Everything went quiet.

Hyun Ae froze on her spot, while Namjoon was clearly showing Henry how surprised he was as the other guy stated that.

In that silent moment, she glanced at the shopping bag that Henry had been holding and saw a carrot. Quickly, she grabbed it and began to swing it towards the back of Henry's head.

"You fool! I never got married to you," Hyun Ae snorted, as she hit his head once again, this time she laughed. Henry covered his head while whining in pain as she kept on swinging the carrot at him.

"He's lying. Sorry about that. We never got married," she explained to Namjoon, but she couldn't hold back her laughter.

"But we were a couple before! A sweet loving couple! Ah, stop it!" Henry added, hand still covering the back of his head.

"Huh?" Namjoon said, his eyes darting between the two people in confusion.

"Eish! Don't bring that up again!" Hyun Ae grunted, slapping Henry's shoulder repeatedly before she turned to Namjoon and bowed her head down. "I-I-I'm sorry, we have to go."

Though it was a bit chaotic situation and Namjoon was a bit slow in processing everything, he noticed something odd about her. So he grabbed her hand and asked, "are you crying-"

"No!" she immediately cut off, suddenly sniffing. She touched her cheek, and indeed there were trails of her tears. Quickly, she wiped it away. "No. Whatever. I'm going now. Bye."

With that, Hyun Ae grabbed Henry's arm and they began to walk away, leaving confused Namjoon behind. But then she stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "By the way..." She looked at him and said, "think back. Why did I lie to her?"

"What?" Namjoon asked, his brows furrowed.

"You were in my home with the rest of the BTS when I told her that you were in Ttukseom. Why... did I lie to her?"

Hyun Ae smiled and gave him one last bow before finally leaving the place along with Henry behind her.

Namjoon was flustered, watching both of them disappear by the corner of the road, then he let out a sigh. "Ah..." He facepalmed, then ran his fingers through his hair in frustration then punched the wall where frightened Hyun Ae was leaning on earlier. "Because you wanted to avoid me from seeing her. But why, Hyun Ae?"

*

"Ya, that joke was too much! Saying that we were married?!" Hyun Ae gushed as she entered the kitchen with Henry.

"Well, you saw his face when he heard that! Serves him right!" Henry chortled, placing the shopping bag onto the prep table with a winning smile, feeling satisfied with himself.

"Poor him! Though he looked like that, he has an innocent soul!"

"But seriously..." Suddenly he grabbed her arm, and his other hand began to caress her cheek lightly. "He must've scared you earlier. I knew, just by the look in your eyes."

His thumb stopped by the corner of her eye as he stared into it.

"One more word from him, and you'll cry."

"But I already did," she chuckled, looking down at her hand, which was still grabbing the half-destroyed carrot.

"Because you had lost control of it due to my joke," he chuckled, pinching her nose softly. She scrunched it up as she let out a soft laugh.

Hyun Ae took in a deep breath and then let it out as she met his eyes again. "Anyway, thank goodness you came."

***

"Good night Yoon Hee!" Hyun Ae waved her hand at Yoon Hee as she took a different turn from her usual route to the bus station.

"Oh, you're going somewhere else?" Yoon Hee asked out of curiosity.

"I thought that I would like to have a night walk somewhere. Relaxing a bit."

"Okay. Be careful then." With that, they both bid each other goodbyes and went on their way.

Hyun Ae tucked her hands into her coat's pocket, letting out huffs of breath as she kept on walking the quiet road with some shops still opening at 10:45 pm. Then a local shop caught her eye.

She pushed the door open and began to roam around the shop, only to waste some time when she was going to grab a chocolate-flavored ice cream. She then decided to take another round in the shop when suddenly she stumbled upon someone, squatting in front of the drinks' refrigerator, trying to reach the drink at the lowest tier.

"Hm?" she mumbled when the guy with the black cap and white mask turned to look up at her, still squatting.

"H-Hyun Ae..."

"Namjoon... oppa," she called out when he suddenly stood up and reached her with a canned coffee in his hand. "What are you doing here?" she whispered, trying to keep it low though there was almost no one other than them in the shop.

"I'm the one who should ask you that. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be home by now?" he whispered back.

"One, I'm buying ice cream. Two, I just want to take a night walk."

"Hyun Ae ah..." he called out softly, before grabbing her arm. "Let's talk."

*

"You never told me about Henry being your ex-boyfriend."

"Well, I chose not to tell you."

"But I've told you that Seorim is my ex?"

"Which I never asked in the first place," Hyun Ae sniggered, taking another bite of her cold snack.

After their unexpected encounter earlier, Hyun Ae let Namjoon join her walk and they went to the quiet Jamsil Hangang Park her choice that night.

"I'm sorry about the news-"

"What are you sorry for?" Namjoon asked, cutting her words off as he took another bite of his red bean-filled bun.

"Well, if only I never told her to go to-"

"Oh, stop it," he grumbled, taking in the last bite of his snack and a gulp of his drink before he proceeded. "I know you did nothing wrong. I'm the one who should sorry to you."

He looked down at his hand, still holding onto his drink. "I blamed you without thinking any further. And I scared you, didn't I? That's why you cried."

Hyun Ae bit her lip, and she took another bite of her ice cream as he continued to talk. "But I was wondering... why did you say that I don't know what's happening outside of my world? What is it about Seorim that I didn't know?"

"Huh.  I'd rather let you find it out yourself. I'm not saying anything about her anymore. You just wouldn't believe me," she uttered, taking another final bite, and finishing her whole ice cream. Without realizing the fact that Namjoon was watching her every little move and chuckled.

"Ah... Are you sulking with me?"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I said I'm not," she hushed, looking up at him and glaring at him, trying to look intimidating. But he just gave her a smirk. That melted her heart right away. "Don't look at me like that, you prick-"

All of a sudden, they heard some bushes rustling behind them. Both of them turned around, and of course, no one was there. But the bushes where they heard were rustling like 10 meters away from them.

"Ah..." Hyun Ae sighed, breaking the 3 minutes of silence after the rustles. She then kneeled and began to reach out for her right sandal. "Let me tell you another fact about me," she grunted as she struggled with her sandal straps. Namjoon was confused as he watched her working out on her foot.

"Discus throw; school record. The farthest one," she sighed, finally taking off her sandal and standing up, turning around with the sandal in her right hand.

"Geez, girl. Are you an athlete or something?" Namjoon chuckled as he followed her step. There was no one behind them, but he knew she had sensed something.

"Oh well..." she shrugged, picking up their trash and throwing it away into the trash can beside their bench. "Can you run?" she asked the idol.

"Well, since I only had a sandwich, I guess I can. But why?"

"Get ready," Hyun Ae said before she took a glance at her sandal and sighed. "I'm sorry, my precious sandal."

In a split second, Namjoon was overwhelmed when she began to throw her sandal toward one of the bushes with a tree behind it. His eyes went wide when the sight of her flying sandal disappeared into the top of the tree.

"YA-" Namjoon was interrupted by the sound of a man shrieking from the bushes after the sound something heavy fell from the tree.

"OH, MY GOD. I DID HIT THE BEEHIVE," Hyun Ae laughed in disbelief as she grabbed her handbag and Namjoon's arm, starting to drag him along with her. "RUN!"

*******************************************************************
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