“It isn’t your fault.” She bravely looked at him in the eyes and said the words with contemplation. Yoseob fully knew that she had something to say and aside from that, he knew she was lying. His eyebrows knitted as his eyes pleaded, wanting to know an answer. After a long pause, he decided to tell her himself.

He couldn’t even look at those eyes anymore. “It’s us.”

Yuna tried to lighten up the atmosphere. “Do all breakups end like this?” Amidst of the heavy feeling, his short chuckle somewhat lifted her spirits.

“Don’t make me hug you.” Her smile disappeared with those words. She stepped back from him and reached for the doorknob, fighting off the instinct of giving in his request. The disappointed Yoseob did nothing but put his arms to where they were before.

“Thank you,” Yuna whispered, Yoseob barely even hearing it, although the movement of her lips suggested that she acknowledged him. He wondered what it is for, but the wave of reality shook Yoseob internally. Absentmindedly walking to his dog’s cage, he picked up Yanggaengi and buried his eyes on his soft fur. He tried to be brave, at least, up to his bed, with his puppy in his arms. His eyes were shut, and every time he breathed out tears soaked the side of his pillow. He did not remember how his pet managed to free itself from him grasp, but Yoseob could feel Yanggaengi roaming around him. At least, he thought, his canine companion could ease him up. Soju won’t help, and neither would be telling other people about what happened, since he feared that he couldn’t help if his story will be one-sided.

“I cared too much.” He managed to croak after putting down his puppy on the floor and lying on the other side of the bed. Just like Dongwoon said, ‘catharsis always feels good,’ but that night Yoseob slept without any emotion on his face, in contrast of the constant smile that was on his face every night after reading his now ex-girlfriend’s messages.

The moment he closed his eyes, Yuna stood from where she was sitting on and climbed down the emergency stairs of Yoseob’s apartment’s building, unknowingly sharing the feeling of relief with the sleeping Yoseob.

 

“And, I always lose.” Yuna threw the game controller on the empty spot of the sofa.

“Did you purposely lose for the consequence?” Yoseob asked, putting his own controller down. His tilting face slowly came closer to her as his eyes turned their attention on her lips. “Hm? What is it then?”                      

Yuna backed off. “To be honest, the idea of you cooking if I win is actually stupid, since you .” Yoseob darted on her and lightly grasped her shoulders, the gap between their bodies quite far, but the opposite on their lips. Yuna’s mouth curved upwards as she pulled him closer by encircling her arms on his neck. She abruptly broke it off as Yoseob toppled on her.

He raised one eyebrow and smirked at the woman under him. “Where were we?” Yoseob teased, and lips lead the way again, this time on her neck. She ruffled his hair and tugged them afterwards as she eyed him. Yuna cornered both sides of his jaw line with her fingers and kissed him fully on the lips, softer than before. She felt his head tilting from side to side and laughed to herself; her version the messing of his hair.

He whistled in awe after his lips left hers and laid on the sofa. Yoseob’s arm found its way on her waist, the other smoothing her hair and swaying it on one side. Yuna did the same as well, one arm on his chest as the other hand flipped his bangs up and down.

“What’s up with our hair ?” Yuna asked.

“Not to mention our arm positions.” Yoseob added. He found her random and somewhat odd remarks adorable. “Hey,” he positioned her head on the crook of his neck, feeling her cry on his skin. “What’s the matter?” He followed up but Yuna didn’t verbally response, making him shake her. Finally she said ‘I love you,’ and Yuna managed to chuckle in the middle of her sob.

“You don’t usually cry right?” Yoseob adjusted their position so they could be more comfortable and faced her closer, his eyes softly looking at hers. “I love you too. Please know that, and thank you for being so brave all the time.”

“You’re welcome!” She enthusiastically replied. Yoseob felt more relieved as he saw her smile radiantly lighting up her face.

“More than that,” he calmly said and rested his head on her arm as his thumb wiped off her tears. “Thank you for being my first fan.”

“I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t your first admirer.”

“Well, I don’t know how to call it! I see you every time we have a major event.”

“But that’s because I was in high school back then and money isn’t easy to come across with. More fans are richer than me so they see you guys anytime.”

“Yuna, love, stop degrading yourself. It’s unhealthy.” He said with a straight face, which made her wonder how he said such words without showing any facial expression. Yoseob knew he caught her off guard again when he saw her paying no attention at him and instead opted to play with her neckpiece.

         

“That necklace will look good on you!” A hooded man no taller than Yuna literally made her jump from her spot. She was alerted by his presence and shooed him off the store immediately.

“Don’t worry, there are no fans out here except for you, and my car’s really near here–“

“No!” She pointed at him, surprising the both of them with her tone and manner, but she calmed down afterwards. “Yoseob, you aren’t supposed to be here.”

“I know, but since you were the last person earlier and I’m going to the same direction as you are anyway, so I followed you.”  

“A-ah, I see.” The star struck Yuna replied with embarrassment.     

“Want an Americano after you choose your boyfriend’s gift?” Yoseob crossed his arms and looked at her intently. “Why would a taken girl be a fan of a group of idols?”

She decided to play along while her eyes roamed from each glass case to another. “I don’t know, although he sings as good as you are.”

“He’s probably a musical actor.”

“He will be, and right now he’s a music major.”

“Cool.” Yoseob sighed, brushing off the idea that he was the described person.

“Help me pick something for him,” she requested, and he randomly pointed at a flat, chained silver necklace on her left. “Nice choice, Yoseob. Dog tags never go out of style.”

“Dog tags? Seriously?”

“Says here you can have free engraving of names.” Yuna read out loud the tag. She paid for the two necklaces, went to the engraving process corner, and immediately wore hers. The heat from the metal made her jump again, distracting Yoseob from what he was looking at and smiled to himself.

“Your blood type’s A positive right?” She asked and he nodded absentmindedly. They exited the store as Yoseob thought that he made a grave mistake of heading out for takeout coffee with a girl who was already dating somebody else.

“A latte for me and an Americano for you…” Yuna double-checked. The plan was she’d buy the drinks instead of going to the café together, since she feared that the place still had teenagers and young adults around. It was a good thing that nobody noticed them or at least went up to him to ask for a photo or question her if she was his girlfriend. Moreover, Yuna wasn’t taking any risks anymore.

“You aren’t drinking yours?” She eyed the steaming drink nestled in his cup holder. He shook his head, and proceeded on talking with her. Her drink ran out, which Yoseob noticed, and handed her his.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Yuna told the truth in the midst of their conversation with him and handed out the second dog tag to him. “I know many fans gave you lots of necklaces already, and I didn’t really plan to see you tonight and–“

He turned, wanting her to clasp the necklace for him. “Do you really talk that fast? That’s why nobody’s dating you.”

“I don’t plan on dating someone since I’m in senior high, and honestly, that’s very insulting.” Yoseob threw a fit of laughter in response. He drove her home and when he arrived at his, he howled and continuously patted the driving wheel. First, for knowing where she lived, and second, for forgetting to get her number.

His plan of spending time with her ultimately succeeded, since he never drank anything with caffeine ever since he signed his contract with Cube.

         

          “Why are we hanging out in Itaewon at this time of night?” Yuna naively asked her older brother as he sat with a tray of the McDonald’s food that they ordered.

“Your awesome brother’s treat, since he earned himself a precious Tucson!”

“That’s it?”

“You think that buying a car is cheap?” He questioned her.

“No, but treating me to somewhere fancier is better. How about–” both siblings looked at each other and automatically picked up their food as a crowd began to gather up around a street performance by masked people, all wearing black. Her brother is a big fan of the dance genre, and he showed his appreciation for their almost-perfect performance a lot of times through howls and claps. They caught up on them with their food-covered arms and managed to have a small chat while the two parties walked in a quick pace.

“You were far out!” Yuna’s brother said, but the person whom he was conversing with paid little attention on him and had his eyes on what he was carrying. Yuna grabbed her brother’s chicken sandwich and gave it to the blonde boy who looked thirteen. The others looked at them too, and she decided to give all to them as well.

“You did good.” She said to the thirteen-year-old, although when she arrived at home and came searched about them on the internet, she knew she embarrassed herself for treating him, actually an eighteen-year-old, her dongsaeng.

“Thank you.” The blonde boy said before sliding the van door. He saw her replying ‘anytime’ through the dark tint of the car window.