Friends.

 "True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost." 
 

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
 

"My friends are my estate."


"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." 

Jaejoong read the paper that was given to him by his moral education teacher. The students were currently learning about the true meaning of friendship and Jaejoong couldn’t help but snort.

‘Friends? No one needs them. All friends do is hurt and trouble one another’. 

If someone had heard this, they would probably think that Jaejoong was a loner or he was someone who had been hurt badly in the past. He could be described as the latter but the pain he went through was almost the same as what everyone had gone through at one point in their life.
 

Everyone had been hurt once in their lives before, that he knew very well, but he just can’t afford to have his heart broken another time. He had friends before. He could still remember those days; days when he was always left out and betrayed by the people he called his friends. Over and over again he had been hurt but he still believed that true friendship still existed in this world.
 
~flashback~

Jaejoong sat beside Sungmin as usual. They had been friends since primary school and moved on to secondary school together. Since they didn’t know anyone in the new school, they had stuck together.
 

Sungmin was someone who received lots of love. Everyone liked him and wanted to be good friends with him. He was kind, compassionate and very sweet. He cared about everyone, even the people who . He didn't mind and even laughed with them too.

  
So, it was not surprising to see that Sungmin was popular in the class. Two friends, Taegoon and Minhwa, had joined them and now they were a group. Since they liked Sungmin so much, they always pestered him and left Jaejoong out. Jaejoong was not one who blew his temper very easily, so he didn’t mind.

Because of Sungmin’s kind nature, he noticed that Jaejoong was being left out in the group. He tried to converse more with him but this only made Jaejoong sad. He was sad that Sungmin pitied him and also because he didn’t think he was good enough to be Sungmin’s friend.

There was a sports carnival going on and as usual their group walked together with Taegoon beside Sungmin, chatting non-stop to him, with Jaejoong beside Minhwa walking silently behind them. Jaejoong wasn’t that close to Minhwa and Taegoon since they were more interested in Sungmin. Therefore, spending time with one of them was quite awkward and resulted in complete silence.

Taegoon surprisingly found another classmate and talked to him endlessly leaving only Sungmin, Minhwa and Jaejoong. Thus, Jaejoong’s mood became quite light hearted and the three continued to have a fun time during the sports carnival.

“Taegoon complained that I was leaving him out,” Sungmin told Jaejoong after the carnival.

“Huh?” Jaejoong was completely shocked. Taegoon felt left out? NO! JAEJOONG WAS THE ONE BEING LEFT OUT!

“I thought I was the one being left out,” Jaejoong said, shocked.

“I know right?”

After that incident, Taegoon left their group for good. The three didn't feel sad about him leaving so they continued with their daily lives. Jaejoong thought this would mean the end of him being left out and was very happy. However, his happiness didn’t last very long.

Five months later and Jaejoong couldn’t take it any longer. Jaejoong was still being left out and as much as Sungmin wanted to talk to him, he couldn’t because of the constant swarm of other people around him. Jaejoong was frustrated that he couldn’t talk to his own best friend and this made his feelings and attitude turn for the worse.

Jaejoong was bitter about Sungmin. He was jealous. Jealous of all the love he was receiving. He told Sungmin about these feelings but Sungmin continued to treat him so kindly. The problem wasn't Sungmin at all; it was Jaejoong and his jealousy. Jaejoong's jealousy had gotten the best of him and now he was taking it out on his friend.

He cried so many times after his confrontation with Sungmin, but he was so sick of being left out. He was tired of the pitied looks on his classmate’s faces whenever they asked if he was ok and he was sick of how Sungmin was still so nice to him.

After Jaejoong confronted Sungmin harshly about how it was his fault for leaving him out, Sungmin apologized and cried. Now Jaejoong's conscience was eating him. It wasn't even Sungmin's fault. It was their classmates’ faults, but Sungmin still apologized and cried because of it.

Jaejoong avoided Sungmin after this but he saw how Sungmin tried to talk to him, looking worried and scared Jaejoong might not want to be friends again. Sungmin had said very truthfully that he was scared he would lose such a good friend like Jaejoong and burst into tears.

That made Jaejoong feel a thousand times worse. It didn't help that his classmates were telling him that he was mean for doing that to Sungmin.

After that incident, he was terrified; terrified of having friends and getting hurt again. He only had acquaintances, never any friends. However, half a year later, he found someone whom he believed was a true and honest person; someone who could be the perfect friend. He cared for Jaejoong as much as Jaejoong cared for him. They opened up to each other and quickly became good friends. Doongwook was his name and he had been in the same boat as Jaejoong

Hurt by friends.

So, they instantly clicked together but not long after that, Jaejoong found that Doongwook didn’t really care for him as much as he thought.
 

That was it. That was the last straw for Jaejoong and he promised he was never going to be hurt by friends again.

 
A/n:I'm sorry if it's boring:(((but there'll be yunjae later i promise.Yunho's coming out in the next chapter:)