"It all happened so fast, Chorong didn't have time to take it all in. If hearts could literally break, what she was feeling right now as she watched Joonmyun walk away would be how it felt. She couldn't put in words, but there was that intense pain in her chest that didn't let her breath as if a million blades had pierced her hearts. Joonmyun's cold stare still lingered in her mind and she couldn't shake it off her mind. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, but she couldn't let them. If her friends so her breaking down in that moment, they would know and she didn't want them to know. Specially not right now. 

"Joonmyun oppa wait!" Chorong's thoughts were interrupted by Namjoo's sudden outburst as she called for her brother. She attempted to follow her brother, but Jongdae stopped her by gently grabbing her arm and shaking his head.

"I think it's best if we leave him alone for a while" he said and Namjoo sighed. She coudn't feel worse. It was all her fault. She shoudn't have lied to her brother like that and more importantly, she shouldn't have dragged her friends into that mess.

Chorong couldn't take it anymore. If she stayed there, she would end up bursting out her feelings and she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let her friends find out she was truly heartbroken with what had happened, that she had ruined her only chance with him. Was there even a chance in the first place? Now, she would never find out. 

"I'm sorry, I need to go" she suddenly said as she looked down and walked away. She was aware of the way her friends were looking at her. They were confused by her reaction, that couldn't be helped, but their confusion was better than them knowing how she truly felt.

Namjoo sighed once again as she watched her friend leave. Just how bad had she screwed up?

.............................................

"Ouch" Jongin complained and flinched in pain as Naeun put a piece of cotton dipped in alcohol in his wounded cheek. 

"Stop moving or it will be worse!" Naeun scolded him and he sighed. After what happened in the park, everyone had gathered in Eunji's house to discuss what they would do next. Namjoo had left earlier, so that she could try and talk to her brother and Jongdae had accompanied her. The rest of them were just sitting there in Eunji's living room, not knowing what to do as Naeun cleaned Jongin's wounds.

"You know if I had to get punched so that you would pay attention to me, it was totally worth it" Jongin said and Naeun blushed slightly, but she tried to hide it by pressing the cotton harder on his face.

"Ouch!" he complained once again

"Just shut up" she said. 

"What are we going to do now?" Eunji suddenly asked, breaking the atmosphere. She had been unusually quiet ever since they arrived and everyone turned their attention to her when she finally spoke.

"I think there is nothing we can do" Bomi said as she sighed defeated "I think it's best if we don't meddle and let Namjoo talk to her brother"

"I think she is right unnie" Hayoung said "We are going to make things worse if we meddle again"

And everyone agreed with that and Eunji sighed. 

"This is more complicated that you all think" she said and they looked at her confused "We need to fix this"

"What do you mean?" Yookyung asked confused

Eunji sighed once again. She didn't want to do this, but she had to. She felt really guilty about everything that had happened. If she hadn't come up with such an stupid idea, her friends wouldn't have gotten hurt.

"I know that this is not my secret to tell, but I have to tell you so that you understand" she said and took a deep breath before continuing "I think Chorong unnie truly likes Joonmyun"

"What?" everyone in the room, except Chanyeol, seemed truly shocked with the news.

"Yes, I think she does and we ruined things with our stupid plan" Eunji said sadly "That's why we need to do something to fix this"

"Now I understand why she seemed so down tonight" Naeun said, lost in her thoughts "But if she feels like this, why did she agreed to do this in the first place?"

"Because Namjoo really does like Jongdae and Chorong didn't have the heart to say no to her" Eunji said, finally understanding her friend's true motives. 

"Do you think Namjoo knows?" Bomi asked and Eunji shook her head

"I don't think so, otherwise she wouldn't have asked her to do it" she said. Everyone stayed quiet after that statement. Now they understood everything that was going on, but they still didn't know what to do about it. It was all too much for them to take in that moment.

"So what are we going to do right now?" surprisingly, the one who broke the silence was Jongin.

"We?" Naeun asked as she didn't understand what did Jongin had to do with it

"Look, we all dragged Chorong noona into this mess and we need to fix this" he said "I was part of the plan as well, so I'm responsible too"

They all looked at Jongin surprised, but then they smiled knowing he was right. To say that Naeun was impressed in that moment, was an understatement.

....................................................

The next day, at school, everyone waited patiently for Namjoo to arrive to see if she had managed to speak with her brother. Maybe she had gotten to talk to her brother and had fixed things. After all, Joonmyun seemed like a very understanding person. However, when they saw Namjoo walking in looking all down and upset at the same time, they gave up hope.

"So... how did it go?" Bomi still asked and Namjoo just sighed

"He won't speak to me" she said "Last night when I went home, he had already locked himself up in his room and refused to let me in and this morning when I worke up, he was already gone. I guess he is really mad"

"Well, can't say I blame him" Chanyeol mumbled and Namjoo threw him a death, after which he remained quiet,

Just in that moment, their attention was drifted towards the entrance of their school. Chorong walked in slowly, with an unreadable expression on her face. Eunji gave their friends a 'don't tell her you know' look and they all understood. She approached her friends and gave them a faint smile, almost as if everything was alright.

"Are you okay?" Namjoo asked her concerned because she hadn't heard from her friend since the night before

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" she asked and everyone was shocked to hear that. It was as if nothing had happened. If it was an act, it was a really good one. She still had that unreadable expression in her face. Chorong hid her true feelings behind that mask of fake coldness so that her friends wouldn't notice. It was a lot easier to pretend that she was okay since Joonmyun wasn't around. She didn't know how long she could put up with it, but she hoped that by the time she could no longer handle, her feelings had faded.

"I just... wanted to apologize" Namjoo suddenly said sadly "For dragging you all into this mess. Specially you, Chorong unnie"

"It's okay, I understand why you did" she said, trying her best to hide her feelings. She really understood why her friend did what she did, otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to help. She understood that she asked her to help her because she truly liked Jongdae and she thought it was a harmless thing to do because she didn't know she had feelings for her brother. However, it still didn't make her feel better. "I'm going to go to class, see you later girls"

And with that, she walked away. Eunji watched her friend go and debated whether she should tell Namjoo what she knew. However, she decided not to do it in that moment. It was not her secret to tell in the first place and second, because she knew Namjoo would feel worse if she knew. Maybe it was best to wait until things with Joonmyun got better.

..............................................

Tha afternoon, after the bell rang announcing the end of the day, Chorong didn't wait for her friends like she usually did. She needed some time alone to think about everything that had happened, so she decided to take the long walk home.

The weather was getting a lot chillier since winter was approaching and she suddenly regretted taking the long walk home. That morning she had been so distracted that she had forgotten to bring a jacket with her. Now, as she walked through the long bridge that crossed the lake in the park, she couldn't help but shiver due to the wind.

"I think you have taken the bad habit of going out without a jacket" a voice interrupted her from her thoughts and she jumped startled. She turned around slowly and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the person that was standing there next to her. "Are you cold?"

She simply shook her head, even though she was lying. His voice sounded cold and yet, she couldn't deny there was worry in it and that made her heart beat even faster. She couldn't even look him in the eyes, so she just looked down. 

"Joonmyun..." she said slowly "I'm sorry. I never meant to lie to you"

He remained silent and she didn't dare to look up to see his expression, so she didn't know what he could be possibly thinking. He let out a big audible sigh and Chorong didn't know what to think about it. 

"I understand if you are mad" she suddenly said and he sighed tiredly once again

"I am not mad at you" he suddenly said and she looked up surprised. She had expected to hear a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them. However, she didn't know if what he was going to say next was good or bad. "I am disappointed. I never expected you, of all people, to lie to me like that."

With that, all the hope she thought she had, faded away once again. She didn't know what hurt more, him being mad at her or him being disappointed. Maybe the later. The honesty of his words really hurt and she didn't know what to do about it. so she simply looked down once again.

"I'm sorry" she said again, her voice sounding more like a whisper "I was just trying to help Namjoo"

Joonmyun sighed and brushed his hair with his hand.

"I know that I'm nothing to you, that I'm only your friend's brother but I trusted you and I honestly believed you"

"Is that what you really think?" she asked, not realizing she had said that out loud. Her eyes widened at the realization and she looked down, avoiding his gaze. Joonmyun looked at her surprised. She had not expected that sudden outburst, but she couldn't help it. She coudn't believe he thought that he was nothing to her, when in reality it was the other way around.

"What?" he asked confused as he stared at her expectantly.

Chorong hesitated for while, thinking maybe she should tell him. But inmediately discarded the idea. She just save herself from another heartbreak and just act as if she had said nothing.

"Nothing" she just said, trying to avoid the topic "I'm sorry, I hope you can forgive me"

After that, Chorong walked away. She had a lot more to say, but everything remained unspoken. She never meant to hurt him and she didn't know what she could do to make things right. She didn't even know if she could make things right. 

As she walked home that night, his words lingered on her head,

I know I'm nothing to you, that I'm only your friend's brother...

Chorong sighed at the thought of that as tears fell down her eyes slowly. If only he knew...