“But listen here Dongmin, if anything was to threaten my lifestyle now, I will do anything to prevent it from ruining me.”

“You’re so embarrassing, you know that?!” Jinsang nudged Jin Ae as they stepped out on to the streets. Jin Ae just rolled her eyes and stuffed her hands into her sweater pockets.

“Says the one who practically yelled out the Boys Over Flowers theme song.” She retorted.

“Hey, I have the voice of an angel, thank you very much!” Jin Ae let out a disbelieving laugh. The two of them were now walking down the side walk from the karaoke place to a nearby ddukkboki stand. Both were familiar with the path as they had done this for a family outing many times before.

The two of them continued to bicker until they passed a small alleyway. Jinsang was just about to come back with an argument when someone stumbled out from the alleyway and into their path. Instinctively, Jinsang pulled Jin Ae’s arm so that she was now behind him. The person stood up straight and dusted himself off. When he finally looked up, the light from the street light revealed a very familiar face. Jin Ae stepped forward with a shocked expression.

“Chanhee…what are you doing here? What happened to you?” Sure enough, Lee Chanhee stood before them; a small bruise forming on his right cheek, a red mark was located by the corner of his lips. He was clutching at his stomach but tried to keep composed in front of Jin Ae.

“F-Fancy running into you here, Jin Ae.” He stammered, wincing as he clutched tighter at his stomach. Jin Ae couldn’t hide her concern and went up to him and held his face in her hands. Her skin was cold, but Chanhee felt warmth spreading through his cheeks.

“Who did this to you?” She whispered, her eyes glossing over the injuries on his face. Chanhee only smiled bitterly.

“Don’t worry about it Jin Ae – just some low life thugs looking for money. If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t let them get off easy!” He said brightly making Jin Ae grimace, but she grinned afterwards. She let her hands fall to her sides and she took two steps backwards and looked back towards Jinsang who raised both his eyebrows at her.

“Oh, um Jinsang, this is Lee Chanhee, a friend from school,” She then turned to look at Chanhee and gestured for him to step closer, “and Chanhee, this is my older brother Jinsang.” Chanhee bowed respectfully and Jinsang nodded his head in return.

“So Chanhee, what brings you out at this time of the night, lurking in alleyways with thugs?” Jinsang asked, earning him an elbow to the stomach from Jin Ae.

“Sorry, he gets a bit nosy.” Jin Ae rolled her eyes and Jinsang looked at her incredulously.

“What, I’m just asking him an innocent question!” Chanhee cleared his throat and rocked back and forth on his heels.

“O-Oh nothing, I was just uh, taking a shortcut from my house to the convenience store by the karaoke place. Um, you know, craving a late night snack, ha-ha…” His answer seemed to satisfy Jinsang who nodded in understanding, but Jin Ae sensed something else was up but decided to push the thought away.

“Well, to make up for my nosiness,” Jinsang emphasized the last word while leaning towards Jin Ae who backed away with a scoff, “why don’t I treat you along with Jin Ae for some ddukkboki?”

“Oh, that’s very nice of you Jinsang-ssi but – “

“Please, just call me hyung and don’t worry about it. The thugs got your money right?” Chanhee was about to decline again when he realized that Jinsang was right. Might as well accept, I didcome out here to see Jin Ae…of course, she can never find out.

“O-Okay, if it’s okay with you guys. I’m sorry if I interrupted anything.” He quickly apologized to which Jin Ae just smiled and patted his shoulder thoughtfully.

“Nah, don’t worry about it Chanhee! It’ll be fun, and Jinsang can give you a lift home.” Unable to see a way out, Chanhee accepted and followed the siblings to the ddukkboki stand. Jinsang ordered a ton of ddukkboki, but easily devoured almost half of it. Chanhee took meagre bites which caught Jin Ae’s attention.

“What’s wrong Chanhee, you don’t like them?” She questioned and he immediately shook his head.

“No, it’s delicious!”

“But you’ve barely touched any – you sure you’re alright?” She asked with a concerned expression. Chanhee could only nod his head stupidly like a little puppy and he took bigger bites, as if to prove that he really was alright.

In truth, Chanhee was being bugged by his conscience because he had been following Jinsang and Jin Ae ever since they had stepped into the jajangmyun place. He had also happened to be there with his friends when he saw the two enter. He didn’t know what had come over him at the time, but he ditched his friends and decided to follow the two siblings around. He had originally thought that Jin Ae was out on a date, making him feel even guiltier at the time. But when Jin Ae had introduced him as her brother, he felt somewhat elated – though he couldn’t quite explain why. Now there he was, eating ddukkboki at a small stand with them, pretending that he hadn’t been following them the whole time; and being the nice kid he was, his conscience kept poking at him.

“Did you want to order more, Chanhee?” Jin Ae asked. He shook his head and gave her a small smile. Jinsang then paid the woman who ran the stand and she sent them off with a complimentary serving of free ddukkboki. Jinsang walked a little bit ahead, leaving Jin Ae and Chanhee following closely behind. Normally, the silence would have been awkward, but this one was oddly comfortable. Though, the injuries on Chanhee’s face disconcerted Jin Ae a bit.

Chanhee noticed Jin Ae stealing glances at him and turned to look at her.

“I’ll be fine Jin Ae, don’t worry so much.” He said reassuringly. Jin Ae only smiled to that and nodded. They had reached the car and Jin Ae got into the passenger’s side while Chanhee sat in the back seat.

“Okay Chanhee-ah, lead the way!” Jinsang followed Chanhee’s directions and it turned out that he really did live close to where they had been. When Chanhee had gotten out and closed the door, he paused and turned around, running to the window of the passenger’s seat. Jin Ae quickly rolled down the window and he bent down to the open space.

“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out on Sunday, maybe talk about plans for the Arts and Music Festival. Or just, I don’t know, go out for a bite to eat.” Jin Ae blinked a couple times before nodding slowly.

“Sure, I’d love that. Just shoot me a text okay?” With that, Chanhee tapped the car and walked backwards while waving and then turned to go inside his house. His parents seemed to be out and he couldn’t help but to jump around excitedly.

His little excursion did get him beat up, but he figured that that was probably karma for following Jin Ae and her brother around. Nonetheless, he was excited to go out with Jin Ae for a friendly outing on Sunday. He abruptly stopped jumping and scratched his head.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” He asked out loud. Sighing, he couldn’t help but to smile at the thought of Jin Ae. She was a sweet girl and the two of them hadn’t really gotten a chance to get to know each other. Chanhee saw this as a great window of opportunity and he was more than ecstatic to take it. He still wasn’t sure of why he felt overly excited but played it off as a need to get to know her better.