"Hanbyul! Are you in there?!" Luhan shouted as he pounded the door harder. "Yah! Han-"

 

The door opened up and Hanbyul appeared in front of Luhan. He widened his eyes and pulled her out of the house. 

 

"Oppa, what are you doing here?" she asked as he pulled her into his embrace.

 

"You idiot, why didn't you stay at the cafe like I told you to?" he asked, breathing heavily. 

 

"I sort of forgot," she sheepishly said. 

 

"How can you forget?!" he firmly asked. He grabbed her shoulders and looked at her straight in the eyes. "Tell me, did Youngjae do anything to you?"

 

"Youngjae would never hurt me," she said with soft eyes. "He's not a bad guy, so don't put labels on him."

 

"But-"

 

"It's getting late, I'm going home," she said and walked away with Luhan following behind. He had followed her all the way home, even entering the house with her. 

 

"Oppa, you can go home now," she said with a soft smile. "Thank you for walking me home."

 

Luhan nodded and sighed. "He didn't hurt you, right?"

 

"For the last time, he didn't," she said and closed the door. He sighed once again before taking out his phone. 

 

Luhan: I've brought her back home safely. Looks like he didn't do anything to her.

 

Daehyun: Thank you, Luhan. I hope you know, this doesn't make our relationship any better than before.

 

Luhan: I know...this also doesn't mean that I have fully given Hanbyul to you.

 

Daehyun: I'm well aware of that. Don't ever contact me again.

 

Luhan sighed and turned his phone off, walking away from Hanbyul's house. 

 

Hanbyul laid in bed to hear halmeoni's soft snores as she stared up at the ceiling. 

 

"That's right, I like Daehyun," Youngjae softly said, staring down at the carpet. "For 3 years, I've liked him."

 

"Does he know?" Hanbyul asked, slowly rising up in a sitting position. Youngjae shook his head. 

 

"If I told him, he'd find me disgusting and wouldn't want to me near him," he said, biting his bottom lip. "So just being his follower was the closest I could get to him and I was fine with that until you showed up."

 

Hanbyul looked at him, slowly felt guilty. 

 

"Because of you, I slowly started fading away from Daehyun...almost like he was pushing me away from his life," he said. "I didn't want to lose him."

 

"Because he's the one you like?" Hanbyul asked as he nodded. 

 

"But he's just not someone whom I like, he's also my so-called friend," Youngjae sighed. "Whether he's one or the other, I cherish them both."

 

Hanbyul reached for Youngjae's hand and held onto them. He looked up at her as she was smiling at him. 

 

"I know Daehyun cherishes you, Youngjae," she said as he furrowed his eyebrows. "We both know he isn't very good at showing his emotions other than anger, but I know for a fact that he cherishes you as a friend. If he didn't, he wouldn't have showed up at your math competition nor would he have fought all those bad guys for you. He was willing to risk his life for you and Daehyun doesn't do that just for anyone. He was willing to stay by your side when you needed him and when he needed you most."

 

Youngjae swallowed hard and held onto her hand to hold in his emotions. 

 

"I know the relationship between him and Luhan, but I don't know everything that had happened between them...you do," she softly said. "Do you think he'd tell his whole entire life story to his follower? To someone he thought was a lowlife? If so, then why hasn't he told me everything? The girl he's in love with?"

 

He didn't answer. 

 

"It's because he trusts you," she answered. "Because he trusts you as a friend, he told you everything. Daehyun may have pushed you away because of me, but that doesn't mean he's going to fully get rid of your existence because he knows...he knows he'll need you more than he needs me when there are difficult times he can't consult with me, Luhan or anyone else in this world. Youngjae, I know you love him, but right now, it's not that one-sided love you had when you first met him; it's that love you have for a friend, a brother whom you dearly care for. Sure, you have the jealousy of a girl, but you also have the jealousy of a younger brother."

 

"But-"

 

"I don't want to hear anymore from you," she said with a firm expression. "I know you hate me and all the threats and notes I've been recieving have been from you, but listen to my words. Go and talk to Daehyun, speak what your hearts say no matter how disguisting it may sound in his ears. If you bottle up all these emotions inside, you're only hurting yourself and you hurting me, you're not really hurting me, but Daehyun. I mean...you've already have gone as far as getting Daehyun in the hospital, but don't go any further than that and stop this all."

 

Youngjae pulled his hands away from hers and stood up when they heard someone banging on the door.

 

"Hanbyul! Are you in there?!" they heard Luhan's voice.

 

"Go," Youngjae said as she looked up at him with sorry eyes. "Go before he breaks down my front door."

 

She nodded and stood up, grabbing her bag and walked out of his room to the front door. She opened it and stood in front of her was a wide eyed Luhan.

 

A few days have gone by and Daehyun was finally attending school again. As he walked down the hallways, students stared at him when he met eyes with Hanbyul. She smiled at the sight of him and skipped towards him.

 

"Looks like someone's popular today," she giggled as he scoffed.

 

"Popular? You think people staring at me makes me popular? It's like they've just seen a wild animal," he muttered. She snickered and they both walked up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs they saw Youngjae, but he ignored them and entered the classroom.

 

"Did something happen when I was at the hospital?" Daehyun firmly asked as Hanbyul widened her eyes and her heart became uneasy.

 

"W-what exactly would happen?" she laughed uneasily. "C'mon, let's go to the classroom. The warning bell just rung."

 

Not even taking a full step, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to his side.

 

"Luhan told me everything," Daehyun said, glaring down at Hanbyul. "You even entered his house."

 

She huffed out a sigh and broke free from his grip.

 

"It's not like he forced me into his house, I welcomed myself in!" she shouted, stomping away when he grabbed her wrist once again.

 

"Did he do anything to you?" he asked as Hanbyul bit her bottom lip, irritated.

 

"If you want to know then go talk to him yourself," she muttered through clenched teethes and so he released her and smirked.

 

"I will," he said and entered the classroom as she did too. She went straight to her seat and watched Daehyun walk over to Youngjae.

 

"Get up," Daehyun said as Youngjae stared up at him. "Did you not hear me? I said get up!"

 

Just then Luhan entered the room and saw students crowding up. He furrowed his eyebrows and pushed his way through to see Daehyun grabbing onto Youngjae's collar. He widened his eyes and grabbed Daehyun's shoulder.

 

"Yah, what are you doing? Do you plan to get suspended again?!" Luhan asked as Daehyun shoved him away.

 

"This doesn't concern you," he said glaring at Luhan. He turned to Youngjae and pulled him off his seat, dragging him out of the crowd as Luhan grabbed a hold of Daehyun's arm.

 

"I already told you that Youngjae didn't do anything to hurt Hanbyul, did you think I was lying to you?" Luhan whispered.

 

"Like I said, this doesn't concern you. It's a situation between Youngjae and I, so let go," Daehyun said and walked away, still dragging Youngjae. Luhan was going to go after them, but Hanbyul stopped him.

 

"Let them go," she said as he looked down at her to see her smile softly. "They're only having a little talk."

 

He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the figures walking away in front of him.

 

Daehyun dragged Youngjae up to the rooftop and let him go. Youngjae was terrified and looked at Daehyun.

 

"Daehyun, I-"

 

"Thank you," Daehyun said, shocking Youngjae. "For not hurting Hanbyul."

 

Youngjae stared down at the ground and swallowed hard. Daehyun walked over to a wall and sat up against it, gesturing for Youngjae to sit down, so he did. Since they were both alone together, Youngjae thought it was the right time to tell Daehyun everything.

 

"Daehyun," he hesitantly said with no response from Daehyun. "I...I like you. I changed, so you would like me...because at this point, I couldn't hold back anymore since Hanbyul-"

 

"I know," Daehyung said, looking up at the clear blue sky on this cold, winter day. Youngjae looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "I knew your feelings for me and I knew you did this out of jealousy."

 

Youngjae widened his eyes and stood up as Daehyun looked up at him. "H-How did you know?"

 

"It doesn't take a genius to know," he softly smiled. "And being with you for 3 years, I figured it out."

 

Youngjae didn't say anything and avoided eye contact.

 

"You probably think I'm disgusting then," Youngjae said as Daehyung snickered.

 

"When I first realized it, I was disgusted and afraid of what you might do if your feelings grew," Daehyun answered. "But then it was much harder on you than it was on me because you had to carry all that pain and hold it in, so I didn't say anything. I couldn't."

 

"Why?" Youngjae asked. Daehyun looked up at him with a soft gaze.

 

"Because you're my friend, a friend I cherish and trust," he gently smiled. "Or at least you were...."

 

Youngjae felt a sharp pain in his chest as Daehyun slowly stood up, brushing himself off. He then looked at Youngjae with a sharp gaze.

 

"But the things you did to Hanbyul...I find that more disgusting than your feelings for me," he coldly said. "It would have been better if you had just talked to me like you did today, I would have listened, but you made the wrong decision. I won't forgive you for what you have done, but that doesn't mean I hate you, so congratulations, you're now on the same level as Luhan. Crawl back to me all you want, but it won't be that easy."

 

Youngjae didn't say anything, but he understood that very well, so Daehyun left leaving him behind on the roof. Youngjae stood there and looked up at the sky, deeply exhaling to have his warm breath become a light fog.

 

"I've always wondered if being in love with you would end up hurting me more than being your friend, but I guess I was wrong, both ended up hurting me," Youngjae softly said, slowly inhaling the fresh air that had given him a cold chill. He faintly smiled to himself and pushed his hands in his pants' pockets. "Daehyun, you've realized it, haven't you? I may have turned to be Luhan, but you are now me...fighting between love and friendship. Will you lose both too?"