“What feelings?” L.Joe curiously asked as he looked at Maddie. He attempted to calm down his raging heart, but it was hard. It was hard for him to be able to think straight when Maddie said something like that. After all, they were both talking about their feelings and there was no possible way that Maddie even knew about his feelings.

            “My feelings,” Maddie said as she looked down at the table and then back at L.Joe

           Your…feelings,” L.Joe said as he attempted to think about it. It wasn’t really something that was far-fetched, talking about their feelings, after all, she could’ve just been talking about her feelings for Chunji, but the fact that Maddie added that it was her feelings for him, for L.Joe, he was curious.

            “Yes, my feelings,” Maddie said as she sighed and thought for a moment about how she should talk about it with L.Joe. She didn’t want to be awkward, after all, he was going to be her future brother-in-law, but she didn’t want to let the subject just pass them by. It was something that the two of them needed to talk about, and talk about soon. “My feelings for you, didn’t you hear me?”

            “I…I was just making sure,” L.Joe stuttered as he looked at her. There were a thousand more thoughts going through his mind. What was Maddie going to say? What were her feelings for him? L.Joe was curious and afraid at the same time.

            And Maddie was no different. Taking a deep breath, she stared right into L.Joe’s eyes, and somehow, she felt sad. She didn’t want to say anything, but she knew that they had to get it out in the open, they had to talk about it to clear any misunderstandings before they started. “L…Joe,” Maddie hesitantly said. She wasn’t used to calling him by his name. The few times she would see him would be whenever she was at their house, and then she saw him more often because of the wedding preparations, but it was weird calling him L.Joe.

            “Yea?” L.Joe asked as excitement and nervousness filled his voice, waiting for the next thing that Maddie was going to say.

            “Listen, I think that you’re going to be an awesome brother-in-law to me and you’re an awesome brother to your brother,” she began as she hesitantly looked from side to side until she looked down at the table and then back at L.Joe.

            “Okay,” L.Joe said as he watched Maddie’s eyes dart everywhere. There was a feeling that it wasn’t going to go over well, but it was a feeling that L.Joe wanted to ignore.

            “But…my feelings…I don’t like you…the way that you like me,” she quietly whispered as she looked down at her hands.

            “W-w-what are you talking about?” L.Joe stuttered as he looked at her. It was heartbreaking to hear those words, but he couldn’t let her see that it hurt him. Thinking about it, he wasn’t even sure how she knew about his feelings in the first place, but that wasn’t a question to be asked.

            “Your feelings,” Maddie said as she got the courage to look at L.Joe. “Your feelings for me. I know that you’re in love with me, but I can’t return those feelings.”

            “Whoever said that I was in love with you?” L.Joe asked as he grew more flustered with every passing moment.

            “But I…”

            “But what?” L.Joe asked. His anger was suddenly seeping through and even with him attempting to stop it, it wasn’t helping. L.Joe knew that he shouldn’t be angry, he knew that he had no reason to be angry anyway. Maddie was his brother’s fiancée, she was getting married, and she was going to be a part of the family, L.Joe had no right to love her in the first place. Still, he couldn’t help but be angry. There was something inside of him that told him that he should fight for her, that he should still have a chance, even if Chunji had her first.

            “But I can’t love you,” Maddie softly whispered. “I don’t love you.”

            “That doesn’t mean that you won’t in the future,” L.Joe said as he raised one eyebrow.

            “Byunghun,” Maddie began, “look…I’m in love with your brother, I’m getting married to your brother.”

            “I know that and I accept that,” L.Joe said nodding his head. Without saying another word, and also to prevent himself from slightly acting out again, he stood up from the table and made his way towards the door. “If he hurts you, if my brother hurts you,” L.Joe began as he faced the door, but slightly turned so he could see Maddie sitting at the table out of the corner of his eye, “you can always come to me. I hope you know that.”

            Without another word, L.Joe left the café and started making his way back home. If it were a normal day, he would’ve gone out, but he was too tired to think about going out. There was too much on his mind to even think about anything. All L.Joe wanted to do was sleep.

            He knew that he shouldn’t have been feeling like that, L.Joe knew that he was probably being selfish, but it didn’t matter. He, himself, had no idea of that strong feeling inside of him. He knew that he had liked Maddie, he loved her, but he didn’t know the extent, until she told him that she couldn’t…she wouldn’t.

            “Why did I expect her to like me?” L.Joe muttered to himself as he kicked a stone away a couple of steps from his house. “Why did I expect anything different?”

            “Are you mumbling to yourself?” his mother asked as he walked into the living room.

            “Um…I’m just going through some things in my head,” L.Joe said. “I’ll be upstairs in my room.”

            “Alright,” his mother said as she worriedly looked at her son. She could tell that something had been amiss with him, but she didn’t know what it was. However, she figured that he was a big boy who was able to figure out whatever was bothering him.

            Meanwhile, Maddie sat at the café as she sipped her drink that she purchased after L.Joe left. It wasn’t something that she wanted to say to him, not returning his feelings, but it was something that she knew that she had to say. She heard him say that he loved her, Maddie heard L.Joe say it while he was sleeping and before it went any farther, she felt as though she had to say something to stop his feelings from going any further.

            Sighing, she got off of the chair and began gathering her things to go back to the house. She wondered if Chunji would be home, but she figured that he probably wouldn’t be, he would probably be working. His job was always important to him, and Maddie understood that, but they were going to get married, she wondered if he had the ability to show a bit more support in the decisions that she was making about their wedding. She wondered if some of the decorations or anything else like that would be different if Chunji had fully put his attention to the wedding.

            Like she expected, Maddie went home to an empty and dark house. Chunji wasn’t home yet and there was no text message to say when he might be coming, there wasn’t even a note placed anywhere.

            Quietly, Maddie went upstairs to her bedroom and began to do some reading before finally going to sleep.

A couple of days passed and L.Joe’s mood was slowly improving. Myungsoo noticed the funk that he was in and even though he tried to get L.Joe to explain, he wouldn’t. L.Joe would just stare at Myungsoo and shrug his shoulders without saying anything. Myungsoo felt at a loss for what he could possibly do to cheer L.Joe up when he barely knew anything about the situation.

            “How are you holding up today?” Myungsoo curiously asked as they were in the car to go to the airport to pick up Jaerin, Myungsoo’s girlfriend.

            “I’m good, I’m good,” L.Joe said nodding his head. He knew why Myungsoo was asking the question and he would’ve told him about his love for Maddie, but it just seemed like it was wrong. Why would he tell someone else that he loves his brother’s fiancée? That’s just asking for a wrong person to get the information, L.Joe would rather keep it to himself. “So why are you dragging me to come pick up your girlfriend with you?”

            “Because I don’t want to be alone,” Myungsoo chuckled as he briefly looked out the window. “I mean…I just don’t want to wait in the airport alone like a loser.”

            “Well, whether you were alone or not, we can just wait together like losers,” L.Joe said with a smile as he patted Myungsoo on the back.

            Walking into the airport, L.Joe thought back to the first time that he saw Maddie. Although they had briefly spoke in the past, not really to the extent of formally meeting either, that happened at the restaurant where the two families met for the first time, L.Joe first saw Maddie at the airport.

            Even though she had spent some time in Korea, Maddie originally resided in America. Chunji just happened to meet her while he was over there doing business, at least that’s how L.Joe heard the story, and he had heard it numerous times. His whole family accompanied to come see Maddie and her family. However, the meeting between the two was very brief, since Maddie had jetlag, so she didn’t really meet anyone until the wedding preparation meeting.

            “What are you thinking about?” Myungsoo curiously asked L.Joe, but he figured that he probably wouldn’t tell him like he always did.

            “The first time that I saw Chunji-hyung and Maddie together,” L.Joe honestly said. He figured that he didn’t really have to lie about that one since that wasn’t hinting anything. “She lived in America, that’s where hyung met her and then they dated while he was over there and then they came back as an engaged couple.”

            “Oh,” Myungsoo said nodding his head. It was the first time that he heard anything about Chunji and Maddie’s relationship. Myungsoo would only hear bits and pieces before, but it was mostly things about the wedding that L.Joe would complain about. He never really heard about how they met or anything, not that he should know, but sometimes Myungsoo was curious about that kind of stuff.

            “Yeah,” L.Joe said nodding his head as he thought about how Maddie and Chunji met. “So when is Jaerin coming?”

            “Soon,” Myungsoo sighed as he looked at his watch. “You’re very interested in my girlfriend,” he said with a chuckle.

            “Hey, I’m curious as to why you keep your girlfriend a secret,” L.Joe said as he looked at Myungsoo. “Honestly, I’m curious about her. I’m pretty sure that everyone is curious about her.”

            “Oh, there she is.”

            Myungsoo and L.Joe got off of their seats and made their way towards the gates where Jaerin would be coming out. The two boys stood there awkwardly as they watched other people exit the gates to find the ones that were waiting for them there, whether it be family, loved one, or even simply a driver.

            “Myungsoo-oppa!” a voice rang out.  All L.Joe saw was a blur running towards Myungsoo and hugging him. “Myungsoo-oppa, I missed you.”

            “I missed you, too, Jaerin-ah,” Myungsoo said as he hugged her. He missed hugging her and he knew that he would miss her when she went back. How could he not? “Jaerin, I’d like for you to meet one of my friends.”

            “Who?” Jaerin asked as she let go of Myungsoo and turned around to see the mysterious figure before her eyes laid on L.Joe and she let out a small gasp.

            “Hmm?” L.Joe asked as he looked at Jaerin. He wondered why she would gasp at the sight of him. “Is there something wrong?” L.Joe looked from Myungsoo to Jaerin and back again, but Myungsoo shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea why Jaerin acted that way. “Um…Jaerin-ssi, is there something wrong?”

            “You’re…you’re Lee Byunghun, right?” she asked.

            “Um…yea,” L.Joe said looking weirdly at Jaerin as Myungsoo also had a confused look on his face. “How in the world would you know my name?”

            “Do you know him?” Myungsoo curiously asked his girlfriend.

            “Lee Byunghun,” Jaerin said once again with a chuckle. By this point, Myungsoo and L.Joe thought that she was crazy. “We meet again.”

            “We meet again?” L.Joe whispered to himself as he attempted to think about what Jaerin could be hinting at, but he thought of nothing.

            “Nothing, never mind,” Jaerin said shaking her head. “I just remembering meeting you briefly before in the past.”

            “Oh, well, okay.” L.Joe didn’t know what to say to that statement. He wasn’t entirely sure how to react, either. He could figure that he probably met Jaerin more than in simple passing if she were to remember his name, but he didn’t remember how or why. Why would he have met Myungsoo’s girlfriend before and why didn’t he recognize the name?

            Something didn’t seem right and L.Joe didn’t want to be the one to figure out what it was. 

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Who is Jaerin? How does Jaerin know L.Joe? Will Maddie stay with Chunji? Will L.Joe still attempt to win Maddie's heart?

Here's Chapter 5. Hope you enjoyed :D