“Thanks for taking her once again,” Chunji said as he quickly stopped by to drop Maddie off before making his way to the airport.

            “No problem,” their mother said with a smile. “I would like for her to meet the entire family. It’s such a shame that you can’t come.”

            “Right,” Chunji said as he looked at his watch. “I should get going. I’ll call you later, okay, Maddie?” he asked as he quickly kissed her on the cheek.

            “Okay,” Maddie said nodding her head and waving to Chunji as he got into his car and drove off to go to the airport.

            After Chunji left, the four of them stood outside looking at one another. L.Joe was staring at Maddie while Maddie was simply looking around. Meanwhile, L.Joe’s parents were simply talking to one another about something that L.Joe could care less about.

            “So,” he said as he walked closer to Maddie. His heart had already begun furiously beat and he wondered if he was going to go crazy because he was getting closer to her. However, L.Joe still mustered up his courage and got closer where their skin was practically brushing against one another. “Be thankful that you don’t have to endure it alone.”

            “What do you mean?” Maddie asked as she turned and looked at L.Joe. L.Joe looked right into her eyes and immediately he felt as though he just wanted to kiss her, but he couldn’t. It took him everything he had not to just kiss her and practically pounce on her.

            “Nothing,” L.Joe said with a light chuckle as he thought about what it would be like, experiencing one of his family functions alone. It was a horrid thought. “Just stick by me and everything will be alright.”

            “Okay,” Maddie said nodding her head. “Thanks.”

            “No problem.”

            “Kids,” L.Joe’s mother called as she opened the passenger’s seat of the car. “Let’s get going so we’re not late.”

            The ride was mostly silent. Maddie intently stared out the window and was looking at the passing scenery while L.Joe was also looking out the window but taking some glances at Maddie every now and then. To his luck, Maddie would never notice his glances. Even sometimes L.Joe would find himself intently staring at her in hopes that she would just look at his way once, but he knew that that wasn’t going to happen. No matter how long he tried, L.Joe knew that Maddie was his brother’s and his brother’s only. To think that she was the type of girl to go in between guys, L.Joe thought he was absurd. He figured that no way would Maddie ever look at him, his brother was better.

            Throughout their whole life, L.Joe and Chunji were always compared to one another. Chunji was the older brother so he got all of the praise, while L.Joe was the younger brother and the one that always received the criticism of the family. Frankly, L.Joe believed that his parents didn’t like him as much as they liked Chunji. It was always a feeling that he had. Maybe it was because L.Joe wasn’t as successful as Chunji, but L.Joe was still attempting to figure out his life, unlike Chunji who had his life plan set when he was born by their parents. That was also another way that L.Joe figured that his parents liked Chunji more than they liked him.

            “Byunghun, why don’t you tell Maddie a bit about our family? I’m sure she’s already heard a lot from Chanhee, but you could tell her some, too,” his mother said turning back and looking at her son.

            “Alright,” L.Joe sighed, pretending that he didn’t want to when his insides were jumping up and down since it was an excuse to start talking to Maddie.

            “So, tell me about them,” Maddie excitedly said as she turned and looked at L.Joe. She was genuinely interested in hearing about the family since Chunji would rarely ever tell her anything about anyone else besides his immediate family, which only included his parents and his brother. All other family was off limits for Maddie to know about, so she was surprised when Chunji agreed to let her go to the birthday party of his grandfather.

            “They’re nothing special,” L.Joe said with a laugh as he remembered the previous year’s party for his grandfather. “They’re just regular people like you or me.”

            “Byunghun,” his mother warned from the passenger’s seat.

            “What?” he asked looking at his mother. “I’m telling the truth, they are people, unless you want to tell Maddie that they’re like dogs or something.”

            His mother couldn’t deny the fact that her son hadn’t said anything bad about the family, but he wasn’t necessarily saying anything good either. His mother wanted him to say something that would be nice and put Maddie’s mind at ease. His mother just automatically assumed that Maddie was nervous for the meeting when she was the complete opposite.

            Maddie was excited. There was no nervousness in her body at all. She just wanted to meet them and hear what they had to say about Chunji, that was all that she was curious about. She just wanted to know more about him and what his family thought about him. It was a time for her to get to know more about the family that was going to become her future in-laws.

            “Okay, so,” L.Joe said continuing. “They’re alright people. I mean, they’re just people after all and they’ll probably resemble some people in your family, too. I mean, I can’t really say anything else about them, my mother probably would be able to.”

            “That’s alright,” Maddie said in her sweet voice that made L.Joe’s heart start pounding again. “I’m sure that I’m going to have a wonderful time. Chunji-oppa never told me about your family and I’m excited to know.”

            “He never did?” their mother asked immediately turning around upon hearing that statement. “He never told you about our family?”

            “No,” Maddie said shaking her head. “Not once.”

            “That boy,” their mother said as she silently cursed her eldest son under her breath. “I never thought that he wouldn’t tell you. Well, you’re in for a surprise.”

“Niel,” L.Joe said elbowing his younger cousin.

            “What?” he asked as he looked at L.Joe with slight puppy dog eyes.

            “Don’t say that about her,” he strictly warned.

            “Say what?” Niel asked pretending to play innocent.

            “Don’t say anything bad about Maddie.”

            “Oh, does someone have a crush on her?” Niel lightly joked with L.Joe, but that wasn’t very well received by L.Joe who, in response, elbowed Niel even harder than before.

            “Shut up, she’s my hyung’s fiancée, Daniel.”

            “That doesn’t mean anything,” he said rolling his eyes to the sound of his actual name. Niel didn’t believe his cousin for one moment and thinking again, he never said anything about not liking her. The both of them grew up with one another, so why wouldn’t Niel be able to see when L.Joe was falling for a girl. If there was one thing about L.Joe that Niel knew for certain at that moment, it was that L.Joe was falling harder for Maddie than he had for any other girl in his life, ever.

            Niel wasn’t sure what to think about that, though. He was sure that it wasn’t going to be something pretty in the end because, like L.Joe had said, Maddie was Chunji’s fiancée. They were brothers and there was only one girl. In the end, someone was going to have to lose.

            L.Joe and Niel stood against the wall and watched Maddie talking with other family members in the distance. When they first arrived at the party, many people wondered if that was Chunji’s fiancée and then they wondered why Chunji didn’t come. It didn’t take much to explain that he had an important conference to attend. After all, he was the family star.

            “You know,” Niel said as he thought of ways that he could possibly make L.Joe say that he liked Maddie, “if Chunji-hyung didn’t have Maddie, I’m pretty sure I would have her for myself. Wouldn’t you say?”

            “If you would say,” L.Joe said shrugging his shoulders. He knew the game that his younger cousin was playing all too well and he was sure that he wasn’t going to fall into the trap. After all, he didn’t know what Niel would do with the information of knowing that he liked Maddie. However, L.Joe slightly could pick up that Niel already knew, he just wanted verbal confirmation. “Maddie is hyung’s,” L.Joe put simply. “She’s not mine and she’s not yours. I don’t see why either of us should care about her.”

            “Because she’s about to become family. Family,” Niel said emphasizing the word. “Either way, I think it’s good that she decided to meet the rest of the family before the wedding. Now you give me something to think about when I’m bored.”

            “Gross,” L.Joe said rolling his eyes, but he knew that he did the exact same thing. “Listen, I’m tired, where’s your room?”

            “The same place?” Niel asked looking at L.Joe with a strange face.

            It was common for L.Joe to ask Niel to borrow his room when the parties got boring. It was family, anyway, and L.Joe never liked speaking with the picky cousins and the aunts and uncles. Even if it was a birthday party, he was never one for liking those types of things and would always find a chance to go into Niel’s room and sleep since Niel lived with their grandparents.

            “Okay, thanks,” L.Joe said with a smile before making his grand escape.

L.Joe plopped down onto Niel’s bed. He was tired and frankly, he didn’t want to be at the party any longer. The bad part about their family parties, or at least what L.Joe thought the bad part about the family parties was that they always happened over a mealtime, meaning that more time was spent talking and socializing with the extended family that he didn’t remember rather than on singing the birthday song and cutting the cake. He just wanted to eat and then go home.

            Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. L.Joe knew that he was supposed to stick by Maddie, but knowing that she was being taken care of by the rest of his relatives, he was okay with the whole ditching her part. Sometimes his feelings would have to come before hers, but he wasn’t even in a relationship with her. She was going to become his sister-in-law. L.Joe wondered why he was having those thoughts about her, she was hot, but Maddie was his brother’s fiancée, not his.

            “Get it out of your head, L.Joe,” he whispered to himself as he attempted to get the thoughts of Maddie out of his head, but slowly, they kept entering. Somehow he found peace of mind once he started thinking about music, something that always put him at ease. It was a subject that he wanted to pursue as a possible career, but his parents would have none of it. So, in secrecy, he studied it and even did some of his own.

Slowly, the door to the bedroom creaked open. L.Joe slowly opened his eyes to see the figure entering. “I knew you’d come,” he said with a smirk on his face.

            “Of course,” she said returning the same smile. “Why else would I come up here?”

            “Who knows,” he said shrugging his shoulders as he propped himself up on his elbows as she slowly came closer to him until their faces were centimeters apart. “Maddie,” he whispered as he tucked some of her hair behind her ear and ran his fingers delicately on her cheek, “you know I love you, right?”

            “L.Joe, you know I love you back, right?” she asked as she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips upon his.

            They stayed in that position for a long time. L.Joe propped up on his elbows on the bed and Maddie on the side. They were simply kissing, nothing more and nothing less. They were showing their love and affection for one another through the gentle kissing and they were both completely satisfied at that moment.

            Slowly, L.Joe became hungrier for Maddie. He wanted more of her right then and there. He didn’t care if it was his cousin’s bedroom, he just wanted her. Slowly, L.Joe got off of his elbows and sat up straight so he could gently run his hands up and down Maddie’s sides.

            “L.Joe, not here, not now,” Maddie breathlessly said as she stared at him and attempted to remove his hands.

            “Why not?” L.Joe asked her as he looked into her eyes. “I want you and you want me.”

            “But not here,” she whispered as she hid her growing red face from him.

            “Fine, because I love you just wait until we’re alone again,” L.Joe said with a smirk. “Maddie, I love you.”

L.Joe woke with a start. He immediately opened his eyes and got a shock of his life. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he searched for a blanket or something to cover himself.

            “I was sent to wake you up,” Maddie said shrugging her shoulders.

            “How long have you been hovering over me like that?” he asked looking at her suspiciously.

            “Not that long,” she said looking at him strangely.

            “Well who sent you up here?” L.Joe asked. Normally it would be Niel waking him up since his parents and other family members knew nothing about his little naptime during the family gatherings.

            “Your cousin did,” she said. “Let’s go, they’re going to cut the cake. He told me that you love that part.”

            “Right,” L.Joe said quickly getting up and exiting the room. Somehow he felt as though it was awkward, to just wake up and then see Maddie hovering over him. Before leaving the room, L.Joe looked back at Maddie for one quick moment.

            “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she said with a smile as she followed L.Joe out of the room. But there was something bothering her. There was one sentence that was stuck in her mind that caused her to stare at L.Joe as he walked down the stairs to go to where the cake was. “Does he really love me?” she whispered to herself before walking down the stairs to join her future in-laws.

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What will happen now that Maddie knows? Will L.Joe be able to hold back his feelings? Will Chunji ever figure out about L.Joe's crush?

Here's Chapter 2. Hope you enjoyed :D

And sorry about not updating this in a while. College life, exam life. Ugh.