The family breakfast at Jae Suk’s house was quiet for someone. Jihyo looked nervously at her father who was as calm as ever and her two brothers having their breakfast in front of her. She thought that reason might be because she came home late last night.

After she had had midnight dinner with gary (now her boyfriend?), she arrived home at about 2am in the morning. She planned to seek into her room secretly as she didn’t want to awake her family and most importantly she wanted to avoid being scolded. But things didn’t get along as her plan.

 While she was groping her way to the upstairs in the dark, the sudden light blurred her vision for a moment. When she became accustomed to the light, she blinked twice and saw kwang soo coming out of the kitchen and he saw her coming home late. Bad timing lee kwang soo! She screamed in her head.

Now, there she was, arranging the sentences to give reasons for the question that was going to be asked by her father “Why did you come home late last night?”

“Noona, why did you come home late last night?” the expected question from an unexpected person, kwang  soo asked her.

“Why are you glaring at me? I am an adult. I can go and have with my friends and come home late!” she was slightly unsatisfied of his tone, “appa isn’t even scolding me.”

Jae suk and joong kook laughed seeing the sibling bickering.

“Your sister is an adult now. I believe she can decide and control herself,” jae suk said calmly.

“Today is your day off right?” joong kook asked jihyo still munching on his food.

“Nae, why oppa?” she asked back.

“Go and check on dong wook today. Yesterday when I called him to drink together, he said he couldn’t because he isn’t feeling well. He answered me in a rasping, sore throat voice. I think he is down with flu since the weather is getting colder,” he continued, “I want to check on him but I have meeting.”

“He is sick? I will oppa, I will go check him.”

Jihyo rang the doorbell of dong wook apartment and a few seconds later, the door opened. Once she stepped into the apartment, she saw dong wook in his pajamas with cute bears on it and a thick blue coat wore on his thin white shirt. She chuckled seeing her friend in pajamas. It was the first time she saw her friend in casual clothes because he always had a fashionable style.

“Ya! Why didn’t you tell me you are sick?” she said heading straight to the kitchen and putting down the bags of porridge and chicken soup on the dining table. She looked around at the kitchen and saw unwashed dishes and some ramen packs on the kitchen counter.

“Why are you eating ramen when you are sick. Definitely a kitchen of man living alone,” she chuckled and folded her shirt sleeves to wash the unwashed ones.

“It’s okay jihyo ya. You don’t have to. I will do them later. That’s why I didn’t tell you I am sick. I don’t want to burden you,” he said stopping her from washing the dishes.

“Move aside. We are like family. Why feel burden to us? Have the porridge while it is still hot,” she said and got back to her business of cleaning the kitchen. Dong wook knows she is the one who can’t be controlled when she decided to something. So he just followed her order and watched her running there and there in the kitchen. He couldn’t take his eyes off from her while eating.

After she was done, she went to sit at the couch and dong wook followed behind her sniffing his runny rose. Once she sat on the couch, she her nagging mode.

“You are living alone now. Take care of yourself. You should not let yourself drawn with works. Eat properly. Call us whenever you need help, oppa or kwang soo or me. You are like a family, no, a family member to us.”

“All right, all right,” he answered weakly.

Their conversation got disrupted by a phone call from jihyo. She automatically smiled at the caller name. “Gelly…Gelly” she called him, it was the call from gary.

 “Nae,oppa, today?... Yes I have… then let’s meet later oppa… me too…”

Dong wook who heard all the conversation was observing the actions of jihyo through the phone call. Oppa? Joong kook hyung? He can’t be. She will not talk cutely like this if he was. Who else she would call oppa? Gary? That bastard? Did they get back together again? It also can’t be. Dong wook was in deep thought and got annoyed when he thinks if that person was gary.

The moment she hanged up her phone, he suddenly asked her. “Gary hyung?”

She gasped when he said his name. “Omm, he asked me if I have time at noon so we can go on a date.”

Date? Did she just say date? Are they dating? Can’t be! I already showed her the photo. She isn’t that stupid to let that kind of man comes into her life? Isn’t she?

While dong wook was figuring answers for each question in his mind’s laboratory, jihyo spoke up the answer he wanted to know as if she could read his mind.

“That photo, you showed, it was just misunderstanding. She isn’t his girlfriend. She is just someone from the club whom his friend brought to the studio. But thanks to you that you worried about me so you even sent a person to detect him to make sure I was not hurt by him.”

Well, broken feelings set upon dong wook’s heart. It was hard for him to accept and also hard to believe. The girl he had loved secretly for years is in love with someone not him. He felt defeated as well when that person got her love even he had known her for months while he had known her for years.

“Wook ah,” jihyo asked him when there was no reply from dong wook.

“Are you okay? You are feeling unwell,” she quickly moved herself to his side and put her hand against his forehead to examine his temperature is normal. To her surprise, dong wook removed her hand from his forehead and held her in his hands tightly. She was confused by his sudden action.

“Jihyo-ya, I know you had given your answer to gary. But, but, I can’t just let you go like this,” he said looking deeply into her eyes.

“What do you mean by this?”

“I mean I love you. You are in my heart since we were young. The more our friendship gets stronger, the bigger my love grows. I thought you will not ready to accept me if I confess you early. So I waited and I haven’t yet. I never gave my heart to anyone else because you are always here, in my heart. When you got so friendly with him, I was so afraid that you might fall for him and you actually did. Jihyo-ya, is it too late to confess you now? I love you.” The confession of dong wook came out like a waterfall flowing non-stop.

Oh my god! That was not what she really was expecting to hear. A good friend who was like a family was confessing to her. She never thought he would have feelings for her and also she never thought him more than a friend. But here he was, confessing her that he had loved her since they were young.

What should she do? Of course, she can’t accept it as she already has gary whom her heart was given to. Also, felt guilty to reject him either. She couldn’t stand to watch her friend hurt if she rejected.

“Wook ah,” her voice filled with sorrow, “you know I have boyfriend now. I am sorry.” She released her hand from his hold.

“Can’t you please consider me for once? You have known me longer than you know him. I have loved you longer than he has. Do you know how hard it is to secretly love someone for a long period of time? Can’t you please give me a chance to be with you?” he said miserably grabbing her hands and holding them tightly again.

“Wook ah, you are my best friend and always will be. I am sorry,” she could feel her heart stuck in because of sorrow to reject her friend. And she felt more guilty towards him when he is not in his good shape to resist his heart broken feeling.

She looked away from him as the tears started to gather in her eyes. She quickly stood up from the couch and grabbed her handbag making her way to the door. She couldn’t stand any longer to see her friend hurt. She wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

“I am leaving, Wook-ah.”

“If I confess to you before you got to know him, would you have accepted me?” The question stopped her from moving further. She was froze and rooted to the floor.

That question. What if he confessed to me before I met Gary oppa? Would situation change? Would my heart flutter for him? Am I sure of myself that I never think him more than a friend? The long friendship, between a boy and a girl, isn’t it possible to have a slight little fluttering to each other?

She shake her head to remove those nonsense thoughts. She signed.

“I am sorry.” That was the last words before she left with sorrow filling her heart.

And dong wook was left alone in his big apartment. He was staring vaguely at the floor still sitting on the couch with one hand on his chest trying to control his heart from sobbing.

Happy 2016 everyone.

I apologize for taking too much time to update. I am sorry.

Hope you won’t mind as I didn’t put Gary in this chapter. Thanks for reading my lovely readers!!