“Come on Choyoung, You can't even give me a simple kiss on the cheek?” Chan pouted, “What about Soonyoung hyung? I'm sure given him hundreds of them, how come I can't get one for myself?”

Chan had a point. Then again, when did Chan never have a point? He was among the top five in their first year, now second year, class. It was obviously to be expected from the boy. Hesitating to answer, Choyoung slowly pulled away from her classmate, gazing down at the floor to prevent making any eye contact with him. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea or anything, but it wasn't right to be kissing Chan when she constantly reminded Soonyoung she wouldn't kiss either of them at the time. Getting the watch back was no exception to her rule.

“You're joking, right?” Choyoung casually tried to brush it off with a nervous laugh, “W-why would you ask me of something like that when you know perfectly well that I don't want to?”

Her striking words pierced his heart - it was because of Soonyoung wasn't it? It was always about Soonyoung. Hell, why not he just give up on her and spare himself the pain he had to go through? Chan clutched the watch in his hand, anger quickly rising up through his body. It wasn't even about the watch anymore. In fact, the watch was worth nothing to him if it held no significance to the two of them. It was Soonyoung's business, not his. His eyes once-overed Choyoung who was standing a few steps back from him. Her head was down, and at once he knew that her mind was troubled with his same thoughts.

“I'm not joking,” he bluntly answered, taking a few steps closer to where she stood.

Choyoung ordered her head to continue looking down; if she had looked up, she would merely be centimeters away from his face. The sides of her fringe twitched as his warm breath brushed against them, illustrating how close he had gotten to her. Biting her lip, Choyoung closed her eyes and silently prayed that someone would just walk through the classroom door to help her out of the situation. It didn't even have to be a classmate, just anyone would do. At least that would make Chan back off allowing her time to escape.

They stood next to each other, the heat of his body suddenly wrapping around her. A sharp wave of guilt washed over her when she found herself unable to pull away. Her mind hysterically cried out to the rest of her body to break loose, but her legs remained immobile, completely dumbed down by Chan's unexpected actions. Holding her breath, Choyoung falteringly raised her head, turned to face him. As she did, he slipped his arm around the small of her back. Once again, she looked down, anticipating what was to come. This behavior was the least bit foreign to her as Soonyoung had crept up on her many times back then. She wished to start throwing a fit, but she remained still as ever.

What is going on with me?

As Choyoung slowly lifted head head, her eyes drifted upwards and met his. He let the corners of his mouth crease into a slight smile before he began to lean towards her. Beneath her fingertips, she could feel Chan's heart beating wildly through the many levels of his school uniform. His eyes slowly began to close, but her eyes remained wide in terror. It was just like that time in the field. She couldn't pull away and she hated herself for doing so. Choyoung was trapped, and frightened; and this time, Soonyoung wasn't there to save her. Instead of moving away, she felt her body lean into his while in her mind, she was already crawling away. His breath was sweet as he whispered in her ear that once he got his wish, he would gladly return her watch.

Forget about the watch, Chan. This isn't right.

“Choyoung!” a shrill honeyed voice that could only belong to Bee rang in the zoned out teen's ears, “Choyoung, hey! Wake up!”

Sluggishly lifting her heavy head up from her light pink pillow, Choyoung peered over her matching pink duvet to find her best friend standing at her bedroom door wearing an unfamiliar uniform. It consisted of a knee-length straight black dress, with a straight white collar and white sleeve trims. A black and white gingham patterns apron and bandana graced her tiny waist and head, making her look like a simple cafe waitress. A wide grin was planted on the girl's innocent, glowing face as she skipped over to Choyoung's bed, flaunting around a white napkin. Expecting that Bee was only going to be talking nonsense, Choyoung boringly rolled over on her bed and proceeded to go back to sleep. Of course, with Bee shaking her harder than her own mom did, Choyoung couldn't.

“Get up from bed, you lazy bum!” Bee ordered her bedheaded friend, while attacking her face with a napkin, “Ever since we got out from school three days ago, all you've ever been doing is sleeping! Hell, you're worse than Jihoon tells me Soonyoung is!”

After accidentally reminded Choyoung of the last two people she wanted to talk about, Bee quickly covered and cursed herself for letting it out. Choyoung and Soonyoung hadn't seen each other since then, nor have either of them made any effort to even contact each other. Jihoon found it amazing how those two could even avoid each other for two days since they literally lived a few blocks down from each other. Bee and him had already placed bets on who was going to break down first, of course this was all under the table. At the mention of Soonyoung's name, Choyoung groaned and shoved Bee away from her face, “If you're going to bother me with nonsense, then get out. Who even let you in here in the first place?”

“Your loving mother did, of course!” the younger girl bounced up and down on the bed, making Choyoung complain more, “Now get up! Sleeping all day isn't healthy you know!”

Finally giving in after another ten minutes of positive torture from her over-enthusiastic friend, Choyoung threw off her blankets and sat up, rubbing her eyes as she yawned. Since it was summer, she had no idea what day it was even though it was still early into the holiday. It had felt like she had been sleeping for about three hours, but here comes Bee telling her it's been three days. Resting her head on her knees, she looked over at Bee and chuckled at the ridiculous outfit she was wearing. Considering how particular Bee was to fashion, she never would have imagined that Bee would wear something so drab. On top of that, it looked like she was cosplaying – which Bee swore she would never do again after elementary school. Reaching over, Choyoung tugged at the apron, “What are you wearing this for?”

“Oh this?” Bee chirped, standing up from the bed to twirl around in her outfit girlishly, “I've found a part time job at a coffee shop not far from here! Junghan sunbae, the one that graduated this year, is the head manager there. He's been treating me well,”

Smirking, Choyoung ran a hand through her hair to flip her part to the other side and sat up straight so she could properly talk, “And by well, are you mistaking his genuine kindness for flirting again?”

“It doesn't hurt to dream ya know,”

The two girls giggled at the thought of the angel prince, Yoon Junghan. Sure they had crushes of their own, but that didn't mean that they didn't think Junghan was bad looking. In fact, just once glance from the baby-faced boy was enough to melt your heart to nothing but a pile of watery emotions. On top of that, he was smart. He wasn't Jihoon status, or even Soonyoung status, but he was pretty academic. It just wasn't as advertised like the other two were. Rumor had it that he had a girlfriend but no one knew if it was true or not. The mysterious Junghan kept everything to himself and talked very little. But surprisingly, it was Bee who had found out where he worked and immediately applied for the position when she found out.

Clearing , Bee decided to turn the attention to Choyoung instead of her. She was here to see how Choyoung was doing after all, not talk about her own life. For her, things were going by smoothly. Even though Soonyoung and Choyoung were fighting, Jihoon and her didn't seem to be affected. Bee was ecstatic about it since she knew that love could overcome any obstacle. When she told this to Jihoon though, he merely cringed and told her to get her head out of the clouds. With a concerned look on her face, Bee looked at Choyoung and held her hands, “So about you and Soonyoung...how are you guys?”

“We haven't talked since,” Choyoung admitted, earning her a warm hug from Bee. Because Bee didn't seem like she was going to let go, she decided to continue, “I haven't even left the house since break started. And likewise, I haven't seen Chan either, thank God,”

“Choyoung, I'm sorry for – no, that's not it. It'll make me seem weak,” Soonyoung paced back and forth across his living room, almost slipping when he quickly turned because he was walking with socks on hardwood flooring, “Kwan Choyoung, listen to what I have to say! No, that's not it either. She'll hit me,”

Three days into summer, and once again, Soonyoung was alone at home stuck in a debate about the same damn thing again. He was no longer sick thanks to Junhui's magic White Flower medicated oil which he had rubbed all over his chest like his life depended on it. In fact, he was really glad that he was better because his mom had threatened that if he were sick for one more day, she was going to call Choyoung over so she could take care of him while she was away at work. Which Soonyoung detested. She was the last person he needed to see right now, since he knew that things between them were still awkward.

“Why am I even practicing apologizing in the first place?” he grumbled as he flopped down on the armchair improperly with his legs dangling over the armrest, “I wasn't the one who was kissing Chan,”

In his mind, Soonyoung believed that Choyoung should be the one to apologize first. Whoever started it first, would be the one to apologize first. It was only right that way. When he told this to Jihoon yesterday though, Jihoon argued that Soonyoung was just being immature and that the woman was always right no matter how stubborn she was being. Girls will never admit that they are wrong. That's probably one of the more annoying characteristics of women that Soonyoung loathed. It was so nineteenth century. He just wrinkled his nose at the thought. Sliding himself off the chair, he rolled onto the floor and lay there on his stomach, continuing to sulk.

“This is stupid, why does it even matter anymore?” Soonyoung pushed himself up from the floor, and started up the stairs to go change out of his clothes, “She's obviously chosen Chan over me, so the least I can do is try and get over it,”

There was no denying that Soonyoung felt miserable about having lost to the little prick, he just didn't show it. He wasn't the type to show how he was feeling in the first place, but since there was no one in earshot, he could say whatever he wanted without any outsider feedback. The way he saw it, Soonyoung figured that Chan must have won over Choyoung's heart last minute. Why else would they be kissing so intimately like that? It wasn't even a kiss on the face, it was the mouth! Choyoung had promised him that she wasn't even going to kiss him anywhere near his lips! Bringing a finger to his bottom lip as he entered his bedroom, Soonyoung recalled his first kiss, the one in the school garden with Choyoung, “That's probably why she kept refusing to kiss me. It was because she liked Chan more,”

Oh come on. Now you're just being immature.

Upon hearing the faint voice, Soonyoung whizzed around, a bit alarmed that he had heard something when he was obviously alone. The voice sounded a lot like Jihoon, and it was definitely something Jihoon would say, but it couldn't have been Jihoon. His best friend was still mad at him for losing his cool and almost hitting Chan. Although it wasn't entirely his fault. The medicine he had taken prior to stumbling on Choyoung and Chan was making him go crazy. That was the only reason keeping Jihoon from cutting all ties with Soonyoung; the younger boy hated it when people resort to physical violence. Shaking his head, the confused teen closed his bedroom door behind him and figured that he should go out on a walk around the neighborhood. If there was anything he needed, it was definitely a breath of fresh air.

“I probably should start taking care of my appearance in public now that I'm a third year student,” he told himself as he started picking clothes from his closet, holding shirts up to his body to see what would look good and what wouldn't, “Who knows, maybe I might see one of my classmates. I don't want to look bad,”

Glancing down at the neatly torn envelope at his desk, a smile immediately appeared on Soonyoung's face. On the last day of school, when he had told his parents that he did terribly on the exam, they exploded on him. His mom was yelling all the house and his dad used the most bone chilling tone he could muster at his son. Soonyoung was lectured about how he shouldn't have slept through the exam, and his mom even reminded him that the morning she dropped him off, she had offered to call up the school to inform them of his poor health condition.

Things weren't going well between the three of them the next day, but last evening, Soonyoung had received a letter in the mail from Mr. Long, Head of the Math Department. They revealed that even though he didn't finish the test, the few answers he did get through were all correct. Both of the first two pages Soonyoung had breezed through were all answered correctly. Considering that this was the Pilot Test and that he had answered questions this quickly, Mr. Jung took pity on Soonyoung and informed Mr. Long about how Soonyoung wasn't feeling that well and that he was a student with exceptional math grades.

From there, things just smoothly fell into place and eventually the Board allowed him to move up with the rest of his classmates. Just as he was buttoning the last button of his black polo, Soonyoung's phone vibrated from the bed and he casually walked over to pick it up. His eyebrows slightly raised once he saw the sender's contact name across the black status bar, “Lee Jihoon. I thought he didn't want to talk to me?”

“Hello?” Soonyoung answered with a bit of hesitation in his voice, “Kwon Soonyoung speaking,”

“Oh drop it with the formalities, you ,” Jihoon's sharp tone echoed through the receiver.

There was a rustling coming from his end as if he were just rolling out of bed; although, that couldn't be it because his voice didn't sound the least bit groggy or tired. Besides, it was already noon. Why would Jihoon be getting up so late? It wasn't like Jihoon. Especially since Soonyoung knew Jihoon's little secret of dropping off Bee to work every morning. On the other end, Jihoon was actually strolling out of his house, keys in hand, “I'm coming over to pick you up. I'm taking you to apologize to Choyoung,”

“Wait what?” Soonyoung stopped running down the stairs, almost sliding down if he hadn't been holding onto the rail, “But I'm not ready!”

“I know you must hate me right now,” Chan hung his head low as he stood next to Choyoung with his right stuffed deep into his pocket, “But thanks for coming to see me,”

The two teens stood outside the gates of their school, both avoiding each other's stares. The school with Chan was the last place Choyoung wanted to be. Earlier when she was hanging out at the cafe Bee worked at, Chan walked in not expecting either of them to be there. Before she got the chance to sneak away, Chan had caught her halfway out the door, and asked if he could have a talk to her. Demanding for him to tell her at that moment, all she did was get Chan more defensive and tell her that it was supposed to be discussed in private. This made her more suspicious. Why she even went along with it, only God knew. Clearing , Choyoung asked him, “So what exactly do you want to talk about?”

“I'm really sorry about what happened to Soonyoung and you,” he apologized, surprisingly sounding whole-hearted about it, “I didn't think he would take it so seriously,”

Her eyebrows rose, not sure if she was hearing correctly. She could have sworn that Chan had just apologized for his actions. Lifting his head just a little, Chan peeked at her from behind his fringe and watched her nervously tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. He could tell that Choyoung didn't know how to reply, but he remained silent to force a response from her. Leaning against the rusting gates, he looked up at the sky as the metal squeaked at the sudden weight shift. He felt guilty that Soonyoung was taking his anger out on Choyoung when she was completely innocent. He was the one that kissed her, not the other way around. If he had the chance, he would explain to Soonyoung what really happened, given that the older boy would listen to him of course. Pretty much none of his friends had talked to him when they heard about what happened. Even Hansol seemed to avoid Chan in fear that he might try to woo Minji for himself.

In her head, Choyoung was having a mental war with herself to decide on what she should say. The best thing to do really was just to forgive and forget, but something like stealing kisses wasn't a forgivable act, nor would she be able to forget it soon. To her anyway. She figured that this was what Bee meant by, 'You just have to give it some time until you can completely get over it,'. Choyoung went back and forth with her options until finally, she picked her best possible path and hoped for the best. Twiddling with her fingers, Choyoung took a step closer to Chan, still maintaining a certain distance between them in case he tried to pull something funny. Biting her lip, Choyoung let her hands droop down to her side to show Chan that she wasn't weak. In a strict voice, she said, “I'm not going to say I'm not mad at you, but I've already forgiven you in my heart,”

For a while now, Choyoung had been contemplating about the incident and the underlying motives. It didn't look like Chan had intended on making things difficult between Soonyoung and her, but she understood why Soonyoung got all worked up about it. There was no reason for her to continue holding something against Chan when he didn't really do anything wrong. The only wrong he did was kiss her without permission. Mentally cursing herself for the millionth time that week, she blamed herself once more for the entire thing. It was because of her carelessness that she had lost the watch in the first place. Just thinking about how hurt Soonyoung must be made Choyoung tear up. Dabbing at her eyes to keep herself from shedding unnecessary tears, she shook her head and let out a relieving sigh, “I know you didn't mean it,”

“Soonyoung is really lucky,” Chan thought to himself when he saw that even when the two were fighting with each other, Choyoung could still worry about his well-being.

Biting his lip, Chan pushed himself off the gates and turned so that his body was parallel to hers. He brought his eyes down to meet hers, no longer tainted with fear but warmth. Once again, her deep brown orbs were welcoming, no longer afraid of getting trouble, free from worry and care. Although there was a lot on her mind, she found that a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders. Chan had finally calmed the water between them, and she was thankful for that. Her eyes widened when he pulled a small box wrapped in pink paper from his pocket. Seeing her reaction, Chan chuckled, “Here, take it, it's yours,”

It took Choyoung a moment to get herself together and finally accept the sudden present from Chan. She hadn't been expecting to be given something, nor could she come up with a reason why he was giving her anything. Turning the box every which way, she wondered what could be inside. It was simply decorated, and obvious that Chan had wrapped it himself. The poor taping on the side spoke for itself. While she continued with her guessing game, Chan shyly rubbed the back of his neck trying to make the most of the situation. He didn't want to tell her what was in there or else it would ruin the surprise for her, but at the same time he knew it was killing her inside because the receiver should never open the present in front of the giver. Rocking back and forth on his heels, Chan hinted to what was inside, “Since it was broken, I had it repaired for you. I think I messed it up on accident,”

With that last hint, Choyoung knew exactly what was inside and if she wasn't out in public, she would have screamed to the Heavens. Before she knew it, Choyoung found her body pressed up against his in a tight hug – one that she had just willingly given to him. Her arms were wrapped around his waist tightly, while his remained at his sides, still in shock at her unexpected actions. It wasn't long before Chan returned the hug, but as soon as it started he quickly ended it. Chan didn't want to accidentally take advantage of the situation like he did last time. When Choyoung asked how she could ever repay him, he simply answered back, “Just treat me the same way you did before all of this happened,”

“Wow, Lee Chan you sure are troublesome,” the amused teenage girl giggled to herself as she held her wrist up to the last rays of the setting sun to admire as-good-as-new watch, “But I have to admit, you can be pretty romantic at times,”

Since it was getting pretty late, Choyoung was on her way home, using a shortcut through the school fields. Not the fenced school area, the part that was still on school grounds but was still open for recreational summer camps and sports. She had just cut through the school's lacrosse field and was now making her way through the soccer field. Making sure that she could still be seen by random civilians, she made sure she stayed close to the side so if anything bad were to happen to her, there was a greater chance of somebody seeing her. Choyoung made sure to always take important note of those things whenever she was outside alone.

Chan and her had split ways once they exchanged goodbyes, but only because she told him to. If she hadn't begged him to not follow her home, he would have escorted her the entire way there. Although, she also thought that why he didn't really hesitate was because they passed the Kwon residence before they reached hers. The last thing that both of them wanted was Soonyoung, or his parents, getting the wrong idea. Soonyoung especially since Choyoung and him still hadn't made up yet. Just as she was entering the school's gardens, a voice she didn't expect to be hearing so soon came from behind,

“Kwan Choyoung,” Soonyoung's demanding tone sent shivers down her spine, making her stop walking at once. Behind her, she could hear his quick steps approaching, twigs and other pebbles crunching underneath his feet as he did. Her palms dampened as she felt her legs start to soften up like jello. Considering how nervous she was to finally be talking to him again, Choyoung even found it impossible to swallow. She held her breath like her life depended on it, when the footsteps stopped less than a few inches away from her. Soonyoung's hot breath tickled her neck as he leaned in close to whisper, “You and I have something very important that we need to talk about,”