bird of summer
bird of summer
Summer has never been Jongin's favorite season. It's hot, humid, and it's making your skin feels sticky. The only thing he likes about summer is that it's always sunny, so he can go everywhere and do anything without his mom reminding him to always bring an umbrella.
He was eating his cereals when someone is knocking at the front door of his house. His mom usually would open the door immediately ("Don't let the guest wait!", she said), but the person outside keeps on knocking which means his mom is somewhere at the house. He put the cereal bowl on the coffee table, gets up from the couch, and heads to the door.
"Oh, hey, it's you, Jongin!" the grown woman greets.
He bows apologetically. "Ah, Mrs. Oh, I'm really sorry to make you wait, please come in,"
"It's okay. I'm gonna make it quick, anyway. I'm going to an old friend's funeral and there's no one to watch over Sehun. Would you mind accompanying him for the day? You can take him anywhere, as long as he's with you."
"Yeah, sure, no problem, Mam! And, oh, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, Jongin. Okay, let me get him," she then jogs to her car that is parked in front of Jongin's house.
Being a polite young man he is, he follows her to her car to pick up Sehun, rather than her picking up Sehun then goes back to his house. She said she was in a hurry, right? Now that Sehun is with him, he holds the younger's hand to make sure he doesn't wander around alone. "Got him, drive safe, Mrs. Oh!"
Mrs. Oh waves her hand goodbye; which did not get a reply back from her son, and drive off.
"Now, Sehun, is there any particular place you want to go today?" Jongin asks to his bestfriend. Not getting a reply, he shakes the younger's body slowly and ask for the second time. This time, he turns his head so that his eyes and Sehun's eyes meet. "Sehun-ah, listen to me. Where do you want to go today?"
"I don't know," Sehun replies without making an eye contact that his best friend's was trying to get.
"Then, we'll go to my favorite place today. Is that okay with you?"
"Okay."
Jongin lets Sehun walk without him holding his hand like a 5 year old. Sehun likes to wander around, observes his surroundings blankly, and giggles and claps happily when he sees something that interests him. Jongin doesn't let him go too far from him though, because Sehun still can't cross the road on his own. After minutes of walking, they arrived at Jongin's favorite record store. Jongin pushes the door, letting Sehun to enter the store before him.
"Don't break stuffs, Sehun-ah," he reminds his bestfriend who is already got attached in his own world.
Jongin looks around the store without knowing what's he's looking for. He's not really a vinyl collector, his father was. His father used to take him to any record store to hunt some old vinyls and Jongin found vinyls interesting since then. After the parents separated, the two didn't hang out as often as they used too, but they would meet somewhere just the two of them and the father would hand down some of his vinyl collection because his new wife told him to find better things to do other than collecting old stuffs. Jongin then turns his head to find Sehun walking back and forth in front of the pretty employee. He lets out a small laugh from afar, he sure has a good taste in women.
The employee, on the other hand, is kind of confused, since he wouldn't tell her what he wants nor answering her question, but still trying to show a genuine smile to the customer. "Hey, I'm sorry, can I help you?"
Sehun, again, ignores the pretty employee and goes to the vinyl player which he finds it new to him. He's always liked electronics, so everytime he sees an electronic device, he would touch it here and there or even tweak it. The employee, scared that the customer would break it, approaches him. "I'm sorry, but―"
"Sehun, let go. You can tweak the one on my house, but not the one in here, okay?" Jongin releases the younger's hand from the object and the younger obeys him. The younger then wanders around the store again. The employee looks confused with the situation that has just happened, but doesn't say anything further. "He's autistic, in case you were wondering. But, don't worry, he doesn't break stuffs," Jongin turns his head to the employee and gives an assuring smile.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I should've just let him doing his thing, shouldn't I?" the employee, who is a she, feels apologetic.
"Nah, it's okay. He seems to like you, too, so I think whatever you do is fine to him,"
She lets out a sincere smile. "Really? I mean, they usually don't get attached to people easily, do they?"
"Well, then, congratulations for being an exception."
Being best friends for so many years, they have never gone to the same school ever since elementary. Sehun's mom found public school was too cruel and harsh for her son, so she looked for a private teacher to teach him at house. He studies for 2 hours and he also has a therapy for another 2 hours everyday. After the hectic hours, his mom would let him to play with his best friend if the other is not busy with his own assignments. Jongin, on the other hand, is very popular at his school. He's the man of the match on most soccer competitions and gets really cocky often times, but he'd never bully anyone, unlike his fellow friends.
Jongin is free from any assignments today, so he decided to take his best friend for another walk. The best thing about taking Sehun for a walk is he's fine with going anywhere, as long as they don't stay there for too long or he'll start being grumpy and Jongin has never been a big fan of it.
"Sehun, we have to pay first before you eat the bread, okay?" Jongin reminds his best friend as soon as they enter the bakery. The younger nods in return. "If you want it, put it on the tray."
Going to the bakery is one of the things the two best friends have in common. Jongin loves the smell of freshly baked bread while Sehun loves to watch the baker mixing, punching, rounding the dough. Jongin was eyeing on each bread the bakery have when he heard 'Oh, it's you again, hi!' and Sehun runs off to his direction looking shy. Jongin looks ahead and finds the answer of Sehun's behaviour.
"Hey," the girl approaches him. "I didn't expect you to be here, thought he was going with his mom."
"You will have to get used to see me when you see him, you know, we're inseparable,"
They let out a small laugh in unison. "Oh, I wanted to give you this," she puts a bread pudding on his tray. "It was the only one left, your best friend and I were going to take it at the same time. We have the same taste, don't we? But, when I wanted to give him this, he ran off."
"Oh, thank you, that's very generous of you. Guess he'll like you even more when I tell him this," Me too. Is it possible to like someone whose name you don't even know? You're not living in movies or novels, he used to think.
"I hope he will. By the way," she offers her hand for a shake. "Krystal."
"Jongin, Sehun's best friend."
Krystal is an exception, to both Jongin and Sehun. Jongin never thought there's someone who accepts Sehun the way he is completely other than him, he feels either delighted and threatened that someone will take his place. Sehun usually shuts down everyone and rarely grows an interest in someone, but he lets Krystal in, either because he already hit puberty or she really is that special. He talks more now, Krystal always makes a conversation with him patiently until he answers.
"How come he always answers you and makes an eye contact with you? He never did it with me, well, sometimes he did," one of Jongin's fear has come true; he thinks Sehun treasures Krystal more than the best friend for years.
She chuckles. "Stop using tactics, Jongin, it's not a soccer game. It's all about patience and trying, my aunt told me. Jongin isn't really patient, is he, Sehun?"
Sehun nods.
"Yah!" Jongin tickles him and Sehun's face is really red he looks like he's about to die by being tickled. Krystal looks at them amusingly. It's really heart warming to see the two bonding despite the differences they have.
"Hey, stop it, you two!" she separates them and stand up. "Who wants some ice cream?"
Jongin and Sehun raise their hands up and off she goes. She doesn't need to ask what they want because she has spent too much time with them so she remembers it automatically (or maybe because they're too predictable). Jongin's favorite is mocca or cookies & cream, Sehun's is strawberry, and Krystal is the only one who likes trying different flavors.
"Sehun-ah,"
The younger guy turns his head towards him. Thanks to Krystal, he responds quicker than usual.
"You like her that much, don't you?"
Sehun doesn't answer, but Jongin can see a shy smile forming on his face. As a best friend, of course Jongin is really proud of Sehun's progresses in life. He's never seen Sehun being so alive before, Sehun has always been the sidekick who agrees to anything. After a long pause, Sehun nods. "Krystal is really nice,"
"Yeah," Jongin stares at Krystal who's now at the ice cream vendor and smiles unconciously. "she is."
"Does Jongin like Krystal, too?" That was probably the first time Sehun ever talks. He's never been the one who brought up a conversation or asked, he was more the responder. Jongin was either too touched or too confused what to answer because he's not sure about his feelings.
"If you like her, then I won't."
"Why?"
"Because best friends are not supposed to fall in love with the same person."
Sehun has grown interest in movies now, he keeps asking Jongin and Krystal to go to the cinema. Sehun wanted to go the cinema everyday, but the best friends look to each other and said, "Um, there's a policy, Sehun-ah. You are not allowed to watch a movie in the cinema more than once on the same week." That was a lie, totally. They'd love to go to the cinema everyday, but they also wouldn't want to hear their wallets crying. They didn't want to disappoint Sehun, so they talked to their parents and finally made a deal to go to the cinema to accompany Sehun once a week.
For this week's turn, Sehun wants to watch Life of Pi. Sadly, Krystal the prettiest girl among them all couldn't join the three musketeers' tradition because of her part-time job. Someone stormed into the record store and messed up the entire place, so all of the workers there had to clean up the mess sometimes until late.
"How was the movie?" says Jongin as soon as they got out of the theater.
Sehun, who's still amazed by all the effects showed in the movie, replies with a grin. "The fishes glow in the sea, Jongin!"
Jongin chuckles and messes up the younger's hair.
It was pretty late when they walked home. Jongin lets the younger guy to walk by his own because his best friend has made really good progresses. Then, Sehun stops from walking and Jongin wonders why. Turns out there are few s standing in front of them. They are around Jongin and Sehun's age, some are older. They address themselves as a gang, a badass one.
"Oh, look who's here. The mama's boy and the idiot," says the tallest one.
Jongin is sort of a short-tempered person, but he tries so hard not to lose himself this time. "Sehun, let's go."
"Come on, isn't it to early to go home?" The buff one is disappointed that his opponent did not respond his friend's mocking and decided to throw Jongin a little girly punch.
"Hey, I've been wondering, are you two gay?"
"Is it a problem if we are?" Jongin snaps back.
"Owwwwwww," they said in unison. "I'm sorry, you don't have to get offended. Why so bitter? We won't tease or disturb your boyfriend."
"Even if one of us were gay, we would never flirt on some idiot, like literally an idiot, mentally retar—"
Jongin punches him really hard before he could finish his sentence, no one wants to hear him finish anyway.
"Oh, looks like someone is excited for a fight! Hahahahaha!"
Even that Jongin is actually someone who fights a lot, but when there are two people holding you and the two others punch you like you're a punchbag, you can't do anything unless you're Jackie Chan. They hit him hard in the stomach and his face until it bleeds. He was too distracted that he didn't even realized that Sehun was being hit too.
The fight eventually breaks up until a police car arrives. Most of the gang members escape, but the three members and also Jongin and Sehun are now taken to the police office for an interrogation. Jongin's mom is out of town and Sehun's parents are not answering.
"Hey, kid, do you have other people we can call?"
"Um, well, there's my friend, Krystal... Well, she's not an adult but her sister is," Jongin answers unsurely.
Fifteen minutes later, Krystal arrives with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. Their parents are out for business, but her sister and her sister's boyfriend are count as adults so the police said it's okay. As soon as the police let Jongin and Sehun go, Krystal runs and hugs Sehun with a worry face. "Oh my God, what happened?? Are you okay?"
"Hey, don't I get a hug, too?" Jongin pouts.
Krystal looks at Jongin furiously. "You jerk! How could you lose your temper like that? You know safety comes first when you're with Sehun!" she shoves him hard.
"They were calling him an idiot, Krystal! Someone who's mentally retarded! I was just doing some self-defense!"
"Oh," she snorts mockingly. "self-defense? You were not threatened and the purpose of getting into a fight is to teach them a lesson, not to defend yourself!"
"Well, yeah, I did try to give them a lesson. Did you hear what I just say? They were downgrading Sehun! You think you could ignore them?"
"But, they're like, what, the dumbest people ever exist? Don't let them get into you! If you stay quiet, you and Sehun wouldn't get these bruises and scars! Do you think Sehun will not get traumatized?"
Getting himself beaten up is enough for him, the last thing he ever wanted to happen was to see his only friends fighting with each other. "Jongin, Krystal, please don't fight," he comes in between them. "Mom said friends don't fight with each other."
"Yeah, your mom is right, I'm sorry. We were not fighting," Krystal softens. "So, you guys must be tired. Let me take you home, Sehun," she takes his hand and slightly pulls him to her car's direction.
"Jongin is not coming?"
She cuts him before he could answer. "Jongin has another business to do, he will go home later on his own."
"We don't wait for him?"
Jongin smiles bitterly. "It's okay, Sehun-ah, you go first. I'll be fine."
"Okay," Sehun looks worried because he's not used to go somewhere without his best friend. "Bye, Jongin!"
"Bye, see you later, bro." He's glad that his best friend turned around for him and he kinda wished she'll do the same, even the slightest turn would do.
But, she didn't.
Summer is almost over and Jongin has never seen Krystal and Sehun ever since the incident. Every time he comes over to Sehun's house, "Oh, he's out with Krystal. You didn't know?" It's like, Krystal is trying to keep him away from Sehun. He never even got the chance to apologize.
Today, he hopes for a summer miracle. He braves himself to knock the door and indeed, there's a miracle coming in front of him. He was expecting for Mrs. Oh to open the door, but today, it's different. Sehun was the one who opened the door.
"Jongin!" Sehun squeals and can't help to hug his best friend. Of course, Jongin hugs him back tightly.
"Hey, how are you? Glad you're not busy today. Krystal aren't taking you anywhere?"
"She excuses herself for today, Jongin," Mrs. Oh answers as she walks down the stairs. "You got yourself a chance, finally."
Jongin got startled by Sehun's mom sudden appearance, but he still lets out a polite smile. "Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. Oh."
"Sehun, why don't you get cola and some snacks that we bought yesterday for Jongin?" Sehun replies with an 'okay' silently like a whisper.
"So, do you mind telling me what happened between the three of you?" Mrs. Oh sits on the couch next to Jongin's. "Or more like, between the two of you. You and Krystal."
Jongin gulps. "Um, it's just, well, we kind of yelled at each other after the incident. She blamed me and I'm really sorry for what happened, Mrs. Oh, I really do, you know that, right? I still can't forgive myself for getting Sehun hurt and—"
"Yeah, I know, dear, you don't even have to apologize. I thank you for defending Sehun because he can't do that by himself. But, avoiding each other and staying quiet is not the answer, Jongin." she breathes out and take a breath.
"You know, one day I asked Sehun what made him happy lately, and he answered Krystal. The girl is lovely, I can't blame him. He said, 'she's nice, Mom, just like you!'" she mimics the way her son is talking. "From my view as a mother, Sehun is impressed with Krystal because no one ever treated him like that other than me and you, Jongin. Nothing more."
"And um, I don't mean to in, but I can see the sparks when you and Krystal look at each other. If you think Sehun likes her romantically and that's what stopping you, you're wrong. He's still got a looooong way to go to be in love."
Jongin doesn't say anything, he listens to the woman very closely. He just nods and smiles in return. As soon as Mrs. Oh finished talking, Sehun comes back with two cans of cola and all of the snacks he bought the other day. He looks like he's having a really hard time holding those things.
"Oh, honey, I said 'some', not 'all'."
Jongin decides to take Sehun for a walk around town. He was going to take Sehun for a movie after buying ice creams and hot dogs, but Sehun insisted to go somewhere else.
"I want to go to the record store, Jongin."
"Is there anything wrong? You just met Krystal a few days ago."
"But, you haven't."
He doesn't really remember how, but they're standing in front of the record store now. Sehun enters the store first, leaving Jongin who's still stunned alone. He gathers up his courage and finally walks in.
Krystal looks like she's getting ready to go outside and Jongin's heart beats way faster because staying inside or outside, either way, he's going to face her. He approaches Krystal and Sehun while unconciously mouthing 'I'm not a coward, I can do this' repeatedly.
"Hi," is the only thing he can say.
She smiles; not the prettiest or the sweetest one, but still, a smile. "Let's go."
Krystal suggests to go to the nearest park so they could sit and talk for hours without having to buy something. The boys can play basketball, too, if they got bored. Sehun goes straight to the ice cream vendor as soon as they arrive and tells Krystal and Jongin to get one too, just like the old time.
"So, how are you?" they say at the exact same time. "Ladies first," Jongin says.
"I'm good, the store is finally not lacking of workers anymore, so I can get a break. How's yours?"
"Just trying to get my assignments done, because it's not really a break for a student who failed Calculus class like me."
There's a long pause between them until Sehun comes and, "Jongin, can we play basketball?"
"Uh, yeah," he turns his head to Krystal, mouthing if she's okay with being left alone and gets an ok from her. "Sure." he gets up and runs to the field.
Krystal watches the two guys dribbling and shooting the ball enjoyingly. The sun makes Sehun's milky skin shines as if he's covered in jewels and Jongin's sun-kissed skin stands out from the others. Did she just feel her heart thumping really hard when she's looking at Jongin?
Sehun and Jongin come back and they look like they're out of breath. They pick up the two bottles of mineral water on the table that Krystal just bought a few minutes ago.
"Um, guys, my break time is over, so..." she stands up, ready to leave, but still waiting for her best friends' response.
Jongin hurriedly finishes his drink. "Wait a minute."
"Hm?" Jongin approaches her and it's making her nervous and she curses under her breath. For God's sake, get yourself together!
"I'm sorry."
She stands absolutely stocked-still. "J-jongin, it's a long time ago—"
"Yeah, and I never got the chance to apologize. I shouldn't have yelled at you, it was completely my fault."
"No, it's not. Well, not completely," she grins. "I'm at fault, too. You were having a bad day and I yelled at you first."
"So, we're clear?" She nods.
"Great," he smiles proudly. It's like all of his burden has finally taken out of his shoulders. "Now, wait for another minute, please?"
"What again, Jongin..."
He looks Sehun in the eye seriously. "Sehun, I want you to please, close your eyes for a while. Can you do that?"
Sehun is quite confused but he covers his eyes with his hand as soon as Jongin asks him to.
"Now, count to 20 and promise me you will not peek until the counting ends. Okay?"
"Okay. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6..."
"Hey! Don't count too fast!"
Jongin then hurries back to Krystal and she nudges him. "Why are you telling Sehun to cover his eyes??"
"Because I want to do this."
He leans in and close the gap between the two. He still can tastes the cotton candy ice cream on her lips and she can tastes the mint chocolate chips flavour. Cotton candy and mint chocolate chips might not blend well together, but to them it actually tastes perfect, it tastes right.
They haven't broke the kiss when Sehun opened his eyes. "Just like Mom and Dad."
"Sehun-ah, this is not a movie, stop watching," Jongin says after he felt like someone has their eyes on them.
Krystal laughs. "Okay, let's go, I'm late for work." She brushes her pointy nose against Jongin's.
She holds Sehun's left hand, he holds Sehun's right hand, and they walk together like the happy and cheery version of the three musketeers. In the middle of walking, Sehun lets go of his hands.
"Sehun, what's wrong?"
Then he takes Jongin's left hand, puts it on top of Krystal's right palm and makes the two hands intertwined.
"I can walk on my own."
At the end of the day, when two best friends fall in love with the same person, there's no losing or winning. One might get the girl, but that doesn't mean he wins. The other one might end up being alone, but the girl has changed him so much in any aspects and he's gotten so much better, so that doesn't mean he loses. Because it's not about the happy ending or the sad ending, it's all about the story and how we make progresses in our lives.
He was eating his cereals when someone is knocking at the front door of his house. His mom usually would open the door immediately ("Don't let the guest wait!", she said), but the person outside keeps on knocking which means his mom is somewhere at the house. He put the cereal bowl on the coffee table, gets up from the couch, and heads to the door.
"Oh, hey, it's you, Jongin!" the grown woman greets.
He bows apologetically. "Ah, Mrs. Oh, I'm really sorry to make you wait, please come in,"
"It's okay. I'm gonna make it quick, anyway. I'm going to an old friend's funeral and there's no one to watch over Sehun. Would you mind accompanying him for the day? You can take him anywhere, as long as he's with you."
"Yeah, sure, no problem, Mam! And, oh, I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, Jongin. Okay, let me get him," she then jogs to her car that is parked in front of Jongin's house.
Being a polite young man he is, he follows her to her car to pick up Sehun, rather than her picking up Sehun then goes back to his house. She said she was in a hurry, right? Now that Sehun is with him, he holds the younger's hand to make sure he doesn't wander around alone. "Got him, drive safe, Mrs. Oh!"
Mrs. Oh waves her hand goodbye; which did not get a reply back from her son, and drive off.
"Now, Sehun, is there any particular place you want to go today?" Jongin asks to his bestfriend. Not getting a reply, he shakes the younger's body slowly and ask for the second time. This time, he turns his head so that his eyes and Sehun's eyes meet. "Sehun-ah, listen to me. Where do you want to go today?"
"I don't know," Sehun replies without making an eye contact that his best friend's was trying to get.
"Then, we'll go to my favorite place today. Is that okay with you?"
"Okay."
Jongin lets Sehun walk without him holding his hand like a 5 year old. Sehun likes to wander around, observes his surroundings blankly, and giggles and claps happily when he sees something that interests him. Jongin doesn't let him go too far from him though, because Sehun still can't cross the road on his own. After minutes of walking, they arrived at Jongin's favorite record store. Jongin pushes the door, letting Sehun to enter the store before him.
"Don't break stuffs, Sehun-ah," he reminds his bestfriend who is already got attached in his own world.
Jongin looks around the store without knowing what's he's looking for. He's not really a vinyl collector, his father was. His father used to take him to any record store to hunt some old vinyls and Jongin found vinyls interesting since then. After the parents separated, the two didn't hang out as often as they used too, but they would meet somewhere just the two of them and the father would hand down some of his vinyl collection because his new wife told him to find better things to do other than collecting old stuffs. Jongin then turns his head to find Sehun walking back and forth in front of the pretty employee. He lets out a small laugh from afar, he sure has a good taste in women.
The employee, on the other hand, is kind of confused, since he wouldn't tell her what he wants nor answering her question, but still trying to show a genuine smile to the customer. "Hey, I'm sorry, can I help you?"
Sehun, again, ignores the pretty employee and goes to the vinyl player which he finds it new to him. He's always liked electronics, so everytime he sees an electronic device, he would touch it here and there or even tweak it. The employee, scared that the customer would break it, approaches him. "I'm sorry, but―"
"Sehun, let go. You can tweak the one on my house, but not the one in here, okay?" Jongin releases the younger's hand from the object and the younger obeys him. The younger then wanders around the store again. The employee looks confused with the situation that has just happened, but doesn't say anything further. "He's autistic, in case you were wondering. But, don't worry, he doesn't break stuffs," Jongin turns his head to the employee and gives an assuring smile.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. I should've just let him doing his thing, shouldn't I?" the employee, who is a she, feels apologetic.
"Nah, it's okay. He seems to like you, too, so I think whatever you do is fine to him,"
She lets out a sincere smile. "Really? I mean, they usually don't get attached to people easily, do they?"
"Well, then, congratulations for being an exception."
Being best friends for so many years, they have never gone to the same school ever since elementary. Sehun's mom found public school was too cruel and harsh for her son, so she looked for a private teacher to teach him at house. He studies for 2 hours and he also has a therapy for another 2 hours everyday. After the hectic hours, his mom would let him to play with his best friend if the other is not busy with his own assignments. Jongin, on the other hand, is very popular at his school. He's the man of the match on most soccer competitions and gets really cocky often times, but he'd never bully anyone, unlike his fellow friends.
Jongin is free from any assignments today, so he decided to take his best friend for another walk. The best thing about taking Sehun for a walk is he's fine with going anywhere, as long as they don't stay there for too long or he'll start being grumpy and Jongin has never been a big fan of it.
"Sehun, we have to pay first before you eat the bread, okay?" Jongin reminds his best friend as soon as they enter the bakery. The younger nods in return. "If you want it, put it on the tray."
Going to the bakery is one of the things the two best friends have in common. Jongin loves the smell of freshly baked bread while Sehun loves to watch the baker mixing, punching, rounding the dough. Jongin was eyeing on each bread the bakery have when he heard 'Oh, it's you again, hi!' and Sehun runs off to his direction looking shy. Jongin looks ahead and finds the answer of Sehun's behaviour.
"Hey," the girl approaches him. "I didn't expect you to be here, thought he was going with his mom."
"You will have to get used to see me when you see him, you know, we're inseparable,"
They let out a small laugh in unison. "Oh, I wanted to give you this," she puts a bread pudding on his tray. "It was the only one left, your best friend and I were going to take it at the same time. We have the same taste, don't we? But, when I wanted to give him this, he ran off."
"Oh, thank you, that's very generous of you. Guess he'll like you even more when I tell him this," Me too. Is it possible to like someone whose name you don't even know? You're not living in movies or novels, he used to think.
"I hope he will. By the way," she offers her hand for a shake. "Krystal."
"Jongin, Sehun's best friend."
Krystal is an exception, to both Jongin and Sehun. Jongin never thought there's someone who accepts Sehun the way he is completely other than him, he feels either delighted and threatened that someone will take his place. Sehun usually shuts down everyone and rarely grows an interest in someone, but he lets Krystal in, either because he already hit puberty or she really is that special. He talks more now, Krystal always makes a conversation with him patiently until he answers.
"How come he always answers you and makes an eye contact with you? He never did it with me, well, sometimes he did," one of Jongin's fear has come true; he thinks Sehun treasures Krystal more than the best friend for years.
She chuckles. "Stop using tactics, Jongin, it's not a soccer game. It's all about patience and trying, my aunt told me. Jongin isn't really patient, is he, Sehun?"
Sehun nods.
"Yah!" Jongin tickles him and Sehun's face is really red he looks like he's about to die by being tickled. Krystal looks at them amusingly. It's really heart warming to see the two bonding despite the differences they have.
"Hey, stop it, you two!" she separates them and stand up. "Who wants some ice cream?"
Jongin and Sehun raise their hands up and off she goes. She doesn't need to ask what they want because she has spent too much time with them so she remembers it automatically (or maybe because they're too predictable). Jongin's favorite is mocca or cookies & cream, Sehun's is strawberry, and Krystal is the only one who likes trying different flavors.
"Sehun-ah,"
The younger guy turns his head towards him. Thanks to Krystal, he responds quicker than usual.
"You like her that much, don't you?"
Sehun doesn't answer, but Jongin can see a shy smile forming on his face. As a best friend, of course Jongin is really proud of Sehun's progresses in life. He's never seen Sehun being so alive before, Sehun has always been the sidekick who agrees to anything. After a long pause, Sehun nods. "Krystal is really nice,"
"Yeah," Jongin stares at Krystal who's now at the ice cream vendor and smiles unconciously. "she is."
"Does Jongin like Krystal, too?" That was probably the first time Sehun ever talks. He's never been the one who brought up a conversation or asked, he was more the responder. Jongin was either too touched or too confused what to answer because he's not sure about his feelings.
"If you like her, then I won't."
"Why?"
"Because best friends are not supposed to fall in love with the same person."
Sehun has grown interest in movies now, he keeps asking Jongin and Krystal to go to the cinema. Sehun wanted to go the cinema everyday, but the best friends look to each other and said, "Um, there's a policy, Sehun-ah. You are not allowed to watch a movie in the cinema more than once on the same week." That was a lie, totally. They'd love to go to the cinema everyday, but they also wouldn't want to hear their wallets crying. They didn't want to disappoint Sehun, so they talked to their parents and finally made a deal to go to the cinema to accompany Sehun once a week.
For this week's turn, Sehun wants to watch Life of Pi. Sadly, Krystal the prettiest girl among them all couldn't join the three musketeers' tradition because of her part-time job. Someone stormed into the record store and messed up the entire place, so all of the workers there had to clean up the mess sometimes until late.
"How was the movie?" says Jongin as soon as they got out of the theater.
Sehun, who's still amazed by all the effects showed in the movie, replies with a grin. "The fishes glow in the sea, Jongin!"
Jongin chuckles and messes up the younger's hair.
It was pretty late when they walked home. Jongin lets the younger guy to walk by his own because his best friend has made really good progresses. Then, Sehun stops from walking and Jongin wonders why. Turns out there are few s standing in front of them. They are around Jongin and Sehun's age, some are older. They address themselves as a gang, a badass one.
"Oh, look who's here. The mama's boy and the idiot," says the tallest one.
Jongin is sort of a short-tempered person, but he tries so hard not to lose himself this time. "Sehun, let's go."
"Come on, isn't it to early to go home?" The buff one is disappointed that his opponent did not respond his friend's mocking and decided to throw Jongin a little girly punch.
"Hey, I've been wondering, are you two gay?"
"Is it a problem if we are?" Jongin snaps back.
"Owwwwwww," they said in unison. "I'm sorry, you don't have to get offended. Why so bitter? We won't tease or disturb your boyfriend."
"Even if one of us were gay, we would never flirt on some idiot, like literally an idiot, mentally retar—"
Jongin punches him really hard before he could finish his sentence, no one wants to hear him finish anyway.
"Oh, looks like someone is excited for a fight! Hahahahaha!"
Even that Jongin is actually someone who fights a lot, but when there are two people holding you and the two others punch you like you're a punchbag, you can't do anything unless you're Jackie Chan. They hit him hard in the stomach and his face until it bleeds. He was too distracted that he didn't even realized that Sehun was being hit too.
The fight eventually breaks up until a police car arrives. Most of the gang members escape, but the three members and also Jongin and Sehun are now taken to the police office for an interrogation. Jongin's mom is out of town and Sehun's parents are not answering.
"Hey, kid, do you have other people we can call?"
"Um, well, there's my friend, Krystal... Well, she's not an adult but her sister is," Jongin answers unsurely.
Fifteen minutes later, Krystal arrives with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. Their parents are out for business, but her sister and her sister's boyfriend are count as adults so the police said it's okay. As soon as the police let Jongin and Sehun go, Krystal runs and hugs Sehun with a worry face. "Oh my God, what happened?? Are you okay?"
"Hey, don't I get a hug, too?" Jongin pouts.
Krystal looks at Jongin furiously. "You jerk! How could you lose your temper like that? You know safety comes first when you're with Sehun!" she shoves him hard.
"They were calling him an idiot, Krystal! Someone who's mentally retarded! I was just doing some self-defense!"
"Oh," she snorts mockingly. "self-defense? You were not threatened and the purpose of getting into a fight is to teach them a lesson, not to defend yourself!"
"Well, yeah, I did try to give them a lesson. Did you hear what I just say? They were downgrading Sehun! You think you could ignore them?"
"But, they're like, what, the dumbest people ever exist? Don't let them get into you! If you stay quiet, you and Sehun wouldn't get these bruises and scars! Do you think Sehun will not get traumatized?"
Getting himself beaten up is enough for him, the last thing he ever wanted to happen was to see his only friends fighting with each other. "Jongin, Krystal, please don't fight," he comes in between them. "Mom said friends don't fight with each other."
"Yeah, your mom is right, I'm sorry. We were not fighting," Krystal softens. "So, you guys must be tired. Let me take you home, Sehun," she takes his hand and slightly pulls him to her car's direction.
"Jongin is not coming?"
She cuts him before he could answer. "Jongin has another business to do, he will go home later on his own."
"We don't wait for him?"
Jongin smiles bitterly. "It's okay, Sehun-ah, you go first. I'll be fine."
"Okay," Sehun looks worried because he's not used to go somewhere without his best friend. "Bye, Jongin!"
"Bye, see you later, bro." He's glad that his best friend turned around for him and he kinda wished she'll do the same, even the slightest turn would do.
But, she didn't.
Summer is almost over and Jongin has never seen Krystal and Sehun ever since the incident. Every time he comes over to Sehun's house, "Oh, he's out with Krystal. You didn't know?" It's like, Krystal is trying to keep him away from Sehun. He never even got the chance to apologize.
Today, he hopes for a summer miracle. He braves himself to knock the door and indeed, there's a miracle coming in front of him. He was expecting for Mrs. Oh to open the door, but today, it's different. Sehun was the one who opened the door.
"Jongin!" Sehun squeals and can't help to hug his best friend. Of course, Jongin hugs him back tightly.
"Hey, how are you? Glad you're not busy today. Krystal aren't taking you anywhere?"
"She excuses herself for today, Jongin," Mrs. Oh answers as she walks down the stairs. "You got yourself a chance, finally."
Jongin got startled by Sehun's mom sudden appearance, but he still lets out a polite smile. "Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. Oh."
"Sehun, why don't you get cola and some snacks that we bought yesterday for Jongin?" Sehun replies with an 'okay' silently like a whisper.
"So, do you mind telling me what happened between the three of you?" Mrs. Oh sits on the couch next to Jongin's. "Or more like, between the two of you. You and Krystal."
Jongin gulps. "Um, it's just, well, we kind of yelled at each other after the incident. She blamed me and I'm really sorry for what happened, Mrs. Oh, I really do, you know that, right? I still can't forgive myself for getting Sehun hurt and—"
"Yeah, I know, dear, you don't even have to apologize. I thank you for defending Sehun because he can't do that by himself. But, avoiding each other and staying quiet is not the answer, Jongin." she breathes out and take a breath.
"You know, one day I asked Sehun what made him happy lately, and he answered Krystal. The girl is lovely, I can't blame him. He said, 'she's nice, Mom, just like you!'" she mimics the way her son is talking. "From my view as a mother, Sehun is impressed with Krystal because no one ever treated him like that other than me and you, Jongin. Nothing more."
"And um, I don't mean to in, but I can see the sparks when you and Krystal look at each other. If you think Sehun likes her romantically and that's what stopping you, you're wrong. He's still got a looooong way to go to be in love."
Jongin doesn't say anything, he listens to the woman very closely. He just nods and smiles in return. As soon as Mrs. Oh finished talking, Sehun comes back with two cans of cola and all of the snacks he bought the other day. He looks like he's having a really hard time holding those things.
"Oh, honey, I said 'some', not 'all'."
Jongin decides to take Sehun for a walk around town. He was going to take Sehun for a movie after buying ice creams and hot dogs, but Sehun insisted to go somewhere else.
"I want to go to the record store, Jongin."
"Is there anything wrong? You just met Krystal a few days ago."
"But, you haven't."
He doesn't really remember how, but they're standing in front of the record store now. Sehun enters the store first, leaving Jongin who's still stunned alone. He gathers up his courage and finally walks in.
Krystal looks like she's getting ready to go outside and Jongin's heart beats way faster because staying inside or outside, either way, he's going to face her. He approaches Krystal and Sehun while unconciously mouthing 'I'm not a coward, I can do this' repeatedly.
"Hi," is the only thing he can say.
She smiles; not the prettiest or the sweetest one, but still, a smile. "Let's go."
Krystal suggests to go to the nearest park so they could sit and talk for hours without having to buy something. The boys can play basketball, too, if they got bored. Sehun goes straight to the ice cream vendor as soon as they arrive and tells Krystal and Jongin to get one too, just like the old time.
"So, how are you?" they say at the exact same time. "Ladies first," Jongin says.
"I'm good, the store is finally not lacking of workers anymore, so I can get a break. How's yours?"
"Just trying to get my assignments done, because it's not really a break for a student who failed Calculus class like me."
There's a long pause between them until Sehun comes and, "Jongin, can we play basketball?"
"Uh, yeah," he turns his head to Krystal, mouthing if she's okay with being left alone and gets an ok from her. "Sure." he gets up and runs to the field.
Krystal watches the two guys dribbling and shooting the ball enjoyingly. The sun makes Sehun's milky skin shines as if he's covered in jewels and Jongin's sun-kissed skin stands out from the others. Did she just feel her heart thumping really hard when she's looking at Jongin?
Sehun and Jongin come back and they look like they're out of breath. They pick up the two bottles of mineral water on the table that Krystal just bought a few minutes ago.
"Um, guys, my break time is over, so..." she stands up, ready to leave, but still waiting for her best friends' response.
Jongin hurriedly finishes his drink. "Wait a minute."
"Hm?" Jongin approaches her and it's making her nervous and she curses under her breath. For God's sake, get yourself together!
"I'm sorry."
She stands absolutely stocked-still. "J-jongin, it's a long time ago—"
"Yeah, and I never got the chance to apologize. I shouldn't have yelled at you, it was completely my fault."
"No, it's not. Well, not completely," she grins. "I'm at fault, too. You were having a bad day and I yelled at you first."
"So, we're clear?" She nods.
"Great," he smiles proudly. It's like all of his burden has finally taken out of his shoulders. "Now, wait for another minute, please?"
"What again, Jongin..."
He looks Sehun in the eye seriously. "Sehun, I want you to please, close your eyes for a while. Can you do that?"
Sehun is quite confused but he covers his eyes with his hand as soon as Jongin asks him to.
"Now, count to 20 and promise me you will not peek until the counting ends. Okay?"
"Okay. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6..."
"Hey! Don't count too fast!"
Jongin then hurries back to Krystal and she nudges him. "Why are you telling Sehun to cover his eyes??"
"Because I want to do this."
He leans in and close the gap between the two. He still can tastes the cotton candy ice cream on her lips and she can tastes the mint chocolate chips flavour. Cotton candy and mint chocolate chips might not blend well together, but to them it actually tastes perfect, it tastes right.
They haven't broke the kiss when Sehun opened his eyes. "Just like Mom and Dad."
"Sehun-ah, this is not a movie, stop watching," Jongin says after he felt like someone has their eyes on them.
Krystal laughs. "Okay, let's go, I'm late for work." She brushes her pointy nose against Jongin's.
She holds Sehun's left hand, he holds Sehun's right hand, and they walk together like the happy and cheery version of the three musketeers. In the middle of walking, Sehun lets go of his hands.
"Sehun, what's wrong?"
Then he takes Jongin's left hand, puts it on top of Krystal's right palm and makes the two hands intertwined.
"I can walk on my own."
At the end of the day, when two best friends fall in love with the same person, there's no losing or winning. One might get the girl, but that doesn't mean he wins. The other one might end up being alone, but the girl has changed him so much in any aspects and he's gotten so much better, so that doesn't mean he loses. Because it's not about the happy ending or the sad ending, it's all about the story and how we make progresses in our lives.
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