“He knows...” Seo Ah muttered, strongly meeting L's tired gaze.

“That wasn't the question~” he chimed with a weak smile. He began to walk towards her slowly. She observed his sluggish way of walking and eyed the amount of paper he held in his hand which almost reached all the way to his chin! He sat next to her as if he was collapsing into a heap and she noted that his eyelids were almost half closed.

“Don't burn a hole into my face...” he muttered, reaching out and taking one of Sungjong's test papers.

'I feel sorry for her, trying to teach this thick skulled idiot... he thought as he looked through the terrible grades. 

“I-I'm not staring!”

“I never said you were,” he shot back, tearing his eyes off the papers to look at her with a twinkle of triumph in his eyes.

'Babo...' she thought to herself, mentally smacking herself at the same time. L smiled and his gaze dropped to look through his pile of papers. he flicked through them, suddenly looking completely professional and concentrated.

“Were you surprised?” he asked plainly, not keeping his eyes off the papers.

“S-surprised about what?”

“The mansion,” was her simple reply.

“Well...obviously...I didn't expect you to live in a...mansion,” she muttered, fiddling with her fingers and keeping her gaze on them.

“Yeah, well I didn't expect a princess to live by herself in a cheap apartment,” he said.

“What's that supposed to mean?” she demanded in a low tone.

“Nothing offensive...I just didn't expect it...” L said quickly, making sure she didn't get offended. Seo Ah stopped fiddling with her fingers and looked up and searched for his gaze with curiosity.

“What did you expect then?” she asked after he looked up to meet her gaze. L stared back at her and looked into her round eyes which were trying to get into his soul and find the information they were searching for.

“Y'know...like a normal girl. A loving family and regular house...definitely not a girl who goes to work everyday, who's a workaholic and who has a split personalty...” They both started chuckling together.

“Not everyone can have a perfect life like you...” she muttered after their laughter died down. There was a short silence that seemed to go on for ages and linger in the air while they both waited for the other to say something.

“My life's far from perfect...” L muttered, breaking the silence.

“Mwo? How? It seems pretty perfect to me,” she asked, suddenly interested. She sat up straighter and once again looked at him with those eyes which made him feel as if she could read his mind.

“Myungsoo...” he muttered. The name lingered in the air.

“M-Myungsoo...?”

“My name.” His short sentence had a huge impact. At school, everyone called him 'L' and she'd never heard his real name, not even from Sungjong.

“No one knows...apart from Suzy...well and you.” Seo Ah's heart skipped a beat, knowing she was in on a 'top secret' secret, though she was a little disappointed to find out that Suzy knew too.

“Why...?” she asked, almost unconsciously.

“My parents called me Myungsoo...Kim Myungsoo,” he paused before continuing, “I hate them.”

Seo Ah's eyes widened immediately and she stared at him in disbelief.

“How could you hate your parents?”

“Ever since I was young...I never really talked to them. We were so awkward around each other. They were heads of this massive company, they barely had any time for me and I was a neglected...sometimes unwanted child. Last year, I had enough and I packed my stuff. I took some money with me and I bought this house with Sungjong. I left everything behind, including my name.”

“Don't you miss them?” she asked after a short pause.

“I barely knew them...” he said, breaking eye contact and looking at the ground again. “I guess we are quite different...” he said, but he didn't raise his head to look at her. “I never knew my parents and left for my own sake, and you probably only left for the sake of your parents having a better life because you care so much about them.”

While he spoke, Seo Ah could only stare at him with awe. He seemed sarcastic and as if he'd never take anything seriously, but during that moment he seemed like a completely different person.

'Well... We know you're a workaholic too...you look so tired, Myungsoo ssi..." she said, eager to change the sunject.

"Myungsoo ssi...?" he repeated, as if he didn't believe what he'd just heard.

"Is it Ok if I call you that?" she asked, nervous if he felt angry or sad in any way because of her.

"Neh, gweanchana, but why do you want to call me that?"

"That's your name, what else would I call you?" she shot back, simply and innocently, making L smiled warmly at her thoughtfulness.

"Don't worry, I'll only call you by you're name when there's no one else around."

"Then, you plan to spend more time alone with me?" he asked with a sly smile. Seo Ah only pushed him lightly and laughed.

"You look like you're gonna collapse from fatigue and you have enough energy to joke with me?"

"Who uses the worfd 'fatigue'?" 

"Since you're the student body president, don't you think your grammar should be better?" 

"My grammar is good, but it doesn't meant that I should go around saying big words like that, that's beyond peoples comprehension." 

Seo Ah smiled at when he added in that 'big word' at the end of his sentence. He pretended not to notice, but smiled secretly when she wasn't looking. 

"Whenever I'm with you I never feel tired!" he announced shamelessly, suddenly going back on topic. Seo Ah turned bright red again and avoided answering him or looking straight into his eyes.

"Ok then, Myungsoo ssi... You've never looked this tired before, what big thing is keeping you this busy?" she asked, changing the subject, leaning forward and taking a sheet of paper which was on the top of L's pile. It read 'Masquerade Ball 2013'.

L eyed her carefully, the way her eyes lit up because she was reading something 'confidential'. The way her eyes had rounded with interest that made her look innocent and cute. And the way she gently tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

'Damn...no wonder Sungjong was unable to study well...'

"I realized that you speak banmal with Sungjong and call him 'oppa'... Yet you call me - ssi!" 

"What do you want me to call you then?" she asked, not really paying attention and scanning her eyes over every detail about the ball that was written in his neat handwriting.

"How about oppa?" As soon as the word left his mouth, Seo Ah choked on her own spit.

The word made her think back to the times during the drama trip to jeju. They were inside a hotel together and she called him oppa with her voice filled with disgusting aegyo, and in the end she hadn't gotten what she'd wanted.

"O-oppa?" she stuttered, which only made L smile. As always, he enjoyed it when she was flustered or embarrassed.

' like the sarcastic idiot he is....' she thought, rolling her eyes, even though she was smiling.

"Is there a problem...?" he asked, leaning closer to her and searching for her gaze, which was deeply engrossed in the sheet of paper... Just so he wouldn't notice the blush that was spreading across her cheeks.

"A-ani, Myungsoo oppa..." The word had just rolled off her tongue, as if she'd been calling him that all her life. It took him by surprise, even though it was what he'd wanted, his heart starting beating a little faster and a stupid grin was plastered into his face.

"So... Are you always so stressed over suff like balls?" she asked, changing the subject again to escape from the embarrassment. L complied, since he was embarrassed too...but he wouldn't let her know that. 

"it's the biggest social event in the school!"

"ah... Too bad I'm not coming.."

As soon as she'd spoken the sentence, L felt his heart sinking. The ball was the most amazing memory that you'd be able to make during high school, he felt sad that she'd miss out on it.

"Why? " he asked.

"Work, " was his simple reply.

L suddenly felt completely disheartened, as if all his work was done for nothing.

'She really is a workaholic! I have to do something so she can come! She has to attened this ball no matter what!' he thought to himself as Seo Ah once again got absorbed into L's work by herself.