It was in the evening. Everything was in place. The candles were shaped into a heart, the banner that had both Jake and Miriam’s names, and, of course, Miriam herself was wearing a red satin dress, and her hair was curled and all pinned up.
As she looked at herself in the mirror, she felt nervous but also excited about what was going to happen next. She couldn’t believe that she was actually going to confess her feelings to Jake, especially after everything that had been going on before. At the same time, she felt confident and ready to take this next step towards him.
She then entered out from the school and made her way to the heart-shaped circle of candles. The whole junior grade applauded with cheer and excitement. And the confession was even being taped on video for the school website!
Bangchan and most of his gang members were sitting on top of the middle stairs and watched as Miriam was about to confess her love for Jake.
“I hope everything works out!” Hannah said.
“Me too.” Bangchan added.
Kai looked at the entrance door. He then saw Yeji and Jake coming that way.
“Guys! He’s coming! Get ready, Miriam!” he then shouted.
“Alright, Kai! Cue the music!” signaled Bangchan.
Jake and Yeji were walking together, and made their way to the entrance of the school. As they got closer to the doors, Jake heard Bangchan's voice calling for Kai to play the music.
He turned around to look at Bangchan and his friends who were gathered in the second floor classroom. He then saw Miriam standing there with her red satin ball gown, curly hair, and nervous smile on her face. She looked beautiful and he couldn’t help but feel anxious as he wondered what she was going to say to him. He looked at her with love in his eyes.
She’s so beautiful, he thought, I wonder…if she’s going to confess her love to me. She has to! But…then that means…I’ll have to reject her. In a convincing way possible for Yeji.
“If you don’t turn her down, I will let the paparazzi know that you are here at school, and they will swarm you around constantly with no content. Got that?” Yeji said in a threatening tone.
“Jake Shim!” Miriam called, "My crush for you has now turned into my love for you!”
As she confessed, Everyone ooh and awed at the most adorable scene. But as they watched Jake look up at Yeji with a forced smile on his face, they couldn’t help but wonder why he was playing along with this whole plan instead of just admitting that he liked Miriam back.
But he didn’t have any choice but to pretend like he felt the same way as Yeji.
I…I am in love with you too…Miriam!
He had to do it. It was one of the only ways to protect her from Yeji’s cruel and bitter jealousy.
I’m sorry Miriam!
“I hope my feelings don’t trouble you,” said Miriam, “If you don’t have a problem, then let’s-”
“I do!” said Jake, advancing towards her, “I actually do have a problem with that. My problem is...I don’t like you!”
Miriam looked at Jake with a sad and confused expression on her face.
Bangchan and the gang could not help but look at each other with shocked expressions on their faces. They, too, had never expected Jake to say something like that to Miriam.
“You want to fall in love, I want to tour abroad! We don’t even know each other! Can’t you all just leave me alone?!” he yelled.
“But Jake, I didn’t mean it that way!” Miriam said, tearfully.
“You made it sound like you did!” Jake shouted, “I mean, what the hell is all of this?! Even from someone that is not from Australia, this is way too tacky!”
Miriam was officially hurt and taken aback as she thought that Jake was being insensitive and very harsh towards her.
“Get away from me, before I say something even worse! I am not like you and as a person, I have my limits! You don’t!”
“Well then, aren’t you high and mighty!” Bahiyyih shouted.
“Yeah, all you care about is not messing up your future!” added Felix.
“That was not very nice!” called Hannah.
“Yeah, you *!” said Kai “At least Miriam had the guts to tell you how she felt, to confess her love. And you decide to ruin everything we’ve put together!”
“Jake, let me ask you this!” Bangchan shouted with anger, “Would a real gentleman hurt a sweet girl like this one right in front of you?!”
As Bangchan and the gang defended Miriam, Jake couldn’t believe that they were taking her side in all of this, especially since he had been trying to protect her from Yeji. He couldn’t understand why everyone was taking her side instead of his. He knew that he had made a mistake by not telling them the truth, but he didn’t expect them to react like this towards him either.
But they don’t know that I’m just trying to protect her, he thought.
Jake took a cup of turpentine and splashed it around the candles, thinking it would put them out. But instead, it made a flame, surrounding in front of Miriam!
“What was in that?!” he asked in terror to Kai.
“That was turpentine, you *!” shouted Kai for a response, “It’s used for cleaning instruments!”
Jake knew that turpentine was a flammable liquid and he should have known better than to splash it around like that, especially since he didn’t want to hurt Miriam in any way. But as Bangchan and his friends yelled at him for his mistake, Jake felt overwhelmed with guilt and shame.
“Stand back!” shouted a voice.
It was Park Jongseong, another member of ENHYPEN, with a fire extinguisher. He ran to the flames that were in front of Miriam and successfully put out the fire.
As he and the rest of the band looked up, Jongseong shouted, “Why the hell did you do this?! How could you hurt a girl that was just trying to confess her feelings?! You are an idol, Jake! Idols are supposed to love and respect their fans. And that includes not setting them on fire! Only do that to sasaengs or haters!”
As Miriam stepped out of the circle of candles and faced Jake, she was still feeling hurt and angry from his words earlier. As she looked at him right in his eyes, and felt so frustrated and overwhelmed by everything that had happened.
Without thinking, she slapped Jake so hard that he fell to the ground, with her foot pinning him down.
“DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I LIKED YOU JAKE SHIM?!?!” she screeched, making the entire environment dead silent,“IT WAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE KINDEST, MOST SWEETEST, AND MOST IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THIS SCHOOL!”
Everyone could tell that she was actually standing up for herself. They were stunned that she actually told him how she really felt for him.
“I was new and a shy girl, AND WHO ARE YOU TO LOOK DOWN ON ME FOR IT?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW ME, JAKE SHIM?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT MY HISTORY OR ABOUT MY BACKSTORY?! IF I SUCK THAT MUCH, THEN WHY THE HELL WOULD I SPEND SO MANY YEARS TRYING TO MAKE FRIENDS, WHEN REALLY, I HAVE TROUBLE DOING SO, DUE TO MY AUTISM?!”
Jake knew that he had hurt her feelings. And now, it seemed as if she was finally letting him know how she felt about him. But he couldn’t even tell her the truth. He was only saying those things because of Yeji. It seemed as though it was getting out of hand.
“When you go abroad with ENHYPEN, don’t you want to tell foreign fans how great this school was? How great your friends were to you? All of the good things that once happened in your life?! Isn’t it much better to go with that attitude?!”
Miriam took her foot out of Jake’s chest and he quickly stood back up, with tears shining in his eyes.
“In future,” she said, sobbing, “When you look back on this day, when you were seventeen years old, you will regret it more than you do tonight!”
She then ran away with a broken heart.
“Haven’t you all gone too far?” asked Yeji, taking Jake by his arm, “Instead of being at home studying or doing your homework, you all decided to waste your time on this funny business. Jake is with me now. Come one, babe. Let us get away from these losers.”
She led him away. Jake looked back at Bangchan and his group of friends and at his band pleadingly, as if he was trapped in this scandal with Yeji.
“Don’t go with her!” shouted Jongseong.
“You shut up, stupid! He doesn’t need you!” shouted Yeji, exiting the school altogether.
Soon they were gone and the rest of the students were already leaving the campus. Bangchan, his group, and the band ENHYPEN came together.
“All of this hard work we did and Jake and Yeji think that they have the right to destroy it all! It’s all because of their birthright. And now what are we going to do now?” Bangchan said, anguished.
“Chan,” said Jongseong, “We didn’t know something like this was going to happen. I’m so sorry. We are so sorry.”
“We haven’t got much of a choice now,” said Hannah to Bahiyyih and Lea, “All we can do is accept the fact that those two are an item, now.”