" Jake, can I have the strawberry milk?"

Jake sighed,
" I told you don't touch anything."

Yebin ignored him and grabbed the strawberry milk, drank it without his permission. Jake was annoyed by the girl so much but since he was not in a great mood, he knew it was useless to stop her and it will make him felt more pain.
So, he just ignored her and ate the food in silence.

Sunghoon looked at Jake,
" Since when, Jake?"

Jake made eye contact with Sunghoon and sighed, " What?"

" Your feeling on her," Sunghoon replied.

" What the hell are you talking about? Don't make your conclusion."

" I'm not stupid, Jake," Sunghoon said making Jake more annoyed.

" Do you want me to drag you out of here?"

" Jake, I like her."

" So, what?"

" I don't like to see both of you together. I like her for a long time and now, I have got to befriend her. I found my chance to get her, Jake but you- " Sunghoon paused.

" But you seem like trying to stop it from happen," Sunghoon said.

" Go out from my house now." Jake pointed his finger to the door.

" I don't like her. Is it clear? Stop saying something nonsense-"

" Then why did you kiss her? I saw you kissed her by placing your lips on the pig's lips."

Jake froze and clenched his fist,
" It's not my first time doing that to the girl." Jake lied.

" I kissed a lot of girls." He lied again to make him sound bad.

" Stop playing with her. Stay away from Ae-"

" Instead of telling me to stay away from
her, why don't you take a step forward and confess your feeling to her? Is that hard to do? You sound like a coward."
Jake cut Sunghoon causing that guy froze.

Jake stood up and opened the door,
" Go out."

" It's annoying to see you here."

-

" Jay, I'm here."

Aera was surprised when her eyes met Jay who was looking like a mess. He didn't fix his hair, wore a white t-shirt with some dirt on it, and black short pants. She worried just by looking at his appearance and stood closer to him, reached her hand to fix his clothes.

Aera titled her face and looked at Jay again,
" Are you okay, Jay?"

Jay wiped his tears and held her hand,
" Aera."

" Why? What happened to you? Who hurt you?"

Jay pulled her into his embrace and rest his head on her shoulder before bursting into tears.
" What should I do?"

Aera slowly patted his back to comfort him,
" Don't cry."

Aera broke the hug and smiled, looked at Jay while fixing his hair.
" Let's talk inside."

Jay smiled back,

-

" Thank you for the food," Aera said to Jay and he nodded, sat next to her before turning on the television.

" Aera," Jay called her making her looked at him immediately.

" How's Yebin?"

Aera raised her eyebrows, " What-?"

" Yebin... is she good?"

Aera sighed a little and nodded her head,
" Yes, she is."

" I'm glad to hear that."

They became silent for a while making the situation became awkward.

" Aera ."

" If you were Yebin, who will you choose?" Jay asked her causing Aera to confused.

" Pardon?"

" Between Jake and I, who will you choose to be with?"

Aera smiled, " You."

Jay sighed, " It will make me happy to hear this from Yebin in person. Although I know she will give an opposite answer."

Jay looked at Aera,
" Why did you choose me instead of Jake?"

" Because I like you."  Aera stopped from continuing as she got embarrassed by herself for confessing her feeling to her crush directly.

" I'm sorry, I mean I like your charisma and the way you just be yourself."

Jay chuckled before Aera continue,
" Jay, do you know what surprises me the most?"

Jay raised his eyebrows and waited for Aera to speak.
She cleared her throat,
" I never met someone who loves his crush over so deeply. Like I mean-"

" You like Yebin and you showed your feeling to her. You didn't care about other girls and just being loyal to her. You also care about her more than everyone else. It proves to me that you are a great person when it came to love."

" Your crush is the luckiest girl ever."

Aera said, showing Jay that she meant what she said to him before although deeply in her heart, she just hurt herself with the reality. She felt broken, like her heart being torn apart as she realized Jay was calling for her to accompany you just because of Yebin.

Aera know. She is stupid when it came to love.
She knew Jay kissed Yebin, she knew his action really hurt her but she just let it happen, and continue liking him as she used to. She was lying if she said that she didn't miss him-
When Jay absent, she can't help but took a glance at his seat several times.

Aera sighed, thinking when will she replace Yebin in his heart. Her feeling on him was obvious, but Jay still had no idea about it. Jake was right- she was stupid. No- stupid.

" Aera, Yebin like Jake," Jay spoke up, seem disappointed with the reality of his love story.
Jay lowered his gaze and stopped eating.
Aera noticed the sadness on his face, so she stopped eating too and sat more closer to him, checking if he was okay.

" We kissed."

Aera felt hurt again.

" She let me kissed her but why did she still care about Jake?"

" Jay, don't be like this."
Aera patted him on his shoulder to comfort him.

" Am I not good enough, Aera?"

" No. You are really good. You are perfect, you know? You are unique and different from others. I like your personality, Jay. Just remember that I like everything about you and don't think negatives things about yourself.
Give Yebin more times to recognize your efforts, okay?"

" I believe that she will feel the same way one day."

Aera forced herself to say that as it was the only way to make Jay stopped from crying about Yebin.

It hurt her a lot -

Jay smiled and suddenly hugged her, giving her more butterflies in her stomach.
" Aera, you will help me, right?"

Aera confused.
" You will make me get her back, right?"

-

The next day, Aera went to the school as usual and smiled when she saw Jay and Sunghoon were talking to Yebin at the school corridors, knowing Jay finally smiled made her felt better.

She looked around them, wondering if Jake was there and after a minute, she remembered that Jake was supposed to get suspended from school.

She sighed, remembering the words Jake told to her.

"  Know your place, Aera. He already told you everything. You and he are not even friends. He didn't want to befriend you."

" No need to worry or think about him." Aera reminded herself and still walked through the hallway.

When she walked past the discipline room,
she suddenly stopped as she heard a conversation between Mr. Kang and the principal. She didn't mean to eavesdrop but knowing Jake was mentioned in the conversation making her felt more curious.

" So, he was the one who broke the window to skip school?"

Mr. Kang nodded.

" He also fought other students from different classes?"

Mr. Kang nodded again.

" Mr. Kang, do you know how much I hate problematic kids?"

" I know, Mr. Cheon. I already suspended him from school."

The principal crossed his arm, " He should be drop out from the school."

" But, Mr. Cheon. I already gave him a bad penalty."

" No. The problematic kid should be drop out of school. Our school reputation is more important."

" But he is the new student here."

" I don't care."

" Call him to come to the school and meet me." Mr. Cheon said seriously and took a step towards the door.

Aera felt guilty, although She knew Jake said that he didn't mean to protect her that day. Aera knew he was lying to the teacher, telling him he wanted to skip the school when the truth was Aera was the one who did that.

This is wrong.

Jake didn't deserve this.

I should get this.

Aera shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and went into the discipline room without any permission causing the teachers to surprise her.

" Song Aera, where is your manner?" Mr. Kang asked her angrily.

Aera walked towards the principal and begged him,

" Please don't do anything to Jake."

" I don't want to listen to your nonsense." The principal replied.

" This is wrong. Jake wanted to help me that day. I was the victim."

Aera looked at the teachers with tears on her cheeks.

" Jake didn't do anything wrong."

" I was getting bullied by those students. So, Jake gave an act of revenge by picking a fight with them. He wanted to help me."

" And he didn't skip the school that day. I was the one who wanted to skip school. I was climbing the gate and a teacher caught me. The teacher was going to chase for me, ready to hit me with the ruler but Jake stopped him by breaking the window. After that, the teacher forgot about me and ran to search for Jake instead."

" Jake didn't do anything wrong. He just wanted to protect me."

" I should tell you about this, Mr. Kang but I was too stubborn and ignored his words. I don't know that he wanted to help me that day."

" This is not fair. Jake didn't do anything wrong. I should get the penalty."

" Please cancel his suspension. Please don't make him drop out from the school."

" Jake is a nice guy."

Aera begged the teachers and cried.
The other students who were walking past the room were surprised to hear that and gathered outside the discipline room, eavesdropping on everything from the beginning.

Jay, Sunghoon, and Yebin were there too and surprised, can't believe what Aera did to help Jake.

Sunghoon was about to stop her but Yebin stopped him,
" Don't do anything. The teacher will allow Jake to come to the school again because of her."

" If you are dragging her away, Jake will get drop out from the school for real."

" I don't want it to happen," Yebin said to Sunghoon seriously while Jay was just holding himself from getting jealous.

Sunghoon remained silent and watched Aera who was still crying in front of the teacher.

" Alright. I will take my words back." The principal said.

Aera bowed as a sign of thank you,
" Thank you, Mr. Cheon-"

" But, you will get the penalty for trying to skip school." The principal cut her off.

Aera nodded,
" I will. It's my fault."