Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are property of the author. No copyright infringement intended. Alas, I do not own Boys Over Flowers, though it would be marvelous if I did.

A/N: **cough, cough** And a month later...Thanks so much to all those who left reviews! Posting this stuff is still kind-of nerve wracking, but nevertheless, here is an update, in all its (shining?) glory.

Ga Eul wasn't sure what she wanted to do more—disappear or splash her iced Americano in Yi Jeong's face. After a few awkward attempts on Yi Jeong's part at inviting Il Hyun and Eun Jae in, Il Hyun suggested they all go out for coffee and pastries. Now the four of them were sitting in a coffee shop that Il Hyun apparently owned. It was the first coffee shop Ga Eul had ever been in that also served wine. Rows and rows of wine glasses hung from ceiling and lined the counter behind which the barista now stood, ringing up an elderly couple that reminded Ga Eul of her grandmother and grandfather when her grandfather had still been alive.

Sitting diagonally from her, Il Hyun chatted about how business was going, seeming blissfully unaware of the awkward tension emanating from the other three parties. At least, Ga Eul knew she was half-embarrassed, half-livid, and Eun Jae—seated directly across from her—had been avoiding all eye contact with her formerly beloved pupil since they sat down. Yi Jeong, for his part, maintained that same outwardly cool and uncaring demeanor he had projected the night he offered her up to his father on a silver platter. Ga Eul picked at the slice of cake she had in front of her and glanced at Eun Jae, who quickly averted her eyes to her own plate.

Yi Jeong is doing it again, Ga Eul thought-using her affection for him, her weakness for him, as a way to get back at the ones who hurt him. Ga Eul didn't know why she had thought tonight would be any different. Had he known they were coming by? Is that why he told her to meet him on Thursday? Or was this what inevitably happened to Ga Eul whenever she tried to find some place in his life beyond being his best friend's girlfriend's friend? Either way, what he had said was inexcusable, and Ga Eul wasn't going to just walk out this time. She could be polite. She could be civil for just a bit longer, but the minute she got Yi Jeong alone she was going to give him a tongue-thrashing he'd never forget.

Not to mention how sorry Ga Eul felt for Eun Jae, who hadn't known until this evening that she was giving romantic advice to the person trying to win over her own first love. Didn't that make Ga Eul like Yi Jeong in a way—the deceitfulness of it all?

Ga Eul scratched her fork against her plate a bit too forcefully, causing Il Hyun to turn his attention to her. Eun Jae did, too, just for an instant. Then she stood up and quietly excused herself to go to the restroom. As Eun Jae retreated toward the restrooms, Ga Eul noted, not for the first time, how elegant and refined she looked—how like someone who should marry into the So family.

"So do you go to school with my brother?" Il Hyun's question interrupted her musings, and she flusteredly turned her attention back to him. In spite of the jumble of emotions that was threatening to overwhelm her at the moment, Il Hyun's warm, wide smile caused Ga Eul to relax a bit. She could definitely tell Il Hyun was Yi Jeong's brother, but Il Hyun had an openness with his emotions, a genuineness in his manner that Yi Jeong lacked. Ga Eul had already decided she liked him.

Ga Eul glanced sideways at Yi Jeong, expecting him to come up with some outlandish story to explain how they knew each other. Not that anything could be more outlandish than the truth.

When he said nothing, Ga Eul set her fork down, looked Il Hyun in the eyes, and answered truthfully, "No. We met in a porridge shop about…" Ga Eul looked at Yi Jeong, who was sitting cool as a cucumber, and a new determination lit her eyes. "When was it…Oppa?" she said sweetly as she kicked his leg under the table.

"Ah, two years ago," Yi Jeong answered, flinching, but barely. If Ga Eul had blinked, she would have missed the brief lapse in his calm composure.

"A porridge shop? I didn't know you liked porridge that much."

"It was a mistake," he said, pausing long enough to glance at Ga Eul. "I mean, I was there accidentally. It was because of Jun Pyo."

"Well, what a lucky accident." Il Hyun smiled warmly and winked at Ga Eul.

"It was. I slipped and spilled water all over him. Or was that another time, Oppa?"

"It—"

"You know." Ga Eul leaned forward confidentially. "When I first met your brother, I didn't like him very much."

"Really? Hmm, that's interesting, my brother has always been good at charming women." Il Hyun let out a well-meaning chuckle. Then he leaned closer toward Ga Eul and said quietly, "But he can also be pretty insufferable. I know that from personal experience."

"Yes, well, like you said, he can be charming when he wants to be." Ga Eul shoved a bite of cake into her mouth.

"Pardon me for saying this," Il Hyun began, " and I don't mean it in a bad way, but you seem rather different from the sort of girls my younger brother usually dates."

"Mmm." Ga Eul swallowed the cake and set her fork down. She lazily stirred the Americano with her straw. "Well, he's rather different from the sort of men I usually date. It's incredible that we're together at all—almost unbelievable, in fact." Ga Eul kicked Yi Jeong under the table again.

"It—" Yi Jeong began again.

"In fact, it happened very suddenly. Quite recently." Ga Eul kicked Yi Jeong's leg again and smiled sweetly. "As a matter of fact."

"Ah, look at the time. I think we better get going." Yi Jeong suddenly stood up from the table and held out his hand toward Ga Eul. "Your parents might get worried if I keep you out too late." He smiled lovingly at her, as though he were a perfectly normal, caring boyfriend. Ga Eul saw right through him, though—enough to see that he wanted to get out of there as much as she had before Eun Jae left the table. Eun Jae hadn't returned yet, though, and Ga Eul was starting to enjoy making Yi Jeong nervous for a change.

Looking coyly up at him, Ga Eul replied, "Yi Jeong-ah, this is nowhere near as late as when I get off work at the porridge shop. You know that." This was a lie, as the porridge shop was only open until 7:00 PM, and the clock on the cafe wall read 8:00 PM, but Il Hyun wouldn't know that. Turning her attention back to Il Hyun, she asked, "What were you saying?"

"Yes, well—" Yi Jeong began.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae?" a high-pitched voice interrupted them. Looking at the door, Ga Eul could see a beautiful curly-haired girl in black stilettos starting toward their table, her heels clacking against the marble-tiled floor. She must have been rich, judging from her handbag, which was a brand Ga Eul recognized from the stores she had gone shopping at with Jae Kyung. Eun Jae chose that moment to come out of the bathroom, brushing demurely past the girl on her way back to her seat.

"What are you doing here?" Yi Jeong replied, his tone sounding more irritated than curious.

"Having a late night treat, of course." The girl's shrill laughter echoed off the walls of the small café. "Maybe you'd like to join me?"

When Yi Jeong didn't answer, the girl turned to the table and, almost as if she just realized they were there, exclaimed, "Oh, but who are your friends? My name is Sunny. I went to high school at Shinhwa with Yi Jeong Sunbae." Her gleaming eyes flickered over Il Hyun and Eun Jae before lingering on Ga Eul for a long moment, her expression darkening distastefully until Yi Jeong cleared his throat.

"Ga Eul, we're leaving." His dark eyes had regained their confident shimmer, and he held out his arm decisively to her.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae! What are you doing with that…that…commoner?" Sunny spat out the last word.

Yi Jeong turned to face Sunny then, and even from the side Ga Eul could see a hint of murder in his eyes that she didn't understand.

"She's not even that pretty," Sunny mumbled even as she shrank underneath Yi Jeong's gaze.

"You," Yi Jeong said, a dark tone simmering behind his quiet words. "I don't recall inviting you over here. Apologize to her." He nodded toward Ga Eul.

Sunny looked dumbfounded. "Sunbae…" she pleaded softly.

"Apologize to her. Then take your friends," he said, nodding to two women lingering by the door, "and find someone else to throw your fifty dollar nose job at before I really make you apologize."

"Yi Jeong," Il Hyun said with a tone of warning as he pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. "Miss Sunny, unless you want to buy a coffee to go, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We're closing for the night. And besides that, you are insulting a guest of mine. If you will follow me this way." Il Hyun strode over to where the other girls were standing beside the counter and opened the door to usher them out.

Eun Jae stood also and busied herself with collecting the dishes. Ga Eul instinctively reached over to help her clear the table, but, upon touching one of Eun Jae's hands and meeting Eun Jae's hesitant gaze, Ga Eul drew back and decided to take the arm that had been offered to her.

Looping her arm through Yi Jeong's, Ga Eul allowed him to guide her out of the coffee shop and out into the parking lot to where his bright orange Lotus sat, gleaming under a street lamp like it had just come out of a showroom.

They had almost reached his car when Ga Eul pulled her arm back. They were out of sight of the café windows now, and there was no need to pretend any longer. She didn't know what to make of Yi Jeong's little display in front of Sunny, and she really didn't care. She just wanted to say her piece and get out of there.

Swiveling around to face Yi Jeong so that she stood between him and his beloved car, Ga Eul snapped, "Ya, why did you tell them I was your girlfriend? Why? I'm not some sort of consolation prize for you to parade around in front of your first love, okay?"

"Ah, Ga Eul-yang, just let me explain." Unfortunately, he had expected this sort of reaction from her-had feared it, really.

"Explain what? That your brother walks in with his fiancé and suddenly we're a couple? Why? So you can show him that you're not nearly as heartless as your Casanova reputation would have everyone believe?"

"That's not the reason."

"No? Then why? If you want me to leave you alone, why can't you just throw me under the bus the way Sunny did? It would hurt less because at least it would be sincere."

"Ga Eul-yang. Stop."

"Stop? You think it's that easy don't you? You push a button, and everyone does exactly what you want. Everyone is exactly where you want them."

"Ga Eul-yang."

"Well, I don't have time for your silly games anymore, Sunbae, especially when you never even give me an explanation—"

"I don't know, alright?" Yi Jeong burst out. "You were just there, and they were there, and it just came out that way." Ga Eul stood just a few feet away from him. Close enough for him to touch. Close enough for him to grab her hand and pull her to him and assure her he never meant to hurt her. He had never, ever meant to hurt her. Only he wouldn't dare do that, even if he had the courage, because her sharp gaze was glaring daggers into his tortured, treacherous soul.

"It just came out that way?" she finally said.

"Well…yeah." For once, Yi Jeong found himself at a loss for words to salvage the situation.

"It's all right, Sunbae." Her voice sounded cold, distant, the way it did when she told him she wouldn't come see him anymore. "I'm used to pretending with you by now. You don't have to pretend anymore tonight. I'm just going to catch the bus home." Then she brushed past him and retreated into the dimly lit street, moving quite rapidly considering her choice of shoes.

Somehow, he had managed to do it again. With her, he always went too far in one direction or the other, and now it had turned colder and later than Yi Jeong had realized. Rather automatically, he started chasing after her, just managing to catch up as she boarded a bus that had pulled up at a bus stop on the corner, presumably a bus headed to the less fashionable area where she lived. Only when he had boarded the bus himself and found the disgruntled bus driver looking at him expectantly did he realize he had never been on a bus before. Not a public transportation one, at least. Even when he had visited foreign countries, he had private cars to take him everywhere. He wasn't actually sure if they took cash or if he was supposed to have a pass like the other passengers who had got on before him.*

He looked at Ga Eul, who had seated herself toward the back, but she was staring out the window as though she hadn't noticed him get on.

"Ah," Yi Jeong began, pulling out his wallet. "Do you take cash?" He held out a 50,000 won* bill.

The driver looked like he was about to protest before Yi Jeong smiled and practically shoved the money into the driver's hand.

"Keep the change."

The bus wasn't crowded. Scattered throughout the bus sat an elderly couple, a few lone teenagers-probably returning from some sort of minimum wage job like the one Ga Eul had-and two weary-faced men in rumpled business suits. Walking toward the back, Yi Jeong thought about sitting next to Ga Eul, but as there were plenty of empty seats and she seemed intent on ignoring him, he sat in one of the open seats directly across from her. In fact, he liked this vantage point. He could study her this way, and unless she wanted to acknowledge his presence, she couldn't do anything about it.

Ga Eul had noticed when he got on the bus, and she didn't like it one bit. She had decided to ignore him all the way to her stop. It wasn't too far from the bus stop to her house, or her parents would be far more worried than they usually were whenever she had to work late.

Just five stops, Ga Eul. Just five stops, and you won't have to see him again for four years. Maybe never.

Ga Eul heard it before she felt the bus jerk slightly: a loud pop on the right side of the bus, the side Yi Jeong was sitting on. The sound was loud enough to make her look over in his direction, and he looked as surprised as she was. They both glanced around for an explanation as the bus starting slowing down.

*As of today (05/27/17), that is roughly forty-five American dollars or thirty-five British pounds. Although technically, the 50,000 won bill did not start circulating until three months after Boys Over Flowers finished airing, but…details…