Everyone was already seated at the table except for Hyun Joong who was doing the final preparations for their meal and Sun Mi who was helping plate the food. Hyung Jun and Jung Min finally stopped fighting after Kyu Jong scolded them for breaking one of the restaurant chairs in the middle of their scuffle earlier.Jaime sat between her best friend and her twin. She wanted to talk to Young Saeng but it seemed that he and Jung Min were discussing something serious so she decided to just wait and played with Hyung Jun instead. 

 

“Food is ready!” Hyun Joong ,who had been missing in action for most of the evening ,finally came out of the kitchen pushing a cart full of food and everyone cheered . Sun Mi was right behind him carrying two bottles of red wine. Kyu Jong went over to help Sun Mi with the bottles and set them on the table before going back to his seat. 

 

“Finally! My stomach has been complaining for the past 30 minutes. Why so slow? Do you have incompetent chefs here Kyu Jong hyung?” Jung Min being the diva that he is started complaining. 

 

“Ya! Who are you calling incompetent? Would you like me to feed you grass instead?” said Hyun Joong. 

“Hey, Iwas just kidding!” Jung Min raised both of his hands in surrender.

 

“You better be …because I’ve heard you did nothing but annoy people all night”. Jung Min pouted then Hyun Joong grabbed a carrot from one of the plates and shoved it in Jung Min’s mouth, “here have a carrot and shut up.”

 

Jung Min nodded and gave him a thumb’s up. 

Hyun Joong went over to Jamie and hugged her. “Welcome back Princess!”he said to her before sitting down next to Kyu Jong. 

 

“Thank you Oppa! This looks delicious!” Jamie said admiring the feast set on the table. 

 

“Try this first,” Hyun Joong placed a plate of fancy looking salad roll wrapped in rice paper, “I know how much you love salads and crabs so I made crab salad roll for you.”

 

“Waaahh! This is great Oppa! Is this your own recipe?”

 

Hyun Joong looked up at the ceiling and was quiet for a whilebefore turning to Jaime and said “Aniyo … I just saw it in Asian Food Channel and went to the internet to get the recipe”.

 

Thewhole table shook with laughter upon hearing Hyun Joong’s reply. 

 

“Ya! What kind of chef are you? Why are you still copying recipes from AFC!” Young Saeng told Hyun Joong.

 

“Kyu Jong called late and I didn’t have a menu prepared. It’s hard to make up something you know!”

 

“Well, I don’t care if it’s an original recipe or copied. Hyun Joong Oppa’s food always tastes great!” Jamie said grinning atHyun Joong. 

 

While enjoying dinner, they separated into different pairs and talkedabout different things. Jung Min who was sitting next to Young Saeng was discussinghis upcoming English album. Hyun Joong and Kyu Jong talked aboutpossible expansion plans for the restaurant while Sun Mi quietly listened to them. The twins are playing a game of who can pick up the most food withtheir chopstick sand put it in their mouth without anything falling off . The current score isa tie and it was Jamie’s turn. S he was about to put the food inher mouth to seal her victory when Hyung Jun kicked her chair causing everything to fall off from her chopsticks. 

 

“Gaaah! You are such a cheater!” Jamie threw her chopstick s at Hyung Jun who almost felloff his chair from laughing. 

 

“I never said I play fair my dear sister.”

 

Jamie rolled her eyes at Hyung Jun then picked up her glass of iced tea from the table and took a sip. She glanced towards her left where Young Sa eng was sitting with his back turned away from her and talking to Jung Min. From her line of vision she could also see Jung Min who was facing Young Saeng. He saw herlooking at him and winked. Jamie sneered at Jung Min then looked away. 

Young Saeng saw Jung Min wink at someone behind him and he turned around to see who it was. He realized that Jamie was sitting next to him so he thought that she may have been the one Jung Min was winking at.

 

“What are you doing?” he asked Jung Min. For some reason he was starting to get annoyed at Jung Min for teasing Jaime.

 

“Nothing!” Jung Min saidlooking elsewhere and feigning innocence.  

 

“Will you stop teasingher please? You’ve done nothing but irritate hersince the two of you met.” 

 

“Why are you being so sensitive? I was trying to be nice to her! I want to be her friend too.Wait, are you jealous? ” asked Jung Min. Young Saeng glared at him.

 

“You think you could achieve that by winking at her?”

 

“Jung Min sighed. “You’re her best friend, you tell me what to do.”

 

Young Saeng just shook his head at Jung Min. “You know what, come by my studio tomorrowafteroon so we can start with the first song.” He patted Jung Min’s shoulder and stood up. 

 

The others have also finished eating and Sun Mi started cleaning up the table with the help of Kyu Jong and Jamie. 

 

“Yo! Jung Min and I are going out for some drinks, who wants to come?” Hyung Jun asked the others. 

 

“I do! But I have to clean up in the kitchen first. You boys go ahead, just call me where you are and I’ll follow!” Hyun Joong said running back into the kitchen.

 

“I’ll pass. I have to take Sun Mi home,” Kyu Jong said.

 

“What about you, Young Saeng?” 

 

“Nah, I don’t feel like drinking tonight. Thank you for the invitation though”

 

Hyung Jun turned to Jung Min who was waiting by the door and said “I guess it’s just you,me and Hyun Joong hyung but he has to stay behind for a while . Let’s take your car.”

 

“What? Why mine ? Your Ferrari is definitely flashier than my very humble vintage Ford Mustang …”

 

“We’re gonna go drinking Jung Min! And if we get too drunk to drive on our way home I don’t want to scratch my car, or worse … wreck it.”

 

“So you think it’s better to wreck mine?Are you crazy? It’s vintage! I had a hard time looking for that certain model! ”

 

“Aish! Fine let’s take my car but you drive … I’m too lazy right now.” Hyung Jun said tossing the car keys to Jung Min.

 

“Jinja? You’re really going to let me drive your car?” A grinning Jung Min caught the keys and went over to Hyung Jun to feel his forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

 

Hyun Jun slapped Jung Min’s hand away, “Yah! Do you want to drive or we’ll just stay here?”

 

“Aah …Fine! Fine! By the way, you didn’t invite Jamie …”

“You are already a handful when you get drunk,” Hyung Jun said as they walked out the restaurant.

 

“Yet you let me drive your car …” Jung Min said in a low voice.

 

“Aish! I’ll drive on the way home … besides Jamie is ten times worstwhen drunk . So no,I did not invite her. I do not want to have to take care of you and carry her on the way home. Kyu Jong hyung will murder me. I’m pretty sure she and Young Saeng are going somewhere else that’s why he stayed behind. He doesn’t like it either when Jamie drinks”

 

“You know, you can also tell me that you don’t want her to drink with me…”Jung Min said as they w alked over to Hyung Jun’s Ferrari that was parked in front of their house. He pressed a button on the remote to unlock the doors. 

 

“Well, that’s another reason … you guys will just fight“. Hyun Jung said as he got on the passenger seat. Jung Min got in on the driver’s side and started the engine.

 

“So … do you have any good place in mind?”

 

◊

 

“So how do you find Hyung Jun’s best friend?” Young Saeng had no idea why he asked Jaime that question but he just did.

 

“Pshhh…” Jaime just smirked.

 

“You really don’t like Jung Min,huh ?” 

 

They were walking on their way to a Ben and Jerry’sice cream parlor a few streets from the restaurant. Kyu Jong took Sun Mi home while the other boys went drinking. Young Saeng wanted to spend some time with Jamie so he invited her out to get some ice cream, just like what they always doin their high school days. 

 

“Well, I won’t say that really. I guess we just started off at the wrong foot. I hope he’s not as annoying as I think he is.” Young Saeng chuckled. Jung Min is annoying and everything else, he knows for sure. 

 

“You were talking to him a lot this evening,” Jaime continued talking as they crossed the street, Young Saeng was careful to watch the traffic on both sides. “What were you discussing? You both looked so serious.”

 

“I’ll be producing his English album so we were talking about the creative process, recording schedules, finances … you know, the works.” 

 

“I see. How can you stand working with him? It seems like he always has something to say or argue about. I don’t even understand how he and Hyung Jun are best friends ... they fight like Tom and Jerry!”

 

“He’s not such a bad guy Jamie. I’ve known him for 5 years. He may be irritating at times but he is really a softie. He even cries for babies and animals!”

 

“Huh … well I’ll have to see for myself. Why are we even talking about him? This is our moment right?” Jamie grabbed onto Young Saeng’s arm and held onto him. 

 

“Indeed.” 

 

He smiled at Jamie and put his arm around her shoulders as they turned the corner to another street. He liked this, the two of them together just like those times when he visits her in Florida. Because of his job as a music producer, he often travels to the states for recording sessions with other artists. For every trip he makes sure that he makes time to see Jamie. He’s glad that they were able to maintain their closeness over the years despite the distance.Like how he has his arm on her shoulders right now, they looked like a couple but they weren’t, and they don’t feel awkward about it. 

There was just one problem, and Jamie doesn’t know about it. He’s still contemplating if he should let her know or not. He was scared it would ruin their friendship. She’s the only girl he has ever been close to and with her he didn’t feel the need to hide anything, except for that one thing.

 

Although they’ve known each other since Kindergarten, they only became best friends since 5thgrade. He, the shy young boy who was always playing the piano and never talked too much, and she, was always the darling of the crowd. Everybody just adored her. 

 

One day while he was practicing playing on the piano inside the music room, the sound of a door opening and shutting distracted him. He looked up from the piano and saw a girl with pigtails enter the room. He recognized her as his friend Hyung Jun’s twin. Since he was always shy he never had the chance to talk to her, even when he comes by their house because of Hyung Jun.He noticed that she was locking the door. 

 

“Ya! Mworago?”

 

The girl held her finger in front of her lips, signaling him to be quiet. Moments later the door knob started shaking and female voices could be heard from the other side. Soon the shaking stopped and the voices disappeared. The girl turned to him and smiled. “Thank you!” she said before turning around to open the door. She opened the door and was about to leave when he stopped her. 

 

“Wait!"

 

She stopped and looked at him. “Aren’t you Hyung Jun’s twin? I never knew your name” Young Saeng said shyly scratching his head.

 

“That’s funny. You’re always in our house but he never told you my name?”

 

Young Saeng just shrugged. Even he didn’t know why Hyung Jun never introduced him to his twin. 

 

“That pabo …” she said chuckling. She walked towards him and held out her hand. “My name is Hyun Jae. But you can call me Jamie…”

 

“EARTH TO YOUNG SAENG! DO YOU COPY?!”

 

Young Saeng was brought back to the present when he felt Jamie shaking his arm.

 

“Eh?”

 

“Where did you run off to? I asked you three times what flavor you wanted and you were just staring off into space” Jaime said, shaking her head. He looked around and realized that they had already arrived at Ben and Jerry’s. 

 

“Mianhe, I was just thinking about something” he said.

 

“Seriously dude, you got to stop spacing out like that, it’s creepy,” Jaime told him while looking at the list of flavors displayed on the counter. “So which flavor do you want?” she asked, pointing at the different flavored ice cream tubs in the cooler. His eyes zoned on the tub with a bright pink colored ice cream.

 

“Strawberry”

 

Jamie looked at him in almost a comical way. “Seriously?!”

 

“What’s wrong with strawberry?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know … don’t most guys usually pick flavors like Vanilla or Pistachio, Chocolate Peppermint or something? Plus, strawberry is pink … most dudes don’t go for that"

 

Young Saeng faced Jamie, looked at her in the eye and gave her a dimpled smile. “I’m not most guys Jamie. You’ve been living in America too long…”

 

Jamie gave him a mischievous look and said “Are you flirting with me?”

 

Young Saeng was surprised with this question. Did he really look like he was flirting? Was he? He suddenly stepped back and waved his hands in front of him. 

 

“Aniyo! I was just saying that there’s nothing wrong with a guy eating strawberry ice cream!” His face suddenly felt hot and he could feel a blush rising up his cheeks.

 

Jaime laughed at Young Saeng’s facial expression. "I love strawberries Saengie … but you used to hate them right?”

 

“I loved strawberries ever since you taught me how to eat them.” He glanced sideways at Jamie who was still deciding what flavor to choose. 

 

“You need a girlfriend, Saeng …” she said without looking at him. She settled with the Boston Cream Pie flavored ice cream. They reached for their cones and walked over to a small table in the corner of the ice cream parlor. 

 

“On the contrary …” Young Saeng said as they settled in their seats, “I don’t need a girlfriend. I already have you.”

 

Jamie smiled. Why does she have a feeling that Young Saeng was trying to tell her something? She decided to shrug it off and continued to finish her ice cream. They were quiet for a few minutes. Then she looked in front of her and started laughing.

 

“You know, you’re supposed to that and not just let it melt into your hands right?”

 

Young Saeng was caught spacing out (or staring at Jaime) again and didn’t realize that his ice cream had started to melt. 

 

“Omo!” He immediately reached for the tissues and wiped the melted cream from his hands. 

 

“Here, let me help” Jaime who had already finished hers took some tissues and started wiping Young Saeng’s hand. He smiled and started to eat his ice cream before it started melting again. “You’re awfully quiet today Saeng, is there a problem?”

 

“Oh .. aniyo. I think I’m just a little tired” he said. Jaime just smiled. He shamelessly stared at her while she continued to clean his hands.

 

The longer her hands were holding his, the faster the beating of his heart. Will he ever have the strength to tell her?