A/N: So due to a tournament, anime con, english project, and studying for finals this weekend, I'm updating this early. :( So here it is, Henry's big moment tee hee!!!!!!! Thanks for the support!!!

Chapter 3:

                Donghae and I must have been in the arcade for a long time because that’s the only reasonable explanation why Henry was in the arcade. I guess we just lost track of time. But did I want to meet up with Henry at this exact moment….in this specific position.

                Henry’s shocked expression turned to anger. His teeth gritted together and his shoulders tensed. If his hair wasn’t already gelled up, I swear it would be on end. He bellowed in a furious tore I’ve never heard before:

                “Get OFF OF HER!” Henry bent down and pushed Donghae off of me  with one hand. Henry pulled me up off the ground and held him to my side.

                “H-Henry, that wasn’t what it looked like,” I whispered to him. He tightened my grip on me.

                “Are you Lee Donghae?” Henry asked him. Donghae cautiously nodded and rose from the floor, “Unless you’re prepared to take responsibility, don’t come near Ae Young. She doesn’t need some handsy ert like you,” He sneered and flew out of the arcade with me. I whirled my head around to see a stunned Donghae, permanently rooted to the spot.  I shot him apologizing glances.

                “Henry what are you doing?” I asked, fumbling along as he sped down the sidewalk. He ignored me and stayed silent until we reached our neighborhood. He stopped at the beginning of the street and let me go.

                “Why did you do that!” I yelled at him.

                “Why?” He shook his head in disbelief, “How was I not supposed to intervene with him on top of you like that?!”

                “You could have approached it a bit more calmer! Anyways, it wasn’t what it looked like!”

                “Then tell me, what was it?” He demanded. I blushed slightly and fumbled for words.

                “I stole his chocolate and he started chasing me. I ran into a photo booth, he followed, I tripped, and he fell along with me.” I rubbed both my arms.

                “That doesn’t explain how half the chocolate was in your mouth and the matching half was in his.” Henry wasn’t finished being angry yet. His hands twisted around his violin strap.

                “What kind of relationship are the two of you in?”

                “We’re friends,” I told him and my chest hurt.

                “Don’t go any farther than that,” Henry’s shoulders slumped. His fighting spirit was suddenly diminished, “He doesn’t deserve someone like you.”

                “Wait, what?!” I moved closer towards him. I put both hands on his arms, “Henry, what do you mean?”

                His eyes flickered to mine, some indescribable emotion was lying there, “Figure it out.” He strode past me and continued home.

                What did it all mean? The outburst, the cold shoulder, what he said right now… Henry and I have never fought like this, ever. It was making me start to worry. I couldn’t lose him. He was my best friend.  I sighed and went home.

                Leeteuk and Kangin were watching soccer on TV whilst eating lunch. Oh yeah, since I left to stalk Henry in the morning, it must be in the afternoon. I checked my phone, yep, 4. Other than those two, I didn’t see any other house members.

                “Ae-Young!” I heard a voice call my name. I spoke to soon. Ryeowook came from the kitchen with food in his hands.

                “Hey Wookie,” I smiled back, trying not to let my confused and sort of despressed mood show through. But Ryeowook’s always been very attentive. He noticed something was wrong right away.

                “What’s wrong?” The small man pouted his lips cutely. Kya, he’s so short and tiny! I giggled.

                “Nothing .”

                “Nothing? It doesn’t seem like it,” He glared, trying to be intimidating, “There was something wrong with Henry too. Did something happen?”

                “Don’t tell me he saw you!” Leeteuk turned around in his chair to face Wookie and I.

                “He didn’t….sort of.”

                “Sort of?” Leeteuk shoveled in some rice.

                “It’s complicated,” I waved him off, “So how’s the play going with Kibum?” I changed the subject.  

                “Good! We just started rehearsing today. You’ll never guess who the lead is though!”

                “Who?” I cracked a smile at his excited tone.

                “Choi Siwon!”

                “Siwon? Really?”

                “Yeah! He’s real good too!”

                “Wow, is there something that guy can’t do?” I thought carefully. Truly, he was perfect… , “I’m going to go study. See you later Wook!” I grabbed my bag from the kitchen table.

                “Bye!” He replied back and skipped to the couch. Ah he’s too cute for his own good.

                The winds blew harshly against my window, rattling it violently, threatening to break the glass. The sky outside was pitch black, but light enough to show a very light outline of giant, leering clouds. The “rainfall” the weathermen expected turned out to me a thunderstorm with 50 mph winds. The rain collected into waterfalls at the end of the gutter and sploshed down, destroying the firm soil and creating natural rivers in the streets.

                Sunday had passed boringly. Not only was Henry not speaking to me entirely, no one else in the house wanted to go out and do anything. So all I did for the day was sit in front of the TV and watched whatever was on.

                I sighed and blinked my eyes in annoyance at the bright computer light. I was still working on my homework, even though I only had a medium amount. Because of the thunderstorm that had begun at 6 and my situation with Henry, I couldn’t seem to concentrate. I groaned as I finished the last sentence in my essay and shut my computer. I fell back on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

                Lightning flashed its electric grin across the sky and thunder bellowed after it. The cold air seemed to flow right into my room. I shivered and slipped underneath the thick covers. I tried to curl up and drown out the howling winds, but it kept me awake. Just as I was beginning to drift off, the loudest snap I’ve heard echoed, and it wasn’t thunder…

                Before I could blink again, lightning flashed again and with a huge crash and bang, a tree branch broke through the window. It zipped past me, narrowly missing the side of the bed, trapping me to the wall. Glass was shattered everywhere and the winds blew mercilessly into my room. I screamed and jumped back, trying to scramble up the wall.

                “AE-YOUNG!” I heard someone scream my name. Footsteps could be heard sprinting heavily down the hallway and the door flung open with a bang against the wall.

                “W-who is it?” I rasped out in fear. They flicked on the wall light and it revealed my savior.

                “H-H-Henry!” I sobbed, “Help me!” For some reason I was crying. It was probably out of shock and fear, but definitely not out of sadness.

                “Younggie!” Henry rushed over and straddled both legs over the branch. He offered both arms out to me, “come here. I’ll help you down,” His eyes softened and tried to coax me down with a soothing tone. I shakily moved to him, and before I knew it, I was clinging onto him for dear life. I could feel a smile against my shoulder. He brought me off the bed and held me in his arms.

                “Shh, shh, it’s ok,” He soothed and cradled me like a kid. I continued to cry. I didn’t care if I looked like an idiot in front of him, I was scared less!

                A few moments later there were more footsteps and opening of doors. The rest of the house mates were at my bedroom door.

                “Younggie!” Leeteuk was breathless.

                “Oh !” Kangin gasped when he saw the tree branch.

                “Are you ok Ae-Young?” Sungmin joined me and Henry and patted my back.

                “We’re going to have to call someone to get this removed,” Yesung was over near my bed, observing the tree branch. He tried moving it, but concluded it was too heavy to move, even with the six of them there.

                “Henry, take her to our room,” Zhou Mi told him. Henry did as he was told. We left the blistering winds, gnarled branch, and five other house mates behind us.  Henry entered the room on the right side of the hallway, closest to the kitchen. I peeked an eye at his room. It hadn’t changed one bit.

                There were two reasonably sized beds, music sheets scattered everywhere, a desk filled with clothes as well as a closet (Zhou Mi most likely used 5/6 of that space), a miniature vanity displaying facial and make up products (again, Zhou Mi’s), and a night stand between the two beds.

                Henry pulled back the red covers of his bed and gently set me down. He pried my arms from around him and pulled the covers back over me. A strong sense of warmth, security, and Henry’s smell overrode my senses and I felt very sleepy. I grabbed his hand as he was turning away.

                “Yes?” Henry clutched back.

                “We’re good now….right?” I asked, “I don’t like us fighting…”

                Henry stared at me for a bit. He then smiled, pushing back his plushy cheeks, “Yeah, we’re good.”

                “Thanks,” I smiled weakly back, “I can’t lose my best friend.”

                Henry sighed and rubbed my hand, “I’m going to sleep in Zhou Mi’s bed with him. You better get some rest, school starts in five hours,” I could see him check the alarm clock. I nodded and let go of his hand. Turning over, I closed my eyes and let sleep take me away.

Henry’s Pov

                I had never seen her look so vulnerable. Latching to the wall like glue, her eyes bugging out of her head and whole body shaking. It wasn’t until that moment until I realized that I had never truly seen her scared or in fear. I never wanted to see her that way again.

                I flexed the hand she held and remembered the words she quietly whispered to me:

                “Thanks. I can’t lose my best friend.”

                Best friend…..friend. How could a single, 6 letter word change a person’s actions and thoughts so drastically? What if she hadn’t said friend? What if she said something along the lines of: Thanks, I can’t lose you. Would that have affected anything about me? About us?

                I quietly laughed and shook my head at where my thoughts were heading. This girl was making me a completely different man.

                Friend….

                Best friend……

                For now, that was ok.

Your Pov

We were hiding behind the school for privacy’s sake, and to save our reputations. No one ever came back behind the sports shed at this time, so it was often our rendezvous spot before class. We didn’t meet here at any other time of the day to not rouse suspicion. He told his friends he was coming into school early all the time to study, and I told mine that I was doing the same because it was too noisy back at home.

                I sighed and leaned more into his arms. Those thin appendages welcomed me closer. One hand cupped my face to steal another kiss. How many we had exchanged that morning, we both lost count.  The kiss deepened further, and after I while I was gasping for air. He moved his lips to my neck and resumed tasting and feeling. I felt the other hand slip further down my waist, past my back, and tried to dip underneath my skirt.

                “No Oppa,” I protested and pushed away. His dark eyes tightened in frustration, full of hunger.

                “Ae-Young, this is the fourth time,” I could tell he was holding back some of the bite in his voice so he would not offend me. A wicked grin popped up, “We have time. Just a little more….” The hand slipped underneath to places I didn’t want touched.

                “No!” I shoved him off.

                “AE-YOUNG!” His cool façade broke. A white hot anger overran every fiber of his being. He moved closer and closer with those eyes I couldn’t recognize anymore. I didn’t want that, I was afraid.

                “NO!” I backed up against the shed wall, something cool was in my grasp. He continued his pursuit, refusing to back down, “NO! OPPA!”

                My eyes shot open wide and my body jumped violently. I sat up quickly, scanning the room hastily for that same guy. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was all a dream. Well, it wasn’t just a dream, but at least that memory wasn’t in action once again.

                A sleepy grunt captured my attention. What I saw made me laugh. On the other bed was Zhou Mi and Henry. Zhou Mi had his long spider legs spread eagled across the whole bed and his sleeping mask askew. Henry was practically glued to the wall because of the lack of space for him. His face was smashed into a pillow and one leg and arm were resting up on the wall. The other remaining arm and leg were curled into him so he wouldn’t touch Zhou Mi. If only I had my phone with me….

                Zhou Mi woke abruptly with one hand flying to him face. He pulled off the sleeping mask and threw it off to the side. He groaned and flung both legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. It took him a couple moments to clean the sleep from his eyes until he noticed I was awake.

                “Hi Younggie,” He yawned.

                “Hi,” I copied and waved back. I checked the alarm clock, it read 6:05, “Do you have an alarm set?” I asked.

                “No, built in one,” He pointed to himself, referring that after getting up at this time so often, it was now natural for his body to wake him up. I nodded and crawled out from the bed. Zhou Mi tried to tickle me as I had my arms stretched above my head. I swatted his hands back and stuck my tongue out.

                “Thanks for letting me crash here, I’m going to go get changed,” I announced and left the room. On my way out I could have sworn I heard something along the lines of “Believe me, Henry would love for you to come back.” Eh, it probably meant nothing. Zhou Mi said weird and confusing stuff in the morning.

                When I entered my room, it didn’t look as scary anymore. Sure the branch was still there, but the winds had stopped and most of the glass had been swept up. Someone had cut open garbage bags and taped them over the windows to stop debris, rain, and wind from coming in. I grabbed my uniform, went through my daily routine in the bathroom, and began preparing breakfast in the kitchen. As I was pouring cereal into seven bowls, Leeteuk came into the kitchen, fixing his tie.

                “Hey Younggie, you doing ok?” He asked and smoothed down my head worriedly.

                “Fine Umma,” I smiled. After getting over the shock I experienced last night, making up with Henry, and having fun with Donghae, I was more than fine. I narrowly missed the bowl one time because I was thinking back to what Donghae had did in the arcade…..Leeteuk noticed.

                “Are you sure everything’s alright?” He repeated, this time with more caution and suspicion.

                “I’m fine! Just…..thinking.”

                “Thinking? About what?”

                I hesitated. I didn’t want to risk the chance of Henry overhearing. The incident that occurred between him and Donghae was too recent to be able to hold a conversation about it. Once I knew there was no one eavesdropping, I whispered to him, “I’ll tell you later.”

                “When we walk to school,” Leeteuk pointed a spoon at me, took a bowl of cereal and milk, and sat down at the table to eat. I put away the milk and cereal and sat down beside him with my bowl.

                The rest of the group hobbled in and sat down. We sat in silence. The only sounds were those of us munching. Yesung broke the silence.

                “Ddangkoma’s been very worried since last night,” He gestured to the turtle who had his head half way in his shell, “I think he senses another storm coming on.”

                “Great,” I sighed heavily.

                “Don’t worry,” Kangin swallowed around a large spoonful of cereal. He got up and placed his bowl in the sink, “We’ll call someone to remove the tree this week. For now,” He looked at me, “You should sleep out on the couch.”

                “S-she can still sleep in my bed. I don’t mind sharing with Mimi,” Henry played with his mush.

                “Alone with you two? I don’t like it,” Kangin pursed his lips.

                “It’s ok. I can sleep on the couch. It’s a pull out anyways,” I agreed with Kangin so I could end it before it turned into an argument. Kangin was very stubborn, and wouldn’t easily give in. With that and his tendency to get hot headed easily, a fight could quickly spring.

                We left the house in our normal pack, but this time I hung back behind the group with Leeteuk instead of walking with Henry. Henry made a face when he saw us, but made no comment. The other guys didn’t seem to care.

                “So what’s been bothering you?” Leeteuk asked with his voice low. Ah Teukie Umma. He-just like Kangin and Henry-was so sensitive to other people’s feelings. I don’t know if it was his feminine side that brought it out, but he was constantly thinking on what he could do to make his friends and family feel better. When he finds the perfect girl, she’s going to be so lucky.

                “Henry and I had a small fight yesterday.” I admitted.

                “I knew something went down. Why though?”

                “Well, I was stalking him outside near the music center he goes to for his violin lessons, but I ran into Donghae Oppa while I was waiting.” Leeteuk showed no signs of surprise, so I continued.

                “Donghae invited me to go down to the arcade with him, and I tagged along.”

                “Wait, invited or asked you out? There’s a difference,” Leeteuk interrupted.

                “Invited…..I think,” I began to open up more to him, “I mean it wasn’t like an actual statement like: ‘Hey, I like you, come with me”, but just a casual invitation like, ‘I’m going alone…wanna come with?’ You know what I mean?”

                “Sort of….yes,” Leeteuk managed to decipher my confused explanation. That was another positive quality about him. Most of the time, he understood what I meant, especially since I wasn’t good at explaining myself.

                “So he and I were chasing each other in the arcade and we fell and…..” I trailed off, blushing.

                “And?”

                “He tried to catch me as I was falling, but he ended up on the floor with me on all fours, above me.”

                “Oh dear god,” Leeteuk rubbed a hand over his face.

                “What?”

                “Now I know why Henry was so upset. What that must’ve looked like…” Leeteuk tutted disapprovingly.

                “It wasn’t on purpose!” I quickly covered up, “But it was what Henry did after that really caused the tension.”

                “What did he do?”

                “He grabbed me and yelled something along the lines of how Donghae and I shouldn’t be more than friends and I don’t need a ert like him,” I chewed on my lip.

                “Ok, is that it?”

                “No….On the way home I asked why he had acted like that, and he responded that Donghae doesn’t deserve a person like me.”

                “That’s for sure!” Leeteuk scoffed. I smiled at his compliment and pushed him.

                “I told you, what happened back at the arcade was an accident,” I decided not to mention the chocolate part. Was that just teasing? Or did he do it with some ulterior motive?, “Anyways,” I continued, “When he said that, something was wrong with him. Henry had something in his eyes I couldn’t read, and he acted like he was….defeated?” That was the best word I could come up with.

                Leeteuk was suddenly very quiet. He kept his head straight, facing the group. Without having to stare in his direction, I knew he had his eyes trained on Henry.

                “Now what’s up with you, Umma?”

                “Nothing,” He eyes flickered to mine and he smiled, “I just have a strong hunch about something.”

                “Hunch? For what?”

                “That matter is between me and Henry,” He winked. We arrived at the school gates and he took off, leaving me more confused than before. I cocked my head to the side. What did that mean?

                “Are you sure you’re ok with that?” My lab partner asked me.

                “Yeah, of course. Go on ahead,” I waved her off encouragingly.

                “Thanks!” She bowed slightly and sped off.

                I was in the science room cleaning up after our lab. It wasn’t much to do, but my partner felt guilty about leaving me by myself, even though she had to run to make up a test. She left after I assured her it was ok, and that left me all alone in the science room. The teacher had to leave early as well. He had a staff meeting.

                I was too busy cleaning up to realize another figure had stepped into the classroom.  I had risen back up from the floor after putting away a microscope, and I tensed. Two long arms trapped me between him and the side of the table. Even by looking at the fingers I could tell who it was. I felt his body push closer and his head dip down to mine.

                “Remember when we used to make out in this very classroom?” The deep and melodic voice cooed. That voice……I hated that voice and who it belonged to with every fiber of my being.

 A/N:  Ooh, I wonder what Teukie Umma's tihnking right now, eh? Curious? Too bad, probs won't find out for a while :P My inspiration was the many storms that have been plaguing my town right now......so I decided to make it rain there too. Lol, I wish I had a hot guy to come save me if a tree bashed through my window (there's actually one outside it as we speak O_o). But I'm pretty sure everyone can figure out who the guy in the lab room is. But I'm just gonna keep his identity to myself until next chapter. Bwahahaha I'm so evil :)