“I’m going to kill you Shinwoo!” Choa yelled at him as he dragged her into a nearby restaurant. “What? I know you’re hungry, just sit down and eat with me, will you?” Shinwoo requested. “You’re supposed to ask a person out, not drag them to the location and force them against their will!” Choa replied.

“Well… I knew you would be too shy to say yes so…” Shinwoo rationalized. “Eh? too shy? So if I say no it’s cause I’m being shy? Ever think I just don’t want to go on a date with you? Maybe I don’t even like you!”

“But you already confessed your interest towards me in the cafeteria” Shinwoo reminded, smiling in satisfaction. Choa just rolled her eyes at him in frustration. “Look… I regret using this method… you’re right I should have asked you and just respected your decision but… I really thought you wouldn’t mind… sorry” he said, making Choa only sigh in defeat “fine, I’ll eat with you, but that’s all this is. Not a date, just… two friends eating with each other” Choa said, walking to a table and seating herself.

“Assa!” he cheered in joy. “If I wasn’t dying of hunger I would have kicked you and left so consider yourself lucky” Choa said. “Tell your stomach I said thanks” Shinwoo joked, making Choa laugh.

“You’re going to pay, right?” Choa suddenly questioned, making Shinwoo laugh at how direct she was being “Eh, but I thought this wasn’t a date? Why should I pay?” Shinwoo asked. “Because, this is your invitation and it’s only right for you to pay” Choa said with a mischievous smile on her face. “What are you planning on doing? Ordering 10 bowls of jjajangmyun?” Shinwoo asked nervously. “Maybe” Choa replied.

“Taking you to a restaurant was a bad idea” Shinwoo joked.

Choa was going to go easy on Shinwoo but thought she deserved to order to her hearts desire since after all, it was him who forcefully dragged her to the restaurant and desperately wanted her to eat with him. She ordered 3 bowels of different kinds of noodles, and a serving of calamari and kimbap. Shinwoo wasn’t even going to order for himself since he was sure that Choa wouldn’t be able to eat all of the food by herself.

“Yah, you better order something for yourself” Choa advised. “Eh? But you ordered enough food for three people” Shinwoo said. “Three people? This will barely fill me” Choa lied. “You’re joking” Shinwoo said in doubt, but he decided it was better safe than sorry so he ordered something for himself.

When the food came he looked at Choa in amazement as she immediately picked up her chopsticks and dug in. She ate her food deliciously, not caring about looking pretty. He found her eating state cute and couldn’t help but smile at her.

“Stop staring at me and eat your food before it get’s cold” Choa said, making Shinwoo wake up from his daydream.

After Choa had finished her second bowl of noodles she had to admit she was beginning to get full. “you can’t finish the third one, can you? I knew it” Shinwoo smiled. “The fact you even finished the 2^nd one is amazing alone” Shinwoo laughed.

“Aish, it’s cause I had a big lunch…” Choa made up. “Lies, the food today was gross, I doubt you even finished your food” Shinwoo said.

Choa laughed in defeat “It seriously was gross…I hate wasting food but I couldn’t eat even half of it” Choa admitted. “But we have to finish this together, I already threw out food once today, I can’t do it again” Choa said.

Shinwoo smiled and gave her a nod “ok, I’ll finish it, you finish the calamari, it’s expensive” Shinwoo said, Choa nodding in agreement.

Once they left the restaurant, they both began to walk home together. Choa was going to tell him that they should go their separate ways but since it was getting dark she didn’t want to walk home alone.

“So… are you and Jinyoung still on bad terms?” Choa suddenly asked.

“Huh…oh, yeah. Gongchan and I are in the same boat” Shinwoo replied. “You’re even on bad terms with Baro and Sandeul?” Choa asked curiously. “Hmm… kind of? Not really though since the only reason we aren’t talking to each other is because Baro and Sandeul don’t want to “betray” Jinyoung. They’ve probably forced themselves to believe that Gongchan and I are the bad guys and are therefore continuing to stick with Jinyoung” Shinwoo explained.

“Not really surprised. Jinyoung is really good at playing the victim” Choa sighed. “Yeah…pretty much. But, I’m still curious about what his side of the story is, like how he actually feels about that incident with Ellin and how he feels now…I feel like he’s faking it everyday” Shinwoo voiced.

“Yeah, I see that too. Maybe one day he’ll wake up from this act and start reflecting on himself and maybe get back to who he was a few years ago” Choa said.

“Who was he? I’ve only known him since 10^th grade” Shinwoo asked. “Well… he was still conceited but… in a funny kind of way?” Choa laughed in reminder “he was also really generous, like he’d always deliver food to our houses, it was so random but I was really touched those times. He didn’t do it out of pity or anything, just because he seemed to really enjoy watching our faces light up when we would see the food we liked” Choa smiled.

“Jinyoung did that for you girls?” Shinwoo asked in sock. He couldn’t even wrap his mind around Jinyoung doing something that sweet for the girl’s he now named his worst enemies. “I mean, he use to do that for us too, when we were all close and on good terms, but he always seemed to treat girls coldly” Shinwoo explained.

“Sorry… it seems like us five ruined a really great friendship…” Choa said, suddenly stopping near an intersection “I know I shouldn’t apologize though… but for some reason I still feel a little bad…” Choa sighed.

“Don’t… Jinyoung needs to get his act together and if this is the only way to do it then we should go all out… if Baro and Sandeul would do the same it would make the process run a little faster though” Shinwoo said, annoyed.

“Shinwoo… do you really think Jinyoung could change though? I really don’t see it happening” Choa voiced.

“It’s not like he has to change to a completely different person though, he just needs to admit and accept his mistakes and try to go back to the person he once was” Shinwoo said in a hopeful tone.

“That’s if he was actually being sincere those years he was with us. I mean, he was so easily defeated by his family… If he really loved Ellin then this whole scenario wouldn’t have happened to the level it did” Choa said, making a point.

“I don’t know, Choa…” Shinwoo sighed. “Is this your neighborhood?” he then asked.

“Yeah, my house is right around the corner…I’ll see you tomorrow” Choa said. Choa was about to turn around to leave until she realized she hadn’t done something she needed to do. She was going to slide Money into Shinwoos jacket pocket but forgot to because she was so lost in the conversation; she then came up with a plan.

“Bye Cho-“ Suddenly, Choa hugged Shinwoo tightly, swiftly putting the money in his pocket without notice. She then immediately let go and turned around with a grin on her face. Shinwoo’s expression was a mix of confusion, shock and embarrassment. It took everything in Choa to not burst out laughing at how clueless he was. She then quickly ran home.

It was now the next day and Ellin was slowly walking to school by herself. She couldn’t take her mind off of what Jinyoung had said yesterday, his words kept repeating in her head and it was making her go nuts.

“I have more than an inch of care for you Ellin-ah”

“You know why I can’t just leave your friends alone? It’s because the more I meddle with your friends, the more you pay attention to me”

“That piece of , carelessly saying pretty words purposely so I feel like this” Ellin said, clenching her fist in anger. Suddenly, Ellin heard someone quietly call her name.

It was Jinyoung.

“Aish” she cursed under her breath. She immediately turned around and continued to walk to school, this time quickening her pace.

“Ellin-ah” Jinyoung called in a louder voice. He ran in front of her and stopped her in her tracks. “What the hell is wrong with you? Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?” Ellin raged.

“Since when did I ever listen to you when you told me to leave you alone?” Jinyoung replied.

Ellin rolled her eyes at him in annoyance. “Oh right, I forgot. You only know how to do as you please and still expect others to do what you want” Ellin laughed, she was beginning to get riled up at the thought “Like when your family called me names and told me to never see you again, I was expected to just cut you out of my life and erase all the memories we had with each other. That was hard enough to take on its own but then you had to go and meddle with me and my friends’ lives…so how the was I suppose to forget you existed?!” Ellin screamed, tears beginning to stream down her face. She had reached her peak; she was so angry and irritated by everything that was going on.

Jinyoung stood there, breathless and at a loss of words. He suddenly fell to his knees.

“What the-“ Ellin said trying to grasp what he was doing.

“Ellin I’m sorry” he suddenly apologized “get up you idiot!” Ellin yelled. She leaned down and tried to pull him up but he was too heavy “Screw this… I’m leaving” she said coldly. She turned around and left him there, her heart aching in pain.

“So, how was your first date with Choa yesterday?” Gongchan asked Shinwoo at his locker. “It was good actually, I had to beg her to not leave though” Shinwoo said with a laugh. “Sounds like typical Choa to me” Gongchan said with a smile. “Yup” Shinwoo said, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

“Huh... what’s this” Shinwoo said, taking his hands out. “I don’t recall putting $30 in here” Shinwoo said, confused.

“How much did you pay yesterday?” Gongchan asked, as if he knew what was going on. “$60…” Shinwoo replied.

“Whoa, $60 of food? For two people? Didn’t you guys go to the restaurant by our school, it’s not THAT expensive…” Gongchan asked in surprise. “Yeah well… Choa wanted to show me her eating skills so…” Shinwoo chuckled. 

“Anyways, that money is Choa’s buddy. Can’t believe you made her pay for half of the bill” Gongchan joked, knowing that it was Choa who snuck the money into his pockets without his knowledge.

“Eh?! I paid for it all, what are you talking ab- wait… she- she snuck it in!” Shinwoo finally realized. “Yeah, now we’re on the same track” Gongchan said, continuing to laugh at Shinwoo’s dumbfounded expression.

“But when did she sneak it in then?” Shinwoo thought for a moment “the random hug… I knew it was too good to be true” Shinwoo muttered, making Gongchan laugh hysterically. “Wow, Choa really is something, isn’t she?”

As Gongchan continued to laugh, Baro was overhearing their whole conversation without their knowledge. “I have to tell Sandeul and Jinyoung” he thought.

Happy New Year!