“I lied,” she finally looked up. “I lied about liking you.”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened at her confession. More than that, he was confused as to what she had meant.

“I still very much love Yonghwa oppa,” she said, getting teary once more.

“Then why did you say otherwise? No, why didn’t you say anything back then?”

“I can’t. I had to,” she mumbled.

“What do you mean, you had to? Jun Hee, I don’t understand,” he asked.

“I had to break up with him!” she finally burst. “I was told not to have a boyfriend. My agency’s not allowing me to have a boyfriend. They know about Yonghwa oppa but they still refused. I had to.”

“Then why didn’t you just tell him that? Why go through all that trouble? Why hurt me in the process?”

“Mianhe Oppa,” she cried. “I hadn’t meant to hurt you too. I wanted to end it as soon as I reached here but seeing him again after so long, I couldn’t. So I distanced myself from him. And we argued and he brought out the topic of you. That night, it just so happened that he caught us like that.”

“So that’s why you didn’t fight back that day,” he uttered, remembering that scene. “So why did you decide to tell me this today?”

She cried out harder. The people in the shop were starting to stare at them, and so he sat closer and patted her back to comfort her.

“There, there, don’t cry,” he told her. “We can still make this right.”

“I thought I could let him go. I keep telling myself that I’m doing the right thing. But it’s getting harder every day. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I’m getting scolded every day during practice because my mind is always thinking of him,” she cried out. “Oppa, ottoke?”

“Do you want me to talk things out with him?”

“Can you?” she looked at him.

He watched her pitifully and finally agreed. “Yeah, fine. I’ll help you out. But you’re eventually going to tell him yourself.”

She nodded, placing her hands on his lap to show her gratefulness. She looked back up, but not to him. She was looking at someone behind him.

“Yuna unnie!”

Yuna stared at the both of them, and for a while Jonghyun thought she seemed disappointed at seeing him there. But she quickly drew a smile on her face and approached them.

“It’s been a while since I last saw you,” Jun Hee exclaimed, wiping her eyes quickly.

“Yeah,” she simply replied.

Jonghyun had realized that Yuna had gotten less talkative ever since her secret past had been revealed but her answer seemed colder than usual.

“Where have you been? There wasn’t any news of you!” Jun Hee asked. “We were all so worried, especially Jonghyun oppa.”

Yuna darted her eyes at Jonghyun, who quickly avoided her gaze. She should not have known how he had nearly went crazy wondering about her whereabouts.

“Ah, I just needed a break,” she lied. “Erm, do you mind? I want to buy some bread.”

“Yeah, sure! How rude of me!” Jun Hee replied.

Jonghyun watched her walk up to the counter and chose her selection of breads. Cream, cheese and chocolate breads were her choices.

“You like her, don’t you?” Jun Hee’s voice snapped him back.

He laughed out but quickly turned serious again once Jun Hee continued eyeing him. He cleared his throat, and subtly turned his head towards Yuna’s direction. His eyes widened when he caught Yuna staring at him and she quickly turned back to the cashier. He gulped and looked back at Jun Hee, who was already smirking.

“Yah! You have no right to be smirking right now!” he pouted.

“Mwoh?” she laughed. “Then do you want me to continue crying?”

Jonghyun flared up his nostrils and pouted as he admitted defeat. He folded his arms as Jun Hee leaned in on the table.

“So,” she started. “Do you like her?’

She cocked her eyebrows cheekily. Jonghyun pretended to ignore her, before finally nodding his head subtly. “Yes, I do,” he mumbled so softly.