You sighed and looked down at your clasped hands. You knew this moment would come one day, it was inevitable. But you had been dreading it. Dreading this day where you would have to break your best friend’s heart.

Seunghyun and you had been friends for years, several years. You knew him way before he was with BigBang, before he lost all that weight, back from when you both had been little kids. Throughout all these years, you had stuck by each other, and naturally you noticed how he’d taken interest in you. It had been no secret in your mind on how he felt.

The problem was you didn’t feel the same.

TOP had always just been a friend in your eyes, nothing more. No matter how much you wanted to fall for his dashing looks, his charismatic gaze, it didn’t work. You couldn’t force yourself to like him. All the time that he’d been waiting to tell you, you had the sinking feeling of its approach. And now it was here.

“______-ah,” he smiled as you sat down at your usually table at your favorite café.

“Hi,” you smiled back, the bad feeling sinking further down.

“How are you?” he asked after you ordered.

“Fine. You?”

“Good. Very good,” he beamed and you hid behind a fake smile in response. This is the day, this is the moment. He’s finally going to confess to me and I’ll have to turn him down.

The two of you made small talk like usual, but you noticed how he was off. The way the corner of his mouth twitched nervously, his darting glances, and the light perspiration on his forehead. Finally, he spoke up with a new seriousness in his voice.

“______, we’ve been friends a long time,” he began and you felt your mouth go dry, “and we’ve been through a lot together. Throughout a lot of this, I’ve been quiet about...how I felt. You may already know this, but I really like you. I have for years.” He met your sad eyes with hopeful ones. “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

You’d prepared yourself for this for over a year now, but even so this was much worse than you’d anticipated. You opened your mouth to reply, but couldn’t find the words of rejection that you’d imagined telling him so many times in your head.

“I guess you’re in a shock a bit,” he gave a sheepish smile. “You can think about the offer if you want. I just really needed to tell you.”

“Seunghyun,” you whispered, “just...no.”

“No what?” he asked with confusion, taking your hands in his.

“I can’t,” you breathed, trying to keep your gaze with him as tears threatened. “I’ve known about your feelings, but I can’t return them. I don’t feel the same. I never have.”

There were a couple minutes of excruciating silence as he tried to mask the shock and hurt. “I understand,” he mumbled. “I guess I’ll go then...”

“No, wait.” You grabbed his arm. “Please don’t be mad. Can’t we still be friends?”

“Of course we can. This small moment won’t erase all these years. And besides,” he gave a small smile, “I could never be mad at you.”

With that, he walked out of the café, leaving you alone in heart breaking silence.