Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warning: Alternate Universe

Summary: Right after Jun Pyo regains his memory, Yi Jeong loses his in another car accident. But this time, he forgets that he doesn't date nice girls. What happens when Casanova thinks that he's a one woman man, and that Chu Ga Eul is the only girl for him?

REMEMBRANCE

II. Resolutions

Yi Jeong looked at his three friends. They had gotten into many tight spots before but he had never seen them look so uncomfortable. He felt tempted to tell Woo Bin that if the latter ran his hands through his hair one more time, he might end up losing some. Jun Pyo was wearing a hole in the ground with his pacing and Ji Hoo seemed to be meditating. But then again, that last part wasn't so unusual. After all, it was Ji Hoo. He only seemed to be awake when Geum Jan Di was around.

And speaking of Geum Jan Di, she would have throttled him if Jun Pyo and Ji Hoo hadn't stepped in, the former by forcibly removing her from the room and the latter by whisking Ga Eul away from him, something Yi Jeong had just forgiven Ji Hoo for.

"Are we going to say anything?" he finally asked, mildly exasperated and amused.

Woo Bin looked at Ji Hoo. But it was Jun Pyo who spoke. "Now look here, I know exactly what you're going through. I had amnesia too, not like the way you do now, but I got things mixed up. So you should listen to us."

"But you didn't."

Jun Pyo swallowed hard. "Well." Yi Jeong grinned as he watched the leader of F4 squirm. Jun Pyo hated admitting he was wrong, even if he was. "That got me into a lot of trouble. Yah, you want to end up like that?"

"I couldn't end up in as much trouble as you even if I tried Jun Pyo."

A vein twitched in Jun Pyo's temple. "You know, maybe I shouldn't have saved you from Geum Jan Di."

Yi Jeong chuckled and raised a conciliatory hand. "Anything but that. However, what's the problem you guys are skirting around? Does it have anything to do with Ga Eul yang?"

"And this girlfriend business," Woo Bin interjected, feeling slightly relieved that Yi Jeong had brought it up. Of all the three, he was feeling the most confused. He liked the idea of Yi Jeong with Ga Eul and had even sent them on that fake date together. He knew that Yi Jeong liked Ga Eul, liked her enough to refrain from fooling around with her like he would other girls. But in this state, he had no idea whether Yi Jeong could be trusted, especially since he had Ga Eul in his sights. "What makes you think she's your girlfriend?"

Yi Jeong blinked and looked at Woo Bin in a manner that conveyed the unmistakable impression that he thought Woo Bin was stupid. He was just too polite to say it. "Because she's asked me out on dates. We've dated, I can't remember exactly all the dates but I do remember planning for one. Fireworks and the skating rink. And there was a bad movie, I can't remember what it was though, thankfully."

If he grabbed his hair anymore he was going to lose it. Exhaling loudly, Woo Bin looked at his shoes. Of all the dates Yi Jeong would remember, he would recall the fake one!

Jun Pyo coughed and if the situation had been less serious, Woo Bin would have laughed. Jun Pyo and Geum Jan Di had spent the whole day spying on Yi Jeong and Ga Eul. But Yi Jeong didn't even glance over at Jun Pyo and Woo Bin realised that he had forgotten about that. Neither was Jun Pyo going to bring it up since as far as he knew, it had been a genuine date.

"I can't recall everything but…" His memory was obviously affected but amongst the bits and pieces he could put together… "I know I like her. A lot. And she likes me too. She told me so."

Whoa, obviously things had progressed under their radar, Jun Pyo thought as he watched his friend. So Yi Jeong, who espoused the theory that women had an expiry date and who never went out with the same woman for more than a week, had never looked so serious, especially when a woman was the issue at hand. And Chu Ga Eul had guts he didn't think she possessed if she had really confessed her feelings to Yi Jeong. "Wait, how do you know that you are remembering things correctly? After all, you think she's your girlfriend but you got that wrong."

"Well I assumed that since she was head over heels for me and I like her, we were an item. Why wouldn't we be?"

Because your emotional baggage was always in the way, Ji Hoo wanted to reply but he held his tongue. This wasn't the time to be asking Yi Jeong if he remembered how badly his parents' marriage had scarred him. "Because you weren't pursuing her before."

"What?"

"In fact, you spent all your time running after other women. Women you would leave after a week, at the most."

"Ji Hoo ah, maybe this is not the time—"

"This can wait—"

Waving aside Woo Bin and Jun Pyo's protests, Ji Hoo leaned against the wall, his unblinking gaze fixed on Yi Jeong. "You never wanted to settle down. You liked her, but you did not want a serious relationship. Your nickname is 'Five Second Kill' because that's usually the amount of time it takes for you to sweep a woman off her feet. And you like that reputation."

Yi Jeong vaguely remembered some women here and there but he had assumed they were the usual casual dates or just women acquaintances. Ji Hoo's words were giving him a headache, literally and figuratively.

"And that's why Jan Di wanted to skin you alive. Because she thought you were fooling around with her best friend."

Well, he might have been wrong about the boyfriend-girlfriend part but surely he couldn't have made up all of it right?

Come on a date with me…

Ga Eul yang, you wanted to go out? I'm not too late I hope…

She looked so pretty and earnest, her hands stained with the clay she was moulding, unaware of his presence, his gaze on her…

His head was starting to pound in earnest now.

"If you decide you want her now, you'd better think carefully. It would be a step that you can't take back easily." And then unexpectedly, Ji Hoo gave a small smile. "But we'll be here to help you out, whatever your decision."

…………………………………

Yi Jeong had kissed her. He had kissed her. He had—

"Oi! Are you listening to me Ga Eul ah?" Jan Di knew that Yi Jeong was a Casanova bar none but surely his kiss couldn't have killed off Ga Eul's ability to think and speak.

They were in the porridge shop now, and Ga Eul had spent three quarters of the time so far staring off into space. Jan Di fervently hoped that the other F4 members would set Yi Jeong straight so that he would stay away from her best friend. Ga Eul had already shed so many tears and sacrificed so much for that playboy who could not be trusted. He was a good friend and reliable but not with matters of the heart.

Forcing herself to listen to Jan Di, Ga Eul realised that the former was really very worried. "I'm okay."

'You had your first kiss stolen by a frog disguised as a prince, I don't think so,' Jan Di thought glumly but she kept that comment to herself. "I'm sure in time he'll remember that you aren't dating him."

Ga Eul sighed deeply. "I guess so. It's better that way." A part, a really large part of her actually, wanted Yi Jeong to completely forget about his playboy past. Maybe then she would stand a chance. But of course she didn't really want that to happen. It would be like building a house on sinking sand. When he remembered he was Casanova, he would drop her like a hot potato and leave. "After all, he doesn't date nice, naïve girls related to his friends."

Jan Di nodded sympathetically and placed a hand over hers. "It'll be alright. If Gu Jun Pyo can get back his memory in spite of that thick skull, I'm sure Yi Jeong sunbae will recover soon. But will you be okay, you know, especially if he comes looking for you in the meantime?"

Sometimes Jan Di was so transparent. But there was no better friend to have by one's side, especially in a time of need. "I'll make sure he knows where things stand. I may care for sunbae but this isn't the way to start a relationship." Squeezing Jan Di's hand reassuringly, she made a fist and forced herself to smile."Fighting yah?"

She would just have to be strong, for everyone's sake. But most of all, for her own.

……………………………………..

Well, apparently there had been nothing to worry about after all. Yi Jeong had been discharged from hospital three weeks ago and she hadn't seen so much as his shadow. She had sent her regards via Woo Bin and Jan Di, even sending abalone porridge over, but she had stopped herself from visiting him, even though she wanted to more than anything else.

Ga Eul dumped her school bag behind the counter and was tying on her apron when she heard the door open. Jan Di would come in later and right now, she was the only waitress available. Yanking the knot tight, she turned and smiled, bowing her head. Whoa, expensive leather shoes. Shiny too, she noted. "Welcome to the shop," she greeted before straightening up. Then the smile promptly dropped from her face as her mouth dropped open. "Sunbae."

"You're a very stubborn woman Ga Eul yang."

"Ah?"

His hand encircled her wrist and before she knew it, he was pulling her out of the shop. Talk about déjà vu, Ga Eul thought as she tried to unsuccessfully stop him. "Wait, I'm the only one on shift. My boss needs me. Hey—"

She sure was noisy too, Yi Jeong thought as he gently pushed her into the car and shut the door firmly. He got in just as she was pulling on the handle and had the door half opened. "Get in here Ga Eul yang," he ordered as he reached over and shut the car door, locking it.

"Sunbae—you! This isn't the Stone Age you know. You can't snatch me out of the shop and make me sit in this car."

"Who said we were going to just sit here? Belt up." Revving the engine, he stepped on the pedal and the Lotus entered the steady stream of traffic on the road. Watching her grab the seatbelt from the corner of his eye, Yi Jeong grinned. "Besides, if this was the Stone Age, I would be dragging you back to a cave and we certainly wouldn't be going there to talk."

Ga Eul turned bright red as the implication of his words dawned on her. Had he been this insufferable before the accident? She stared at him and noted how pleased he looked with himself. Maybe he had always been this insufferable; she was just experiencing it for the first time. Unable to think of a snappy rejoinder, she settled for lifting her chin higher and steadying her voice, asked, "What do you want to talk about?" Remember, calm and cool. Calm and cool, she repeated to herself under her breath as she turned away and looked out the window.

"I'd like to talk about why you haven't been to see me even when Woo Bin and Ji Hoo told you that I'd gone home from the hospital."

"I..err..I was busy. Mid-term deadlines." You are such a bad liar, she scolded herself, wincing inwardly. "I sent porridge and well wishes. Woo Bin sunbae gave them to you I'm sure."

'You are such a bad liar,' he thought with fond amusement. "You're afraid to see me aren't you?"

"No! That's not the case. It's just that you have, I mean you had the wrong idea and I didn't want to …ah…encourage you."

"You didn't want to lead me on?"

"Exactly," Ga Eul emphasised, ignoring the warm flush that was spreading from her cheeks to her neck. "It would not be the right thing to do and it wouldn't help your recovery. In fact, you seeing me is a bad idea. Why don't you come back when you remember everything again? You can drop me off here. I can walk back."

Obviously Yi Jeong had other ideas since he refused to pull over and let her out.

Ga Eul yang was obviously desperate to get away from him. Since she didn't loathe him, that much he recalled and Woo Bin had assured him that it wasn't the case, it had to be because of her feelings for him.

"Was I that terrible?"

If she had turned her head faster she would've gotten whiplash. "Excuse me?"

"Was I such a playboy that it's too late to make amends now?" He stopped at a red light and looked over. Ga Eul could feel her insides turn to mush as she looked into those soulful dark brown eyes.

"It's not about making amends," she said quietly. "You just aren't like this. You would never have said such a thing if you had been yourself."

"How do you know this isn't me?" Behind them, a car honked and Yi Jeong started driving again. "I mean, if I was really just a superficial playboy you wouldn't have fallen for me, would you?"

He had spent hours grilling his friends about everything they knew concerning him and Ga Eul. While his memory was still hazy, there were certain things he could recall and she wasn't so swept away by his wealth and good looks that she couldn't pour a glass of water over his head when he stepped out of line. Okay, so he couldn't quite recall what he had done to make her so mad but at least it showed him that she wouldn't put up with any crap he gave her.

'No you aren't. But you don't love me. That's the problem.' Of course she wasn't going to say that. "We are just friends." How she hated that phrase. "Nothing more."

"Nothing more because we decided or because I decided?"

Ga Eul felt more than a little trapped. The more she spoke, the more she seemed to be giving away. It was New Caledonia all over again. "What does it matter?"

"It matters because friends don't push themselves to the brink of overexertion spending every night looking for a sign that's almost impossible to be found."

Of all the things he had to remember…

"It matters because although I can't remember much at all, I know a lot of what I'm missing has to do with you. There are memories that only you and I share."

It registered vaguely that he had finally pulled over but now, she was powerless to get up and walk out. Numbly, she just stared there, her head down, her heart hammering in her chest.

"And if that's not reason enough, I remember that I like you." Reaching over, he tucked a strand of hair gently behind her ear, grateful that she didn't pull away. She wouldn't look at him though. "Amnesia involves a loss of memory, not making things up. And whether you want me to or not, I'm going to show you what things can be like between us."

She didn't dare look at him. Because if she did, all her resolve would disappear. She wanted to believe him but she couldn't. It was just the amnesia talking, it had to be. "Could you drive me back to the shop? Please," she said after a long silence.

Yi Jeong didn't say anything more during the drive back. When he dropped her off, she was shutting the door when she suddenly blurted out. "We're better as friends."

He smiled at her and it was such a knowing smile that she couldn't quite meet his gaze. "I beg to differ. See you tomorrow Ga Eul yang."

And then he drove off, leaving her standing on the pavement with a strange mix of fear, bafflement and reluctant hope blooming within.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! All constructive feedback is welcome. Do let me know what you thought.