“Seriously? Are they dating?” You quietly say as you walk with Minwoo and Hyejeong.

“I don’t think so, but they’re so close with each other,” Hyejeong frowns, eyeing a girl and a boy from your grade, walking beside each other and talking happily.

The boy just broke up with his girlfriend and the girl, well, people say she thinks of the boy as the person she trusts, because she talks to him about things she keeps to herself.

You laugh at the moment happening before you and nudge Minwoo, as the three of you stops to meet Daehyun, walking alone towards the opposite direction. “Yeah, they’re so gonna date. One of them is going to say ‘Oh, okay, let’s date!’,” Hyejeong laughs with you while Minwoo nudges Daehyun.

“Oy, Hyun-ah, look, she’s asking you to date her!” He wiggles his eyebrows at you as he and Daehyun laughs.

You were grinning at the joke and you praise Minwoo for it. “Good one,” You give him a high five.

“But seriously, though,” Daehyun keeps it up and looks at you, grinning along. “What date is it today, 5th of October?”

You laugh again and shrug playfully. “Alright, and it’s, let me see your watch,” You lean over and look at it. “15.13,” You smile at him and wave as it was time for you to go home from school. “See you tomorrow!”

It was a relationship without status, because you know that Daehyun has a girlfriend. Minwoo and Hyejeong has the kind of relationship too, with Hyejeong having a boyfriend. It’s just for a joke between good friends.

You arrive home in the afternoon and sit down on your bed, watching TV with your phone beside you. Suddenly it buzzes as a text comes in.

Daehyun: Hey ;)

You smile at it and reply with a smile on your face.

Hi :)

Daehyun: It’s been more than an hour...

Keke, an hour and 45 minutes ;;)

Daehyun: Yeah *hugs*

xD

Daehyun: It’s gonna be 2 in a while, I’m really excited!

Your cat meows just then so before you could reply, you run out of your room and take care of her, giving her food and drink and cleaning her potty. As you come back to your phone, you reply.

It’s already 2 now! Sorry for replying late, I had to take care of my cat for a while

Daehyun: Mm, happy 2 hours! Wait, so you pick your cat over me?!

At this you laugh. It’s really funny.

Happy 2 hours too *hugs* Eeei, it isn’t like that! I would definitely pick you over my cat!

Daehyun: Are you lying?

No, no, really, it’s youuu! Sorry for leaving like that :(

Daehyun: Haha, of course I forgive you. It wouldn’t be nice if we always fight *hugs*

Keke ^^

Daehyun: What are you doing?

I’m watching TV. There’s Taeyeon-unnie here. Her voice is really daebak *_*

Daehyun: SNSD Taeyeon? Yeah, her voice is awesome. But you have a great voice too :)

Aww look who’s talking ;;) what are you doing?

Daehyun: Keke ^^v I’m browsing and listening to music. It’s raining really hard here.

The rain in my house just ended ^^ Daehyun-ah, why did we start dating on Friday :( I can’t see you for 2 days because of it TT_TT I miss you already..

You half grimace and half laugh at the cheesy text you just sent. Bet Daehyun is getting goosebumps.

Daehyun: Mm :( I miss you lots too, we gotta wait for Monday...

And we have the mid tests on Monday, our classes are so far away..

Daehyun: We get separated too much :(

But it’s okay, you have to get good scores! Daehyun hwaiting!

Daehyun: That’s right that’s right! Hwaiting too for you! Friday couple hwaiting!

Kekeke that’s funny ^^

You glance at the watch and realize that it’s late. Right then, your mother shouts from outside to tell you to go to bed. “Alright, mom!” You answer.

Daehyun-ah, sorry, my mom just told me to go to bed :(

Daehyun: Aww :( but alright, go to sleep and have a good rest ok?

Mm :) you too, sleep, it’s late! Happy, err, 5 hours and 45 minutes! Keke^^ Goodnight Daehyun-ah..

Daehyun: Okay I’ll go to bed in a minute. Goodnight *hugs* sleep tight and don’t get nightmares..

You smile at the texts you just sent and received. It was so cheesy that you can’t help getting goosebumps as you think about it before you sleep. You’ve never dated anyone before even though you’re already in high school, so all of it is kind of new.

“Do people in relationships really send those kinds of texts?” You shudder.

Drifting off to sleep, you think of it as a new experience.

The next morning, you wake up and see another text from him, saying good morning.

The texting continues for the month and at school, whenever he sees you and you see him, he would wave at you like you would at him. Before going home, you, your friends and his friends would gather at the parking lot, chatting and joking around together. You would stand beside him and meet him with a high five, him letting your hand linger over his a bit longer than necessary. When his car is parked next to yours, he would knock on your window thrice without purpose and he would grin at you when you say hi.

Slowly, you begin to think that you’re falling for him.

Nearing the end of the month, you were about to greet him when you see his girlfriend next to him, the two of them walking together happily.

Pang.

You avert your eyes away from the couple and pretend you didn’t see any of them.

“You okay?” Na Eun, your close friend asks you when she catches your action. She knows about you and Daehyun.

“Na Eun-ah, why do I feel kind of weird?” You ask, frowning.

“Why? When you see Daehyun and her?”

“Yeah, that,”

“It’s called being jealous, sweetie,” Na Eun laughs, patting your back.

“But jealous, being jealous means that I have to like Daehyun, right?”

“Yeah, don’t you?” Na Eun frowns, questioning you.

“Well,” You frown too, at yourself. “I, err, don’t know, I guess,”

You sit in the bus with her and think. “Na Eun,”

“Hm?”

“I think what I’m doing is bad,”

Na Eun looks at you with concern and sighs. “To tell you the truth, Daehyun and his girlfriend’s relationship isn’t exactly happy. Do you realize that he only walks her home when they coincidentally meet? And his girlfriend doesn’t even show that she likes him,”

You know all that, but still. “They’re dating. Officially. Na Eun, I’m a bad girl, aren’t I? I don’t want them to break up because of me. It would scare me to death, for real. Then again, as much as he thinks that his girlfriend doesn’t pay attention to him much, he doesn’t break it off. Doesn’t that mean he really loves her?”

“Don’t think of it that way. The way I see it, you’re making Daehyun happy when he isn’t. He doesn’t text his girlfriend that happily and once I think about it, even though you begin cheesily, gradually, it begins to show real affection,”

“From who?”

“From the both of you, of course,”

You shake your head at her sentence, not wanting to be full of yourself. “No, as much as I hate it, this has got to stop,” You like him already. Before that like turns to something else, better now than never. “After all, I don’t want to become a person he talks to only to momentarily get rid of his unhappy dating life,”

Na Eun grimaces at this. “Look, you just found someone you like. After I don’t know, how many years? Whatever, it’s just, I’m happy for you, and you, having to sacrifice your feelings would hurt me as much as it would for you,”

“Before it’s too late, Na Eun. Before it’s too late,” You quietly say, refusing your need to cry. His girlfriend is the perfect material. Pretty, skinny and nice. No wonder he fell for her.

And not for you.

“At least wait until you have a full month. Then, see, if he remembers about it, then it means, that he really cherishes you,” Na Eun reasons with you.

“Then let’s see,”

That conversation was yesterday, a day before the 5th of November.

And now, here you are, watching closely over your phone for a text from him. Morning turns to afternoon and afternoon turns to evening. Day turns to night, light turns to dark.

No text.

The clock’s gong resounds all over the house as the time strikes twelve at midnight.

It’s official.

You’re ending it.

Daehyun-ah. Hey, sorry for texting you this late but, let’s stop this, okay? ‘This’ is the relationship we began a month ago. It’s not about me being tired of you or me not finding this funny anymore, but I’m scared. Scared that I’ll fall too deep, unable to break and pull away from you. And trust me, I’ve fell already. Your girlfriend, she’s lucky to have you. Be good to her, okay. Don’t break up so soon and keep it up, finish your problems, have a longlasting relationship with her, for me. It’s been a really great month with you and thanks so much for coping up with me all this time.

Thank you again, Daehyun-ah.

You click send and lock your phone, tucking yourself into your blanket, closing your eyes and hoping, that when tomorrow comes, you will forget about your feelings for Daehyun, and for the month’s memories to leave your head.

Guess not all stories end happily, huh?