Lee Joon's POV

     After a long day hanging out with Nicole, I was suddenly tired. I laid in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, smiling about earlier that day. I got scolded by my mom today when the school called and told her I hadn't been there. I didn't lie about where I was. She knew I had been telling the truth, so I wasn't put on punishment. She was just happy I wasn't where I usually was when I skipped school. Nicole hadn't IM'ed that night, maybe she was already in bed like I was. I stared over at the digital clock that rested on my nightstand. It was only seven o'clock in the evening and I was already in bed. I just wanted to get some rest. I didn't care about anything else in the world. I kept asking myself over and over again, that day, if what I was doing was right. I didn't want to start liking Nicole because my best friend had already called dibs. I couldn't do that to him. I just couldn't. I also couldn't give her up to Jonghyun, either. Nicole and I had way more in common than her and Jonghyun could ever imagine. But, I didn't want to hurt him. So, if I had to hide my feelings for Nicole, then by all means I would. Anything for a friend.

     I wasn't ready to develope feelings for someone else, either. For me, it was way to early to think about getting in a relationship. With the incident that happened between Hyuna and I, I just had trouble trusting people these days. Even though that took place last year, my heart still lingered on in the past. But, when I was with Nicole, something in me calmed my nerves and nothing in the world bothered me. I shook my head mentally and cleared everything out. "Babo" I whispered to myself. "It's way to early to develope feelings for Nicole..."

     I tucked myself under the covers and turned off my lamp, shutting off all of the thoughts in my mind right now. When I was asleep, I was happiest. And that's all that mattered. Me, being happy...

*The next day*

"Joon! Get up!" 

     I felt something hit my head. It was soft and hard both at the same time. I groaned and shifted my position to the other side of the bed. The object followed me and hit me again. 

"Joon! Ireona!" Again and again the object hit me.

     I yawned and sat up straight in bed, almost falling over. Something caught me and fixed me up straight. I opened my eyes and yawned once more, rubbing my eyes. "Wae?" I turned to see my noona standing next to me. She was still in her pajamas and she had her toothbrush in . "Ah...noona...do you know what time it is?"

My noona gave me a stern look and took her toothbrush out, "Of course. It's one o'clock in the afternoon. Why are you still sleeping so late? Are you feeling okay? Are you sick? Aigoo my Joon-ah! So sick!" My noona felt my forehead with her hand and pinched my cheeks.

I swatted her hand away and yawned again, rubbing my eyes quickly and blinking a few times to get myself fully woken up. "Noona, stop it. I'm not sick. Why are you just now getting dressed? And why are you in my room?"

"I was coming to check on you. Jonghyun stopped by earlier. He told me that you hadn't contacted him yesterday and he felt really bad. He wasn't sure about what, though. Please call him and explain to him why you didn't contact him."

I stretched and nodded, shooing my Noona out, "Will do. Now get out." I slammed the door on her face and walked back to my bed, fixing up the sheets and fluffing my pillows.

     I wonder why Jonghyun felt bad about me not contacting him yesterday. I mean, I told him where I was during school and that I would probably be tired afterward, maybe he hadn't heard me right. I knew Jonghyun was probably still asleep at a time like this, even though it was late afternoon, but I picked up my phone and dialed his number anyways.

"Yoboseyo?" Jonghyun's voice sounded on the other end of the reciever, he sounded full of energy. I was relieved that he wasn't, or at least, didn't sound angry with me for not reaching him yesterday night.

"Jonghyun...sorry about not contacting you yesterday night. My apologies. I was so tired after auditions." I yawned again and tried to muffle it by putting my face into my shirt. But...I wasn't wearing one...

"Don't worry about it. The auditions must have caused you stress. Are you sore or anything? I was wondering if you wanted to go for a jog."

I checked the clock again, one fifteen o'clock in the afternoon. "Well, I'm a little sore on my ankles, but, a jog sounds nice. I'll meet you at the pier in an hour. Don't be late." I hung up the phone quickly and walked to my dresser drawer to get out my jogging suit.

     I switched on my lamp and ripped open my curtains, opening my window. The air outside was amazing. It really made me feel better. I had a small cold from the weather, but I would be okay. I quickly went to the bathroom to wash myself and get dressed.

After I came out, I rushed downstairs and gave my mom a kiss on the cheek, "Morning, umma." 

My umma smiled at me, "Good morning, my Joon-ah. Are you hungry? I made seaweed soup."

I shook my head and bowed to her, "Aniyo, I'm not hungry. I'm going out with Jonghyun today. Please excuse me."

     I bowed again and gave her and my noona, who was sitting on the couch, a kiss, slipped on my shoes and headed out the door. The pier wasn't too far from me at all. In fact, it was just down the street and it was in eye view. It felt nice to be out of the house again. Even if I did have a limp to my step. At the crosswalk, while I was waiting to cross the street, I reached down and gave my ankle a massage quickly. Then, I headed across the street and jog-limped the rest of the way to the pier. Jonghyun was there and he wore a jogging suit similar to mine. Only, his was a bit looser than mine.

"Joon-ah. It's nice to see you again. How is that ankle of yours coming along?" Jonghyun stared down at my ankle and squinted his eyes to see if it was swollen.

"It's coming along, actually. Thanks for being concerned. Shall we start jogging before it gets too cold?"

"Actually..." Jonghyun turned away from the water and faced me, "I wanted you to come here so that we could talk about something that's been bothering me lately..." Jonghyun's voice trailed off, so I didn't quite catch the last part of his sentence.

"Something that's been bothering you? Like what?" I was looking Jonghyun right in the eyes while I was talking to him.

"I just have one question. Please answer this question honestly." I nodded and he continued on, "Do you like Nicole?"

Bang.

I hesitated to answer at first, because I couldn't lie to Jonghyun. So, I figured that I would tell the truth to him. This one time. "I like Nicole." Before Jonghyun could go yelling at me, I cut him off, "But, I promised myself that I would try to hide my feelings for her. I don't want to be a bad friend to you, man. But, Nicole and I have a lot in common. More than me and..." My voice trailed off when I felt something drop to the pit of my stomach, "Hyuna..."

     Jonghyun looked furious with me. He couldn't even look me in the eyes anymore. Instead, he just looked at the ground and kicked dirt around. He had his fist balled up tightly and his face was getting red. 

"I'm sorry." I apologized, but I knew it wouldn't work this time. Jonghyun was getting too serious about Nicole, and I could tell by how he communicated with me.

"First Hyuna, now Nicole." Jonghyun scoffed. "You always steal everyone that I like from me. I hid my feelings for Hyuna at first, Joon. I hid them for you! Just so that my best friend could be happy and I wouldn't have to suffer being left alone again. Now, Nicole? I didn't even have a chance to talk to her at lunch. I hid my feelings for Hyuna, why is it so hard for you to hide your feelings for Nicole!?" Jonghyun looked straight at me, "Are you really that selfish?"

     I could feel my face get hot with fury. I wanted to punch Jonghyun. I wanted to throw him off the edge of the pier. How could he say this to me? We had both just met Nicole, why were we getting so worked up over her? Nicole was the first person after Hyuna that I had ever taked to freely. I haven't even talked to Jonghyun how I talked to Nicole. I grabbed Jonghyun by his collar and pushed him up against the fence that seperated the pier from the water. I looked him dead in his eyes and spoke clearly, making sure that my words got to him.

"Don't you ever..." I choked back tears that I had been holding in for too long. "Don't you ever speak like that to me again. Do you hear me?" 

     Jonghyun let a tear fall from his eyes. Seeing that, it broke my heart. I had never meant to hurt Jonghyun like that. I wanted this all to end. I wanted to stop arguing, but we both had took it too far. "That's fine by me." Another tear dropped from Jonghyun's eyes and he released himself from my grip, pushing me back. "I'm never talking to you again. We'll just let Nicole chose who she wants to be with." 

     Jonghyun kicked dirt at me, and sped off far into the distance. So fast that when I turned around to see where he was, he was already gone. And I was left alone. Everything was moving to fast for me. I didn't know where I stood anymore in life. I didn't know if I was using Nicole to get to Hyuna, or if I actually liked her. Either way...I wasn't prepared to do it. I thought about giving up and letting Nicole be with Jonghyun. He would be happier that way. But, I wasn't going to give up just there. I needed to prove to Jonghyun that Nicole and I were better off together than him and Nicole. It would be harder than I thought, but I wasn't going to give up. I wanted to keep moving forward, it was too late to turn back.

     I brushed some of the dirt off of me and got up off the floor, straightening myself up. I could feel the glare of people buring at the back of my neck. I wanted to punch them, too. Before anything else could happen, I quickly walked home. Ready for another showdown of my tears.