Miri could hardly sleep last night. L. Joe’s words still hung around in her ears in that sweet voice of his, ‘You’re beautiful’. Between Changjo and L. Joe she wasn’t sure how she could keep sane with the first week of school. She walked down the stairs, still half asleep.

“Good morning Ms. Kyun. I have a package for you.” The receptionist said to Miri as she walked over to her apartment’s mailbox. She walked over to the desk with an eyebrow raised.

“A package? For me?” her face was surprised at her words.

“Yes.” She said as she placed the box on top of the desk in front of Miri. “It’s from Lee Byunghun.”

“Byunghun?” the sleepiness quickly disappeared from her body. She put down her bag and picked up the letter. She opened it and started to read it. ‘This is something I thought you would like. It’s also a thank you for the cake. –L. Joe’ She sat the letter down and started tearing away at the gift wrap. It was the lunchbox that Miri put his cake in. Ji Na, Ji Hye, and Changjo all returned their boxes to her, except L. Joe. It felt a little heavy as she held it in her hand. She opened it and it was a long black knitted scarf. ‘This is pretty!’ Miri thought as she unraveled the long scarf. The weather was just starting to get cold as it was the beginning of October. As she was just starting to put it around her neck, something fell out from the scarf. ‘What’s this?’ Miri picked up a small flower pin. ‘Is this mine too? I’ll put it in my pocket and ask him later.’ She shoved it in her blazer pocket before running back up to her apartment. She placed the lunchbox and the letter on the table before she headed back out to the bus stop

Miri tucked her chin into the softness of the scarf as the wind blew. Changjo stood at the bus stop, smiling at Miri as she approached him. They haven’t really talked since that awkward text message conversation.

“Noona…” he said softly, making Miri’s ears perk up. “Are you ually attracted to me?”

“Huh?!” her face expressed the most confused face she could muster.

“I didn’t mean to say it out right like that…” he rubbed the nape of his neck as he looked down. “…I’m ually attracted to you, but I won’t try anything.”

“Try anything? Anything like what?!” she belted out at him.

“…Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Changjo threw his hood up and shoved his hands in his blazer coat that was over his hoodie. Miri didn’t know whether to be flattered or embarrassed. The butterflies she felt when talking to L. Joe came about when she started to think of an answer for Changjo. Her mind searched endlessly for words to say as the time was slowly ticking down for the bus to come.

Miri opened to speak but Changjo spoke first, “I’m sorry for my behavior. You’re my noona… I shouldn’t talk to you like that.”

“It’s okay…” she said softly, turning back around to face forward.

“…I seen L. Joe hyung walk into your building last night…” he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists at the slightest thought of him getting close to Miri.

“We didn’t do anything. He took me home to make sure I got home safely; that’s all.” Miri saw frustration on his face whilst she spoke.

“There are rumors going around that… that you two are dating it. I heard people talking about it at dance club.”

“Oh…” Miri made a surprised face at the thought of dating L. Joe. “…we’re not…”

“I know you’re not dating him.” He looked over at her. “Whenever someone spends a little more time with someone of the opposite , people assume that you’re dating.” He turned to look forward as Miri remained silent. Whenever she couldn’t find something to say, she kept shut.

“…I think I’m ually attracted to you too.” Miri said anxiously, making her legs shake. Changjo looked at her in shock.

“Really?! Noona…” he said as he reached to hold her hand. When she felt his fingertips poke the palm of her hand, she moved it to fix her hair.

“You can call me Miri… you don’t need to call me noona…” her voice was low and full of bashfulness.

“Will we be able to be friends without making out again or doing… other things?” Changjo said through his slight eagerness when he thought about his own dirty thoughts of him and Miri.

“We should be okay… as long as we focus on school. Hormones always let things get the best of us sometimes; we’re still teenagers. Some people can control them better than others.” Miri pulled the scarf over when the wind blew harder, sending chills up her spine. Changjo thought about her words as he held her close to him until the wind subsided. He pulled away by softly touching Miri’s cheeks. They looked at each other deeply; remembering the time they shared in the studio. Each of them thought, ‘If the professor didn’t walk in the room… I think we would have taken it a step further.’ They’re eyes studied each other as Changjo moved the scarf from covering . He traced her lips with his index finger making Miri’s eyes close. ‘Stop him Miri… stop him…’ she continued to repeat to herself. “S-St-Stop…” she stuttered, turning completely red. Changjo let her go with his head hung low. He didn’t say a word to her. Miri looked as the bus started to pull up and prepared for another day at school.

♬♫♪♩

“There they are!” Ji Hye points to Changjo and Miri as they walked up.

“Good morning~!” both Changjo and Miri sang at the same time. They look at each other and giggle.

“Ooohhh! Your scarf is so pretty~!” Ji Na looks at it and rubs her cheek against it. “And it’s so soft~!”

“Uh, thank you.” Miri smirks with a little hesitation; knowing that it was a gift from L. Joe. “Has anyone seen L. Joe this morning?” Miri said calmly as Ji Hye and Changjo looked at her as if she just spoke in a completely different language.

“Why do you need to see him?” Changjo said with confusion followed by some anger.

“I need to tell him something…” Miri looked at Changjo as she could tell he was frustrated. Ji Hye stood between them then put her arm around Miri and Changjo’s shoulders.

“He’s over there with the rather handsome C.A.P.” she points to a tree whist Miri looks in that direction.

“Thank you. I’ll send him over here for you Ji Hye.” Miri quickly walks away before Ji Hye rejects. Changjo watches her as she walks toward L. Joe and grits his teeth. Ji Na pulls on his arm to bring him down to her level and whispers in his ear, “Don’t worry… she doesn’t like him that way; she told me they’re just friends! You have a chance!” she smiles at him and Changjo gives her a smirk but he still didn’t like seeing her with him. It made his heart heavy to think that she could possibly have feelings for him.

C.A.P pointed to Miri as she approached and L. Joe turned around with a smile to welcome her. “Hey guys. Uhm… Minsoo oppa, Han Ji Hye wants to talk with you. She’s the one with the brownish black hair.” Miri points to her as she’s covering her face in embarrassment that he’s looking in her direction.

“She wants to talk to me?” C.A.P points to himself as he looks at Miri.

“Yeah, go talk to her hyung.” L. Joe pushed him in her direction. He starts walking away as L. Joe and Miri wait for the encounter. When he gets there, Ji Hye couldn’t even look at him. She was completely overwhelmed with shyness that was easy to read through her body language. L. Joe and Miri look at each other awkwardly.

“How do you like the scarf?” he points to it with his finger.

“Oh, yeah, I really like it. Uhm…” she digs around in her pocket for the flower pin. “Is this supposed to go with the scarf or is it yours?” L. Joe takes it out of her hands and attaches it to the scarf.

“It’s supposed to go with it.” He smiled. “I picked it up when I saw the scarf. It goes well with your eyes.” Miri blushes when he smiles at her. Changjo was so angry watching them talk, that he stormed off into the school.

“Your cheeks get pink a lot. Why do I make you blush so much? Stop thinking bad thinking about me…” he pokes her cheeks. She smacks his hands away as he laughs.

“YAH! STOP THINKING I’M A ERT!!!!”

“You’re the one that turns pink when I say nice things.”

“IT’S BECAUSE I’M NOT USED TO HOT GUYS SAYING I’M BEAUTIFUL!!” she yelled at him as she smacked him in the arm L. Joe’s laughter deceased when he heard, ‘hot guy’ come out of .

“Am I one of those ‘hot guys’?”

“…No.” she crossed her arms and pouted.

“I must be if I make you blush every time I come near you~” he continued to as she hid her face behind the scarf.

“Shut up…” she mumbled behind the scarf as she rolled her eyes at him. L. Joe nudged her with a smile.

“Have you heard the ongoing rumor that we’re dating?” he said through the loud bell that rang. They both started walking towards the school. She nodded as she looked up at the sky that was cloudy.

“Changjo told me about that… what have you been telling those girls?” Miri walks through the double doors as she looks at L. Joe.

“Nothing; I tell them to leave me alone because they’re weird. They keep calling me oppa and ask me to hold their hands and stuff. It’s weird to me.” He explains whilst they walk up the stairs. Miri’s eyes widen.

“You don’t like that you’re popular?”

“Not really. It’s hard to have privacy or find a girlfriend that doesn’t want me to sleep them because of my looks.” Miri nods in understatement.

“Has it always been like that?” she asked as she looked at him and noticed people whispering about us being walking next to each other.

“Here it is, but when I was living with my mom in America, it was normal. How was it for you in America?”

“Uh, the same. It was really busy because of the city but I never really got noticed as much there as I do here. Not all guys, but some are always staring.” She explained to him as she dug her chin deeper into the scarf.

“It looks like we have some similarities because us looking pretty.” L. Joe says through a chuckle. Miri nods to his comment, trying not to blush as she walks into homeroom. Everyone stares at them as they walked in together. Miri sits down and sees L. Joe still standing at the front of the desk then he speaks.

“Miri and I are NOT dating. I repeat, we are NOT dating. Can’t a guy and a girl be friends without having to be romantically involved? You guys spreading those rumors are really bothering her; knock it off. Thanks.” He walks over to his seat and sits down. The whole class starts talking again about his actions. Miri looks at him in shock.

“Why did you do that?! I never said it bothered me!”

“If no one tells these people that you don’t like it, they’ll start calling you a and things like that.”

“But that’s for me to worry about, not you.”

“We’re both involved in it. If someone calls you a and you’re supposedly dating me, which will look bad on me too. No one’s going to talk about us that way.” L. Joe’s tone was slightly angry. Miri sighed and nodded to what he said and didn’t speak anymore on it. No one’s ever stood up for her besides Ji Hye and Ji Na. But she still didn’t quite understand why he was so over protective of her.

♬♫♪♩

When Miri walked into the Arts and Crafts room, she remembered she was wearing L. Joe’s hairpin in her hair today to hold back her bangs. Even though they weren’t working with clay today, she still wore it. “Come here! I want to show you the lyrics I wrote for music composition.” L. Joe said with excitement. Miri hurried over and sat down next to him. He hands her his phone and she reads the lyrics.

“Unnie~ you didn’t even come to English class to pick us up!” Ji Na whines as she points to herself and Changjo.

“She was too busy with hyung… again.” Changjo said spitefully.

L. Joe gave him a confused look as he never heard him speak in that tone before toward him. “Again? What are you talking about?”

“I saw you last night at Miri’s apartment building late at night.”

“Changjo, I told you nothing happened…” Miri said in a calming voice.

“You say nothing happened but I know how hyung acts with women. I know what he wanted to do.” His eyes shot daggers straight through L. Joe. Ji Na sat down in her seat, looking fearful of both of the men.

“What was I trying to do Changjo?” L. Joe’s tone was still calm.

“You’re trying to seduce her.” Changjo points to Miri as her eyes were wide open. Changjo sat down in his seat across from L. Joe. They both faced each other.

“I’m not trying to seduce anyone. I took her home last night because it was late. She could have gotten hurt. You would have done the same thing.”

“Yeah, I could have but I wouldn’t have gone in her building.” Changjo spit back viciously. Miri put L. Joe’s phone on the table and hid her face.

“I went in there to drop off something for her at the receptionist’s desk. I was only in there for at the most 3 minutes. Why are you jealous?” L. Joe said with his head tilted as Changjo leaned forward.

“I’m not jealous!” he said as he banged on the table, making everyone in the room turn and look at him. “She doesn’t even like you! She ki-“he stopped himself before he told their deep, dark secret. Miri immediately looked at him as he almost said it.

“Ki… Kissed?” Ji Na said whilst she pointed at Changjo then Miri.

“No.” Miri and Changjo both denied it. L. Joe took his phone from Miri and looked at her.

“You kissed him?” he pointed at Changjo. When Miri looked him in the eyes, she didn’t want to lie. Even though she was good at it, she didn’t want to lie to L. Joe but… it could ruin their whole weekend.

“N-No. I didn’t kiss him at all!” her heart was beating fast. She just looked him dead in the eye and lied to him. She tried to remain calm as L. Joe turned to look at Changjo.

“Then what was it you were going to say if she said you both didn’t kiss.” L. Joe’s tone changed slightly; he was becoming irritated at the new subject at hand.

Changjo panicked. He didn’t know how to cover it up. “Nothing. I wasn’t going to say anything!” L. Joe looked at Changjo then Miri and compared the two’s expression.

“Ji Na-goon, who do you think is lying? Miri or Changjo?” Ji Na was scared. She didn’t want to be put in the middle. She violently shook her head and said, ‘Don’t put me in the middle of this oppa…’ her voice cracked as if she were going to cry. L. Joe sat back and nodded. “I’m sorry Ji Na. I won’t bring you in this.” He stood up slowly.

“So, you both kissed. I’ll let you two lovebirds have fun with that.” He started to walk away. “Where are you going Byunghun?!” the Professor yelled at him as he opened the door and slammed it shut, making everyone jump. Miri looked at Changjo and his face fell just as hers did. Everyone in the class murmured amongst themselves at the show they witnessed. ‘I don’t understand why he’s angry… he wouldn’t be angry if he didn’t like me.’ Miri thought as she rubbed her eyes in frustration. Ji Na reached out for Miri’s hands and held them tight.

After school was over, she got a text from L. Joe saying, “I’m on the roof… come see me.” She told Ji Na and Ji Hye that she had to stay after to make up late homework for math class. Miri walked the whole building to get to the roof. When she reached an isolated staircase, she saw a cracked down. ‘That must be the way to the roof…at least I hope…’ she walked up the stairs and pushed the door open to hear loud rain drops in the stone. She looked left and then to the right to see L. Joe squatting against the wall underneath a canopy. Miri walked under it and L. Joe stood up.

“I’m glad you made it… did you crack the door?” he looks behind her.

“Yeah, I did… about arts class…” Miri said through a sigh.

“It’s okay… you didn’t want anyone to know. I put two and two together. He can’t lie well. He was too panicked and his jealousy kicked in.” L. Joe said as he rested his back against the wall. Miri didn’t know what to say… when she opened , L. Joe said, “Stand right here… can you block the wind for me please?’ he pointed to a spot a couple of inches in front of him. Miri did what he said with a sigh.

“Is that why I’m here; to block you from the wind?” she said sarcastically and a little annoyed. L. Joe shook his head and looked at Miri.

“That’s not why I want you up here.” He said lowly.

“Then why am I here? It’s cold out here…” she said as she rubbed her arms.

“I didn’t want to be this aggressive but I didn’t know Changjo would be my competitor.” Miri tilted her head at his words. He planted his left foot against the wall, bending his leg at the knee. He pulled Miri onto him. Her eyes widen as she looked up at him and felt his heart beating faster and faster as he looked at her with his brown eyes. Now that she was this close to him, she seen all the small beauty marks that were scattered around his face. He wrapped his left arm around Miri’s waist, pulling her into him a little closer. He put his right hand on her cheek as he felt and watched her face becoming more and redder. “What are you doing…” she whispered to him looking him in the eyes. He smirked, “You know what’s going to happen… stop acting so cute.” He rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb as it quivered from his touched. “Your lips want me to kiss them…” he said softly. Miri’s facial expression was hopeless as she watched L. Joe close his eyes and gently press his lips against hers. The butterflies in her stomach that were forming finally flew away. Her body slowly melted into his arm. L. Joe’s lips were waiting for hers to become relaxed and kiss him. Miri put her hands on his side as she kissed him back.

When her eyes finally closed and she let her lips move freely with L. Joe’s he rubbed her cheek with his thumb and moved his left hand up to her lower back. He rubbed it gently making Miri feel more relaxed. He broke away from the kiss slowly; both of them opened their eyes. “You’re good at kissing but you’re too… tense… relax Miri-ah… “She nodded shyly and exhaled before L. Joe gave her an opened mouth kiss. Her hands squeezed on his shirt under his blazer as she let her tongue into his mouth. As their tongues continued to rub against each other, L. Joe put his foot back onto the ground and spread his legs open a little. He moved Miri in between then and held her by the waist as they two of them were getting heavier and heavier into their make out session. His hands wanted to wonder her body but instead, he firmly gripped her waist.

He pulled away again, only going back in to her bottom lip. ‘Wow…’ Miri said breathless as the rain hitting the ground finally came in. L. Joe his lips as he looked at her with a smile.

“I’m assuming you like it.” He said through a small chuckle as he saw how red Miri’s face was getting. She brought her hand up to rub her lips then L. Joe on her index finger. He pulled it out of his mouth, dragging his teeth against her skin. “Why’d you do that?” she pulled her finger away and went to move then L. Joe pulled her back onto his body.

“Because you put it in my face.” He smiled at her and pecked her lips. He left his lips on hers; she started panting as he rubbed her waist then said, “Do I kiss better than Changjo…? Hm?” he said seductively as he kissed the corner of . Miri nodded slowly as she kissed him back. He looked at her and grabbed her. Startled, he puts her against the wall then grabs her face and kisses her roughly. Miri let him kiss her any way he wanted to; completely giving in to how y L. Joe was being. She put her arms around him and rubbed on his back as they continued to make out listening to the rain. At times he moved down to her neck to hear what she sounded like when she moaned then went back to her lips. Miri was in complete heaven kissing L. Joe and he felt better now that he had the chance to kiss and touch her body.

♬♫♪♩

Miri was finally home from being at school for a total of 10 hours today. She was there the normal 8 hours of school… the extra two? Those were spent making out with L. Joe on top of the roof of the school. Miri couldn’t stop thinking about what he whispered in her ear right before they finally stopped attacking each other.

“Do you want me?” L. Joe whispered in her ear as he on Miri’s neck.

“Wh…What?” she looked up at him as he went in for another passionate kiss.

“Do you want me? Right here… on this roof?” his hands slowly ran down her thighs, making her body completely freeze where she stood. “If you wanted me too… I could take you right here and now.”

“…No.” she whispered to him as they looked each other in the eyes. He saw her eyes were overcome with lust for him.

“Are you sure…? Your mouth is saying one thing but your eyes are telling me something completely different…” he put his hands back on her waist as he went to kiss her again passionately.

“I’m sure… just doing this isn’t something I would do normally. I’m not like that…” he smiled at her answer and kissed her even deeper.

“Good. That’s the response I was waiting to hear.” He pecked her lips repeatedly. “You saying no means you’re a girl with morals; that you won’t give yourself up that quickly.” He smiled at her and she returned his smile.

Miri sighed deeply as she sat in her quiet living room thinking of L. Joe. They could have easily had . On the way home, whenever she closed her eyes, images of how he would pick her up or turn her over kept playing in her over creative mind. As talented as she was, she hated that she could create scenes in her mind of what could have possibly happened. She looked at her phone and she was getting constant text messages from Ji Hye and Ji Na, asking where she really went. If she said with L. Joe, Ji Na would have thought they were studying. Ji Hye on the other hand would have said they went to make out in a deserted classroom. Usually she’s wrong, but this time, she would have been right. Miri walked over to her window and watched the rain run down her large window as she sighed and continued to drink her tea. A knock came on her door, startling her. She puts down her mug and the person knocks again but louder. “I’m coming!” she yelled as she ran to the door. She pulled the chain back and unlocked the door. When she opened it, there stood L. Joe completely drenched from the rain. She saw his face and knew something was terribly wrong.

yeah so... going to be taking a little break from this story for a couple of days. i really want to work on my other story. i'm going to probably start doing these chapters in bulk. so get ready for it. XD