I'm in love with you. 
Don't you see it?



She stared at her computer screen, her wallpaper, a picture taken on the night of the auction. That was the first and the last time that Lee Jinki talked to her. It was a group picture of all who showcased the items for the auction. She was wearing an off-shouldered ballroom gown in different pastel colors. Her normally straight hair fell down her back gracefully, her eyes cast down. Lee Jinki stood beside her and a polite smile graced his sweet face. 

Lee Jinki and Lee Taemin both had baby faces. And despite the spiky bracelets and rugged jeans, Lee Taemin was still simply innocent looking. She would never have imagined him to be rebellious. 

Too bad Lee Taemin was too bad .

She was afraid of him. He emitted a strong and powerful aura that threatened to engulf her. She remembered feeling overwhelmed and uncomfortable when she stood beside him. Even if the older brother was between them, Taemin’s presence commanded attention. She can still remember lowering her head and refusing to meet Jinki's eyes as he attempted to introduce his brother to her that night.


Jinki took her hand and once again, a gasp escaped her lips. He held her hands for the second time that night.

"Ae Lyn-ah, stop being embarrassed. I thought we have gone past that awkward stage and are friends now," he asked a small smile playing on his lips. She lifted her head to assure him that they were friends but her eyes met with Taemin’s instead. He gave her a look over and it seemed like she was dismissed from his mind. 


She shivered as the memories assailed her.

The computer screen in front of her blinked, indicating that the transfer has completed. 

Thinking about Jinki always got her confused. For the past five years, he was always on her mind. She couldn’t forget him even if she tried. There was just something about him that drew her to him.

He would acknowledge her presence with a small wave and a polite smile as they would occasionally come across each other in parties and formal events. The last time she saw him was a year ago at the opening of her father's project, a subdivision in the outskirts of Jeju Island. He was still the polite and friendly person that he was when she first met him.

She sighed and shook her head to try and rid her thoughts of Lee Jinki. 

Nothing happened.

She hit her head on the desktop table softly, making a dull thud on the tabletop.

She was still hopelessly in love with him.

Five years and counting. 







The bell rang shrilly. People pushed and shoved their way to get to class. Ae Lyn was sitting comfortably in her seat at the back of the lecture hall. Her first class and already she could feel a sense of doom in the air. The hall was half-filled with students, not bad considering that it was an engineering subject on the mechanics of automobiles. It was elective class for her. 

She instantly fell in love with cars after Soo Jin, one of her close friends who sadly have been kicked out of university, forced her to watch a drag race three years ago. She not only wanted to learn drag racing but she was also interested in the workings of those powerful machines. 

She took the little notebook she carried with her everywhere apart from her daily planner and started randomly doodling on the pages. The chatter was contained inside the hall as the corridors emptied signalling that class would start as soon as the professor would arrive. Five minutes after a guy came in class effectively quieting the whole place. The students looked at him like he was somebody who lost his mind. He was wearing a black leather jacket, the classic ensemble for all bad boys. He had on tattered jeans and the key to his Harley, hanging on his pants. 

Bad boys were a no-no in Seoul University and there was an unwritten code for dressing to impress in this university. But Lee Taemin, as always, was an exception.

His eyes silently scanned the room as he stood on the doorstep. 

And he saw her. Her head bent down concentrated on whatever it was that she was writing. He couldn’t pass up the chance. The seat beside her was empty. 


She was oblivious to the new arrival as she was too busy doodling on her notebook. He walked up the podium over the first row and towards the back, letting his bag pack drop with a thud on the chair next to her, his spiky bracelets making small tinkling noises. 

She was still none the wiser and she didn’t care. 




When he thought about it years ago, he had no idea why he instantly liked Jung Ae Lyn. It wasn’t like he was deprived of women but the first time they met, he felt the need to possess overpower him. He wanted so much to wrap his arms around her, to hug her and to be the one to make her smile. He wanted to own her.

She was his but unfortunately she didn't know because Taemin knew of the consequences. 

It's been a long five years. Here, sitting in the seat beside his was the woman who had been haunting him. 







The days passed and he couldn’t seem to talk to her. When he arrived in class, always at least five minutes later than everyone else, she would always be there already. Maybe he was invisible to her since she never paid attention to him and he sat right beside her. He would doze off in class since almost every other night he would race. He was tired everyday and he never got enough sleep. 

It was half way through the semester and they had a project coming. The professor expected them to pass it by the end, complimentary to the final written exams that they would also be taking. 

He was awake for once and he did not understand a single thing that the man in front was explaining for the whole class. 

Man up, he chided himself. He was a laughingstock to himself. Two months have gone by and he sat beside her and yet not a single word was exchanged between the both of them. If only his friends could see him, they’d surely make fun of him. This kind of thing was truly something very new to him. 

“Scuse me,” he said, his voice throaty from disuse. He cleared his throat. 

Ae Lyn looked up from the paper she was writing on, taking notes of the coming project. Her seatmate was Lee Taemin. Lee Jinki’s little brother.

He had not changed one bit. 

He wasn’t little, was never little and he still scared her. 

“Yes?” she asked, feeling a slight quiver in her voice. 

Taemin was tempted to close his eyes hearing her soft lilting voice. He shuddered. It’s been too long since he had a woman. 

Actually, two months to be exact. A voice at the back of his head said. 

She her lips as she saw him looking at her. She was immediately self conscious. 

The professor gave them the rest of the period to prepare for their projects. It was an individual project and many of the students have already approached the teacher for further instructions and questions they had. 

“I’m sorry to be bothering you but as you’ve probably noticed I’ve been out for the last two months in class. I’m wondering what he’s talking about,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. 

He was feeling anything but. 

“Oh,” Her voice sounded uninterested. And somehow it annoyed him when the back of his head reminded him of that one night when he saw her with his brother and all those other times he saw her with the other guy who always came with her to her school. 

“I’m really sorry miss,” he said. 

“It’s okay. We’ve been talking about car engines and he wants us to provide a blueprint of what would make a good quality engine. Also he wants a compilation and a dissection of one of the top quality cars in the market today. You can decide whichever model you want to make a paper on,” she said patiently explaining to him. 

He wasn’t listening to her. Her voice became the music to his silent soundtrack as he watched her talk to him. He watched as her eyes glinted under the light, her dainty hands smoothed the notebook she was holding, and her lips pursed as she finished explaining to him what the professor wanted. 

And he vowed never to fall asleep in class again. 







The days following like that were short of enchanting for him. It was as if a door to her little world opened to invite him in. They started talking to each other. He stopped sleeping in class and actually participated in discussions. 

She was amazed at how he was so well versed with the subject. It was a wonder why he was sitting in this class when he obviously didn’t need to learn anything more.

Eloquence must run in the family, she thought. He spoke so well during discussions that she could hear the women in their class sigh dreamily each time he answers a question or offers an opinion on the discussions. 


They were sitting in class for almost ten minutes now and their professor has yet to appear. 

“So tell me, how are you so well acquainted with cars?” she asked. 

He chuckled, a deep masculine sound. Lee Jinki and he were definitely two very different individuals. Here was Taemin majoring in automobiles while Jinki was majoring in law. 

“I race,” he said simply. 

She gasped, delighted. 

“You do?” she asked again to make sure she heard him correctly. 

“Yes I do. And why are you in this class?” he countered, wondering why she was in this class. The question was in his mind ever since he saw her name on the class list when he chanced upon it on the secretary’s office when he came to have himself enrolled. Wasn’t she a literature major?

She blushed, a tinge of pink spread through her cheeks. 

He held his breath; his entire body seemed to be on fire. Every little thing she does turned him in flames. He didn’t know how long he would last before he made a complete fool of himself in front of her. He didn’t know, couldn’t understand how she had such a hold on him. 

“Actually, please don’t laugh, but I want to drag race,” she said softly. 

“It’s been something I wanted to do ever since three years ago,” she shyly admitted to him. She was still very shy around Taemin. She didn’t know if he recognized her from years ago. She so badly wanted to ask him about Jinki. She was hungry for information about him. 

Maybe Taemin's presence in her life now was a sign of good things to come, she thought. 

Maybe, I’ll get my chance with Lee Jinki this time around. I just need a little courage. 

“Oh! You should’ve told me earlier. I should take you sometime to some of the races that we have,” he said, thoroughly surprised and pleased. 

His heart jumped.

He was drowning and drowning so much more. 









The doorknob turned, the figure, blocking the light that attempted to enter the room from the crack made on the slightly opened door. 

She clenched her hands, eyes shut tight. She knew what was coming.

She knew what will happen.

She started to shiver uncontrollably. She heard footfalls muffled by the thick carpet covering her room. 

His presence, terrifying her.