"Your mom hates me," Hana said as we got off the bus to go to the mall. Today we were watching a movie at the cinema. The Revengers? Avengers? Remembers? I wasn't really sure what it was called, and I didn't really like those kind of movies but Hana had seemed so enthusiastic, I couldn't find the heart to say no to her.

"Should we eat before we go in?" I asked, not waiting for an answer before I grabbed her wrist and led her to the food court. She nodded.
"Japanese?" She asked. I stared at her incredulously.
"What? But didn't we eat that just last week?" I laughed. "You must really like Japanese food, huh."
I saw her face flush pink, causing my heart to skip a beat in my chest.
"What do you feel like then?!" She scrunched up her nose.
"Hmm....." I thought as we walked around, smelling all the delicious food.  "Mexican?"
Her face lit up with a smile and she nodded enthusiastically.
"You go order first, alright? I needa, uh, pee."

I didn't really. But I had just felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I knew it was Chaeyeon. After we got home from the buffet last week, I had texted her saying we needed to talk. I told her that things just weren't working out for me, and I didn't want to lead her on any more than I already had.

It proved it be a bad move because she wouldn't leave me alone. Who knew she was so clingy? She kept calling me, texting me and finally I had to return her call and tell her that I was sorry, but she needed to stop and go away.

baby, please, i still luv u. take me bac. why did you end things so suddenly? we wre goin great. is thr someone else? please baby, talk to me.

I choked a little. I can't even believe I had found her constant "baby" this and “baby” that cute before. It was the most annoying thing I had ever encountered, and I felt a little sorry for her next boyfriend. Which was not me.

She asked me if there was someone else, and truthfully, there was. But not in that way. I liked Hana a lot, both in that way and in a friends way, but I wasn't sure if she liked me back in that way after what I had done to her. We were going good now, hanging out everyday and doing things together like we were best friends since birth, but I didn't know if I should take things a step further and confess my feelings to her.

I quickly typed back a reply to Chaeyeon - no, there's no one else. please Chaeyeon, just leave it. We're done - and walked back to Hana, who was having a hard time choosing between nachos and chilli cheese fries. Another reason I loved her; she wouldn't just come out and eat lettuce like Chaeyeon did, while I scoffed down a double cheeseburger at the burger bar.

"Chilli fries," I said, whispering into her ear from behind, scaring the living daylight out of her.
She jumped about a mile off the floor and turned around to evil me, scrunching up her face so that a frown line appeared above her nose. I had the sudden urge to kiss it.

After we had ordered our food, I went to find a seat for us while Hana got drinks.
"Bubble tea!" I cheered as she returned with two cups. "My favorite!"
I saw her bite back a small smile. "I know," she said. "I got you strawberry milk tea with lychee jelly, just as you like."
"Ah, really?!" I felt a rush of gratitude. "Thankyou Hana!"
Hana smiled.
"Eat," she said. "It's getting cold!"
I nodded and took a big bite.
"Is it good?" She asked me nervously.
I nodded. "Here, try some." I shoveled a large spoonful of cheese into and she spluttered wildly.
"Yah! Nam Woohyun!" She exclaimed, raising her hand to swat me on the head. "What was that for?!"

I squealed and quickly ducked her hand, and I was about to raise my own to tickle her, but it was too late.
        Chaeyeon had walked into the food court right by where we were sitting, phone plastered to her ear. Luckily she hadn't spotted us - yet. Secondly, my phone started ringing that stupid ringtone she had put for herself that I absolutely hated. I cried out as I saw her spin around and lay her eyes on me.

I was desperate for her to not see Hana. I knew exactly how this situation was going to fair out, and it wasn't pretty.

She strutted up to our table and flipped out her phone, reading back to me the message I had written to her jut ten minutes prior.

"’There's no one else?’ No one else? Really, Woohyun? No one else?"
She sneered at me, looking at Hana up and down with disgust.
I felt my heart thumping like a bass drum. I couldn't bring myself to look into Hana's eyes . My mouth wouldn't move. I was frozen.

"No one else? Fine. But I would have, you know. Expected someone else better looking.”
She smirked at Hana who I could tell was biting her lip and playing with her food. The atmosphere was tense. I felt extremely sorry for her. One minute we were drinking bubble tea innocently and I was trying to make her choke and the next she was being insulted by my ex-girlfriend. Great.

I gripped her hand under the table and gave it a tight squeeze, looking at her directly in the eye, trying to tell her it was okay and that I was here for her.

"So is this who you broke up with me for? Her?"
When I didn't answer her, she rose her voice.
"Answer me, Nam freaking Woohyun! Did I lose you to the girl who can't even fit into a size six pair of jeans? Why? You could've had all this, and you threw it away for that? Her?!"
She was now screeching, and the whole food hall was watching.

Anger rose in me like never before. I was sick and tired of people insulting Hana like she was some alien instead of a human being. A human being with feelings, a human being who was the most beautiful, kind and caring person I had ever met in my life.

"Stop it," I told her in a low, threatening voice. "Stop talking right now before I make you wish you were never born."
"Ooh," she sneered at me. "Real tough, Woohyun. Throwing insults at me like we're five again? Do you really think I care?" She laughed.
"I care as much as you care for us getting caught doing it at the back of my dad's truck."
She paused, smiling smugly. "Which is close to nothing."

I felt my ears pound in my chest. How could she say something like that? Hana was sitting right there. I didn't want her to think I was some crazy, teenager. It had only happened one time, but Chaeyeon made it sound like we did it every week.

"Hana," I began, desperate to salvage the situation, ignoring Chaeyeon completely and turning away from her. "It's not like that, I - "
She gave me a sad smile.
"Should I go somewhere so you guys can talk properly?"
Her smile broke my heart. I could actually feel it snap in two, it hurt that much.
 I stared at her. It was in that moment that I realized I would do anything I could to make sure I never saw that smile again. That smile that said her heart was breaking but it was okay.
       I would do anything in the world to make sure a tear never leaked out of those beautiful eyes ever again. Hana was worth every single moment of my pain and suffering, and I would without hesitation take anything on myself so that she would never hurt again.

"Chaeyeon, it's over, okay? We're over. There's no more us. There's Woohyun, and there's Chaeyeon. No more silly couple names you made up for us. I'm past that now. No more late night make out sessions, afternoon skinny dips, mornings in the spa. Chaeyeon, we're over. I'm sorry. I know I handled this really badly. But I can't do it anymore.” I looked at her.
Instead of being clingy and upset that we had broken up, she looked murderous.
“I'm sorry."
I gave her one fleeting more look before running off to find Hana.

I walked out of the food court and circled around the third floor of the mall before I saw her sitting on the bench outside the fruit shop with a blank expression. I approached her slowly.
“Hana,” I said softly. “It’s okay, she’s gone now,” I coaxed.

She kept her eyes on the floor.
“Woohyun,” she said slowly, turning to look at me.
My heart leapt into my throat. My palms felt clammy. What was she going to say?
“I’m sorry,” she began, biting her lip to fight back tears.
I was taken aback. She was sorry? Why?
“Why are you sorry, Hana? It’s me that’s sorry,” I began, but she cut me off.
“I’m sorry you always have to defend me in front of other people. I’m sorry that you always need to defend me when other people day I’m not worthy of your company or your friendship. You shouldn’t have to do it, and I’m really sorry.”

She looked back down at the ground again.

Silly girl, I thought. Why was she being like this? Must she always put the blame on herself?
“Hana,” I laced her hand into mine and entwined our fingers. They felt warm and comforting, exactly the opposite of how Chaeyeon’s hand felt.
“Hmm?” She looked up at me. I suddenly realised how close we were to each other – less than five centimetres apart. Her eyes were a little red and she sniffled a little bit. I braved at the close contact but didn’t move away. My heart was beating very quickly.
“I’d do it over and over again.” I put my other hand and wrapped it around her shoulder. “I need to defend you because they’re all wrong. If they say things so simply like that, then it’s clear that they know nothing about you, nothing about us. We're forever."