"I swear if you touch my again you will never see the light of day again, Cheondoong." Instantly my cheeks started to flush , and my hand as if on fire , jumped away from her body. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I just placed my hands on your waist. I swear, I'm not trying to disrespect you. I wouldn't dare." I said stepping away from her. She glares up at me and gives me that look that told me I was an idiot. 

"Only this time." She said through her teeth and placing my hands inside of her back pants pocket. 

"I- Um- This." I stuttered as I contemplated if I should move or not. I was afraid that if I moved she would yell at me for ruining the plan and if I didn't move I was a ert. 

"Relax. It's just my , and you're not even really touching it. My god, why are you so innocent?"  She said as she jammed my hands back into her pocket , probably because she sensed I was trying to slowly slip my hand away from her. 

"Listen. Cheondoong, listen to me." She said trying to get my attention. All I could think about was not to think about my hands being so close to her . "Cheondoong, can you stop concentrating on my and listen to me." 

I flinched and shushed her, " Can you not say that so loudly? I don't wanna look like a ert." 

"Listen! When you go in there, no matter what happens you have to make sure that you preserve your relationship with Mir and no fighting. Got it?" 

"No fighting, Mir is best friend, got it." I said staring down at my fingers as I moved them around in her pocket. Heheh, it feels funny. 

"Oh my. Can you stop tapping on my cheeks? Are you sure you're innocent or faking innocence?" 

"I - just." I started to say when she shushed me leaned in closer to whisper to me.

"He is coming, look like you're happy." I felt her hands wrap tightly around my waist. "Okay Sweetie, pick me up after work?" She said releasing me and walking away in the opposite direction that Mir was coming from. 

"Hey." I said to Mir when he was close enough. 

"What's up?" He said as he nodded toward the restaurant. 

"Nothing." I replied. This is so awkward. I was never good with small talk. 

We grabbed a seat across from each other and ordered our drinks as we sat around for another ten minutes before we actually started talking. 

"How's Jeon?" I asked him as I fidgeted  with the napkin placed underneath my cup of coffee. 

"She's still mad, but she forgave me." Mir said as he sipped on his drink. I looked up at him a little disappointed that our plan had backfired. 

"So you're back with her?" My eyes felt like like they would burst with tears. For the first time since we broke up, I felt hopeless. I felt like everything I did to win her back was useless. 

"You could say that. She's still upset about you lying to her and she didn't want me seeing you today." He took off his ridiculous sunglasses and placed it on the table between us. " You're still not mad about what I did , right?" I could tell he was testing the waters. He was up to something.

"No." I said taking a deep breath. "I've given up all hope on her." After saying those words out loud, it sounded so .. realistic. Reality was there was nothing I can do. Mir already won. 

"I'm glad we can still be friends, Cheondoong. I'm sorry for what I did. I swear I won't do that again." I sensed that he was sincere and I heard his apology, but I couldn't accept it. I still couldn't accept his betrayal. "But on the bright side, you got a wonderful new girlfriend out of this." He said smiling at me.

"Yeah.. I guess, she's great." 

"How's Tessa doing?" 

"She's okay."

"Is she okay with losing her best friend?" 

"I don't think so. She seems a little upset over it. She won't talk about it." I replied. Actually, I had no idea how she felt about Jeon. We never spoke about why she hated Jeon, what Jeon did to make her so mad, and what in the world did she plan to do to get back at her. I just assumed that they were rivals , not best friends. 

"Maybe we need to get these girls together and let them make up." 

"Why are you so caring? It's weird? Don't you just want to screw around with girls? Why are you helping girls become friends again? It's strange. You're not Mir." I said teasing him, but really I was curious. After a long time of not speaking to each other he has changed a lot. In the way he addresses women and how he treats people in general. It was as if Jeon had made him a completely different man. 

"I've always been this caring, you brat." 

"Yah. I'm older here." I said slapping his arm. 

"Sorry. Sorry master." He said bowing his head to me. We laughed and then the silence settled in. No matter how many jokes we cracked, and how many times laughed, we still couldn't forget about the dark cloud looming over us. He would always be carrying the burden of being the guy who took my girlfriend. "Hey, I just bought a beach house. Wanna visit? The girls can reconcile there." 

"No. I don't think so. I think I'm going to end things with Tessa." I said nonchalantly. 

"Dude, why? I just saw you guys all being mushy gushy out there. Why? What happened?" Mir said as he scooted his chair closer to the table and placed his elbows on the table , he looked as though he was about to climb over the table and jump me. 

"It's.." I sighed and took a minute to think about it. The real reason was I found it no use to fight with Mir over Jeon anymore. But I couldn't find the words to explain to him. "It's over. I just .. give up , Mir." 

"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, if you change your mind, you're still welcome to come. You can bring another girl if you want." He said putting on his sunglasses and taking out his wallet. 

"No, thanks. I think I'm going to just go to the practice room this weekend." 

"Well, I was hoping that you would be there for me this weekend , but alright." I watched as he placed a hundred dollar bill down and got up to fix his black custom made Louis Vuitton double suit. "Work hard, I'll see in two weeks. Maybe I'll even come back with good news." He said patting my back before leaving. 

I stared down at half empty cup of coffee as I stirred it with my index finger. So this is it? I'm giving up? I took out my phone and scrolled though my contacts. My eyes landing on Tessa's number. Well, I guess I can focus on other things other than Jeon now. Maybe I will go get my degree in Neuroscience. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Then I'll deliver my good news to him next week. Then we will both have good news. Yay. Everyone will be happy. Right. Okay. 

I touch Tessa's number and the phone starts ringing. I place the phone on my ear. Jeeze, woman. Pick up. I need to fake break up with you.

" The number you have dialed is not available right now. Please leave a message at the tone. 'Bleep'" 

"Yahh~ Tessa. I have good news for you. Good news.. Good news , Tessa!" I paused as something clicked in my mind. "Oh god." I said slapping myself on the forehead.  "His good news is that he is going to propose to Jeon. I can't believe I'm so clueless."

"What?" Tessa said through the phone. I didn't bother to answer her question, "We are going to his beach house this weekend. Clear your schedule for the next two weeks. We have a proposal to ruin."  I said rushing into my car.