"I don't think I quite understand. Why? Is there something I did wrong?" asked Jungmin.
Eunjoo shook her head. "No, it isn't."
"Then what's the matter?"
"I just feel that you like me more than I like you. I don't feel that it is fair to you if we continued." explained Eunjoo.
"That's fine. I already knew that from the start."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not okay with that. I know it's not something you want to hear but I think that if my heart isn't committed to this, it would be wrong to continue forward."
Jungmin lowerd his head. "I see. If I may ask, is it because of someone else?"
Eunjoo quickly said, "No. There isn't anyone else."
"Okay, well...alright." After a small pause, Jungmin said, "I would like it if we could still be friends."
Eunjoo let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "I'd like that too. Thank you."
"Well, let me at least walk you back home then."
Jungmin walked Eunjoo back to the front gate of her house. There was uncomfortable silence as they walked, as neither Jungmin or Eunjoo knew what to say to break the tension. After they said their goodbyes, Jungmin went home.
When he reached home, Jungmin went straight to his bedroom. He laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The news was still slowly sinking in. He didn't want lose Eunjoo as a friend, but he wasn't sure if he gave up too easily either. Jungmin reached for his cell phone, although still hesitant if he should contact Eunjoo. Even if he contacted her, Jungmin wasn't even sure what he would say either.
"Perhaps it's best if I just get some sleep and worry about it tomorrow." he thought.
That night, Eunjoo continued to work on her project for the science competition. It was the last night before the deadline and as a result, she needed to focus her attention on finishing. Eunjoo's phone began to vibrate continuously, as text messages started to come in. Each one was from Jungmin, asking for a chance to talk. However, Eunjoo was too busy and did not even notice her phone.
The next day at school, Jungmin waited outside the front gate for Eunjoo. After the school bell rang, he realized he was unable to find Eunjoo. Jungmin went inside and looked for Sunghee and Hyewon.
"Hey, do you know where Eunjoo is?" he asked.
Both girls looked at one another. "I don't think she came to school today." said Sunghee. "I think she's trying to finish up her project for the science competition because the deadline is today."
"Oh, isn't the deadline in about an hour?" asked Hyewon.
"Wait, so Eunjoo's not here? She's late?" said Jungmin, surprised. He immediately started to run down the hallway and out the school grounds. Jungmin was in such a rush that he did not realize he bumped into Siyeon while on his way out. "Hm? Where's in such a hurry to?" she thought.
At that same moment, Eunjoo woke up. She had finished her paper and fell asleep at her desk. Eunjoo glanced over her alarm clock, still in a daze. "Eight o'clock." Suddenly she instantly stood up, falling out of her seat. Eunjoo realized she was going to be late to hand in her project if she couldn't get to school soon.
Eunjoo quickly got dressed and bolted out the house. Just as she opened the front gate, Eunjoo saw Joonhyuk on his bicycle.
"Ya, get on. Quickly."
"Wait. Oppa, what are you doing here?"
"I knew you would oversleep working on your project. It's not the first time either." said Joonhyuk. "Hurry up now. Get on."
Eunjoo quickly climbed onto the back of the bicycle. She grabbed onto Joonhyuk's shirt to hold on, nearly causing him to fall over. Joonhyuk, turned around with a frustrated look, "Hey, hold on properly." Eunjoo reluctantly put her hands around his waist. As Joonhyuk sped through the streets on his bicycle, held onto him tighter.
As soon as Joonhyuk reached Shinra High's school grounds, Eunjoo hopped off the bicycle and ran inside to find her teacher. As Joonhyuk was locking his bicycle at the bike rack, Siyeon walked up to Joonhyuk.
"Hey, you came late to school?"
Joonhyuk nodded, "Yeah. I had to pick up Eunjoo or else she would miss her project deadline."
"Hm, I see. Well, now you need to sneak back inside or risk getting into trouble for being late too."
"Yeah. I always get caught by the school prefects when I try to sneak inside."
"I'll help you out then." offered Siyeon.
Joonhyuk waved her off, "It's okay. I'll be fine."
"No really, I insist. I'd like it if we could still be on friendly terms. Please."
"Oh, okay. Sure, thanks a lot then. Unlike Eunjoo, I don't have an excuse for being late."
Siyeon and Joonhyuk walked inside and already caught the attention of the prefects. Although they were about to tell off Joonhyuk, they noticed Siyeon. Instead, they both smiled and backed off.
"Wow. Normally the prefects would have written down my name and I would have gotten another detention." observed Joonhyuk.
Siyeon laughed, "Yeah, I never seem to get any warnings for being late. Well, you should get going now."
"Oh okay then. Thanks again!" said Joonhyuk, hurrying down the hallway.
When Joonhyuk reached the end of the hallway, he saw Eunjoo come out of her teacher's office. "Hey, is everything okay now?"
She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oppa, thanks so much. I made the deadline just in time."
Joonhyuk shook his head. "Don't worry. I knew you'd be late. You never pay attention to the time when you're focused on something."
"Ugh, I feel so tired from spending so much time on the project." Eunjoo complained.
Joonhyuk suddenly had an idea. "C'mon, follow me."
Joonhyuk took Eunjoo's hand and led her outside. They ran past the prefects, ignoring their calls. Joonhyuk told to her to get on his bicycle and he rode off towards Cloud Nine Mall. They reached a small arcade around the corner from the mall. Joonhyuk and Eunjoo spent the day playing games at the arcade. In between playing sessions, they bought snacks to eat. Finally it was getting late into the evening. Joonhyuk and Eunjoo began walking home, chatting as they headed towards Eunjoo's house.
"Oppa, thanks for taking me out to the arcade today. I had a lot of fun."
"It was no big deal. I had a lot of fun myself." Joonhyuk smiled. "It reminds me of the time when we skipped classes that one day when we were younger just to go to the mall."
"Yeah I remember that day too. When your mother found out, you got into so much trouble." laughed Eunjoo.
"Bleh, don't remind me about it."
Then Eunjoo asked, "If you wanted to, we could have gone to the arcade on the weekend. So why today?"
"Well, I know how hard you've been working recently, so I thought you deserved a break." said Joonhyuk. "I decided to sneak you out of school for some fun."
Eunjoo smiled, "Thanks." To his surprise, she gave him a light hug. "Let's go. I'm hungry and I don't want to miss dinner."
As they turned around to walk towards Eunjoo's house, they saw Jungmin waiting right outside, leaning against the front gate.
