Baekhyun had said he wanted to see Tao. He’d said that, right? Or did Tao have trouble with his Korean again? Either way, Baekhyun had taken a seat in the back of the class, as far away from Tao as he could get, for Monday’s history class. He hadn’t even looked at Tao when he entered the room. Tao felt weirdly betrayed. He knew he had no right, but his feelings were hurt. He was the first to get out of the room when the bell rang.

As he sat in one of the stalls in the lavatory during recess, he got a message from Chanyeol:

“Hey Tao… can we talk? It’s kind of important.”

Tao guessed that talking couldn’t be that dangerous. And he was two heads taller than Chanyeol.

They met in the cafeteria after school. The first thing Tao noticed was that Chanyeol actually looked him in the eye when they talked.

“Hey. Uhm, so have you seen Baekhyun?”

“Yes, he sat in the back of our class for history. I haven’t seen him since though. Have you?” Tao responded. He felt weird, casually talking to someone he kind of should consider his rival. Or maybe he shouldn’t.

“No, I haven’t seen him since the party. He doesn’t respond to my messages. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Well I didn’t even see him at the party, but I heard you had a.. fight or something?” Tao desperately wanted to know, but he tried to conceal his eagerness.

“It was stupid. It’s a mess. I shouldn’t have said anything… You see, we’ve been best friends for so long. And lately I’ve been starting to feel something more. I’ve been falling in love with my best friend. Then you came along, and Baekhyun drifted away from me, and I hated you so much. I’m sorry I’m such a fool. But I was in love. I should’ve just forgotten about it.” Tears were welling up in Chanyeol’s eyes, and for the first time Tao, felt bad for him.

“You can just forget about something like that. If you fall in love with someone, you need to tell them. You can just stop falling in love.” Tao knew how it felt.

“That’s the thing. I told him at the party. I told him that I wanted him as much more than a friend, and he told me that he didn’t feel the same way. He said that he liked somebody else. And I think that’s you, Tao.” Tao’s heart jumped at the thought of Baekhyun liking him. “But I think I ruined it. He doesn’t want to hurt me by being with you.”

“But you were friends long before I came along. I have no right to break that-“

“You said it yourself. You can’t help it if you’re falling in love with someone. If Baekhyun wants to be with you, and you want to be with Baekhyun, you should be together.” Tao’s cheeks were getting hot.

“I’m going to talk to Baekhyun. I want to sort this mess out, I caused.” Chanyeol got up. Tao grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving.

“Chanyeol, you can’t be mad at yourself. This is not your fault.”

“I know Tao. I know now, and thank you. I have to go.” Chanyeol let go of Tao’s hand and ran out of the cafeteria.