http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVHPKBlw4-0

*Sandeul's POV*

I'm a coward. From when I was little, even till now. I've been a coward and I will always be. How can I protect the one I love this way?

Honestly, I don't know what triggered this decision. Is it because of my last meeting with Haneul? Was it because I overheard my father's conversation?  Or was it simply because I was fed up with everything and I could change my life with this one act. It could all go wrong, but I wouldn't know until I try. Am I being reckless? Very. Am I being selfish? I believe so. But my mind couldn't stop my body from walking into the store. 

The hard part was getting close to Miyeon. It's not like everytime I try to talk to her, she leaves or ignores me, but I couldn't bring myself to talk to her. I hurt her way too much. The look on her face when we last talked, it was imprinted into my brain. Like a tattoo that can't be removed. I feel broken just seeing how broken she was. I don't know how I can just walk up to her and say if we can talk things out. I needed some help.

There was only a 20 minute break so I had to convice Chunji and L.Joe within the time limit. We were in the back of the school where the flower gardens were. It was their turn to water it. I clasped my hands together and went down on my knees. I could already feel the judgemental stares I was getting from them. "Please," I said in the most pleading voice, "help me!"

"You okae Deullie?" Chunji asked. He turned off the hose and set it down. I looked up to see that they ignored the flowers and sat down next to me. 

"Why are you getting down on your knees and act like a beggar?" L.Joe asked. "Even I don't do that when I'm asking for money."

Chunji shot his friend a glare and then looked back to me. "Seriously though, there's something wrong with you. You've been like this for a month already. I'm afraid that you'll drop dead in the hallways sooner or later." I could hear the concern in Chunji's voice. Was he really that worried for me? I looked over to L.Joe who was nodding his head, silently agreeing with Chunji. Sure L.Joe jokes around a lot, but he does have his mature moments and he looked equally as worried as Chunji. Did I worry them that much? 

L.Joe answered my question I didn't say out loud. "You've had us worried." He began drawing squiggly lines on the dirt with his finger.

"Even worse, you had Miyeon worried," Chunji added. "You've worried all of us, but Miyeon the most."

This caught me off guard. A billion of questions went through my mind that I didn't know which one I wanted to ask first but somehow I muttered, "I thought she hated me."

"Oh, she does," said L.Joe which earned him a punch on the shoulder from Chunji. L.Joe rubber his arm and scowled at his friend. "She doesn't really hate you. Or she kinda does. She hates you and is worried about you."

"I don't know what happened between you two, but I'm guessing it has to do with your family right? Your father especially?" Chunji asked. "I know how strict he can be."

I bit my lip and nodded. Other than Miyeon and Yejun, Chunji and L.Joe were the only other people who know about my family background. But they don't know as much as Miyeon. But they did know enough to guess what could be happening. 

"I just want to know," L.Joe began to say. "why were you pushing Miyeon away?"

I felt a tear escape my eye. "I thought I would protect her, but no... I just made things worse. I don't want my father's anger towards me to be taken out on her. I thought if I severe our ties, she can be safe. I didn't realize how much it would hurt her though. I broke her spirits. The always smiling Miyeon is gone because of me. I want to fix things, but after what I did to her, I don't think she'll ever talk to me again."

I didn't realize how much tears fell. We sat there in silence for awhile until I felt myself get a sudden pain in my right arm and I fell back. It took me a while to realize that L.Joe just hit me. I wiped away my tears. "YAH! What was that for? Can't you see that you're dear friend is crying?"

"Yes, but I can also see that my dear friend is stupid," he said. Chunji tried to hold him back but L.Joe just brushed him off. "She doesn't want to talk to you, that's because she thinks you hate her. She thinks you hate her because you pushed her away. You pushed her away because you don't want her to get hurt. But does she know any of that? No! She's always been the one protecting you. She was always the one person who was there for you. Whenever it was the four of us and you had problems, you waited until Chunji and I left before breaking down in front of her! You think we don't know that? You trusted her and she trusted you. She's the one person who understands everything about you. You already know how much she hates liars, and yet you lied to her. For what? To protect her? I understand that you want to protect her, but at least tell her that? Maybe you could have thought through it a little more before hurting Miyeon and yourself!" 

L.Joe was practically yelling but he didn't care. I prayed that we were the only people there. I stood up and brushed off the dirt from my uniform and looked L.Joe straight in the eye. "You know why I didn't tell her? Because she can be reckless. She thinks of others before herself. She would do anything to help someone she cares about and in the process, she would forget to take care of herself. And maybe I wanted to show her that I'm not some weak kid anymore. I want to show her that I can protect her as well instead of it being vice versa like it always was. She told me countless times to be strong for her and for myself. So that's what I'm doing!" 

L.Joe and I just stood there, staring down each other. The only difference was that my face was streaked with tears. Chunji pushed us both aside and stood between us. He looked back and forth between me and L.Joe. "Calm down. Both of you." 

I still glared at L.Joe but it sooned softened up and I fell to the ground. Chunji and L.Joe ran to my side. 

"Are you okae?" L.Joe asked. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean... I didn't mean to be that harsh." The two both held my arms and tried to help me up. I shook my head. 

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. And in a way, you're right. I should have told her instead of pushing her away." I wiped the tears with the sleeve of my uniform. 

"Well, you were right about Miyeon being reckless," L.Joe said. 

"Okae, you're both right." Chunji quickly said. "But Sandeul," he turned to me and looked at me straight in the eye. "You need to talk to Miyeon. I don't want your friendship to break as much as you don't want it to."

"But-- but what if--"

"You have us," L.Joe said with an encouraging smile. We'll talk to her and have you two meet up? How's that?" 

I looked back to Chunji who was also smiling. "Don't think that we'll abandon you two just because you got into a fight. Besides, I don't think Miyeon would hate the person she loves."

I blinked several times and a few more tears dropped. "What... what did you say?"

"He said that he's hungry and the last two classes are gonna start soon before school ends," L.Joe said as he grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the back entrance of the school. 

Chunji followed behind and patted my back. "Don't worry, I've already got something planned."

I looked at Chunji and L.Joe and smiled. "Gomawo."

***

It wasn't best plan or the most well thought out, but it was a plan like Chunji promised. He said that he, L.Joe, and Miyeon were gonna go to the park after school and I'll be following behind. They're gonna buy ice cream and sit down on a bench. Then Chunji and L.Joe are going to make up an excuse that they're gonna go to the restroom and that's when I come in and... explain. If I can. 

The three were sitting by a bench next to a big oak tree that provided shade. L.Joe and Chunji came back to Miyeon after they bought crepes and sat down. I was waiting by a small cave that had kid's drawing over it. It was small so I had to crouch down just so that I can fit in it. What probably felt like minutes to them was hours to me. I estimated it that they took 20 minutes just to finish their crepes and throw the paper away. I felt my back ache and longed to stand up and stretch my arms and legs but I couldn't just yet. A moment later, Chunji stood up and said something to Miyeon that made her nod. L.Joe stood up as well and the two walked away and as they passed me, L.Joe threw his arms in the arm and Chunji hit him on the shoulder. That was my cue. I stepped out of the small cave and stratched my arms and legs. Thank goodness! I was afraid that I might get stuck in that position. 

I looked at Chunji and L.Joe who already passed the entrance of the park and headed towards a convenience store. I looked back to Miyeon who was playing with her phone. I took in a deep breath and let it out. This is my chance and it could be my last. I better not mess up. 

I'm such a coward. I can't protect the one I love this way. 

I decided to go around, just in case Miyeon sees me and decides to leave. I took slow, small steps and watched Miyeon from behind. With each step closer to her, I felt my heart beat faster and faster. My throat became dry and I held my hands in fists. I don't know what could happen, but I just hoped that Miyeon would take the time to listen to me. 

I pondered on how should I approach her. Should I just sit down next to her? Surprise her? Kick the bench? No, that's something L.Joe would do. Scare her? I kept thinking of all the different ways that I didn't realize I was already right behind her. She saw her bobbing her head a little and I noticed that there was earphones in her ears. I turned back first and took in another deep breath, counted to ten, and let it out. I gathered up all the courage and words I had and prayed that my voice won't fail me today. 

I reached out my arms and covered Miyeon's eyes. Like I usually do when I try to sneak up behind her. I felt her tense up. Either she knows it's me or thinks that it's a complete stranger. 

"It's me," I said. I felt Miyeon loosen up but tense right away once again. I frowned. "Please don't run away and just try to hear me out." The moment I let go, she got up and walked away. "Wait!" I ran to catch up with her. I took her hand and stood in front of her. She wasn't looking at me, but at the ground. But that didn't stop me from seeing the tears that were slowing trailing down her cheeks and falling on the ground. "Please, let me explain."

Miyeon yanked her hand away from mine and looked up at me. "Then explain! Explain everything!" There were too much tears streaming down her face. It was pointless to hide it.

"Because I wanted to protect you!" I felt the tears as it escaped my eyes and rolled down my cheek. 

"Then why! Why did you do all of that? You wanted to protect me? Then why did you lie? Why did you make up false stories and excuses! Explain why, why you pushed me away! Why you acted so cold to me! Why you never told me anything when we're best friends! I thought we would be there for each other! We would help each other! Is it that you don't trust me? Do you hate me? Explain to me right now!"

I'm such a coward.

*Miyeon's POV*

“Explain to me right now!” I demanded. I was so angry. So hurt. I felt betrayed by the one person I trusted most. I felt broken inside and out. I never wanted our friendship to come down to this. It all seemed so unreal, but it was. And that's what I hated.

At that moment Sandeul did something very unexpected--he kissed me. I didn’t even realized it when he leaned in and his lips touched mine. I was too stunned to think. He pulled away and whispered the words “I’m sorry.” and ran away.

I stood there, trying to process what had just happened. My fingers touched my lips and I turned bright red. Once I was back in reality I ran after him. I saw him running towards the street. 

“Wait!” I wanted to yell out but the words wouldn’t come out. He stopped at the sidewalk and pulled out something. I couldn’t see what it was though.

At that moment, a strong gush of wind came over and my hair covered my eyes. Despite the hair blocking my view, I still kept running. I stopped once I was sure I got to the sidewalk, but Sandeul wasn’t here anymore. He was on the road, picking up the thing he pulled out from his pocket earlier. It took me awhile to realize that there was a truck coming by and he didn’t even see it.

*Sandeul’s POV*

I picked up the box from the ground when the wind blew it away. I wiped off the dirt and looked to my left when I saw a truck coming right at me. I didn’t even have time to think. The last thing that was on my mind before I blanked out was “Miyeon...”

dun... dun... DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

For some of you, you may have already known about the accident. Unless I announced it here as well o____O

Oh Sandeul... why do you have to be such a coward? Your hurting Miyeon~ T^T I'm sorry if this chapter seems so rushed. >.< Especially the ending!

I was waiting for months to get to this chapter and finally! Yes! *dodges my friend's knives and axes*

Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors. 

Comment? No? Okae...

Oh, and I'm sorry for not focusing on the other characters. I just gave way too much problems for these two OTL And it will probably be just these two for the next few chapters. 

Oh and the cute gif of Sandeul was a diversion. You would think it's a happy chapter, but it's not~ Muahahhaha~ And it's sooo not because I can't find a serious/sad picture of Sandeul