“You have something to confess?” Soonyoung asked with confusion. What could Seungcheol possibly have to say to him?

With a sigh, Seungcheol nodded, “I do. And I completely understand if you hate me afterwards. I deserve it. The person who I plotted with and I deserve any kind of spiteful words you may have.”

Soonyoung leaned away from Seungcheol defensively, throwing out his hands to calm him down. “Woah. Let’s hear what happened first, then I’ll see if I become angry or not.”

“I don’t know,” Seungcheol said with a dramatic sigh, “Maybe you should hit me first. It’ll make it easier for me to say it.”

Soonyoung couldn’t help but laugh now. Seungcheol was turning out way differently than he expected. “You’re thinking way too much, Seungcheol. Just tell me.”

“Okay, okay,” Seungcheol said as he turned to Soonyoung, “Here it is. Jeonghan and I forced Jihoon into having this persona of an obsessive person, just so he could somehow find a way into your life.”

Quiet filled the air between them as Soonyoung lost all his laughter, and Seungcheol waited to see if he would get a punch to the face.

Blinking, Soonyoung took it all in. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it when he wasn’t satisfied with what he was going to say. What did that really mean? Who was Jihoon then? And how was he normally?

Soonyoung turned to Seungcheol and scrunched up his face in confusion, “Could you repeat what you just said. Maybe use different words so I can try to understand?”

“Jihoon kept talking about you, and it went on and on and on without anything happening,” and now Seungcheol was rambling, “So Jeonghan and I devised up a plan for him to get into your life. It was all Jeonghan really. We all knew you liked Wonwoo. And we all watched you as you planned out your secret admirer plan. Jeonghan thought it would be a good idea to steal your notes so Wonwoo wouldn’t get them. And when we did that, we realized we had to do something. But Jihoon wasn’t confident enough to just come out and say he liked you and it was us stealing your notes. So we told him he should just barge in and claim you. He’s liked you longer, he shouldn’t wait any longer, and he caved.”

Still unsure of what to say, Soonyoung contemplated the new stream of information he was getting. But Jeonghan? He was such a nice guy. How could he plan all that, telling Jihoon how to barge into someone else’s life? And Jihoon? Jihoon actually couldn’t bring up the courage to confess himself? He had to take really bad pointers from his friends?

What was going on?

“You’re serious?” Soonyoung asked.

With huge puppy eyes, Seungcheol nodded, “We just wanted something to happen between the two of you. He’s liked you for such a long time. And it hurts when he hurts, Jihoon has been my friend since the beginning of time. I just wanted to see him happy. But the both of you are anything but happy.”

“You don’t like Jihoon?” Soonyoung continued with his questions, “I thought you liked Jihoon.”

Seungcheol looked at him with confusion.

So Soonyoung went on further, “The one time we were at Twenty17, and I was on my date with Wonwoo, you were overly protective of Jihoon.”

“Ahh,” Seungcheol exclaimed, remembering, “You were with Wonwoo, I may have acted like a jerk. Sorry. Also, there was a time before you showed up when I thought I had feelings for Jihoon, but he’s like a brother to me. My younger brother. I’ve only had real older brothers, so to have Jihoon as my younger brother, it means a lot. Plus, after he found out about you, he’s changed so much. Even after finally getting into your life, he’s changed. All for the better, and I’m sure it’s all because of you.”

Soonyoung frowned, “I was meaning to ask you about that. You said the Jihoon I first met isn’t the real Jihoon. So what is Jihoon really like?”

Seungcheol nodded, “I wish I could fully explain it, but I can’t. The Jihoon nowadays is more similar to the Jihoon I know. It’s like he started to care less about forcing his way into your life, cause you were kind of accepting him in anyways. And I can’t really say more, it should really be Jihoon you should be talking to.”

There was another moment of silence between them as Soonyoung was lost in thought. Everything was starting to make sense now. Of course not everything, but a lot of it. Flashbacks of his memories with Jihoon in them came rushing back and he couldn’t believe how long it’s been since Jihoon has been in his life.

With a sigh, Soonyoung says, “I wish I could say that I am angry, and I am. Those first few days and weeks was full of stressing out with anger. And in all honesty, I was more so confused. I couldn’t figure out what I had done to deserve someone bothering me so. I’m nothing special. But the thing is, as annoying as Jihoon was at the beginning, I actually am glad to have met him. He’s become a good friend.”

Seungcheol started to smile, eye smile and gummy smile, it was all over his face. “Does this mean there is a possible chance you could like him?”

Soonyoung’s heart thumped against his chest, all facial expression falling away. He really wasn’t ready to even think of that possibility yet. Shaking his head slightly, Soonyoung tells Seungcheol, “I don’t think I can say anything about that. Nothing between Jihoon and I have been honest. If anything, I’ll give him the chance to clear everything up, but it has to be between him and me.”

Even though Seungcheol had lost his smile for a second, he brought it back, “You’re giving him a chance to clear it up. And that is everything I wanted to hear. You’re a good guy, Soonyoung. I’m glad it was you Jihoon decided to like.”

Soonyoung couldn’t help but grimace, “Why does he like me? I’m nothing special. I haven’t done anything. I never even met him personally till he came into my life.”

A chuckle came from Seungcheol, and Soonyoung looked over with disbelief. What could be so funny about the situation to make him laugh. Soonyoung couldn’t understand Seungcheol.

Seungcheol’s laughter was interrupted by his cellphone dinging. Taking it out of his pocket, Seungcheol checked his message. When he was done reading it, he looked over to Soonyoung, “Sorry. I’m needed elsewhere. I’m glad we had this talk though. I’m glad I could get this off my chest, I’ve been feeling pretty bad about it for awhile. Jeonghan was too, and he wanted to let you know he’s sorry too. He’s helping Jisoo with editing at the moment.”

Soonyoung nodded, “I’m glad we had this talk too. I mean, you guys basically messed up my life, but at least I know the reason why now. I won’t be walking around a totally confused mess all the time anymore.”

They both stand up from the bench. Seungcheol stretched his limbs out, while Soonyoung shuffles his feet waiting for them to say goodbye. Soonyoung looks up at Seungcheol and the guy is smiling again.

“Why are you smiling so much?” Soonyoung asked.

This only made Seungcheol smile wider, “I’m just happy. You have no idea how happy you make Jihoon, and a happy Jihoon makes me happy. Also, I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

Seungcheol nods, “You saved Jihoon. In a lot more ways than you can imagine.”

Instead of going back home right away, Soonyoung makes his way to Jun’s. It was way past 1pm, and he figured his best friend would be up and about already. Soonyoung needed someone to talk to, especially after everything he was just told.

Letting himself in, he says hi to Jun’s parents before heading to Jun’s bedroom.

“I thought I heard you,” Jun said, facing the door which Soonyoung just opened up.

“Hey,” Soonyoung said with a small wave, “I need someone to talk to.”

“Come on in,” Jun said, gesturing to his bed, “Therapist Jun will be with you in a second.”

“Ha ha, Jun,” Soonyoung mocked back, closing the door and making his way to the bed, “I’m serious.”

Jun shrugged, “I know you are. I just wanted to lighten up the mood before it got serious.”

Sighing, Soonyoung lays fully on his back.

“It’s really serious, isn’t it?” Jun asked, after seeing how Soonyoung was reacting.

“It’s really serious,” Soonyoung confirms.

“What did he do this time?” Jun asked with a irked voice.

Soonyoung shook his head, “It wasn’t Jihoon. Seungcheol and I had a talk. He and Jeonghan... The both of them... They...”

“What did they do?” Jun asked, “Do I have to have a talk to Jihoon about his friends? Do I have to have a talk with Seungcheol and Jeonghan?”

“Everything,” Soonyoung started again after Jun was done talking, “Everything from the beginning. Jihoon was eager to get into my life, but his obsessive quality was forced by the two of them.”

“You’re serious?” Jun said with slight frustration.

“I know, I know,” Soonyoung said with sigh, “The whole situation still . I wish none of it happened. I wish Jihoon would have just approached me without the help of his friends. Or I wish his friends didn’t give such bad advice. I mean, seriously, who makes a person do that? Even if they were all desperate.”

“Wha-What does this mean?” Jun asked, “Are you still going to be friends with them?”

Soonyoung rolled over with a groan, “I don’t know. I... I don’t know.”

“And Jihoon?” Jun reluctantly asked.

“Jihoon?” Soonyoung said into his arm, “He’s the biggest I don’t know.”

They sat in quiet, the both of them lost in their own thoughts.

Randomly, an image of Jihoon came to Soonyoung. It was the first time they came face to face. Soonyoung had thought he was going to finally get the chance to talk to his crush, but he turned around to Jihoon instead.

Soonyoung could feel himself heating up with the memory of ‘you are mine’ being whispered into his ear. Remembering the thing that happened next made him whine out loud. Why was he thinking of something like that. Who wanted to remember being kissed by someone he didn’t even know? Soonyoung let out another whine, kicking air, as he remember kissing Jihoon back.

“What is wrong with you?” Jun asked, trying to bring Soonyoung out of his own mind, “Did you come here to just throw a tantrum on my bed?”

Soonyoung rolled to his back again, huffing and puffing. “What should I do, Jun?”

“I really wish I could tell you,” Jun said, moving to sit next to Soonyoung, “Right now though, you need to figure out how you feel about everything. How you feel about Jihoon. You used to be so adamant on getting rid of him, now you just let him into your personal space whenever he likes. You should figure out what it is going to be.”

Soonyoung went quiet again. Jun was only stating the obvious, but it still caused a storm in Soonyoung’s mind. He went back and forth between the two choices all the time. Who cared what he thought he knew of Jihoon. Jihoon had forced himself selfishly into someone else’s life. Whether with help from friends or not, it wasn’t right.

But then Soonyoung sighed and knew it wasn’t like that anymore. Jihoon wasn’t selfish, he took care of not only him but of Jun and Minghao as well. And he wasn’t obsessive, Jihoon hung around people who he cared about. Even Soonyoung had to admit it.

It was late at night and Soonyoung was laying in his own bed. He should have been asleep by now but his mind wouldn’t let him completely turn off for the night. One person kept running around his thoughts, whispering to him.

When Soonyoung couldn’t sleep in the past he always turned to Woozi’s videos. Opening up the Youtube app and typing in Woozi was an automatic movement for him. So it wasn’t a surprise to him when he had the app running and a video one tap away from playing.

As the song played into his ear, Soonyoung was transported back to the school’s nursery bed. He didn’t want to believe it, but it was all there. The voice he heard. Although it was but a whisper, he could recognize the voice he listened to constantly.

He was staring fiercely at the painted mask Woozi had on, wondering who it was under it. Although he had a good suspicion of who he was, Soonyoung still couldn’t help enjoying the mysteriousness of it all.

His phone vibrated in his hand and a notification showed up. Minghao had texted him. But it was so late. Getting out of Youtube, he goes into his messages.

Minghao: Hyung, I’m sorry. I gave Jihoon your phone number. He’s been asking for a while now. And he promised he wouldn’t do anything weird. Please talk to him so I can talk with Jun without being interrupted every 5 minutes.

Unplugging his earphones, Soonyoung stared at the message. What did this mean? Was he going to get a unexpected message from Jihoon? Or was Jihoon going to do the really unexpected and call him?

Unknown Number: This is Jihoon. Minghao told me your number. Is it okay if I called you?

Soonyoung knew it was going to happen the moment he got Minghao’s message, but to actually get Jihoon’s message made Soonyoung nervous for some reason. His palms started to sweat and his could feel his heart test the limit of his chest.

Unknown Number: Can I?

Nothing about this was good. It all felt too forced. Minghao needed Jihoon off his back. Jihoon wanted to talk with him. Soonyoung just wanted to listen to Woozi and fall asleep.

Unknown Number: I guess you’re asleep. I’ll try another day.

Groaning, Soonyoung laid on his back and started typing back a message.

Soonyoung: Call me.

In matter of minutes, the unknown number is calling him.

Picking up, Soonyoung places the phone next to his ear. He didn’t have anything to say, so he just listened.

“Soonyoung?” the voice of Jihoon came through.

“I’m listening,” Soonyoung said back.

“So the thing is, we’re on summer break, and your first video filming ended too. I have no excuses to see you anymore. And um, I know we just saw each other yesterday, but I-I missed you.”