On the way home, she couldn’t stop looking at the background picture she had on it; a picture of her and Changjo in the photo booth. When the bus came to a stoplight, she finally decided to call him.

“Miri!” Changjo yelled with excitement. The phone didn’t even ring twice before he picked up the call.

“You sound really happy.” Miri chuckled as she tapped her knee, waiting to break the news to him.

“I am always happy when you call me.” Miri felt his warm smile appear on his face. “You’re my favorite person.” He said sweetly, making Miri blush at his words. He always found a way to make her heart flutter.

“Aww…” her small giggle made him laugh cutely. “I have… something to tell you.” Miri pulled on her bottom lip as she thought about it. “It’s nothing too serious but I wasn’t sure if you’ll be upset…”

“You can tell me anything; what is it?” he said calmly, waiting for Miri to say what was on her mind.

“For Music comp, we have to spend time with our partners; preferably at their houses. Since that’s happening, on Friday I’m going to be going to L. Joe’s place. So you kind of can’t…. come over…” Miri pouted as she looked down the small bows on her shoes.

“Oh! Hyung’s lucky~ he gets to spend time with you.” Changjo sighed then whined. “I’m coming over today~ let’s spend time together when you get home.”

Miri’s popped up at his request. “Wae? I have homework to do.”

“Sooooo… I’m still coming over. It’s not fair you get to spend more time with L. Joe hyung than me.” He didn’t want to admit he was a little jealous of L. Joe but when you really think about it, Changjo is the one that spends more time with Miri. Not only do they live by each other, but they go and come to school on the same bus, have Arts class today, Music Theory, and now Dance club.

“Fine… but you can’t be over for long…”she agreed to him coming over, leading to small chitchat for the whole bus ride. Miri didn’t know how long they must have been talking until the bus pulled up to the usual stop. She blinked as her eyes immediately made their way to Changjo. She grabbed her bag and stepped off the bus.

“There you are.” Changjo said happily as he hung up the phone and waving to Miri as she walked closer.

“How long have you been out here?” Miri looked around at the people and then up at Changjo.

“Not as long as you think.” He threw his arm around Miri’s shoulders as he grabbed her bag and carried it for her. Little did she know, he was standing there for at least 30 minutes waiting to see the bus approach. Whilst they walked to Miri’s building, he couldn’t help but kiss her temple, making her blush.

“Can you look in my bag for my keys?” she asked as she pointed to the front pouch of her bag. Changjo ped the pouch and searched the contents inside. He pulled out a long string of key chains connected to each other.

“Here you go.” He said with a smile as he holds them out. Miri kindly took the keys and opened the door. He waited to walk in as he watched her slip out of her heels. Changjo walked inside, closing the door behind him.

“You can put my bag down anywhere. I’m going to change out of my uniform.” Miri walked off to her room whilst taking off her blazer. Changjo, not trying to think dirty thoughts, couldn’t stop looking at her. When he heard the door lightly swing shut. He dropped the bag as he slipped out of his shoes. The sound of clothes being pulled and dropped onto the floor made him more and more curious of how she looked half dressed. He wondered if what he dreamt up about her was the same in reality.

He casually walked over to the table and looked around as if he didn’t see her door half open. Everything in his body wanted him to look through the crack to see if he saw anything but he stopped the urges. ‘I really want to take a small look… one look…’ he thought to himself as he slowly turned his head to only see Miri walking out of the room. Immediately he started blushing as she walked closer to him.

“Why with the face? You look like you’ve seen my naughty bits.” Miri poked him repeatedly as he shook his head wildly.

“N-N-N-No! I didn’t see anything!” he spoke nervously as he denied her. Even though it crossed his mind, he had too much respect for her to fully bring himself to peeking.

“I’m joking, I’m joking.” She playfully tugged on his arm. “I need to do my homework before we start fooling around.”

“F-Fooling around?” his eyes grew bigger as he watched Miri walk passed him, laughing and looking through her bag.

“Not that kind of fooling around; I meant hanging out and stuff. The usual things we do.” Miri pulled out a couple of notebooks and two textbooks. When she plopped down on the couch, Changjo followed and sat down next to her. Occasionally he peeked over her arm to see what she was writing.

“What are you doing?” he asked curiously as he scooted closer to her.

“It’s just notes for history class… I didn’t know I finished my English homework in class. But for History, I’m reading over the chapter, jotting down a few references, and then answering a few questions.” She tapped her pen against her notebook. “It shouldn’t take long to-“when she turned her head, Changjo was there to smash his lips against hers. As Miri tried to withdraw from his lips, Changjo grabbed the back of her head and deepened the kiss. The grip she had around her pen loosened as the small noise of it hitting the notebook and it rolling of it to hit the ground, rung in their ears. Making out was normal for them, but after what L. Joe said to her, it felt… wrong.

He inched closer to her when she quickly turned her head to break the kiss. Changjo was surprised by her actions since this was the first time she stopped abruptly like that. “What’s wrong?” he tilted his head to take a closer look at her to notice Miri with an uncertain face.

“Nothing…” her voice was soft whilst running her fingers through her hair and picking up her pen off the floor.

“We never stopped before.” He rubbed under her chin and she pushed his hand away dismissively.

“I’m just not in the mood right now.” Miri continued looking through her history book while Changjo watched her in disbelief. He knew it was bull. He could feel it when he kissed her. Usually when he made the first move, she would make the second.

“Did someone say something about us that bothers you?” he looked at her with concern.

“No, it’s nothing… like that. It has nothing to do with you.” She let out a small sigh, making sure he didn’t hear it whilst she wrote in her notebook. Changjo didn’t believe her. She looked too upset about something.

“Miri-ah… what happened? You can talk to me; don’t shut me out like we’re not friends.” He turned to face her, putting one of his legs in front of him. Miri didn’t budge at all, she continued to look at down. He turned her head to face him then said, “Tell me…” he let go of her chin.

“Well…” Miri sighed as she blew her bangs out of her face. “I got in this argument with L. Joe about how he treats me and… I’m sort of confused by his actions. One minute he acts like he cares then the next minute he’s really mean.” She knew telling him about the whole and in the hallway thing would only cause problems; big problems.

“L. Joe hyung does act weird around you. I noticed.” He nods then rubs Miri’s thigh. “You said you have to spend some time with him right?” Miri nods with a half disgusted, half saddened look. “Talk to him about it then. Don’t let him bother you.”

“Yeah… I guess your right…” Miri pursed her lips and finally glanced over at Changjo. His smiling face always made her blush. He has the cutest eye smiles.

“See? Now do you feel better?” he poked her nose, forming a little wrinkle over her nose.

“A little bit.” Miri said holding up her index finger and her thumb slightly separated from each other.

“You should tell me things more often.” He tickles her side, making her jump and yelp. “Come here.” Changjo spoke playfully as he picked up her book and notebook, placing them on the coffee. She shook her head whilst trying to protect herself from Changjo’s hands. He grabbed her sides and continued to tickle her with her back facing him. They both tussled and wrestled around cackling loudly on the couch. He managed to turn her around to face him. Changjo pinned her down with himself in between her legs. He looked at her face turn bright red as she laughed with her eyes closed. His fingers crept to the center of her stomach and wiggled over her belly button.

“Oh my God- Stop, stop, stop! It’s starting to hurt~!” Miri laughed through her heavy breathes. Changjo chuckled and his hands slowly rubbed up and down her sides. When her laughter ceased, he leaned down and started to leave little kisses on her neck. Miri’s laughs turned into small giggles.  He rested his hands above her head on the arm of the couch. The kisses he left on her neck got deeper and deeper.

“Jonghyun…wh-wh-wh-what are you doing?” Miri whispered, pushing lightly against his waist. He quickly popped up, realizing what he was doing.

“Oh… I… I…” he stammered as he looked down at her, feeling his cheeks turn redder and redder. His fingers played with the material of the couch as he couldn’t speak; all that came out was, “Uhm…”

Miri wasn’t sure on what to do next or what to say. She could pull him closer to her and make out with him but it could lead to . After the whole thing with L. Joe, she couldn’t bring herself to even think about going that far with Changjo. He is way too innocent for that. Changjo leaned down and kissed her passionately; almost seductively. The way his hands rubbed up and down Miri’s body was different. His grip on the arm rest became stronger as he slowly rolled his hips into her, making her moan into his mouth. She went to push herself up in a sitting up position as she held Changjo’s face. It was a different feeling that he was giving off as they kissed; especially Changjo. Whenever Miri went to deepen the kiss, a chill went through her spine. Changjo placed his left hand on her lower and pulled her close to his body. They pulled away from each other for a second as their breath was heavy.

Changjo nipped at her bottom lip as his right hand played with her hair. Something inside of Miri’s head was telling her that this could lead to something further. It was different from the feeling L. Joe would give off. Instead of lust, there was more of a feeling of love and yearning for her. Miri pecked Changjo’s lips playfully as his lips stayed puckered, receiving every kiss. His fingers gently rubbed her lower back whilst they looked into each other’s eyes. It felt as though they were looking into each other’s eyes for eternity but that strong gaze only lasted for a couple of seconds. Changjo attacked Miri’s lips by pushing her lips against hers with his hand on the back of her head still.

Before anything began to escalate, Changjo’s cellphone rang against Miri’s thigh. She pulled away from the kiss slightly while Changjo attacked her lips. He ignored his vibrating cellphone in his pocket. Miri gripped his face and pulled him away from her then said softly, “Answer your phone Jonghyun…” she tapped his cheeks with her thumbs before backing away from him.

“It’s no one important…” he retorted as he leaned over to kiss Miri’s jawline. She giggled and lightly put her hand on his chest.

“Answer it, answer it.” She pointed to his pocket. “I have homework to finish.” Changjo sighed with a small smile as he answered his phone. Miri rubbed her thighs as she sat properly on the couch and continued her History homework. She couldn’t be happier for the phone call Changjo got. If another minute of that make out session would have went any longer, something could have happened that they both would regret. Changjo stood up from the couch and continued talking on the phone.

After Changjo got off the phone with whomever he was speaking with, he seemed a bit on ease. Miri looked at him as he sat close to her and didn’t say a word. She turned back to her history book and continued with her homework. The room was quiet. All you could hear was the of Miri’s pen against the notebook paper. Changjo’s hand crept up her as she was reading. He leaned back against the couch and said softly, “I think… I’m going to go…” he light rubbed her knee then lifted his hand.

“Wait!” she blurted out hastily and grabbed his hand and held it with hers before he could fully come to a stand. “What’s wrong? Why do you want to leave?” she spoke with a small hint of sadness in her voice. Changjo smirked at her words, not making any eye contact with her at all.

“You’ll see me tomorrow! You miss me already?” he said playfully whilst entangling his fingers with Miri’s. They both looked at their hands firmly together; tightly nestled with each other. ‘This feels nice’ they both thought as they stared at each other’s hands. Changjo was the first to gently graze his thumb across the soft skin on the back of Miri’s hand. When she smiled, He couldn’t help but smile back. Changjo stood up, bringing her to a standing position as well. “You still haven’t answered my question.” Miri stated firmly. “What’s wrong? You were quieter than usual.” She looked into his eyes as he stared back but not a word came out. She squeezed his hand whilst doing a small nod. He led her to the door as their hands were still tightly molded together.

Miri looked down and thought, ‘Maybe it’s something personal…’ then let out a small sigh, ‘I shouldn’t try to pry until he’s ready to talk about it.’ She rubbed the nape of her neck with her free hand. When Changjo slipped into his shoes, he slowly let go of Miri’s hand. Her fingers rubbed against each other as she still felt the warmth still on her hand. She opened the door for him and stepped to the side whilst leaning against it slightly. Changjo stepped in front of her, brushing her bangs out of her face then kissed her forehead lightly. “Goodnight Miri-ah” Changjo whispered as he lightly rubbed her cheeks then smiled at her shyly. She returned a small smile then waved goodbye as he walked out of the door. Miri closed the door shut with a long sigh. Her back rested against the door and stared at her hand. “All I did was hold his hand and now I don’t know… how to feel about him…” she spoke to herself with a slight frown from her mixed up feelings for Changjo. She rubbed her left thumb into her right palm, trying to get rid of the Changjo’s lingering warmth that was embodied in on her hand.

♡♡♡

After school the next day, everything seemed to be normal. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. At least… not yet anyway but the strange feelings Miri was having for Changjo still set in her mind. She couldn’t believe that holding hands with someone could spark emotions but for some odd reason, it did. She even watched his hands move whilst he talked with L. Joe and C.A.P. Ji Na nudged Miri to break her out of her trance.

“What are you staring at?” she whispered into Miri’s ear behind her hand so the boys wouldn’t see what they could be talking about. Miri chuckled nervously, “Staring? Pfft. I’m not staring at anything.” She waved her hand dismissively as she looked over at L. Joe when he laughed and revealed one of his big smiles then over at Changjo to only see the same thing.

“You keep looking at L. Joe oppa and Changjo-ah.” Ji Na pointed a little without the boys noticing. “You look like one of those kids in the toy store that sees a big display and is fascinated about it. Why don’t you ask one of them out already~?” Ji Na whined innocently as she tugged on Miri’s scarf.

“What? They don’t like me in that way; especially L. Joe.” Miri said calmly.

“Yeah, right!” Ji Na said loudly. “The both like you! There’s rumors going around saying that L. Joe confessed to you backstage at the show! Changjo basically showed you that he likes you by how he looks at you!” Ji Na pointed to Changjo again as he glanced over at the two girls. Miri couldn’t help but smile at his cute face. He returned her smile with a small smirk and a wave.

“SEE!” Ji Na nudged Miri repeatedly in her side.

“Did you see Changjo-ssi’s cute face he made just now?” Ji Hye said with a smirk whilst walking over to her two best friends. “Are you guys banging each other?” she pointed at Miri and Changjo with a huge grin.

“Wh- NO! Are you banging C.A.P?!” Miri shot back with slight embarrassment and anger.

“Well, what do you think? Have you seen that pretty face and body?” Ji Hye wiggled her eyebrows whilst Ji Na put her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut.

“I don’t need to hear this!!” she shoulder as her cheeks turned red. Miri poked Ji Na, giving her the notion to calm down. Miri wasn’t that surprised though. What shocked her about it was how good she played off her relationship with their English Professor. She would have too if she didn’t want Mr. Han Gil to get in trouble. Ji Hye swung her arm around Miri’s shoulders then covered the side of . “Are you secretly seeing L. Joe late at night?” she whispered in her ear. Miri raised an eyebrow to her words.

“What are you trying to say?” said a confused Miri as she looked at Ji Hye who rolled her eyes at how clueless she was being.

“Are you having with L. Joe? You both have this weird chemistry when you’re around each other.” Ji Hye said confidently, getting directly to the point. Miri’s eyes widen at the sudden question. She looked directly at L. Joe for a quick second, but her face still remained a calm look. She tried to search for an answer when she thought back to a conversation she had with L. Joe in the hallway.

“Hey, Miri-ah!” L. Joe called at Miri’s back then lightly rubbing her arm. She turned around and looked into L. Joe’s eyes. Whenever their eyes met, she couldn’t help but blush. He had the perfect eyes. Not only were his eyes perfect, but the two beauty marks that were on his bottom eyelid drove her crazy.

“What is it…?” Miri looked down at her shoes as she tried to hide how red her face was.

“You’re coming over today for that Music Comp project; wear something revealing.” He smirked seductively.

“What? First-“ Miri started to tell him off but he pressed his finger against her lips to silence her.

“I’m joking but seriously, wear something comfortable. Who knows what time we’ll possibly get done with our work.” He nodded slightly.

“…we’re just listening to music and studying each other. We’re not making a song.”

“We should write a song to demonstrate how well we know each other.”

“I don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?”

“Why do more than we’re asked to?”

“Why… not?”

“…You can write a song. I’m not.” Miri said with a blank yet serious face. “If you want, I can help you if that’s what you really wanted…” L. Joe sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Why are you so hard to deal with? Women like you are trouble. Come to my house at 6:00 PM when my dad’s not around.” He turned around and started walking away.

“Yah!” Miri yelled at his back. “What do you mean women like me are trouble?!” she stomped her foot a little as he ignored her and kept walking then he stopped halfway down the hallway.

“Because women like you are the kind that you make your girlfriend and do naughty things with.” L. Joe winked and bit his bottom lip at Miri, making her gasp and blush again. He snickered and turned back around to walk down the hallway.

“So you are sleeping with him then!” Ji Hye snapped her fingers and pointed at her.

“No, we’re not doing anything like that. We’re only friends.” Miri said convincingly, trying not to show off any signs of it being true.

“If you say so, then I believe you.” she nodded and hugged on Miri’s arm then dragged her over to the boys. Ji Hye moved from Miri’s arm to C.A.P’s. The sight of them being all lovey dovey made Miri wanted to vomit. Ji Na skipped over to the crowd and chimed in the conversation. As the rest of the group chatted, Miri and Changjo looked at each other. He took two steps closer to her and said, “Do you want to take the bus with me or are you going straight to hyung’s?” Miri blinked a couple times whilst she thought of what she wanted to do.

“Oh, no, we can take the bus together.” She smiled slightly at him.

Changjo looked down at his watch then reached for Miri’s hand and held it tightly. “Come on. If we leave now, we’ll make it!” he pulls Miri whilst he started running. She stumbled over her steps as she held tightly onto her bag.

“We didn’t even say goodbye to everyone Jonghyun!”

“BYE GUYS!” Changjo kindly waved to everyone as the two of them ran through the gates of the school entrance.

“Why are they in such a hurry?” C.A.P looked at the gate as Ji Hye kept laughing from the two’s exit.

“They probably went to spend time together.” She said through her laughter. “They’re basically a couple now.” C.A.P and Ji Na nudged her at the same time when she spoke.

“Ji Hye…” Ji Na said into her ear. “Don’t talk like that in front of L. Joe.”

“I don’t care.” L. Joe spoke loudly whilst gritting his teeth with slight annoyance. “They’re friends; it’s nothing serious.” Everyone looked at him as he stood there calmly with his hands in his pockets. He looked at the three of them then shrugged. “What?” L. Joe hissed as the three of them stopped looking at him and continued to talk amongst them.

♡♡♡

At home, Miri couldn’t stop pacing back and forth in her living room. Time was ticking before she had to get on the bus to go to L. Joe’s house. “Why am I nervous to see him?” Miri mumbled whilst biting on her thumb nail, looking up at the clock to see how much she had before catching the bus. Her fingers pulled on the ends of her hair as she wondered what could possibly happen while she was there. “What if we end up having again?” she wondered as she thought about his moan. Quickly, her head shook to rid her mind of the memory. It was 5:35 PM and she made her way to the bus stop.

When the bus came, she took a window seat and looked out the window. On the way there, she decided to listen to some music to make the bus ride a little smoother. When she clicked on the first song she wanted to listen to, her phone chimed in her pocket. Miri took out her phone out to see a text from L. Joe. She let out a sigh before she opened it. When she finally opened the text it read, “Strawberries or oranges?” Miri scrunched her eyebrows in confusion at what he could be possibly talking about. She ignored the message and continued the ride to his house.

The bus stopped about couple of blocks from L. Joe’s house. Miri took her earphones and shoved them along with her iPod into her purse. “1560…” she mumbled while looking at the house numbers. “Miri-ah!” L. Joe yelled down the street, waving her arms. “Come on! Get over here!” he continued to yell and motion to her to come on. ‘Saves me the time for looking.’ She thought while walking over to him and waving hello to him.

“Nice house.” Miri complimented him and he let her into the house.

“Thanks.” He smiled and watched her walk past him; casually checking her out. Whenever she wasn’t in her school uniform, he always noticed how cute she looked in her outside clothes. Miri stood awkwardly in the living room, looking around at the décor and the few pictures of L. Joe’s family. “Oh, you can go upstairs to my room.” He pointed to the staircase then moved behind her with his hands on Miri’s waist.

“Yah, keep your hands to yourself! I’m not here for… that.” Miri moved his hands and made her way up the stairs with L. Joe following behind her closely.

“It’s the first door to the left.” He pointed to his door and Miri pushed it open then looked around. The first thing she noticed was his keyboard and the mountains of notebooks.

“Have you written in all of these?” she walked over to the stack of them and looked at them. L. Joe nodded and walked over to his keyboard then played a couple of notes. “Yeah, I have a lot of unfinished work in some of them.” Miri picked up the notebook on the top with him knowing. She flipped a couple of pages and her eyes widen at one of the titles of the songs.

“My Love, Mi Ri…” she said softly then read the first line of the song: “When my eyes met yours, I knew you were the one for me.” L. Joe quickly snatched the notebook from her hands and shoved it into one of the desk’s cabinets.

“Don’t read that!” he blushed slightly. “Ask before you start picking things up!” L. Joe’s face turned redder and redder as Miri stared at him. “I’m sorry…” she said softly and bowed, then thought, ‘He seriously wrote a song about me…’ L. Joe sat down on the corner of the bed then patted the mattress.

Miri looked at his hand and pointed. “Am I supposed to sit down or something?” L. Joe gave her a smirk which could only mean a yes. She sat down beside him shyly. He reached over to his bedside and clicked play on his iPod. Miri’s ears perked up when she heard the song and pointed up, “Baby Good Night, GD&TOP.” She said happily.

“I look up to them; it’s one of my favorite songs.” He smiled as he stared into Miri’s eyes. She looked back them turned away from how weird it felt. When opened, L. Joe went to speak. “I know I’m kind of mean to you sometimes. For some reason, it pisses me off that you’re close with Changjo.”

“That’s called being jealous…” Miri blinked a couple times as he sighed.

He rolled his eyes then plunked her in the shoulder. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, I’ll be nicer to you. If I’m not, you have the right to hit me on the head.” He flats his hair on the back of his head.

“Okay… I take your word for it.” Miri smiled and fixed his bangs so they weren’t covering his left eye. “You should seriously cut your bangs a little bit so there not covering up your face. You have pretty eyes; let them show.” L. Joe smirked as he rubbed his hair with Miri.

“I like my hair like this. Whenever I change it, I don’t feel like myself.” He explained. “I feel like a different person that isn’t… L. Joe.”

Miri put her hand down, placing it with the other hand in her lap. “Let me cut just the ends of it off. If I do, it won’t be in the way.”

“No. I’m not letting you cut my hair; sorry to burst your bubble.” He leaned over then kissed her on the cheek. Miri blushed and held onto her cheek in slight shock that he kissed her there. Usually he always went for the lips. She looked around his room and admired all the music related things in his room. They sat and talked to each other for a couple of hours about music and personal issues. Miri watched as L. Joe talked and learned how shy of a person he truly is. Her heart kept pounding in her chest whilst she watched his lips move during each sentence. The whole time he talked, she thought to herself, ‘Could I really have feelings for L. Joe too?’

aigoo~ finally updated. this chapter is a filler; basically a set up for the upcoming chapter with more juicy drama XD