(A week later)

—Zhoumi’s POV—

Three weeks had passed. I don’t really know what to think about my relationship status anymore, because Henry didn’t contact me after that day two weeks ago. Well, it wasn’t as if I thought about him that much, after he apparently broke up with me. Yuri had been taking up almost all of my spare time, going out with me almost daily or coming over to my place.

If I had to say anything about my current relationship status, I could say that I was kind of unofficially going out with Yuri. It wasn’t as if I forgot about Henry, or that I no longer loved him, but I was really hurt by him. It wasn’t only the part where he broke up with me. For the entire week before he broke up with me, he didn’t try to contact me even though he promised. What was I supposed to think?

I still love Henry, I really do, but if he didn’t want to be together with me anymore then I didn’t see the point of hanging onto him. Besides, I knew that Yuri had always liked me, but I didn’t use to see her as anything more than a close friend. Right now, I felt that I could work something out with her. If I tried hard enough, maybe I could love her enough for her to take Henry’s place in my heart.

I sighed and rolled over to my bedside table, picking my phone up to look at the time. I still had another half hour or so before Yuri would come over to my place and hang out with me. For the most part, we would watch variety shows or fashion shows and comment on every small thing we noticed. She knew that I needed distractions, but there were still moments when I was alone and my thoughts would automatically drift back to Henry.

With a small groan, I got out of bed and went to find something more suitable to wear. I usually just wore boxers to sleep and it wasn’t exactly appropriate to let Yuri see me in mere boxers, even if we were pretty close. After all, she was still a girl.

I brushed my teeth and put a pair of shorts on, as well as pulled a shirt over my head. I hadn’t particularly paid any attention to what I was wearing, but when I looked in the mirror once more to check myself over, I realised that I was wearing one of my couple tees. A sigh left my lips and I debated over whether or not to change out. Yuri wouldn’t know anything, and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. With that thought in mind, I just went out to the living room to wait for Yuri.

As I waited, my mind drifted back to my earlier thoughts. What was my relationship status, exactly? I still wanted Henry to tell me in my face that he didn’t want to be with me anymore, but that would only serve to hurt me. It was nearly impossible to hack into Henry’s phone, and even if he did lose his phone, who would be crazy enough to send me a text like that? Nobody would just pick up a phone, hack it, and send a text like that. It just didn’t make sense, so I could only deduce that Henry really hated being with me.

Another sigh left my lips and I decided to busy myself, searching the internet for any variety show or fashion show to watch. As I was doing so, my stomach grumbled and I got up to make some food for myself, not having eaten breakfast yet. It was almost noon, but I tended to sleep in so that my thoughts couldn’t constantly run amok like they did earlier on.

I began to make some ramen and subconsciously took out two packets of it, only realising that I wasn’t cooking for two people. It wasn’t the first time that happened. In fact, it happened every single time I cooked something for myself because I was so used to Henry being with me. We quite literally ate every meal together, always sleeping over at each other’s houses.

I slapped myself lightly. “Zhoumi, get it together. Henry doesn’t want you anymore. Why do you keep thinking about him, huh?” I asked, feeling a little agitated because I felt so desperate. I was desperate to find out if Henry was fine, despite the text from two weeks ago.

Before my thoughts could wander any further, the doorbell rang and I went to open it for Yuri, forcing a smile at her. She held up some street snacks and walked past me, sitting down on my couch and waiting for me to finish cooking.

A third sigh left my lips and I shook my thoughts off, willing myself not to think of Henry anymore.

After another ten minutes, I was seated on the couch beside Yuri with my bowl of ramen in front of me. There were also two cups of tea, one made to suit my preference, and the other to suit Henry’s preference. I knew very well that I wasn’t making tea for Henry, but Yuri never did complain about it, so I just continued making tea that way. Two teaspoons of sugar, one teaspoon of creamer – that’s how Henry liked his tea.

Yuri watched me eat my ramen silently, taking a sip of her tea every now and then. It was only when I finished eating that she asked what we were doing for the day. I went to connect my laptop to the TV and began playing the drama that I found earlier on. We didn’t usually watch dramas, but two weeks of variety shows and fashion shows can be quite boring. Of course, there was another reason why I chose this particular drama, out of all the dramas that I could’ve watched.

“Oppa, why are we watching a Taiwanese drama?” Yuri asked in confusion. I didn’t know how she knew that it was Taiwanese, but that was beside the point. I blurted out the answer without even thinking about how Yuri would feel.

“Henry kept telling me to watch it.”

She fell silent after that, probably not knowing how to reply to that. I didn’t want to look at her expression because she was probably hurt by what I said, so I focused my attention on the TV screen instead.

Twenty minutes into the first episode, I was already wondering why the female lead had such a sad life. Her love was unrequited, she was treated like trash by everyone and that included her family, and the worst part was that she didn’t fight back.

“What’s the name of this show?” Yuri asked softly.

“Destined to love you.”

I saw Yuri nod from the corner of my eye before she fell back into silence and I felt so damn guilty. Why did I even say that? What Yuri said next made me feel even guiltier, if that was even possible.

“My life is like hers, you know? The only difference is that I have at least a few friends, and those few of them don’t treat me like dirt. Apart from that, my life is completely like hers.”

My heart ached at Yuri’s words. Why did I choose to watch this drama? It was making both of us feel horrible, yet I couldn’t stop watching it because it was a good drama. I couldn’t find the words to rebut that, and I didn’t. I just kept quiet, pretending not to have heard her, and continued to focus on watching the drama.

For the entire first and second episode, we didn’t make a sound. Both of us were drowning in our thoughts and the drama, and I felt that it was better that way. I was actually rather introverted, preferring to keep my feelings to myself. That was why I hadn’t told anyone about Henry breaking up with me. Besides the fact that I was an introvert, I also didn’t want any of the guys to be worried about me, or get mad at Henry. Knowing them, they would do something overboard. Apart from the day when Yuri saw me crying by Han River, I didn’t mention Henry to her at all. It was better that I didn’t confide in Yuri about Henry, anyway. It didn’t serve to help anyone.

The only person that I wasn’t introverted around was Henry. I could talk to him about anything, and he would listen to me. He knew a lot, so he gave me great advice on things. But what was I supposed to do when my confidant wasn’t with me? What was I supposed to do when he was the one who hurt me?

I bit on my lip and suppressed a sigh.

Cuz I can’t stop thinking ‘bout you girl.

Oh how that line fit my emotions right then and there, except that I couldn’t stop thinking about a boy. If only life was simpler than this. If only it was possible that your first love would be your last. That way, no one would ever have to suffer heartbreaks.

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We managed to survive four episodes of the drama without moving from our positions. That was four hours, mind you. By the time the fourth episode ended, I had to get up and stretch. I also had to go to the toilet, get some water, and get some food. As I walked around to get some stuff, Yuri took the street snacks from the table and began eating them, not minding if they had turned cold over two hours ago.

When I handed Yuri a glass of water, I saw her flinch slightly and I couldn’t help but sigh. What had I done? Yuri’s been nothing but amazing to me these two weeks, and I just hurt her thoughtlessly.  Maybe this was why Henry didn’t want me anymore. Maybe I had unknowingly hurt him so many times that he couldn’t take me anymore. I didn’t know for sure, but I didn’t want to lose another important person just like that.

“Yuri, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say what I did,” I apologised sincerely. Yuri looked at me hesitantly, and then she sighed and shook her head.

“It’s nothing. I know he’s important to you, even if he did something like that,” Yuri said, chewing on her lower lip. For the past two weeks, it wasn’t just me who hadn’t brought Henry up. Yuri had steadfastly avoided that topic, too. I was glad that she at least didn’t mention his name, because I didn’t know what I would feel if she did.

There was a sudden period of silence and I looked into Yuri’s eyes, seeing that she still felt hurt. I wracked my brain for some way to make her feel better. Perhaps I was being too reckless and abrupt, but I simply couldn’t think of any other way to ease my guilt. I did think about giving it a try.

“Yuri, what do you say about going out with me?” I asked.

Yuri blinked at me, opening and closing multiple times in an attempt to form a reply. Nothing came out of even after two minutes, and I wondered if Yuri was in shock. I had no idea why I even suggested something as absurd as that. I did think about it, that much was true, but I hadn’t planned to just ask her outright. Well, it was too late to take back my words.

“Is it because you feel sorry for me?” Yuri questioned in a small voice. What?

“Of course not! I really think you’re amazing and I think we can work something out,” I replied immediately, not wanting her to misunderstand. I didn’t know where she got the notion that I only asked because I felt sorry for her. Then again, given the circumstances, I’m sure anyone would think that way.

Yuri spent some more time thinking.

“I know he’s still in your heart, oppa, but I’ll fight for that place,” Yuri finally said, determined to win my heart over. A small genuine smile made its way onto my face and I nodded, bending down to peck Yuri on the nose. It didn’t feel the same as when I kissed Henry on the nose, but we would work something out.

I hope we will be able to work something out.

WTF AM I DOING HENRY I'M SO SORRY D:

Ok, so Zhoumi's just... like this, now, and Yuri isn't helping much ._. Don't hit me!

This is gonna be some long problem, but I'll skip to the start of school next chapter :) Then 's gonna go down because Henry's gonna be back~

I hope you guys enjoyed this, comment and suscribe, and I'll see you guys next week! Annyeong~ ^-^