, forcing L. Joe to glare at him, but his anger was unwavering. “Oh you talked to him about it did you? Everything is fine is it? Then why has he been sitting in his apartment crying his eyes out for the past few days? I'll tell you why, because you are an !” Niel screamed, smacking him once more, straight on the top of his head for good measure.

L. Joe's irritation at the blows he was receiving subsided, as he observed Niel's very serious features with concern. “He hasn't really spent the last few days crying, has he?” he whimpered. Cringing when he saw Niel's sharp nod of the head. His features lit up with alarm, as he demanded, “Why?”

“I told you why. Because of you and that stupid girlfriend of yours.” Niel snapped. “And I told you, I haven't got a girlfriend.” L. Joe answered, irritated. Apparently he'd made Chunji sad, and Niel was right here, knowing the exact reason behind that sadness and he was refusing to tell him, so that he could make things better.

“I can't believe you'd sit there and lie straight to my face.” Niel seethed.

“I'm not lying. I haven't got a girlfriend.” L. Joe replied, getting equally annoyed.

“Then what do you call all of this, hmm?” Niel demanded, throwing the manila folder into L. Joe's lap. He fumbled with it for a moment, but managed to secure it, without any of the contents falling onto the floor. He opened it, only to be met with picture after picture of himself and Da-eun.

They were all from the previous week they'd spent together. She'd only just gone home yesterday. But it only took him a moment to realise that there was something very particular about all of these photos. They were all of times when he and Da-eun looked like a couple. As he approached the end of the photos, he found a particularly awful one, that made him close his eyes for a second just to be able to fight to keep his composure. The one where they were kissing.

“Chunji's seen all of these?” he questioned, sounding fearful of the answer. “Every single one.” Niel agreed, making L. Joe groan.

“Oh God. Is he ever going to let me explain about this? Will he ever forgive me?” he wailed, horrified by the prospect that he might lose Chunji before they'd ever really had anything to begin with.

“I dunno.” Niel responded, thoughtfully, but his tone was still hard, “But he shouldn't. How could you?”

“It wasn't my fault!” L. Joe defended. “She came over on a school trip from the US. So whenever she got some free time, she'd insist that I come spend it with her, since I haven't seen her in a year. She kept grabbing hold of me, but I didn't think too much of it, I mean that sort of thing is more common overseas. They treat everyone like that; like we treat each other. I only realised there was cause for concern the other night when she was asking me when I was returning to the States. I told her I wasn't. She tried to convince me to come back saying that we could become a couple again, if I were to return, and then she kissed me, to celebrate the agreement or whatever. But then I said no. I told her I thought it'd be best for the both of us if we didn't become a couple again, and reaffirmed that I was staying here; that I wouldn't be going back.” he explained.

“So you weren't cheating on Chunji with that girl?” Niel pressed, wanting to remain mad with L. Joe so badly, and yet still kind of being convinced by his story.

“Of course not. In the first place, Chunji and I aren't in a relationship so I can't cheat on him. But more importantly, I'd rather be with Chunji. I love him.” L. Joe admitted earnestly.

“Well, he doesn't seem to think so. He's convinced you were playing him for a fool. You know, doing all of this to or teach him a lesson or something.” Niel confessed.

“A lesson about what?” L. Joe enquired, confused.

“About being gay or having feelings for you or something. How should I know what he meant by the comment. With the state he's in at the moment, I'm not sure he's certain what he meant by it!” Niel said.

L. Joe groaned, even louder this time, running his fingers through his hair in his frustration.

“You've been ignoring him lately, haven't you?” Niel pressed, something about the way L. Joe didn't even try reaching for his phone to apologise right this instant, despite his obvious feelings of guilt, making Niel suspicious of the state of their communication as of late.

L. Joe froze, guiltily, knowing he was caught. “I couldn't bring myself to do it. Da-eun was always around, and she kept trying to look through my phone. Besides, after the way he was acting at the party, I just knew that I was going to try confessing my feelings for him the next moment I got to speak to him.”

“Maybe if you'd done that sooner, you wouldn't be in this mess now.” Niel pointed out, unsympathetically.

L. Joe pouted at Niel's unfriendly response. “Hey, you're supposed to be my friend too you know. You always give Chunji sympathy when something like this happens.” he argued.

“Yeah and Chunji needs it more, because you treat him horribly.” Niel retorted sticking his tongue out at him, but his heart wasn't really in the gesture. It looked more like his tongue had fallen out of his mouth because Niel was too lazy to be able to keep it there anymore.

“Well I couldn't exactly tell him that I love him, and ask him out and everything when Da-eun was hanging around trying to act like my girlfriend, now could I? That would've hurt him more, if he'd thought I was being unfaithful to him. I figured if I waited until after she left, and there was no possibility that she was going to interfere, I could ask him out without him getting too worried about it.” L. Joe explained.

“Well it didn't work. He freaked out about it at CAP's place.” Niel pointed out.

“Yeah and I told you, I handled it. We had a talk, and sorted it all out. We were good. At least until those damn photos. I swear I'm going to murder Ricky!” L. Joe grimaced.

“What makes you think that it was Ricky that took them?” Niel squawked, surprised and concerned for his friend's safety.

“Who else would've done it?” L. Joe supplied as his answer.

“You know, Chunji probably wouldn't like it if you killed Ricky. The two of them are pretty close, I mean at the party, they—” Niel pointed out, amused.

“I already know about that! Why did you think I want to kill him? These photos by themselves are only worth losing a limb.” L. Joe stated, angrily.