Yong Joon flinched upon earning a hard slap on his shoulder. Flabbergasted, he turned to find a girl grinning at her.

“Annyeong!” she greeted and waved. But upon realizing that her voice was too loud, she covered and looked around the library before chuckling to herself and whispering, “Sorry.”

Yong Joon found the corner of his lips lifting to a smile but he still had a question running in his mind. He coughed a little before asking, “I’m sorry but who are you?”

“Eh?” the girl asked back and tilted her head.

Suddenly, she tiptoed and inspected his face up close. Yong Joon took a step back, finding the distance uncomfortable. Then, he saw how the girl’s eyebrows arched as she mumbled, “You’re him but you’re not him at the same time.”

Just when he was about to answer, a voice had interrupted their conversation.

“Jiwoo-ssi.”

As they both turned, they found his twin, Bae Hyun Joong staring at them with another girl beside him. Yong Joon widened his eyes upon seeing that the girl beside his brother and the girl in front of him were almost the same.

“Oh, you have a twin too?!” Jiwoo exclaimed as she widened her eyes. Her eyes then turned to crescent slits as she chuckled and said, “This is so cool.”

When Yong Joon saw the big smile on his brother’s lips and the softness of his brother’s gaze, he should have known how that moment was his first meeting with the girl who ruined all of their plans. But then, he also found himself mesmerized by the girl’s vibrancy and the oddity of their situation. As the girl was done laughing, she sighed before extending her hand to Yong Joon.

“I’m sorry for frightening you a while ago. I’m Choi Ji Woo,” she smiled before pointing to the girl beside Hyun Joong. “And that is my twin sister, Jihyun.”

Myungsoo tapped away the cupcake even before Sungjong could eat it. The latter just bit his lower lip and looked away, refusing to meet the former’s cold glare.

“It’s been two days,” he whispered sternly. “It’s already been two days since we last saw Suzy and you still have the nerve to eat?!”

The sweet side of Sungjong instantly melted as he uttered, “Do you think I’m happy with what happened?”

“You two, do you think arguing would help?” Sungyeol broke his silence.

“But doing nothing wouldn’t help too!” Myungsoo shouted once more as he stood up.

“Then, tell me what to do,” Sungjong challenged him. “What would do we do now, huh? Her uncle wouldn’t let us even be near her this time.”

“There should be a way. We should be thinking of a way!” Myungsoo retorted.

“I am trying to find a way too! It’s not only you who’s worried!” Sungjong shouted back, and the loudness of his voice had called the attention of the people at the cafeteria. “But all her communications with us has been cut off!”

“Guys, please, stop,” Sungyeol interrupted. “We should be working on this together.”

“Together?” Myungsoo glared at him before scoffing. “Woohyun isn’t even here with us and he calls himself her cousin.”

“Please stop acting like you’re the only who cares about her.” Sungjong said, infuriated.

“Well, if you would do something other than lazing around, maybe I would,” Myungsoo stated before walking away.

As the figure slowly disappeared from their sight, Sungjong let out an apologetic sigh. He pushed the cupcake further away from him as his gaze travelled to the three empty seats at the table. Myungsoo didn’t know that Sungjong was breaking inside and he was only hoping that a cupcake could at least uplift his spirits for the mean time.

“But Myungsoo’s right,” Sungyeol’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Sungjong met his gaze before he continued, “Where’s Woohyun?”

Sungjong shut his eyes tight and sighed once more as he answered, “He’s having a personal crisis too.”

When the company of the other pair, Jihyun and Jiwoo became more frequent, Yong Joon found himself accompanying his brother in all the adventures he had planned for the four of them. The four were almost inseparable that their schoolmates have already given them a nickname of “two by two”.

It was a Sunday afternoon when they were in their senior years in high school. They were spending time by the Han River and Jiwoo and Hyun Joong’s laughs echoed as they tried to make a kite. Yong Joon and Jihyun on the other hand, just sat beside each other on the grass with books sitting on their laps.

“It’d be winter soon,” Jihyun broke the silence.

“Hmmm,” Yong Joon nodded before turning another page of his book.

“And that means that winter break’s soon too. We could go on a vacation in a tropical country and enjoy the wonderful beaches there,” Jihyun smiled at her imagination.

“That wouldn’t be possible,” Yong Joon retorted.

Jihyun narrowed his eyebrows before turning to him and asking, “Why not?”

“My brother and I have some work to do,” he replied as he turned another page. “We still haven’t paid the tuition for this year.”

“Ahh,” she replied shortly before they were engulfed in silence once more until she suggested, “We could help you, you know.”

“No thanks,” he retorted. “We’re not beggars.”

“I didn’t say you were one,” she whispered sternly under her breath, but as Yong Joon snickered, she knew that the male heard her words.

“Look at those two,” Yong Joon tried to divert the topic. “Their happiness makes me worried.”

“Why?”

“Typical telenovela drama: poor boy and rich girl fell in love.”

“Ahhh,” she sighed yet again and it caught the male’s eyes. The wind was blowing towards their direction and as it carried away some strands of her hair, Yong Joon thought that she was as beautiful as her sister, or maybe even more if not only for the sad gaze in her eyes. She smiled but the sadness remained as she answered, “If they’re brave enough, I think they’d conquer it all.”

As the words tasted bitter in her own lips, Yong Joon smiled to himself as he kept another discovery: Choi Jihyun was also in love with his brother.

At the very least, it didn’t make him jealous. It just made him more worried.

Bae Yong Joon had almost no reason to hate Choi Jiwoo – she was an angel sent from above. Her cunning looks, her positive attitude, and even her