Jung Jaehyun received a lot of love-life advises from his friends. They would always stress that with an award-winning face like his, he shouldn’t be shy around girls. They would encourage him to go for it. But his nervousness would always win over his confidence. There would be too much ‘uhh’ and 'uhm’ whenever he tried to talk to his crush.

One of the (mostly crazy) advises he remembered the most was from Minhyuk and Naeun, his colleagues whom he only knew for short time but he felt the click with them in no time, and apparently the ones who still maintained their sanity. They would say being friends would be a good start, until he could sense it whether the girl is comfortable with him or not. Apparently, with their hawk eyes, Jaehyun couldn’t escape from the fact that they knew how he got the fat crush on Song Yeoreum for a quite long time.

“Dude, really, you should talk to her,” Minhyuk tirelessly encouraged him. It was only less than a year they knew each other, and Minhyuk never supported his other friends like he did for Jaehyun. The fact that Jaehyun had been keeping himself invisible from the crush also played a big part why he wanted to help him.

“Or maybe you could ask Doyoung first whether she’s seeing anybody right now,” Naeun added, then she got glared by the boys with big question mark in their eyes. “I’m talking about that giant guy. Johnny Seo.”

Jaehyun made a duck face with his mouth. “But they don’t look like they’re dating.”

Minhyuk nodded in agreement.

“Jaehyun, you’ve said that more than your iconic line about living in America for 4 years,” Naeun snapped. “If you want to say 'that’s why I’m here’, it should be after you make a move on her.”

It was true that Jaehyun had been observing you, Song Yeoreum, ever since he couldn’t remember. Even before you crashed the boys night out by sabotaging Jungkook, Jaehyun was already aware of your presence. He would catch you walking around with that big, tall guy. Or sometimes he would see you talking with Doyoung. And the other times you would be seen with Kang Seungyoon, Kim Yeri and Park Sooyoung. Although he wanted to deny it, it was another fact that you were mostly seen with Johnny Seo.

That was particularly why he wouldn’t make a move. He was hesitant approaching you would result in nothing but a drama, either between you and the gigantic man, or between you and Jaehyun himself. But he couldn’t help but always keeping his eyes on you whenever he can see you, even from a far.

Jaehyun went to cafetaria all by himself, and there he bumped into Doyoung. Being a nice big brother as he was, Doyoung accompanied Jaehyun having his late lunch. Universe actually gave him a chance to get closer to Doyoung to ask about Ms. Summer, which he should embrace this opportunity.

Except Jaehyun sometimes was too focused looking at somewhere else, forgetting the food in front of him.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Doyoung’s question was effective to bring Jaehyun back to life.

“Oh, yeah.” He made a clinking sound with the spoon and chopsticks due to nervousness. Doyoung lightly chuckled at him. “There is something—not very important—I wanted to ask you,” Jaehyun slowly spoke.

“Yeah?” Doyoung sipped his coffee, waiting for the question.

“Are they still …steady?” He wasn’t sure if steady is a right word to start with. He didn’t even know for sure whether you were in an official relationship with that guy.

“They? They who?” Doyoung asked.

“Them.” Jaehyun locked his eyes on this one direction where you were with your close friends, standing next to a very tall guy in a suite. To Jaehyun, you didn’t look like you were with that guy. It didn’t look like you have that kind of chemistry with him. It looked like you were just being physically present there, without any interest to the big guy. The little interaction with him didn’t look like it had any serious meaning. You and him were more like acquaintances now.

“Ah, Johnny and Summer,” Doyoung responded to Jaehyun’s sight. “I guess summer has turned into winter.”

“Oh, I see..” He took it as a clear hint that you were no longer together.

“You know Johnny and Summer?” asked Doyoung suddenly.

“I’ve worked with Johnny for a radio program. As for Yeoreum, I think my friend Jungkook brought her once when it was supposed to be a boys night out. In the end Jungkook had to take her home and our night got cancelled.” Jaehyun couldn’t stop himself from smiling when he was reminded the first time he met you. “I didn’t know they were a thing. I mean I saw them together once or twice, but they didn’t look like they were dating or something like that.”

“Ah, you’re right.” He chuckled. “Yeoreum never stated nor showed their dating issue publicly. On the contrary, Johnny was kind of into PDA and he would always try to show the world they were together. It was funny how they got together despite they were not that compatible.”

Jaehyun didn’t respond. Doyoung caught him looking at you again. “Are you perhaps interested in Yeoreum?” Doyoung grinned.

Jaehyun’s fair skin slowly become reddish as he digested Doyoung’s question. “No, I.. it’s not..” he stuttered.

Doyoung giggled, feeling satisfied that Jaehyun was so easy to tease. “You are so obvious. I can tell from the way you look at her.”

“I’m not…” He still stuttered. “This is how I look at anybody else.,” he tried to defend himself while his ears were all red.

“Anyway what I’m trying to say is, it’s okay. But take it slow. They broke up not long time ago.”

Jaehyun silently continued finishing his meals, with a delighted yet sheepish grin that emphasized his dimples.

—※

Despite the smooth break-up you had, you and Johnny still hung out together pretty often. Not the two of you only, obviously. All in all, it was because you and him shared pretty much the same circle of friends. In addition, one day after Wendy’s farewell party, he gathered all his courage to go to you.

'Can we still be friends? Is that okay with you?’
You smiled. 'Friends are better than being enemies, right?’
'Really? I mean, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.’
'Things will become more uncomfortable if you and me avoid each other. Your friends are my friends too. They can’t split up themselves for both of us.’
Johnny wore his brightest smile, feeling relieved.

It was true, your relationship didn’t start from being friends. You barely knew each other before. You were friends with Yeri, Sooyoung, Seulgi, and acquaintance with Ten, Mark and Doyoung. You would say Mark and Yeri were the cupid, and thanks to them, your circle became bigger as you got closer with the other guys.

Many would say that you and Johnny were still often sighted being together. This was the main reason why people (including Jaehyun and Naeun) still wondered whether you were going solo or not. It was all because they ignored that you were also with the other guys. It was just Johnny kept standing or sitting next to you.

It wasn’t that you were uncomfortable having him beside you, since you were friends now. But still, you couldn’t shake off the weird feelings lingered there. You remembered saying it was nice to be by his side. But now everything felt different. Everything was different.

As for Johnny, frankly speaking, it had been bothering him about you saying you liked being by his side and you can’t be there anymore. He wouldn’t deny that he had been regretting his own action breaking up with you. But he wasn’t sure of himself whether to bring your relationship back to life. But still… what if he tried to secure that place by his side for you only? It shouldn’t matter although your label now was his friend, should it?