One morning, Jieun woke up extra early. She didn't need her usual alarm clock to wake her up. She looked out the window, wiggled her toes in bed, then got off her bed. She went to the bathroom to wash up, but stopped when she saw the kitchen.

Oh, that's right, she thought. What should I make for Hyunwoo? Should I—she stopped her trail of thoughts—Oh wait. I forgot. Hyunwoo is no longer in the picture.

Jieun inhaled through her nose, then tried to pull herself together by slapping both of her cheeks at the same time. She pumped her fist, then scurried over to the bathroom to freshen up and make her meal.

"Hello? Earth to Jieun!"

Jieun snapped out of her thoughts, then looked up. She saw Dasom pouting at her desk, while Eunji and Junhee stood behind her.

"Huh? Oh…" Jieun glanced at the clock, then quickly got up. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it was lunch time!"

"It's not," Dasom said. She frowned. "School ended."

Jieun's eyes widened. "What? That's impossible!"

"It's possible," Junhee said. "Surprisingly, you got through the entire day without getting caught." She turned to her friends. "You should've seen the way she looked. She had her pencil her hand and her eyes were glued to the board. Sometimes her hand would move like she was writing something, but Chanyeol told me that her pencil was dull and that the page she had opened was yesterday's notes."

"Jieun, are you okay?" Eunji asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go home," Jieun said, grabbing her bag. She was about to walk outside until her friends all stared at her. "What?"

"What happened to 'I'm going home with Hyunwoo' or 'Let's go home with Hyunwoo' or—"

"I thought I told you guys that I decided to distance myself from him," Jieun said, blinking her eyes.

Everyone gave her a look. Suddenly, Dasom snatched the journal from Eunji's hand and flipped through the pages. She quickly pointed at Jieun's latest entry.

"Jieun, you said that Hyunwoo 'officially rejected' you. What's that supposed to mean? He always rejected you," Dasom pointed out.

"It's just what it says," Jieun said, forcing a smile. "I've decided that I'm going to toughen myself up and change."

Dasom dropped her jaws. "Okay, I understand if you want to change yourself, but you can't change yourself in an instant."

"Technically, it's possible," Junhee muttered. "Love makes you do weird things."

"No, it isn't—"

"Junhee's right, Dasom," Jieun interrupted. "Hyunwoo is no longer in the picture. That's it."

Dasom curled up her fingers. "You're telling me that you're just giving up on a boy you've been chasing for years?"

"Exactly." Jieun forced another smile. "I'm glad we had this talk, Dasom. I'm glad you're starting to understand."

"No, I don't understand!" Dasom exclaimed. She quickly pulled out her phone and began to dial a number. She reached over and grabbed Jieun's wrist while dragging her out of the room. Before she officially disappeared with Jieun, she turned to Junhee and Eunji. "Hey, I'm sorry, but I need to have a long and private talk with this girl. We'll walk home next time, okay?"

Eunji and Junhee exchanged glances, then shrugged their shoulders at Dasom. Dasom smiled at them and stormed out of the door.

The two girls who were left alone stared out the window, waiting to see Dasom and Jieun outside. When they saw them heading out of the school gates, they were surprised to see that Dasom was grabbing onto one boy's collar. 

Junhee squinted her eyes before snapping her fingers. "Oh, that guy is the love expert guy."

"The love expert guy?" Eunji repeated.

"Yeah. I think he was Myungsoo's friend?"

"Oh, then that means he's an acquaintance of Dasom, right?"

"Probably," Junhee said. "Come on, let's go outside. Maybe we'll meet Byunghun or Taemin."

"I think Taemin said that he had to do some stuff for the teachers. Byunghun texted me and said that he had last-minute practice to do," Eunji told her. She paused. "Do you think something happened between Hyunwoo and Jieun?"

"Those two? Probably, but I'm sure that it's only Jieun who's affected. How's Hyunwoo? The same I bet, right?" asked Junhee.

Eunji pressed her lips together and avoided Junhee's stare. "Um… Not quite."

"What?" Junhee frowned. "Impossible. You're telling me that Hyunwoo's not okay?"

"Well, he's been showing some signs of…weakness, I suppose," Eunji said, unable to find the right words.

"Like what?"

"Mm… I can't really explain it, but it seems like when Jieun suddenly stopped bothering him, he realized that it was more harder to be at school being alone than having Jieun around," Eunji said. 

"I don't get it."

"Um… Okay, so you know how Jieun always makes Hyunwoo breakfast and lunch?" Junhee nodded. "Well, since she stopped that, he's been cranky and he's been thinking more about food than his studies."

"What? There are plenty of other girls who gives him food. That's no reason to pity him," Junhee said, scoffing.

"But the thing is, apparently Hyunwoo is really picky. He won't eat something if it's too salty or too sweet or too bitter or too much of anything."

"Okay, now he's just being spoiled."

"I don't think so."

"What do you mean by that?"

Eunji gazed up at the ceiling. "Well, there was a time that Jieun made some sweets for him with the same exact ingredients she got from this cookbook. The thing is, I saw another girl who made the same sweets with the same cookbook, but he said that it 'tasted different' and he didn't eat it."

Junhee blinked her eyes. "So you're trying to say that he wants the food that Jieun makes?"

Eunji didn't say anymore. She only let out a small chuckle and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You know, this is probably all in my head," Eunji said. "Forget it. Let's go home. I'm pretty sure those two will be fine."

"How about you?" Eunji stopped her tracks and turned around, finding Junhee staying still and giving her a serious look. "Are you going to be fine?"

Eunji forced a smile. "What do you mean? I'm always fine…"

"Give me more chocolate cake! Oh, and I think I want the coffee cake, too."

"Jieun, we didn't come to the desert shop for nothing. We're here to talk," Dasom said, emphasizing the last word as she pulled the cake away from Jieun.

Jieun pouted. "So we come to the desert shop not to eat desert, but to have a little chit chat. Nope, that doesn't sound like the purpose of coming to the desert shop."

Dasom groaned and looked at Baekhyun. "Will you help me out here?"

"Look, I was dragged here after you hit me on the head and grabbed me by the collar. I have no idea what's going on except for the fact that your friend here is eating up my wallet," Baekhyun said.

"Yeah, I don't understand why we're here, either," Jieun stated innocently.

"We're here because we need to talk about Jieun's relationship with Hyunwoo," Dasom said.

"What? Did they break up?" Baekhyun asked.

"I only took Baekhyun's advice," Jieun said.

"Yeah, and that was a terrible advice," Dasom told her. "Jieun, you can't just give up on this love."

"Why? You always thought it was annoying, didn't you?" Jieun asked her.

"I didn't—"

"So she gave up? Great!" Baekhyun exclaimed. "That's what she needs to do! She needs to give up and move on."

"Without accomplishing anything? Look, she's been crushing on this guy for years. She probably liked Hyunwoo longer than Myungsoo liked me!" Dasom cried out.

Jieun sighed. "Dasom, I appreciate your opinions, but I think it's best if you stay out. It was just a small fling. Get over it."

"A fling?" Dasom looked at Baekhyun with disbelief. "Can you hear her? She's saying all the wrong stuff!" She turned back to Jieun. "What exactly happened that led you to this decision?"

"Nothing!" Jieun said, raising her voice a bit. "Nothing happened, okay? I just want to give up. It's pointless to keep loving someone if you don't make a dent in that love."

"No. I won't take that kind of answer. What. Happened."

Jieun sank a bit lower in her seat, then started to play with the chocolate crumbs on her plate. She glanced up at Dasom, only to see her furiously looking down at her. She looked at Baekhyun for help, but he was too amused with the situation to even help her out. She finally let out a heavy sigh, then tried her best to explain what she remembered.

"I messed up," Jieun said. "Somewhere along the line, I messed up."

"Well, you mess up a lot—"

"I hurt him," she blurted. Dasom carefully lookout Jieun, examining her teary expression. "I hurt him to the point where he told me he hated me."

Dasom wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she didn't dare to press on.

"What did you do to hurt him?" Baekhyun asked bluntly. Dasom shot him a glare and stomped on his foot, causing the poor boy to cry out in pain. "Ow! That hurts!"

"Shut up," Dasom muttered, narrowing her eyes. "Can't you see that she's very sensitive at this moment?"

"No, he's right. You deserve to know," Jieun said. She sighed. "Well, I guess I just realized how much I annoyed him."

"I don't take that. I don't believe in that."

"I do," Baekhyun said.

"Baekhyun!"

"Look, the girl moved on! This is a good opportunity, Dasom. Think about it! Now she'll find a better guy!"

"I won't let her give up on this love. I know that it's not the best kind of approach, but she really likes him and I don't believe that she moved on after a day's worth of thinking." Dasom looked at Jieun. "Jieun, please. Tell me what happened."

Jieun looked down at her cake. "Can I just skip to the point that really hurt me?"

"Heck no—"

"Absolutely," Dasom said, interrupting Baekhyun's words. "You can skip everything."

"…Hyunwoo said that he hates me," Jieun said quietly. She bit her bottom lip. "He said that he hates me."

"Well, we kind of got that already," Baekhyun said.

"But it was the first time he said that," she told them. "It was the first time he actually said that. Even if he did hate me, he never said it."

"True. It was always implied," Dasom muttered, nodding her head. She quickly sat next to Jieun and gave her a small hug. "I'm sorry that you had to hear that."

"And I'm sorry that you're getting hooked up over something like that," Baekhyun said, scoffing.

Dasom narrowed her eyes. "Baekhyun, would you stop being a jerk and give her some kind of advice—"

"Look, I still think that giving up on Hyunwoo was for the best," Baekhyun said, "but if she's giving up because Hyunwoo told her that he hated her… Well, that's just plain stupid."

"How on earth is that stupid?" Dasom cried out loud.

"What do you think Myungsoo had to go through every time you flat-out told him how much you hate him?" Baekhyun pointed out. "He still pursued it silently." He turned to Jieun. "If you're giving up because he said he hates you, well then frankly, you weren't really in love with him at all."

Dasom tried to defend Jieun, but she couldn't. Baekhyun had a good point. Myungsoo was definitely the one who had suffered every time Dasom said she hated him. However, he always loved her and even managed to get his feelings across.

Jieun, who slowly started to understand Dasom's silence, only made a small smile to herself. 

"It's just not meant to be," Baekhyun added again. "You're better off finding someone else, and he's better off looking for some other girl."

Dasom kept very quiet. Her eyes moved around the table as if she was looking for a better solution on the table. Suddenly, she shook her head and made a small fist.

"Nope. I still don't accept this," Dasom said. She looked at Jieun eye-to-eye. "This was definitely not meant to be. Jieun, you work hard. You might've not worked the right way, but you do work hard." She reached for Jieun's hands. "You know what love is best. You know what love is more than me. How else could you pursue the same love for years and years? The only problem is, you can't control it. You can't control how it's convey. I bet that if you properly talk to Hyunwoo, then he'd understand!" Dasom looked at Baekhyun. "I think you know that, too, right?"

Baekhyun looked away and sipped his drink. "Well, it's not my intentions to understand that…"

Dasom turned back to Jieun. "If anything, I think you should and talk to him. Do things properly."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Jieun asked, scowling a bit.

Dasom paused for a second before speaking. "Do what all the other girls do."

Jieun widened her eyes. "What?"

"Talk to Hyunwoo privately, with no intentions of jumping on him or going stalker-mode."

"Okay, but how am I supposed to do that? It's my personality to jump on him and to cuddle with him."

"Tell him how you feel."

"I always did that—"

"Properly."

Jieun frowned. "Again, with the 'proper' word. how do I do things 'properly'?"

"Just do it like how you wouldn't do it," said Baekhyun. 

"So don't be myself?" Jieun said, reinterpreting his words.

"No, nothing like that!" exclaimed Dasom. "Just act… honest." She smiled at Jieun. "Be you, but be careful."

"You are confusing me more than ever, Dasom," Jieun told her.

Dasom and Baekhyun exchanged looks. How could they try to tell Jieun to be like herself, but to not be like herself?

"I think what she needs," Dasom finally said, "is some time."

"I think what she needs," Baekhyun said, "is to give some time in their relationship."

"I think a couple of years is a lot of time," Dasom said.

"I think those couple of years had to progress," Baekhyun retorted back.

"Honestly, do you have to lead this match-making business?"

"It was my match-making business. I'm the god of romance here."

"You're the god of reason right now. I'm the goddess of romance," Dasom said. She turned back to Jieun. "Go find Hyunwoo and properly talk to him. Properly convey your feelings."

Jieun scowled again. "Like I've been trying to say, what's 'proper'?"

Dasom only gave Jieun a small smile. "You should know what proper is, Jieun. You will know once you start asking and try to listen."

After the small chat, Jieun left Baekhyun and Dasom alone to talk things out about Dasom's feelings. She went ahead and headed straight back to the apartment, where she planned to finish her homework.

Which reminds me, she started to think, when was the last time I properly sat down and did homework with the group? I should go and call to see if anyone wants to do homework with me.

As she got onto the elevator, someone quickly intercepted the door by sticking out their hand. Panicking, Jieun rushed over to the buttons and held the button with the two arrows facing against each other. She looked up, ready to ask if the person was alright until she saw his face.

"Oh, Jieun," Hyunwoo said, blinking his eyes. He stepped back for a minute, but when he decided that Jieun wasn't going to jump on him, he slowly walked into the elevator.

"Hello," Jieun managed to squeak as the doors closed.

The minute ride felt like an awkward hour. Jieun did all she could to look away from him, while Hyunwoo kept stealing glances at her. When Jieun caught him staring, he looked away and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um, you're scar from that cat-fight," Hyunwoo said, pointing at her cheek. "Does it still hurt or anything…?"

Jieun reached over to her cheek, reminding herself of what she had done to get the scratch. Anger started to take over her state of mind, especially when she remembered what she had gone through to get this scratch. The more carefully Jieun thought about it, the more it seemed like she was getting hurt in their relationship.

"It's fine," Jieun stated coldly, refusing to look at him. 

Hyunwoo just nodded his head. He cleared his throat, then forced a weak smile. "Well, if you didn't know, I might be getting myself a girlfriend."

Jieun kept quiet for a second. "Oh. I didn't know that."

He looked at her, surprised. "You didn't?"

"Yeah."

"You really didn't?"

"I really didn't. I've been so busy with clubs and friends," Jieun said in a matter-of-fact tone. Hyunwoo frowned, but he nodded his head.

"Oh, um, I see," he muttered. It was weird. Jieun usually knew everything about him. Was it possible that she suddenly knew how to break out of her mindless love?

"Why are you even trying to talk to me?" Jieun asked, letting out a soft laugh. "Didn't you say you hate me? I wouldn't be talking to the person I hate."

"Oh, right," Hyunwoo mumbled, nodding his head. "You have a great point there."

The doors opened. The two stepped outside and began to walk with a certain distance between them. They were neighbors, after all. It only made sense that these two would be heading in the same direction.

At one point, when they arrived in front of their doors, Jieun remembered what Dasom told her earlier in the day.

Try asking, then listen, Jieun reminded herself. She awkwardly looked down at her hands, then back at Hyunwoo. Just as he was about to enter his room, Jieun stopped him. "Um…"

Hyunwoo stopped, then glanced to his side. "Did you say something?"

Jieun pressed her lips. "Yeah, I just… Dasom told me that if I want to have a proper talk with you, then I should start asking and listen to you."

Hyunwoo dropped his arm from the door to his side. "A proper talk?"

"Yeah, and I think I want to try it," she said. She took a deep breath, then looked at him straight in the eye. "Why did you say that you hate me? I know that I can be pushy and crazy, but you never told me that you hated me until now. Why do you hate me?"

The boy looked at her a little bit longer. He sighed, shook his head, then opened the door. He went inside his room, leaving Jieun alone in the hall.

Is that it? she wondered. Was this how 'proper' things should be? She sighed. Whatever. I guess it's over anyway.

She turned to open her door, but stopped when Hyunwoo came out. He poked his head out, staring at Jieun for a second longer as she looked back at him.

"I don't mind if you make food or come to the classroom when it's lecture time," he said. He looked down. "It's kind of lonely when you're not there to make things chaotic for me…" He looked back at Jieun. "But I would definitely hate it if you get physically hurt just to protect me. If you can't realize the limit to that, then I think it's best if I put some distance between us."

Jieun blinked her eyes. "So you care about me?"

He turned red, then scoffed. "W-Well, not really. Not having you besides me ruins my reputation, that's all."

Jieun smiled. "So you do care about me! You don't hate me, right?"

"I…" He took a deep breath. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't hate you. I just think you should know your limits."

"Thank you, Hyunwoo," Jieun said, smiling even wider. "That makes me happy."

"Don't be so happy soon, Jieun. I'm going in now. Bye—"

"Wait!" Jieun exclaimed. She bit her bottom lip. "Can I make you your breakfast and lunch again…?"

He thought about that for a second. "Yeah. You can."

Jieun pumped her fist in the air. She giggled to herself while Hyunwoo prepared to go back inside. He stopped for a minute, then smirked.

"Jieun," he said slowly. Her heart fluttered. "That was a nice talk. I hope we have another talk like this."

"O-Of course!" she stuttered. He went inside, leaving her alone with a proud smile on her face.