At school the next day, butterflies flew around in my stomach and showed no signs of calming down. Even though I thought about it all day, I wasn't prepared to talk to L.Joe. I would get nervous whenever he said something to me. 

During lunch, I tapped his shoulder and pointed outside. "L.Joe, I need to talk to you."

"...I need to talk to you too." He said, his voiced sounding serious. I followed him outside where no one would hear us.

"So, what is it, Eun Mi?" He asked. 

I looked down at my feet and took a deep breath. "L.Joe... I'm starting to wonder if you still like me."

"Of course I do!" He said, with a small hint of surprise in his voice. "What makes you think that?"

"Because you keep hanging out with Ji Yoo, and not me." I said, my voice wavering. I was admitting to him I was jealous.

"Well, what about you and Yoo Jin? You guys seem pretty close too." L.Joe said quietly.

"Mwuh? Sooyoung already likes him. And I like you!" I blushed and tried to change the subject. "Why are you willing to help Ji Yoo? Why can't someone else do it?"

Great. Now I sound like a brat that wanted L.Joe all to myself... which was true.

"Do you even know why I'm tutoring her?" L.Joe asked me. "She promised to help me plan a date with you in exchange for tutoring her."

"D-date?" I stuttered. L.Joe was doing it so he could go on a date with me?

"Yeah. I wanted to surprise you with an American-styled date and do whatever couples in America liked to do these days." L.Joe looked away. "But I guess you don't trust me enough, do you?"

"N-no! I do!" I said, wanting to take back what I had said earlier. "I really do!"

"That's good, because I trust you too." L.Joe's voice turned even more quiet. "I trust you... but then you go and kiss another guy."

I turned red. He had seen me and Yoo Jin.  "L.Joe, that's a mistake! I didn't-"

"I saw, Eun Mi. You don't need to deny it." L.Joe looked at me with a hurt expression in his eyes. "You only picked me out of pity. You don't really like me, do you?"

I wanted to slap him for thinking that way. But before I could, he turned around and walked away. "I'm sorry for forcing myself on you. I'm sorry."

"L.Joe!" I tried to follow him but when he walked back into the cafeteria, he had disappeared in the sea of people. 

-- ♥ --

For the rest of the day, L.Joe avoided me. Whenever I tried to meet eyes with him, he would look away and whenever I tried to talk to him, he would walk away. Sooyoung asked me if we had fought, but I said nothing. Ji Yoo and Yoo Jin left us alone for today, too. 

It hurt so much to think of being in L.Joe's place. 

He was only tutoring Ji Yoo so he could treat me to a date. He had been thinking about me all along, and here I am making accusations about him. I felt horrible and rotten. He must hate me now. 

I wanted to blame Ji Yoo... or Yoo Jin. But the only person to blame was me. 

"Eun Mi, do you want to go with us to Menchi's?" Ji Yoo asked. Yoo Jin was right behind her with Sooyoung. "You seem kind of down today."

They didn't know anything about what happened between L.Joe and me. And they were only trying to be nice... so I guess it couldn't hurt. "Okay. I'll go."

"Yay!" Ji Yoo said. "Too bad L.Joe can't come. He said he was busy today, so he couldn't tutor me either."

"I hope he's alright." Yoo Jin said. He looked at me and talked normally, as if nothing had happened yesterday. 

I didn't say anything as we left school and went to the frozen yogurt shop. It was the same shop Changjo had brought me to on our date. But it's funny... that time I was really happy. Now I was really sad.

Sooyoung and the twins talked to each other happily as I sat there, eating my yogurt in silence. Would L.Joe still be willing to be friends with me? I didn't want to lose him, not like this.

He was truly a nice person and I really did love him. Why was it so hard for him to realize it? 

I didn't even know how long we were in that shop until Sooyoung said she had to go home. She left first with Ji Yoo and I was left with Yoo Jin. Again.

"I have to go to the restroom." He stood up. "Wait for me here so I can walk you home."

I nodded mindlessly, deep in my thoughts and not really paying attention to what he was saying.

He left and I sat there, thinking about why he didn't say anything about yesterday. I looked across the table and saw that Yoo Jin's green phone was left there. 

I picked it up out of curiousity and studied it. I didn't have my own phone, so I never really knew how to work one. I unlocked it (no password, apparently) and scrolled through it, not really understanding what was what. 

Suddenly it started to ring. I immediately dropped it back on the table out of fright. That scared the flipping kimchi out of me!

I peered down at the cell phone screen to see who was calling. My eyes widened and I gasped at the caller ID. I rubbed my eyes to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. But they weren't.

The person calling Yoo Jin... was Seohyun's father.