Chae POV

"And by that I mean I like you... romantically"

As soon as I heard the words come out of it felt like time stopped. It felt like everything around me was suddenly still... or was it like that before and I just didn't notice? Like everything else I just didn't notice. God, I am so so stupid. It was right infront of me and I was too dense to notice it. Too dense to notice her.

We were stood up on the roof. Me and my bestfriend. My bestfriend who just told me she liked me romantically. My friend who's looking at me with those eyes that hold something I can't quite be sure of. Is it fear? Sadness? Heartbreak?

Whatever it is it's getting deeper. The look is getting deeper. It's painful just looking at it. Speak son chaeyoung! Say something, anything! Just talk to her! Speak!

"T-tzu.. i-" I tried to speak but I felt the words die out in my throat.

She was just standing there waiting for me to talk. She wasn't impatient to get an answer. She wasn't shouting. She was just waiting.

"Tzu I am s-so sorry that i didn't notice how you felt sooner. I'm sorry if my denseness caused you pain." I started talking. I couldn't calm the shaking in my voice but atleast the words were coming out.

"Tzu you are so, so important to me I can't imagine my life without you. Especially these past year with my dad passing you and dahyun unnie were a saving grace to me. I care so much about you but I'm afraid it's not In the way you want me to care about you. T-tzuyu I don't feel the same way about you and I'm... I'm-" I felt the words get caught up in my chest again. I couldn't talk.

Then something happened that that I didn't expect in a million years. Especially after how stupid I've been. In one swift moment tzuyu pulled me into her embrace.

She was hugging me and I had my arms tightly wrapped around her waist. It was then that I realised I had started crying. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and I was sobbing.

"Why are you crying pabo? I'm the one who should be crying right now." She said looking down at me with a smile. She was smiling. It only made me feel worse as I kept sobbing in her arms.

"I-I'm s-sorry tzuyu.. p-please don't leave me. I d-don't want to lose you. I'm s-sorry" I tried speaking through the absolute mess that I was. I didn't want to lose her.

"Don't worry chae. I'm not going anywhere. Nothing's happening to us. I'll still be your bestfriend. I just wanted to tell you how I feel so I could get this out of the way." She says pulling me away from her and rubbing away my tears with her thumbs.

"A-are you sure? *sniff* aren't you m-mad at me?" I asked looking up at her still in her embrace.

"No chaeyoung, I'm not mad at you. I would be lying if I said I'm not sad or hurt. I am but I'll get over it eventually." She said as she took a step back still holding onto my forearm.

I looked down at the ground. I didn't know what to say. I was ashamed of myself.

"Hey, look at me." I felt her fingers slowly graze under my chin guiding it upwards until my eyes met hers. "We're fine chae, I'm fine." She said wiping away the tears that were left on my face. "Okay." I replied so softly that I wasn't sure if she heard it or not.

"Come on. Let's get out of here." She said slipping her hand into mine as we walked towards the stairs that led down the building.

"Oh and one more thing. I intervened on JK because I couldn't let him confess to you before I did. So.. if you want to take up on his offer you can call him. I don't mind." She said her eyes locked forward as we were slowly walking down the stairs hand in hand.

"No." I said which made her slow down and look at me. She had a slightly shocked expression on her face but it was soon replaced by that same smile she's been giving me.

"No?" She asked. "Yeah. No. I don't want to date anyone. Atleast not yet. I have too much I want to do. A relationship is the last thing I need right now." That's right. I still have to make the greatest game anyone has ever played. I have to keep my father's legacy. All those people saying my father's death was going to be our company's downfall, I had to prove them wrong.

Tzuyu chucked as she continued walking down the stairs, our hands no longer intertwined. "Well that's good. Atleast I won't have to see you be with some guy right." She said more of a statement than a question. I smiled as I followed her. Thank you tzuyu. For being so understanding.

Me and tzuyu split up at the gate. I went towards the car where dahyun was. She was already inside waiting for me. I got in and she pulled out the car from the parking lot and started driving.

I was looking outside the car window thinking of what just happened today. Yugyeom trying to force himself onto me, Kookie asking me out, Tzuyu's confession and... Minari? What would she think? Wait.. Why was mina coming into my mind at a time like this? I shook my head a little trying to get rid of my thoughts. Yeah, like that ever helped.

"Chaeng?" I heard dahyun unnie call out to me. I forgot she was here. "Hmm?" I hummed a reply. "What's wrong?" She asked she was still looking at the road but I could see the worried expression she had on.

"What do you mean?" I asked trying to act like I didn't know what she was talking about. "You've been completely mute since we left school." She said. I sighed and looked back out the window.

"Yugyeom tried to harass me again today." I said slowly not wanting her to swerve the car into the next lane in anger.

"He what??" It wasn't much help in that department though. I could basically see steam coming off her head. She had a death grip on the steering wheel. I sighed in relief that we weren't In an accident already. I really shouldn't tell her stuff like this while she's driving.

"Yeah. I escaped thanks to minari." I said sighing again. I explained the whole situation from Jungkook's text to how I got out of there. "I swear chaeyoung I'm gonna cut that bastard's off one of these days." Dahyun unnie said in a frustrated tone. I've never heard her talk like this before. Actually now that I think about it, I don't think I've heard her say before.

I chuckled to myself which made her look over. "Be my guest, I don't think there's much to cut down there anyways." I said. We both looked at each other for a moment and started laughing.

"Thank you unnie... for listening." I said looking at her with a smile. "Don't mention it cub, you know I'm always here for you." She replied.

"There's one more thing, actually two more things I need to tell you." I said biting my lip and nervously playing with my fingers.

"Go on." She encouraged me and I told her everything. From kookie almost asking me to a date to tzuyu confessing. I told her everything.

"What do you think unnie? What should I do?" I asked. She had a serious look on her face. Like she was contemplating something. "What did you tell her?" She asked.

"I told her that I didn't feel the same but I didn't want to lose what we have either." I said looking downwards to my lap. "I-is that selfish of me unnie?" I asked.

"Was it true? That you don't feel the same?" She asked. I nodded while still looking down. I was extremely out of my element here. I've never had anyone try to date me or confess their feelings to me. Now I suddenly have three people trying to do just that. It was overwhelming to say the least. My mind just keeps going towards minari for some reason. I keep thinking of her.

"You're not selfish chaeng. It's how you really feel and if you said yes to her you would not only be lying to her but yourself as well. That's only going to end with both of you getting hurt." She said. I was looking at her with my mouth open. When did my roommate get so wise?

"Wah. Thank you for your advice oh wise one." I said bowing at her which made her laugh. "Anytime chaeng." She replied.

We got home soon after and my mind was still lingering on a certain AI girl. Maybe I just wanted to see her? That's why I'm thinking about her so much. That must be it. I said to myself as I made my way into my room.

"Hey chaeng?" I was already inside my room when I heard dahyun unnie call me. "Yeah?" I shouted back. I couldn't go out because I was already half undressed for a quick shower. "I gotta go. I got a call from sana. I'll come back late probably. Byee~" she shouted and I heard the front door shut before I could even reply to her. I quickly took a shower and put my VR gear on to go see mina.

I was now stood outside minari's house. The lights were on so I just walked in not bothering to ring the doorbell. She would probably have her ears plugged with headphones like usual so why bother.

I got inside to the living room to see her usual seat near the TV empty. She wasn't in the living room. I quietly walked further inside as I made my way towards the kitchen.

Something I've learned about mina is that she doesn't really need food to sustain herself but she can eat and taste food like a normal person. She loves trying new food so my second guess for where she might be was the kitchen, and I was right.

I saw minari behind the kitchen counter with a cup in her left hand held almost horizontally as she was furiously stirring its contents with a little spoon she had in her right hand.

I smiled at the scene infront of me. She looked so concentrated and serious. She had her tongue peeking out the side of . Her knees were slightly bent as if she was doing a fighter's stance. In two words, it was ing Adorable.

"Whatcha dooin minari?" I called out cheerfully. It made her yelp and drop the cup she was holding into the sink.

Almost instantly I felt my chest tighten with guilt as i saw her face. She was pouting while looking at the cup and it's contents spilling into the kitchen sink.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you minari." I apologized as I moved closer to her.

"I was stirring that for almost an hour." She said still pouting. "What is it?" I asked. "It's dalgona coffee. I saw pictures online and it looked really good so I wanted to make it" she said looking at the spilled cup.

She looked like miyoung that one time when I accidentally stepped on his tail and I don't think my heart can handle much more of that. I can't let her stay like this any longer.

"Tell you what. I know something that'll cheer you up. I have a surprise for you." I said and she looked up from the spilled cup to me. "Surprise? What surprise?" Her face immediately changing from that adorable sad face to an equally adorable excited face.

"Well minari, that's for me to know and you to find out." I said which made her pout again. "Come on you need to change your clothes first." I said holding her wrist and guiding her out the kitchen and upstairs to her room.

I turned to her to see a light tint of pink on her cheeks. Before I could ask if she was okay she started talking. "Why do we need to