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“Oh god this is so boring!” A voice mumbled quietly beside her. She smiled and turned her head to a handsome but drowsy looking young man.

“Looks like someone shouldn’t have stayed up late playing videogames last night.” She commented and the boy scowled.

“I was perfectly awake before I got here. It’s this lecture that’s torturing me.” He sagged a little in his chair. “I swear this guy is going to bore us all to death if he keeps things up.”

She turned her head back towards the front of the classroom and sighed. “You’ve got a point there.”

She then tried to focus her attention back towards the lesson but not even a minute had passed before the boy poked her arm. “Come on; let’s get out of here.” He said, his lips curving up into a wicked smile and without waiting for an answer, he started packing up his things. She didn’t have to think long before she followed him out of the lecture hall and straight to the park.

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She and Kyuhyun had been best friends for as long as she could remember. Ever since she was little, she’d lived in the same street as him; they were just a few houses apart. Of course it also helped that her and his parents were very close but anyways, even though years passed and many things changed, the two had stuck together. They were now both in college taking a lot of the same classes and luckily so, she thought. Classes were bad now; she didn’t want to think of how dull they would be without Kyuhyun.

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“So, what do you wanna do today?” Kyuhyun asked as he laid his head down in the bright green grass of the city park.

Els was fluffing up her jacket like a pillow beside him. “I don’t know. Don’t you have a date to prepare for?” She raised an eyebrow at him before lying herself down at his side, her head cushioned on the jacket.

Kyuhyun smiled then, “Yeah” his mind wandering off for the fraction of a second before he cleared his throat again. “But that’s not until tonight. Let’s watch a movie at my place or something.” He was smiling up at the sky until his face changed suddenly when a familiar noise rang through the park. He straightened himself and turned to Els with a gleeful smile.

“Ice cream truck”

Those were to only words that needed to be said before he got up and rushed towards the edge of the park. Els smiled at him as she watched him run. He knew exactly what flavor she liked.

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When they were kids it had been easy; they were best friends, they would always stay that way and that was it. It was when puberty came along that things started changing. It was unavoidable in a way but that didn’t make it any less.

When they were in middle school they would get teased for sticking to each other so much. It was a nuisance, yes, but she and Kyuhyun could handle it. They would usually just brush it off and do their own thing; no problem; yet.

Before high school, Els had never in her wildest dreams thought of Kyuhyun as more than her best friend. However, when said best friend started dating other girls from her school, she began to doubt her feelings.

One time, when she’d dropped by his house to give him some notes from school, she’d caught him on the couch, making out with a girl form her math class. She had tried to hide her shock but she’d been so overwhelmed with how much it hurt to see him so close with another person that it had been nearly impossible. It was in that moment she realized how complicated things might actually be between them.

She didn’t mean to fall in love with him. These things just sort of ‘happen’, don’t they?

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Kyuhyun was back now, his eyes gleaming as he handed her an ice cream cone. “I got your favorite, as usual.” He said happily, before up the side of his own treat.

They ate in silence for a little while, appreciating their food and the nice weather. When Kyuhyun had finished he lowered himself back down on the grass and started humming. Els smiled down at him when she realized he was singing the Muppets theme song. She giggled and laid down beside him, resting her hand on his chest as she listened to his voice. It was kind of insane, but Kyuhyun could literally take any song in the world and make it sound heavenly. She felt his chest expand and fall back down against her hand and she smiled. Sometimes Els wondered what Kyuhyun would do if he found out about her feelings towards him. She didn’t like to think about it to be honest, because she was terrified. Moreover, she felt that having him as a best friend was a blessing on its own and she didn’t need to ruin that. Kyuhyun’s soft voice, combined with the warmth from the sun heating up her skin was slowly but surely making her eyes feel heavy with sleep. She allowed her lids to fall as she felt Kyuhyun’s song grow weaker and then slowly die out.

Just in the way she’d fallen asleep, she awoke to the sound of Kyuhyun’s voice. He was calling her name softly and when she opened her eyes she found his smiling face hovering above her.

“Am I really that boring?” He joked as he nudged her in the shoulder. She hit him back as he helped her up from the ground. “Come on; let’s go watch that movie now.” He said, grabbing his bag.

“Are you sure there’s time?” She retorted as she picked up her jacket to shake out all the dirt. “What about your da-”

“Don’t worry! There's plenty of time.” He smiled and took her hand to lead her out of the park. 

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They were both startled when they found the door opposite Els’ dorm room open, upbeat music coming from within. The room opposite hers had always been empty but she guessed that was about to change. She was just about to unlock her own dorm when a figure stepped into the hall.  

“Oh hey!” A cheerful looking boy was smiling at Els and Kyuhyun. “Do you guys live here too?”

“Um no it’s just me.” Els replied, taking out her key to open her door. She was about to ask the boy if he was new here but she was cut off.

“Oh good!” He exclaimed happily and he reached for her hand, taking it and pulling her towards his room. “I’ve been trying to get the internet working for hours but I don’t get how it works can you help me?” He blathered out in one breath.

Els could only stutter confusedly as she was dragged into the room and towards the boy’s desk. Kyuhyun came leaning into the doorway a moment later, cocky smirk plastered on his face.

“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself before you pull an innocent girl into your room?” He said, cocking an eyebrow.

The energetic boy looked up at once with big puppy-like eyes, first at Kyuhyun and then at Els. After a good few seconds his face fell into a grin. “Oh!” He chuckled. “Don’t worry man; I’m not going to attack your girlfriend or anything I’m harmless!”

Kyuhyun’s eyes widened at the remark, his usual self-assuredness vanished.

“We’re not- I mean, she’s not my girlfriend.” he muttered quietly, now staring very awkwardly at his feet.  Els looked at him momentary before turning her eyes to the ground as well. Luckily, the new boy hadn’t noticed any of the immense awkwardness that had just occurred between the two good friends. In fact, he was smiling even wider now.

“Oh okay.” He said and he turned towards Els again. “So, can you help me? –oh and I’m also having trouble with the heating in my room and how does the trash stuff work around here like do you people recycle much?”

Els stared at her new neighbor. He sure had a big mouth. She turned to Kyuhyun again to check whether it would be okay for her to stay and help this new kid but Kyuhyun was already ahead of her.

“Um, yeah. You two seem to have your work cut out for you.” He mumbled. “I’ll just go home. I have a date to plan anyways.” He gave them both a little smile before disappearing from the doorway.

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The new neighbor, believe it or not, had turned out to be pretty good company. He’d seemed pretty crazy at first but Els soon found out he was actually a really nice guy; not to mention funny! After she’d helped him with his internet and other dorm questions, they’d gotten some pizza and talked about random stuff over a movie.

His name was Byun Baekhyun and apparently he was a visual arts student. He’d been forced to change dorms because his old dorm house had had a fire incident (which he swore he had nothing to do with!). He seemed pretty happy to have made a new friend too. Els figured he didn’t know anyone form this area because he had asked her if they could walk to class together the next day.

It was wonderful, she thought. Els hadn’t had a good time like this with someone apart from Kyuhyun in a very long time, if not ever! It felt relieving in a certain way, knowing she now had someone to hang out with when Kyuhyun was on his (stupid) dates.

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The next morning she walked out the door to find Baekhyun standing in the hallway with a backpack slung around one of his shoulders.

“You ready to go?” He asked, apparently just as perky at eight in the morning as he was in the afternoon. Els nodded and followed him out of the building, where Kyuhyun was waiting for her, as always.

“Baekhyun is walking with us today.” She said as she came up to him, giving him a hug. Kyuhyun didn’t respond. Kyuhyun wasn’t a morning person.

She started walking with the two boys on either side of her, a silence overcoming the trio. Luckily, just as she was starting to feel uncomfortable, Baekhyun spoke up.

“So, how was that date you went on last night?” He said with a wide grin. “Was she hot?”

Kyuhyun looked a little confused for a second before shrugging. “Um sure…”

Els figured Kyuhyun’s grumpy attitude came from the fact that he was merely still sleepy from the previous night. He probably stayed up late with his date and ugh she didn’t want to think about any of that so she decided to change the subject.

“So, Baekhyun.” She began “What building is your first class at?”

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They showed Baekhyun the way to his first class and then proceeded towards their own lecture. Kyuhyun didn’t really speak to her in the whole two hours they sat in class and when Els asked him anything, his answers were nothing but short. He simply sat upright in his chair, listening intently to what the professor at the front of the room had to say.

Not to say that Kyuhyun was a bad student or anything but, this wasn’t like him at all.

His date must have been particularly bad last night, Els thought. She examined his strained features, wondering, contemplating. She then decided that she didn’t really feel like asking him about his love life so instead of trying to get him to talk any more, she lowered her head in between her arms on her desk and attempted to pay attention as well.

After class, the two went for coffee. Kyuhyun still hadn’t lost his irritable attitude. Only after Els asked him to come see a movie with her did he fall back into his usual self.

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The next few weeks flew by rapidly and they had been absolutely lovely. The weather was getting to that point of perfection where all you really want to do is lie around in a grassy field listening to summery, happy music. Apart from eating a lot of ice cream with Kyuhyun in the park, she was really enjoying the fact that she’d made a new friend. Baekhyun was really like a breath of fresh air to her. With his feel-good spirit and general liveliness, it was pretty much impossible to not smile around that boy.

With Kyuhyun on the other hand, there had been a few weird incidents.

After his last bad date, Kyuhyun had gone on several others and from what Els was gathering; they weren’t going very well at all. During the day, Kyuhyun would be his typical charming self around her, but then, after one of his dates he would suddenly turn up at her dorm, grouchy as hell. Despite how hard it was for her to do so and despite the fact that she thought he was being kind of overdramatic, she tried her best to cheer him up after his dates but when she did so, Kyuhyun would only get angry with her in the end and leave.

Now, Els was a pretty easygoing person. She was generally very kind and she rarely ever started conflicts but when Kyuhyun was still being short and quite frankly rude to her after his third date disaster in three weeks, she decided that enough is enough.

“Okay Kyu.” She sighed out all of a sudden, standing up from the couch to look down at her friend with crossed arms. “What is going on with you?”

Kyuhyun looked at her, his face still stuck in a frown. “What are you talking about? I told you, that girl was so annoying and when she-”

“That’s not what I mean.” Els interrupted him. “You keep coming here in the middle of the night, acting like a grumpy little kid and then when I try to help you, you turn everything on me. What is up with that?” She said, straining to keep her calm.

Kyuhyun was staring at his hands in his lap. “Come on, it’s not like that.” He said simply.

“Then what is it?” She responded in exasperation. She really wanted to get through to him but it was like he wasn’t even listening. “Why the hell are you being like this?” She asked.

 “Being like what?” He sputtered loudly, looking up at her.  

“A complete !”

Her voice quivered slightly under the emotion. She tried to convince herself that she was only speaking the truth however; she already felt some regret for what she had said.

“Oh I’m an now?!” Kyuhyun, clearly insulted, straightened himself off of the couch and came marching towards her.

“You just don’t get it do you. You don’t get anything.” He spat.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She said, looking up at him, failing to keep the tremble in her voice under control.

Kyuhyun took another step towards her, now standing right in front of her. His gaze softened slightly upon seeing her face and he appeared to calm down a bit. It seemed like he wanted to say something; as if he was looking for the right words. He looked at the ground between them for a second and she thought he was going to apologize but then, in the blink of an eye, it was all gone.

 “Forget it.” He said. “You don’t need me bringing you down when you’re perfectly happy without me.”

Els frowned. “What?” She stammered out as Kyuhyun walked past her and before she could do anything about it, he had slammed the door behind him on his way out.

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