Niel led Jae to a locally owned ice cream shop. It was like something out of an anime; lacy wallpaper, white iron wrought tables and chairs, and petite little parfait glasses. Jae giggled a bit as the bell above the door signaled their entrance. 

"What?" Niel asked walking to the display case.

"Nothing. I just never pegged you for the type to like frilly cafes." Jae took notice of the delicious deserts on the other end of the glass.

"A man can't love cute things?" 

"Not a straight one." Jae rebutted.

Niel slightly shoved her. "Just wait till you taste the sweets."
He began explaining each desert to her. He obviously had been here numerous times. Eventually Jae set her sights upon the scrumptious strawberry sundae while Niel chose an irresistible slice of chocolate cake. They sat at an empty table located near the end of the shop by the window.

"This is like heaven in a cup." Jae said digging in.

Niel snickered "And you judged me for coming here."

The pair quickly finished the delectable sweets but remained a bit longer. They spoke of unimportant things that will soon be forgotten. When the conversations finally died down, Jae's face turned solemn as she remembered how she ditched L.Joe.

"Something wrong?" Niel asked, questioning why Jae had turned so glum so quickly.

"Well....." For some reason she spilled her guts. "I was supposed to go out with L.Joe today but I ditched him and went out with you." It was so easy to tell Niel this, for some unknown reason.

"Why? Not that I'm not flattered." The brown haired boy smiled.

"I was too nervous, and then you showed up and offered to go out. It was the perfect escape."

"So, I was just a lousy second choice." Niel's face began to mimic Jae's.

"NO! It's just...." Jae scratched her head. "I would've wanted to hang out with you either way, your timing was just perfect." 

"I get it. No hard feelings." Niel lightened up in record time, it wasn't a big deal anyway.
"But just so I know, why didn't you wanna go out with him?"

Jae hesitated. "I'm not sure, everyone keeps telling me to stay away from him and no matter how much I want to actually get to know him. I chicken out." 

"There's not much anyone can do about that. But I'm always here to complain to!" Niel jabbed his thumb into his chest to assure Jae he would help anyway he could.

Jae smiled in thanks then noticed the sky turning a light purple.

"Whoa, I gotta go!" She grabbed her bag and thanked Niel. Just as she was about to dash out the door, he stopped her.

"Where are you going? Don't you remember we live in the same neighborhood?" Jae formed into an 'O'.

"Come on." Niel walked out first, leading the way home.
They were silent, but it was a comfortable silence. Jae took in the violet-orange sky. They sky always seemed to mesmerize her. She looked over, expecting to see Niel gawking at her in confusion. Instead, he was entranced by the sky as well.
Jae smiled and turned her attention back to the beauty.

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye."
Jae waved goodbye to Niel as they split at the corner. She reached her apartment door and shoved her key in the lock. The minute she opened the door, her father poked his head into the hall.

"You're later than usual."

"Yeah, I just went out with a friend of mine." The brunette slipped off her shoes and dragged herself to her room.
The first thing she did was sit down at her desk with her homework. It wasn't too late but she wanted it out of the way and for some reason she was already exhausted.
Jae's eyes began to droop as she half-assed her homework. The minute the last question was answered she laid her head in her arms for a well needed sleep.

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"Honey...." Mrs. Jung's voice echoed.

"Hmm...?" Jae's eyes peeped open.

"If you're tired, go to bed. I'll clean up." Jae threw herself from her desk to her god givenly soft bed.
Mrs. Jung put away her daughter's schoolwork and neatly placed her bag on the chair made for the desk.
She looked over to find her daughter passed out in her uniform and all. Instead of waking her up and nagging her to change, she just grabbed the blanket at the foot of the bed and covered her offspring. She placed a kiss on her forehead and without a single creak, escaped the room.

------------

Jae could hear a troublesome pinging in her sweet dreams. She couldn't place it, but she knew it didn't belong there. She blindly grasped around to try and stop the bothersome noise. It finally hit her that it wasn't just a dream, she woke up to see her phone, still sitting on her desk, illuminating her dark room.  She threw her blanket off and trudged to said desk. 

10 unread messages. 3 missed calls.

"Whoever it was, needed me desperately." Jae thought.
Just as she was about to check who they all were from, it went off again. This time it was a call. The vaguely familiar number popped onto the screen.

"Whose number was this again?" Jae plopped her onto her bed and swiped her phone to answer.

"Hello?" She held the phone to her ear.

"...." No response. But Jae could hear background noises, so someone was definitely there.

"Hellooooo~?" She called again.

"Where were you?" L.Joe's irritated voice made it's way to her ears.

Jae kept it cool. "L.Joe?"

"Yeah, it's me. Where were you?" He stated more firmly.

Jae's mind concocted a quick lie.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot. I had a terrible stomachache and went home early. I forgot to tell you, sorry!" She lied through her teeth.

"And you didn't answer me before this because.......?" L.Joe wasn't buying it just yet.

"I took something to settle my stomach and it knocked me out for pretty much the whole day."

"Feeling better now?" His voice didn't sound so bitter now.

"Yeah, thanks."

"So you'll be at school tomorrow?" He inquired.

"Umm...yeah, I guess so."

"Good we can hang out then."

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Jae mentally cursed at herself.

"Yeah, that's fine. Listen, I gotta go now so see you tomorrow. Bye!" She quickly ended the call before he could interrogate her anymore.

Why was she so hesitant to hang out with him? She made a big deal about getting to know him, now was her chance. Anyway, there was no avoiding him this time. All she had to do was spend a couple hours with him. She could handle that, right?

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Hey hoped you guys enjoyed these 3 extremely close updates. Hopefully this made up for me not updating in 2 months. 
My apologies v_v.