“You’re interesting Seo Yuna-ssi”

“We’re friends now!”

A close-up shot of his face smiling with his beautiful set of teeth appeared right in front of her face. She could see his eyes gleaming, and his dimples making his smile even prettier.

She shot up from her sleep, gasping in shock. Her eyes widened as she realized what she had been dreaming off.  She slapped herself a few times then headed to the washroom and splashed some cold water onto her face. She immediately regretted it as she felt the chills ran through her spine.

“See, this is what happens when you sleep in till 3 in the afternoon!” she scolded herself, while rushing to get ready for work.

She had been seeing a different light to Jonghyun these past few days and now she’s all confused as to how to decipher him. He seemed so cold from the outside, and most of the times he was annoying. But she could also tell that he was actually a warm accepting guy. She had definitely noticed how he could easily give in to others’ demands without having any hard feelings.

When Jonghyun had offered to be her friend, she was actually touched. He was the first person who wanted to be her friend so she was taken aback by it. For the first time, she felt like she could trust someone.

She grabbed her phone and realized there were several missed calls from an unknown number. She quickly dialed it back, knowing it was from her dad.

“Appa!” she answered. “How’ve you been? You haven’t called for so long. I was so worried!”

“Yuna-ah!” his voice seemed panicky. “Yuna-ah! Wherever you are, be careful! Don’t let your guard down! Be safe, my girl! Araso?”

“Appa, what’s going on?” she too panicked at his voice. “Appa, tell me you’re fine!”

She heard some noises over at the other end, as if there was a fight going on and her dad’s heavy breathing could be heard.

“Yuna-ah, I’m-“

Her dad’s voice was cut off, and the next thing she heard was the beeping of the phone.

“Appa! Appa! Yeoboseyeo? Appa!” she shouted desperately.

All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind just then. What had happened with her dad? Was he in trouble? Was she in trouble too? Her hands trembled in fear and she dropped her phone onto the floor as she imagined the worst. Just then, there was a knock on her door and she jumped up. She opened the door to see Jonghyun standing there. She would have wondered why he was there, but half her mind was still on her dad. He must have noticed there was something wrong though.

“Oh? Gwenchana?” he asked worriedly.

“What?” she snapped out from her thoughts. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. What do you want?”

“Oh, I’m heading to work now and was just wondering if you want to go to work together today,” he asked.

Yuna stared back at his unexpected offer, sinking it in. “Together?”

“Yeah, since we’re neighbors and we’re friends now, I’d figured we can do that," he smiled excitedly.

“Right,” she said. “Sure.”

She locked her door and walked beside him. Her hands trembled again, and she quickly hid them in her pockets. She was scared. She was scared and she was alone.

“Yuna-ssi?” she heard her name.

“Yeh?” she looked up and saw him studying her with a concerned look.

“Are you really okay? You seemed distracted.”

“It’s nothing. Just some…personal stuff,” she said, faking a smile to him.

**

They reached The Club and found everyone already there. Even Jun Hee was there, sitting at the bar talking to Hyejeong while she cleaned up the bar. Hyejeong looked up at them and a cheeky smile immediately appeared on her face.

“You two seemed friendly with each other,” she raised her eyebrows teasingly.

“What do you mean?” Jonghyun asked with a cool face as he hung his coat up.

“He’d even asked her out already,” Jun Hee joined in, which immediately perked everyone up as they gathered together.

“Mwoh?” Minhyuk exclaimed.

Yuna noticed it was the same reaction that she had seen from Jun Hee and Yonghwa when they had heard about their “lunch”. She wondered why it was such a surprising thing for Jonghyun, but didn’t ask any further. She looked at Jonghyun, who seemed shy suddenly as he tried to change the subject.

“Aish, what are you guys talking about? I didn't ask her out!” he kept on saying.

The boys headed out to the stage to set up their instruments while Yuna sat down with the two girls at the bar. Hyejeong leaned in over the counter.

“So tell me, is there something going on between the two of you?” she asked.

“Neh? Aniyo!” Yuna denied quickly.

“If there is, you can just tell us you know. Between girls,” she nudged her slightly.

Jun Hee giggled silently as she stirred her drink. “I think it's cute that you like Jonghyun oppa.”

“What? No! I don’t like him!” she denied again. “Why are you guys acting like this?”

“Jonghyun oppa don’t usually talk to girls. It took him a few months before he finally talk to me, and even longer to open up to Hyejeong. He likes to be alone,” Jun Hee explained.

“It’s because you keep forcing him to walk me home every night!” Yuna told her. “Of course we’ll have to talk to each other sometime soon, right?”

“Right,” both of them said sarcastically.

“Anyways, Jonghyun oppa is a simple man who has never really received lots of love before, so all of us have always been worried about him,” Jun Hee told her.

“What do you mean by that?”

Hyejong leaned in more and with a low voice, she continued, “Jonghyun oppa has a dark past. I don’t know the details but I heard from Oppa that he cut all ties with his family.”

“Jinjja?” Yuna exclaimed. She turned to study him but she could never imagine he would have such history. Sure he looked mysterious but to that extent, she really couldn’t picture it.

“Neh. Only the boys know of his past since they’ve been friends for very long,” Jun Hee told her.

"Jonghyun oppa is a nice guy. We'd like to see him with a nice girl as well," Hyejeong said. "Unnie seems like a nice lady too."

They smiled at her approvingly, and so Yuna smiled back. But under the table, her hands were trembling harder than before. These people knew nothing of her.