IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM, READ BEFORE OR AFTER THIS CHAPTER.

“You know the drill.” Joonmyeon grinned as he turned his check to the side, his body blocking the door of the passenger seat of his sleek black Mercedes.

“Why are you like this?” I groaned. “Is it not bad enough that you make me get up forty minutes earlier than usual? Why do you subject me to this? I literally can drive myself to school.”

“Hey, you get free coffee from this.” He retorted, tapping on his cheek expectantly. “Cmon now, the longer you take, the longer until you get your nice cold caramel ice coffee.”

“My parents have not left for work yet, what if they see?” I crossed my arms stubbornly, slightly wavering at the thought of my favorite caffeinated drink.  Coffee was truly my kryptonite.

Joonmyeon glanced around innocently, “No one will see. And if they do, who cares? You know they like me. They are practically ready to marry you off to me.”  He grinned as he looked down on me. “Not that I mind so much.”

I glared at him and huffed before getting on my tiptoes to press my lips chastely against his clear and pale cheek.  I could feel his cheeks turn upwards into a smile as he knew he won, like always.

“Yah! Keep your body parts to yourself Park Sora! Why are you harassing nice young men so early in the morning?” A booming voice behind me roared.  I jumped and immediately turned around in shock.  My older brother Mason was standing by the door, a duffle bag in one hand, and a protein bar in the other.  He was leaned up against the frame of the door as he stared at us with a both stern and mischievous expression.

“Why are you still home, Mason? It’s Monday. You were supposed to be gone yesterday night. DId you miss your flight or something?” I groaned, arms planted on my hips as I stared at him accusingly.

“I decided to stay until the morning since I only have one class on Mondays and it’s a lecture so I can skip. I even got a $100 gift certificate for switching my flights because apparently it was overbooked by the airline.” He shrugged as he walked over to us, wiggling his eyebrows. “Plus, I wanted to say bye to your friend here.”

“Ok, then say bye and go away. We are late.”

Joonmyeon watched the two of us, his lips pulled up into an amused smile. “No we’re not.”

“It was really nice to meet you man,” Joonmyeon said as he extended his arm out. “Hope to get to know you better the next time you come back. Maybe Thanksgiving break?”

Mason dropped his duffle bag on the ground and stuck his hand into Joonmyeon’s, “Yeah, of course man.  Next time you should come over and we can catch a game together while we make Sora run around and get us snacks.” Joonmyeon laughed at that while I scowled.

“There won’t be a next time.” I grumbled, slightly moodier than usual without my caffeine fix.

“How do you put up with her?” Mason groaned as he threw an arm around my shoulders. “She is so annoying and mean. There are so many better girls out there that you can bother.”

“Mason, bye.” I yelled before pushing him away from me.

“She’s a little annoying I guess but she’s cute.” Joonmyeon smiled, looking down at me, adoration evident in his gaze.  I blushed slightly and looked down, attempting to cover my reddening face with my hair.

“Alright, get out of here. Don’t be late for school.” Mason said finally, reaching over to ruffle the top of my head before pulling me into a hug, telling me he would be gone before I got back home from school.

“Have a safe flight.” I muttered into his chest. “And please, don’t come back.”

He threw his head back in laughter and hugged me tighter. “I’ll miss you too.”  He then leaned down and whispered into my ear, “And I approve of him.”  He then let me go and waved at us before picking up his duffle and jogging back into the house.

“I love your brother.” Joonmyeon opened the door for me and I grumpily got in, muttering something about how I would be better off just driving myself to school like I usually did before this idiot showed up in my life.

“He loves you too because you’ve both made it your life’s mission to annoy me.”  I rolled my eyes, putting on my seat belt as Joonmyeon got into the driver’s seat.

I was putting my textbooks into my locker after school when a clearly frustrated Joonmyeon ran up to me.  It was after school and I was just about to go meet him at his car so he could drive me home.

I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to say something.

His jaw locked as he looked at me with apologetic eyes, one hand holding a phone up to his ear and I could hear a mumble of quick paced Korean words coming from the speaker.  I was not able to pick up what the other person was saying though. My Korean was not that good, unfortunately.  For some reason my parents thought that me learning Korean as a child would affect my English speaking skills when I went to school so I never became fluent.

He tousled his hair with his free hand and bit his lip, wincing slightly as the voice on the other end of the phone got louder.

“I am so sorry Sora.” He said finally, “Something came up and I really have to go.  I can’t drive you home today.”

I was not really mad, just a little shocked.  I was about to , telling him that I never wanted him to drive me to or from school in the first place and he should let me go back to driving my own car.  But I didn’t say a word because he looked so genuinely guilty, like a cute little puppy that got caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to.

“It’s fine.” I said gently, giving him a reassuring smile. “I can catch a ride with Lena and Kai.”

“Okay.” He sighed in relief, “Get home safe.” He smiled softly, but it did not reach his eyes, his phone still pressed to his ear as he leaned over to swiftly peck my cheek.

I waved and watched as he sprinted down the hallway towards the front of the school.  I hope nothing serious was going on.  I then remembered the time he had to cut our date short because of some family responsibilities and how when he dropped me off he was simultaneously yelling orders into his blue tooth in some foreign language.

I shrugged to myself and decided it was not my business before pulling out my phone and calling Kai, hoping he and Lena have not left the school grounds yet.

“Jeez, when was the last time we hung out after school?” Lena said excitedly, wrapping her arm around my torso and leaning her head on my shoulder as we waited for our drinks at our favorite bubble tea shop.

“Um, last week?” I rolled my eyes, leaning back into the seat, my eyes on Kai who was waiting at the counter for our drinks.

“It really feels so much longer than that.” Lena pouted dramatically, removing her arms off of me, “I love that you have Joonmyeon now but it hurts that we don’t get to spend