"Yah Lee Chaekyung!"

Chaekyung looked up, her cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk with two small bitesized cakes stuffed in . L.Joe nearly chuckled at how adorable she looked but kept a straight face.

"Mwoh?" Chaekyung pouted up at him, chewing furiously. It took everything L.Joe had not to squeeze her cheeks and coo at her. He faltered at his thought. He wanted to squeeze her cheeks and COO at her? WHAT THE.

L.Joe shook his head to clear his head and turned to glare at Chaekyung. "Yah." he stole the fruit tart she was about to bite into. "How could you just run away without your date huh? Never thought I'd be worried?" he scoffed and popped the entire tart in his mouth.

"Worry?" Chaekyung laughed while drinking her punch. "You'd worry about me? That's the biggest joke of the year." she wrinkled her nose and turned to face him. "Shouldn't you worry about unnie instead since you have the biiiiiggest crush on her?"

Of course he would worry, he was worried as hell just moments before, L.Joe scoffed inwardly. "That's right why would I worry about you." he pressed a finger to her forehead. "Waste of my energy, you'd get into trouble regardless."

He picked up a small chocolate brownie and chewed on it slowly, watching as Chaekyung reached out for more goodies with no restraint whatsoever. In the face of food, Chaekyung's initial doubts and insecurities seemed to have faded and she was humming a happy tune as she ate her third brownie.

L.Joe poked her cheek in interest. "Yah aren't you girls afraid of getting fat?" he raised his brows. "Why are you eating like there's no tomorrow?"

Chaekyung shrugged, her curls brushing against L.Joe's shoulders as she reached for her punch again. "But hunger is more important." she protested. "And besides the thing about these balls are that the food is ridiculously little don't you think so?" she turned to face him with her cheeks filled with cakes once more. L.Joe rolled his eyes and turned to hide his chuckle.

Just curious, he thought to himself, in the time L spent as Chaekyung's boyfriend, didn't he once, AT LEAST ONCE, thought that Chaekyung was cute? Didn't that thought cross his mind before? Even he, who started out hating Chaekyung so intensely because of his initial prejudice against miss populars was sometimes overcome by Chaekyung's unintentional cuteness.

"Who are you looking at?" Chaekyung looked behind her when she noticed L.Joe staring in her direction for a long time. She blinked when she realized there wasn't anyone behind her and she looked back at him, puzzled. "I was uh," L.Joe pointed to a pot of flowers feebly. "Checking those out."

Chaekyung looked at him strangely and wiped her hands on a napkin. "Let's get back before the others start missing us." she darted off. "But I'm not done!" L.Joe stuffed the remaints of his brownie into his mouth, gulping down his punch.

When L.Joe reached the rest of the gang, Chaekyung was strangely missing. He frowned and groaned internally, looking around. "Where did she go again? Stupid princess, always making me chase after her." he muttered.

Ricky and CAP watched him go and snickered in unision. "No one asked him to chase after her." CAP smirked. Ricky sighed dreamily. "Oh young love." which caused CAP to stare at him strangely.

L.Joe weaved through the crowd, not seeing his date. He even stood by the dance floor for a good five minutes, eying the couples dancing in case one of the girls was Chaekyung. He was slightly relieved to not have found her that way.

He went around the entire length of the ballroom several times and still didn't spot his "girlfriend". He even made Soomi and Bomi search the female toilets but still didn't find her. Where on earth was she?

---

L.Joe nearly gave up when he remembered there was a balcony connected to the ballroom. He jogged towards the isolated balcony, slowing down to a walk. He peeked outside and saw that there was a couple dancing outside.

Jaekyung and L.

They looked so happy and in love as they swayed gently to the music, not dancing and only letting the tips of their fingers touch. But even so, L.Joe could feel the air was charged between them, and the way their stared at each other was just, well, pure love.

It was sweet and sickening at the same time.

L.Joe scoffed and turned around to go. Not a very nice sight for him to see when he was so so in love with Jaekyung was it, but now that he saw the sight, he was more focused on finding Chaekyung.

He had to keep her away from the balcony.

Just as he was about to leave, he noticed a strange bump from the red velvet floor length curtains. Eh?

He looked around and found that no one noticed that strange bump at the corner of the room just by the balcony. He crept closer to it and noticed that it was the shape of a person.

And that person only came up to his shoulders. Eyes widening at the prospect of who it might be, L.Joe slipped behind the heavy suffocating curtains as well, only to see Chaekyung staring blankly at the sight of L and Jaekyung dancing together.

L.Joe's face fell as he took in her tiny hands that were fisted against the glass, her eyes that seemed souless and blank. He glanced at the oblivious couple and his eyes widened when he saw L leaning down towards Jaekyung, both their eyes fluttering close in anticipation.

His eyes widened and without thinking, he grabbed onto Chaekyung's arm and spun her to look at him, slapping his palm across her eyes. She let out a squeal of surprise but it didn't register because all L.Joe could focus on was the moisture beneath his palm.

Goddamn. Was she having fun just standing here and crying in the corner? Why couldn't she have walked away when she knew she would get hurt from watching? Didn't she know self-defense?

"Don't look." L.Joe murmured softly. "There's nothing good to see."

He felt her tremble slightly and noticed her hands slowly curling into fists, before a fresh wave of tears leaked from her eyes. L.Joe sighed when he felt the moisture accumulating behind his palm and retracted his hand, only to pull her to his chest so she could muffle her cries.

Chaekyung leaned into him willingly, curling her fists against his tux and trying to absorb as much of the comfort as possible. L.Joe tightened his arms around her and unconsciously ran his fingers through her hair, leaning his chin on top of her head as he sighed softly.

"Babo." he whispered. "Such a stupid fool."

L.Joe and Chaekyung were sitting outside in the gardens, being attacked by abundant mosquitoes but it was still better than being in the ballroom and having to act like nothing happened. They sat on a steel metal bench, staring into the night sky silently.

Despite not saying out loud, Chaekyung was very grateful for L.Joe's timely presence even if she would never admit it. She knew he was right; she was a fool. Every moment she stood there behind the curtain peeking at her sister and L, she knew it was a moment of hurt.

However she just couldn't pull herself away. Every second she stared at the perfect couple with stabs in her heart, she couldn't look away.

She was a fool.

She was glad L.Joe was there to pull her attention away because even with him sitting right next to her without doing anything at the moment, it comforted her. Chaekyung let out a small breath and glanced at L.Joe. "I spoiled your Christmas ball didn't I?" she murmured wistfully. "You could be having fun inside but you're out here babysitting me."

L.Joe turned to her with an unreadable expression, before he let amusement show on his face. He reached out to knock on her head once, making her pout. "That's right you're a baby princess, so troublesome." he complained. Somehow the way he said it didn't make Chaekyung think he meant it.

He looked back at the ballroom and turned to her with a sly smirk, an eyebrow raised. "Since your princessy matters stole my chance of having a dance, you're going to have to pay me back." Without waiting for her approval, he pulled her up to her feet, only to have to wrap his arms around her as she wobbled unsteadily on her heels.

He eyed her tall heels and scoffed. "Take them off, why do you even wear them when it causes you pain?"

Chaekyung made a face. "Because it's pretty. I'm not taking them off." she insisted even though L.Joe could tell she was already having quite some trouble staying upright in those awful shoes. He shook his head in amusement and rolled his eyes.

He pushed her back down on the bench and lifted her legs without her consent. Chaekyung squealed and held down her shirt, shooting him glares. "What are you doing!"

L.Joe took off her heels and she watched curiously as he took off his shoes as well. To her surprise, he slipped her feet into his shoes while his grey striped socks wriggled uncomfortably on the grass. "You don't need to pretend when I know more about you than anyone else does." he gave her a look, pulling her back to her feet.

His shoes were too big on her tiny feet and she bet she looked absolutely ridiculous right then. However it was also oddly comfortable. And not to mention her heart was doing weird things at the moment.

"And if you want me to hug you again like I did just now, you don't need to wear those killer heels just to make me do so." L.Joe teased. "You can ask me anytime." he winked.

"Eww Ariel!" Chaekyung shoved his chest, wrinkling her nose. L.Joe laughed and guided her hands to his shoulders while his fell snugly at her waist. She turned to look at him and noticed his expression had turned serious, the same unreadable expression surfacing once more. "Let's dance." he whispered.

Not knowing why she complied, Chaekyung nodded and swayed gently to L.Joe's lead. They couldn't exactly be called dancing because there weren't any dance moves involved, but more like swaying side to side. 

It was uncharacteristic of him to stay so quiet for such a long period of time without a snarky comment, but L.Joe couldn't bring himself to break the silence. It was magical and he knew both of them felt it.

There was no explanation as to why it was her he felt this magic with and he didn't want to question it either.

Chaekyung even felt comfortable enough to lean her head against his shoulder, sighing softly in content. The pain she felt just moments ago from watching L and Jaekyung seemed a long time ago now. It was strange how L.Joe managed to take them away so quickly.

She just sighed softly once more and enjoyed the moment.

----

"Sorry."

Chaekyung pulled back and looked up at L.Joe curiously. He gazed right back at her, his eyes speaking volumes. "I really mean it, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of those things I said, I just..." he struggled with hsi words, making Chaekyung blinked at him even more curiously. "Just?"

"I just wanted to get a reaction out of you." L.Joe admitted. Chaekyung frowned, not understanding.

L.Joe sighed and tugged on her hair. "Look at it from my point of view," he shrugged. "What I see is two sisters in love with the same guy. The younger sister was dating this guy at first but somehow that changed, and now the guy is dating the elder sister."

L.Joe gave Chaekyung a pointed look. "And no matter what was it that changed, it definitely wasn't the younger sister's feelings because she was still in love with him. Enough to hide behind a curtain during a ball to cry by herself." he avoided her weak slap on his arm.

"Don't you see what I see? Don't you see why I find it strange?" he shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Because you should be angry, Chaekyung. You should be fired with hatred and disapproval for Jaekyung stealing your boyfriend away from you. I know sister love exists but how could it still hold so strong in the face of romance?"

L.Joe gazed at her intensely. "I'm not saying that you're a bad person that's why you aren't capable of loving your sister this wholeheartedly, I'm saying that you're not perfect princess. No one in the world is perfect." he shook his head. "Which is why no matter how you hide it from the rest of the world, I still expected to see any sort of remaining resent you still hold for your elder sister."

"But I see none." he whispered, honestly confused. "And that's strange because I can tell you genuinely like L as well. So why....why don't you give yourself a chance? Why don't you just make a move, go for him? Why give him up so easily?" he pressed.

Chaekyung, overwhelmed, stepped away from L.Joe and stared down on the ground. He was right, she should resent Jaekyung. She wanted to, even. But she couldn't bring herself to, knowing what her sister went through, knowing how much she ahd hurt her sister in the past during her memory loss.

She couldn't hate her sister, because if there was hate, it should be Jaekyung hating her.

"I can't." she finally muttered. "I can't and I won't," she looked at him with sad eyes. "Because I know that even if I dated L oppa first, the person meant for him isn't me."

"I've never been kidding. L oppa and unnie are meant for each other, they can't do without the other." she smiled bitterly. "And that leaves no place for me."