Both guys looked at me with doubtful grins.  “Yeah, right.  You wouldn’t jump from this roof to that one,” the first guy said, pointing to the building across an alley far below.  The buildings were close enough, ten or twenty feet apart, I’d guess. 

            I’d jumped off a roof before.  From a house to a shed, back in the States, but there was about twelve feet of snow between the buildings.  So when we jumped and missed, we landed with hushed plops into fresh fluffy snow.

            This was different.  Four floors up.  No snow.  But what did I care?  Die now, die later, I wasn’t allowed a full life either way.

            “I’m not scared like you,” I told him.

            The second guy’s grin turned into a smirk.  A daring smirk.  “I’d like to see you try,” he goaded, stepping back so I could get up on the ledge.  I didn’t move fast enough and both boys laughed, mockingly, at me.

            I rolled my eyes.  “Whatever,” I grunted, bracing one hand on one guy’s shoulder to help my wobbly self up onto the ledge.

            It was a long way down. 

            “Are you crazy?!” a squeaky girl’s voice demanded from behind me.

            I looked back, over my shoulder, even though I didn’t need to look to know who was squeaking at me.  “Hey, Leah,” I greeted her, turning forward again and peering all the way down at the ground below.  “Not crazy, but showing these boys that girls are better.”

            “You’re nuts.  Get down here.  Right now!” she barked.

            I ignored her and tried to calculate the amount of force I’d need to put behind my jump in order to even attempt at making it from this roof to the one of the building across the alley.  I’d need a good, long running start.

            Hooking my thumbs into my back pockets, I bent my knees, trying to find out where I’d need to plant my feet once I sprung up onto this ledge.

            The next thing I knew, I was being yanked off the ledge by my back pockets.

            Stumbling to the ground, arms caught me and righted me.

            “Were you going to jump?!  Kelly!  Are you insane?!”

            I turned and blinked my vision clear.  My heart sped up and I instantly smiled at the worried look on his face.

            “Tae Il,” I purred.

            He frowned as my arms shot out at my sides a little to balance myself.  He ripped me off that ledge so fast, I grew dizzy.  Maybe my buzz was still lingering.  “What is the matter with you?” he demanded.

            I grinned and reached for his sunglasses.  “You have beautiful eyes.  You shouldn’t hide them.”

            Backing up, he air through his teeth and gently swatted at my hand, eyes darting around at the now curious onlookers.  “Kelly!  Don’t!” he hissed.

            “Come on, Tae Il.  Why do you hide?” I asked, grabbing at his face again.  I don’t know why I was suddenly so crazy about revealing his identity.  Maybe I was hoping this would make him mad enough to leave.  Why would he show up here?  Why did he have to care so damn much?

            He caught one wrist, eyes filled with worry.  “Please stop,” he begged.  He held my hand, tracing what I assumed was supposed to be comforting circles on my palm.  I almost lost it.  I gritted my teeth for strength, but I couldn’t get myself to take my hand out of his.

            “Hey!  You!” I shouted, pointing to those two girls from before with my free hand.  “Yeah!  You!  You hoity-toity, y es!  Come here!  I’ll show you a y man you’d want to spend the night with!  Block b’s Tae Il!  He’s amazing!”

            The girls looked at me, sneering, but said nothing and didn’t come any closer.

            Tae Il tugged on the bill of his ball cap and dragged me to the door leading down from the roof.  He had a death grip on my hand the entire time until we got to the very bottom of the stairs.  We stayed in the stairwell, not going through the last door that would lead to the street.

            “What the hell is going on with you, Kelly?” he spat as we stood face to face, alone in the stairwell.  It was surprisingly well lit considering.

            My buzz had completely disappeared and now I was just feeling terrible.  And sick.  Why was he here?  Why did he come for me?  What made him want to see me?  “What are you doing here?” I asked in reply.  Shoulders slumped, I was at a loss.

            “You’ve been ignoring me all week,” he reminded me, his tone more than a little aggravated to hide the hurt.  It didn’t work.  “It’s Friday, so when you ignored me today, I figured I’d know where to find you.  Some people in the club said they saw a bunch of foreigners going up to the roof.  I just knew you’d be one of them.”  He sighed and kept his eyes averted from mine.  “Kelly, what’s wrong?  Why are you being like this?  Is it because I told you I…”  He glanced up at me, but couldn’t hold my eyes.  “I’m sorry.  I guess it was kind of soon.  It was too fast, right?  Maybe I picked the wrong timing.  I just, well, you said you believed me so I…” his voice trailed off as his face drained of all emotion.  His brow furrowed thoughtfully.

            “Do you regret saying it?” I wondered.

            His eyes burned through mine.  “Of course not,” he huffed.  “And you know what, I’m not sorry I said it.  You might believe me, but there’s still something.  Something wrong.  I don’t know what, but there’s something.  It doesn’t matter though.  I love you.  How many times should I say it?”  He hesitated before humming in understanding.  “Are you scared?  Is that it?”

            My throat closed at hearing him say it again, but I managed a scoff.  “I’m not scared of anything you say,” I snipped.

            “Then what is it?!”  He clutched at his hat.  “I don’t get it.  Why are you ignoring me?  I know you love me, I know it, even if you can’t say it.  I know you do.  I see it in your eyes!”  He paused and took a breath.  His arms melted to his sides.  He jammed them into his hoodie pocket.  “There’s something else in your eyes, too, though, isn’t there?  Something you won’t tell me.”

            How could he know?  How could he do this to me?  How could I make him angry enough to stop this?  Stop reading me.  Stop caring about me.  I swallowed hard.

            I tasted iron on my tongue.  My throat itched.  I had to cough.  Turning away from him, toward the door, I coughed hard into my hand.  My palm was sticky.  Grateful for my black pants, I wiped it on my pants.  I needed a cover up.