"Hey! Come on, aren't you gonna practice?" Daehyun beamed, his head sticking out of the class door.   School had just ended and he was already in front of my class when his was in a different building.   Youngjae huffed behind him, "Do you have to run so fast? It's not like she's gonna disappear."   Daehyun frowned at his unfit younger best friend.   "You're just slow. Anyways, come on, I booked the room for an hour right after school today so we need to get to the music studio now."   I grabbed my bag and lazily slung it on one shoulder as I eyed the two guys in front of me.   "The things I do for my best friends.." I mumbled under my breath.   In a matter of minutes, we reached the said destination and Youngjae was setting up the sound system.   "Why did you even want to have a duet with me? You could have easily persuaded Youngjae to do it with you. Or even Jieun, your crush."   He blushed, "Because it wouldn't feel like I'm having a conversation if I sing with Youngjae. It has to be a guy and a girl to make the impact more powerful. And you know I can't sing with Jieun. If I do, it wouldn't be impressing her anymore because she would already see this side of me. I have to show it to her during the competition itself."   Youngjae rolled his eyes while he started playing the song 'All For You' by Seo Inguk and Eunji.   We began practicing our lines and tried hitting the perfect note without making it sound bland.   It was already the second week of practice and we still could not get the right harmony on the most important part.   Thirty minutes into the practice, Daehyun started coughing.   I tossed a bottle of water to him and I shook my head, "I told you to drink more water."   "But I did. I finished my own bottle before you did." He countered.   Shrugging, I continued practicing.   Daehyun, too, sang until the end of our hour.   Youngjae switched off the audio system and cleaned up the empty bottle of water.   All three of us walked out of the room and returned the key to the office.   "Oh! Daehyun-sshi!"   Daehyun froze on the spot with red cheeks.   Youngjae and myself smirked and greeted Jieun.   "What are you guys doing in this building?" She asked.   "(_____)-ie wanted to show us her new dance routine for her upcoming dance project." Youngjae easily fibbed.   Daehyun could only nod along.   Jieun bit back a smile, "Alright then. I'm going to meet up with Hyosung Unnie and the rest, (_____)-ah. Do you want to follow us?"   Shaking my head, I grinned.   "No thanks, Daehyun owes the two of us lunch today so I'll skip."   The person of topic jerked his head to look at me, "I do?"   "Yes, now let's go." I dragged him away from Jieun with Youngjae's help after waving goodbye.   ---   "I'm telling you, Jieun likes you too." Youngjae proudly stated.   I munched on my pizza slice and shifted uncomfortably.   'If Jieun really likes Daehyun then what about me?'   Right after I had that thought, I looked at Youngjae.   'And this guy. I know the way he looks at me is exactly how I look at Daehyun but what can I do about it?'   "You're crazy," Daehyun muttered.   His best friend glared at him, "You just don't notice it because you can't look her in the eyes."   "Well then to me, she doesn't have a crush on me."   After the small argument, we all separated to go home.   Youngjae sent me home as usual since our houses happened to be along the same road while Daehyun's was in the opposite direction.   "So (_____). Are you free after school tomorrow?"   "I've got practice with Daehyun again, you know that." I replied.   He sighed, "I know. I meant after the practice. Are you free then?"   "I guess so."   "Cool. Then let's go out. Just the two of us. What do you say?"   I bit my lip, "Youngjae.."   "I know, I know. You don't see me in that way, not like how you see Daehyun. But that doesn't me I'm not allowed to hang out with you without Daehyun, right?"   "Yeah."   "So we'll go grab a bite after your practice, okay?"   I nodded and turned to him, "Thanks for sending me home, Jae."   He opened up his arms and I embraced him.   "Goodnight and remember to rest your throat. You sang too much today."   We waved at each other before I went into my apartment building.   ---   Days later, we met up again at the studio for practice.   Throughout the whole hour of practice, Daehyun kept coughing.   Youngjae and myself became worried for him and asked him to get a check-up.   "I'll go after. Let's just practice now."   "No dude, (_____) can practice herself, you rest for today and we'll go to a clinic together."   Unable to go against the smarter guy, Daehyun slumped in his seat as he watched me sing.   Once practice was done, we rushed to the nearest clinic and made an appointment.   The nurse called for Daehyun and all three of us went in.   The check was all too simple for the doctor.   He barely made Daehyun open his mouth, flashed his mini-flashlight into Daehyun's mouth, and declared we should transfer to a bigger hospital.   "What's wrong, doctor?" Youngjae asked.   The doctor sighed, "He has tonsillitis. And it's quite critical right now because he's been harsh on his voice box. You need to get an injection and you won't be able to speak for at least a week to let your throat rest."   "Won't be able to speak?" Daehyun croaked and immediately got nagged by Youngjae.   "Yah stop talking. From now on you will not use your voice until you get better."   He was about to open his mouth again but decided against it when he met eyes with Youngjae.   I thanked the doctor and pushed the both of them out the door.   Daehyun was paying for his consultation fees as Youngjae and myself waited outside the clinic.   "Can you believe it? Daehyun can't speak for the next week or so." I spoke in disbelief, lightly kicking dust off the ground with my shoe.   "I know right. Who would've thought the loud spoken, noisy fella out of the three of us would be the one with tonsillitis?"   I felt a shove and noticed Youngjae got shoved too.   Turning to the front, I caught sight of Daehyun speedily walking ahead of us.   We both gave out a sigh and began catching up with him.   "Daehyun-ah! Wait up!" Youngjae shouted.   Soon we caught up and walked alongside the hurt Daehyun.   "Dude, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings but I didn't intend to make you feel bad. It was supposed to be a joke." He apologized.   Daehyun grumbled before he shook his head.   "We'll follow you tomorrow to the hospital, alright? We'll be by your side until everything is over." I poked his arm.   He sighed and patted my head.   Youngjae stared over at Daehyun's affection and I caught the look on his face.   It was of envy.   Even though Daehyun and Youngjae knew each other from way before I joined the duo, it was quite obvious that the former had a bigger soft spot for me than for his own best friend.   "We'll meet you in front of your apartment building at 10AM tomorrow, get some light breakfast and then we'll head to the hospital, okay?"   Daehyun nodded and waved goodbye before catching his bus home.   It was silent for a moment as we walked home before Youngjae cleared his throat.   "I know what you're thinking."   I tilted my head towards him in a questioning manner.   "You're planning on doing something that would cheer him up, am I right? And you're gonna invite Jieun and her friends and make it look like Jieun came up with the idea, am I right?"   I bit my lip, "Well what else can make him happier than having his crush surprise him?"   "But what about you? You gave up your birthday present to Jieun just to make Daehyun happy on his birthday but what had he done for you?"   "He was present on my birthday, that's all that matters."   He rolled his eyes, "Yeah and this person standing in front of you that has a crush on you gave you a huge present and yet all you can see is Daehyun. How do you think I'd feel?"   "Look (_____), Daehyun can figure out by himself on how to get Jieun to be his if he wants to. You don't have to play cupid between them when you yourself can't get Daehyun to like you back."   I swallowed my self-pity and answered, "All I care about is Daehyun's happiness. It's not like I'm committing a crime."   "Well I care about YOUR happiness! I don't want to see you crying over Daehyun or any other guy that doesn't like you back. If you want to be with that er who has a crush on Jieun then by all means I'll support you." He bursted.   "But that's the thing. I kind of want Daehyun to be with Jieun because as long as he's happy, then I'm happy.