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Term for this chapter:

Sijo: a traditional Korean poetic form comprised of three lines averaging 14-16 syllables each (these lines are sometimes broken into two parts for a total of six lines); these poems were originally meant to be songs and typically explore cosmological, metaphysical, and pastoral themes.

What cause did I give you

To expect me to appear?

I never meant for you to believe

That I would disturb the fallen leaves at midnight.

Why blame me?

It is the autumn wind that influences your delusion.

- Hwang Jini's reply to Seo Kyung Duk

Ga Eul had been trying—and failing miserably—to forget about So Yi Jeong.

But how could she forget him when he kept popping up at the most unexpected times?

At the porridge shop.

At her university.

At the park.

She'd also had an awkward encounter with him when she'd gone to his studio to return some of Cha Eun Jae's tools. She would have refused the errand entirely, but that may have made her pottery teacher ask questions, and it would have been too awkward explaining the depth of her attachment to Yi Jeong when clearly the two of them had reconnected and were most likely dating.

This series of incidents made the latest development in Ga Eul's life all the more distressing. Her art history teacher had given her class an assignment to go to the special sijo exhibition currently being held at the Woo Sung museum and to write a report on one of the poems featured there. Ga Eul had picked a piece by Hwang Jini, the famous Joseon-era gisaeng. She had already written up her report, and she would have avoided going to the exhibition entirely had her professor not required her to bring in a ticket as proof that she had actually gone.

Even if she didn't run into Yi Jeong at the museum—and she would with the way her luck was going—she simply didn't want the museum to remind her of him. Which was silly and hypocritical, considering that she was still taking pottery with his first love and had even signed up for art classes at her university because of him. She was a walking jumble of contradictions.

Stretched out on her stomach in bed, Ga Eul sighed and set aside her art history textbook, which she'd only been half-reading in anticipation for a quiz the next day.

How had she gotten herself into this mess?

Ga Eul buried her head in her arms. She wished she could hide in her room until she stopped thinking about Yi Jeong every other minute. Out there in the world, where she could run into him—and had kept running into him—she was scared of herself, of what she might do if he gave her one of his charming smiles and tried to tug her gently but firmly back into his orbit. He wasn't any good for her. She knew that. She knew that he'd only almost-kissed her before because surely that was what he did anytime he had a girl in his arms, at his mercy. The kiss must have been a mere reflex; he hadn't tried to kiss Ga Eul after that moment.

She also knew that she could never replace his first love—not after she'd seen the way he'd looked at Cha Eun Jae. It was like something out of a romantic movie, the way they'd met again after all that time. It was fate, and Ga Eul had been the hand of fate reaching out to push them back together. And that was it. That was all. Ga Eul was nothing more than a helping hand, as always.

She didn't mean to feel bitter about that, but she did. Just a little. She'd like to be chosen, for once. She'd like to be the one that got pushed into her soulmate's arms.

Her phone buzzed beside her on the bed, sending vibrations through the mattress, and Ga Eul groaned in protest but eventually looked at the caller ID when the vibrations didn't cease.

Of course the caller was 'Yi Jeong Sunbae :) .' Of course it was—he wouldn't leave her alone! But what could he possibly want with Ga Eul at eleven o'clock on a school night?

Unless…

"Yi Jeong Sunbae? Is everyone okay?" Ga Eul asked as soon as she picked up the call. She hoped there hadn't been another accident, remembering how scared everyone had been when Gu Jun Pyo got hit by a car and temporarily lost his memory.

"What?" Yi Jeong asked, sounding caught off-guard. There was silence on the other end for a few seconds and then a low, raspy laugh that sent shivers down Ga Eul's spine. "No, no, everyone's fine. Nothing happened."

"Oh." Ga Eul sat up cross-legged in her pale pink cupcake pajamas and tried to ignore the slow unfurling of butterfly wings in her stomach. "Why are you calling then?" she asked, adjusting her red headband.

Please don't ask me to go on another date with you. Even if it's fake, I can't take it.

"I stopped by the porridge shop today, and Jan Di mentioned you need to go to the Woo Sung special exhibit for your art history class. There's supposed to be a huge crowd this weekend, but I can get you in after hours on Friday, and we'll have the whole museum to ourselves."

The museum?

With him?

Alone with him?

Of course, at the very moment she'd been worrying about running into him there, he'd called her with an invitation. Her luck was really something lately.

Still, she didn't understand why he was offering. Why spend a Friday night showing her around his family's art museum—which he'd surely seen a thousand times—when he could be out with Cha Eun Jae or with the F4 or partying at a club?

He was showing off—that must be it. Typical Yi Jeong.

Blabbermouth Jan Di.

"Oh...um…" Ga Eul reminded herself to hold firm. She was supposed to stay away from him. "That's okay, Yi Jeong Sunbae. Don't worry about it. I can go on the weekend. I don't care about the crowd."

In fact, I have to go on the weekend since my project is due on Monday.

"Come on. I can give you a private tour. You'll have all the time you need to take notes for your assignment," Yi Jeong answered smoothly. She could hear the self-assuredness in his voice, along with whatever quality made it so horribly seductive. Not that there was any reason for him to seduce her, in particular. Yi Jeong always sounded that way, with everyone.

Firm, Ga Eul. Be firm.

"That's very nice of you, but I actually need a ticket to turn in with my assignment, so I'll just go when the ticket office is open."

"A ticket?" Yi Jeong echoed. He chuckled. "I can get you a ticket. We've got plenty."

"Ah, thank you, but—"

"I also have a birthday present for you, and you're never going to guess what it is," Yi Jeong added teasingly.

A birthday present? Ga Eul's cheeks burned. She hadn't invited Yi Jeong to her birthday dinner a few weeks ago. Well, she hadn't wanted him there distracting her—and it wasn't like any of the other F4 members had been invited—but now she felt a bit guilty. None of the other F4 members would have gotten her a gift. Now Yi Jeong had bought her two birthday gifts—one through a misunderstanding and now another...for what purpose?

Ga Eul had no idea.

Maybe he still considered her a friend, even though she'd told him she wouldn't chase him like a lovesick schoolgirl anymore. Or maybe this was his way of thanking her for reuniting him with his first love.

Maybe he just happened to remember when her birthday was because she'd told him after he'd mistakenly given her a present before, and he was making a joke of it now by giving her a present for her actual birthday.

Maybe he had more money than he knew what to do with, and Jan Di had said, in passing, when she was telling him about Ga Eul's art history assignment, that it had been Ga Eul's birthday several weeks ago, so he'd bought her a present simply because he could.

Or because, again, he liked to show off.

"Ga Eul-yang? Are you still there?" Yi Jeong asked.

"Y-yes?"

"I asked if it would be okay if I picked you up from your house at seven. We could eat dinner together too if you would like."

Dinner? A private tour of the museum and dinner? What an excellent way to torture herself. And he'd gotten her a birthday present too? Why didn't he just shoot her in the foot? She would offer up her heart, but it was already in pieces.

"Oh, no, no, that's okay, Sunbae. I can eat dinner with my parents."

"Does that mean you'll go?" he asked, a hint of hopefulness in his voice that she refused to read as anything other than strict friendliness or general flirtatiousness.

But what he had said? Would she go? Had she not made it clear that she didn't want to go? To dinner or anything else?

She didn't want to go, did she?

Did she?

Oh, who was she kidding? A dinner date with Yi Jeong and then a private tour of the museum sounded like a dream. A dream that she'd had quite frequently, even though she knew he'd probably done such a thing with tons of other girls. Still, it would make for a nice memory.

Apparently, she wanted to torture herself. Like with the pottery lessons and the art classes. This was how it always went. Under the spell of his rich, honeyed voice, her resolve weakened and weakened until finally she had no resistance at all.

Okay. Ga Eul sighed inwardly. Just one more thing. Then I really am going to quit him. Happy birthday to me.

"Yes, Sunbae. I'll go to the museum with you. And to dinner. Thank you very much for offering."

"Perfect. I'll pick you up on Friday at seven," he repeated.

"Yes, seven."

"Good night."

"Good night."

Ga Eul pressed the 'end call' button. For the second time that evening, she flopped down on her bed, buried her head in her arms, and groaned over the predicament that was So Yi Jeong.

She really hated him for being so...everywhere.

And she hated him even more for being so...himself.

But mostly, she hated that she was so, so weak to all of it.

Still.

"I take it she said 'yes.'" From where he stood next to the F4's pool table, cracking open a beer, Woo Bin eyed his best friend as he hung up his phone and stashed it in his coat pocket. Yi Jeong wore a self-satisfied smirk as he strolled casually to the table Woo Bin had already set for a new game.

"Of course, she said 'yes,'" Yi Jeong replied. "You think this is my first time asking a girl on a date?" He rolled up his sleeves and picked up his pool stick.

"She doesn't know it's a date, though, does she?" Woo Bin smirked. "You couldn't get the words out." He laughed.

"She'll know once she gets there. It's a surprise," Yi Jeong insisted, but his composure dropped slightly.

"Sure. A surprise. Like all your other surprises over the past month. Those have worked well."

"That pottery pose idea totally would have worked if you hadn't screwed up my playlist."

Yi Jeong cracked open his own beer and took a large swig, his face hardened in annoyance.

Woo Bin only laughed harder.

"Bro, how was I supposed to know you were going to use that music on Ga Eul? I put that song in there way before you started this whole quest. Which means you haven't used that playlist in a long time." He gave Yi Jeong a meaningful look, which his friend pointedly ignored in favor of knocking the balls apart to start the game.

"Forget it. Let's just play," Yi Jeong said, and considering that he rarely wanted to 'forget' any sort of prank Woo Bin pulled on him, Woo Bin knew he'd struck a nerve.

Wow. Yi Jeong really was whipped.

Woo Bin had been surprised—but, interestingly, not that surprised—when Yi Jeong had confessed to liking Ga Eul. It had happened a few months ago, before Jan Di and her family had moved back to Seoul. Yi Jeong's spirits had lifted for a few weeks after months of being dampened by his mother's worsening condition and his own injury, and he had begun earnestly attending therapy for his hand and trying to do pottery again. For a moment, it had seemed that Woo Bin had gotten his old friend back, and he'd thought that meant they would do what they always did—party, hook up with girls, have a good time—but as time went on, it became apparent that something else had changed about his friend. He would still go to clubs with Woo Bin just to hang out, but he didn't act too interested in the girls that would fall all over them anymore, and after a few weeks, he called Woo Bin one night, fairly drunk, and spilled the reason for his sudden change of heart in regards to his art—and with it, the reason for his recent apathy towards so many beautiful women. He'd told Woo Bin about all the things Jan Di's sweet and innocent friend had done for him and how in the end she'd walked away from him without giving him a chance to say anything.

Yes, much to Woo Bin's amusement, Yi Jeong had officially fallen for a good girl, one who apparently had a stubborn streak to match Jan Di's. It was that stubborn streak that had saved Yi Jeong from himself, and Woo Bin owed Ga Eul for that.

He also owed Yi Jeong for all the times Yi Jeong had yanked him by the collar out of his depressive thoughts, which was why, unbeknownst to his best friend or to Ga Eul, on Friday, once the museum doors had been sealed shut behind them and they were seemingly all alone in that vast, quiet place, the lights were going to go out, and all manner of mischief was going to occur.

One of the F4's favorite places to play pranks on each other as children was the Woo Sung Museum after hours. With so many hiding spots and places to set traps, they had raised hell in the hallways of the museum until they were inevitably kicked out by Yi Jeong's father, who was never too happy to be dragged from a meeting—business or otherwise—to deal with their shenanigans.

Well, Woo Bin was going to revisit their prank-playing days and give those two idiots a friendly shove towards each other, since Yi Jeong was incapable of snagging Ga Eul on his own. Yi Jeong and Ga Eul would get each other, and Woo Bin would get a nice long laugh out of it.

Seeing as he was losing his wingman at the club, Woo Bin felt that Yi Jeong at least owed him a night of entertainment at his expense.

A/N: This chapter was written by JodiMarie2910.

The next update will be on Friday, October 21st.