Sunggyu sighed for the hundredth time since the encounter with Woohyun. He was more than worried. He knew from the start that Woohyun was attractive. That was something that he couldn’t deny and could admit rather easily. That attraction was there from the beginning but he never paid it any real attention. The guy was straight and he wasn’t about to fool himself into thinking otherwise. But in the past week that he started actually talking to him and getting to know him, his attractiveness grew without his knowledge.

That beginning attraction had grown into a crush.

A crush.

He sighed again and Haneul let out a frustrated growl. Haneul and Yeunja made their way into his room sometime in the late afternoon and commandeered his game console. They were both convinced that guys liked girls who knew their way around all kinds of video games, especially guys like their neighbors, and were panicking at the complicated controls of the RPG. However what brought upon that growl was not the game, but Sunggyu himself. She quit the game, making Yeunja complain audibly.

“What is it?” Haneul asked her brother, ignoring Yeunja completely.

The younger sister quickly became quiet when she realized what was going on.

“Huh?” Sunggyu asked intelligently.

“You’ve been sighing since I got back, what’s up?” she asked again.

“Maybe our brother is in love?” Yeunja asked, a mischievous smile on her lips, her teasing turning up for the occasion.

That only caused the red head to sigh again and look away.

“Woah, woah, are you serious?” she asked as she climbed onto the bed.

“It’s not love… It’s just… a temporary attraction,” he said matter-of-factly.

“A crush,” Haneul stated as she leaned on the bed, her hand holding her head up.

“R-right.”

“Who is it?” Yeunja asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

Sunggyu ran his right hand through his red hair before speaking, “You can’t say anything about it, okay? It’s not like I wanted to… it kind of snuck up on me…”

“Woohyun,” Yeunja stated.

It was not a question in the slightest. She said it with the confidence of someone who knew it all and he could only stare at her in surprise. Was he so obvious? He would admit that he was thinking of the possibility for a couple of days now but both incidents in that same day re-affirmed his conclusion.

Haneul gaped for a second, “But isn’t he—”

“Straight? Well, he certainly looks it… but you know, there hasn’t been a single day in which he doesn’t ask about Aecha. You know, the Sunggyu version,” Yeunja stated, wiggling her brows suggestively.

“But… don’t you like him…?” Sunggyu asked. He was surprised to see her like that. He was worried to reveal the feelings that suddenly overwhelmed him because of her. Because he knew she liked the brothers.

“Let’s be real for a second Sunggyu. Woohyun has an obvious attraction to your version of Aecha. He doesn’t see me as anything other than a friend who happens to be his neighbor, whom he gives rides to on a daily basis,” she stated, “I was a lost candidate a long time ago, which kind of also happened to be around the time he laid eyes on you, our lovely sister.”

The red head rolled his eyes.

“By the way, who is this guy that keeps sending you messages?? It’s really distracting!” Yeunja asked when they turned to the television after hearing a few dings come from it.

“He’s Jinki’s cousin. I haven’t talked to him for a few years and he just suddenly started messaging me. We’ve been kind of catching up.”

“You mean that one scrawny kid that used to play with us a lot back in the day?”

“I don’t mean, Hoya,” Sunggyu clarified, making the other two girls laugh.

“No, I think I know who you mean. He really liked soccer too. What was his name?” Haneul asked, having a clear image of the kid in her mind.

“Junho.”

“Oh, I remember him!” Yeunja exclaimed, “He was really fond of you, right?”

“He liked hanging out with us, yeah.”

“Is he doing okay?” Haneul asked.

She started up the game again, and resumed her play through.

“Yeah, looks like he’s been doing really well.”

“That’s good. Now tell me what the hell am I supposed to do here because I’m stuck.”

It was Thursday already and Sunggyu was anxious. He hadn’t heard or seen anything about Yeunja’s problem. He got Hoya to help keep an eye on her and nothing peculiar came up. He wasn’t sure if he should be relieved at the fact or worried. If no one saw anything, they were probably cornering her somewhere out of the general student body’s line of sight. His only comfort for the moment was that Haneul didn’t mention anything about any new bruises.

“Are you okay, Sunggyu? You’ve been out of it all week…,” Myungsoo stated as he picked at the food on his plate.

He didn’t mention the incident to the brothers, figuring it wasn’t really their business to begin with. He let Dongwoo know last Saturday and Hoya was told Monday. They’d known each other since elementary school and he knew he could count on them to help him out whenever he needed it.

“I’m fine,” he assured the tall male.

Hoya, who was joining their lunch table all week because of the incident, and Dongwoo could only spare the older male a glance. He was just worried over his younger sister but he quickly changed the subject, asking about how Myungsoo’s classes were going. Hoya was just as worried as the two best friends. He grew up with her as well. They were all practically family. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone.

“But I can’t do English well! Give me an English song and I’ll sing it for you word for word. I may not know what I’m saying, but at least I’ll be pronouncing it right!” Myungsoo argued.

“Being able to sing it isn’t the big deal! You can fully enjoy a song if you-”

“I’d hate to interrupt your heart to heart, guys, but I think we’re needed on the second floor, outside the girls bathroom,” Hoya interrupted as he stood.

“Is it Yeunja?” Sunggyu asked.

At the athletic teen’s affirmative, he quickly shot up and didn’t check to see if anyone was following him. If Yeunja was in trouble, he wasn’t going to stand by and allow it to happen. Luckily there was only one set of bathrooms on the second floor so he knew exactly where to go.

“I’m sorry,” the girl that was currently staring Yeunja down said, “Did you just say something to me?”

“What’s the matter Gyuri, are your eardrums made of plastic too?”

The collective gasps and murmurs that left their audience of mostly girls didn’t deter either of them but instead served to fuel the other girl’s anger and Yeunja’s confidence.

Park Gyuri was a senior, and she also happened to be the most well-known girl in school. There were different reasons for that, some not as flattering as others, to say the least. Yeunja wasn’t surprised to see her when she walked into the bathroom as she was about to leave. She was a little scared, because the girl in front of her had quite a reputation and she knew that what she was aiming for was definitely a fight.

She was cornered exactly a week before, last Thursday, by the girl’s locker room. She usually took that route to reach her last class. It was a lot less crowded than the main halls and she usually arrived with plenty of time to spare. She knew that the girls that man-handled her were sent by Gyuri. She saw them together frequently. She was worried for a while. There was a rumor going around about how Gyuri wanted to put Yeunja in her place.

“You really think you’re hot now, don’t you? Just because Woohyun takes pity on ugly girls like you doesn’t mean anything.”

Yeunja let out a mocking laugh, “Well at least he looks at me. He doesn’t need to look at you to know you’re ing fake.”

There was a bit of encouragement from some girls, obviously taking her side, until the sound of a slap resounded through it, bringing another collective gasp that silenced everyone again. Yeunja’s hair covered her face as her hand went to cup her cheek, the burning sting quickly spreading. She turned to look at the girl, obvious anger reflected in her eyes but there was a smirk on her lips.

“Even you know it’s true. He’s never even spoken a word to you. What makes you think you have to right to even utter his name?”

“Shut your mouth before I shut it for you!” The girl yelled as she moved forward again.

“Yeunja!”

“It’s her brother!”

“It’s Sunggyu!”

A couple of voices from the crowd made it known who it was and almost immediately after, the small crowd parted to let the senior through.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his sharp glare sending daggers to the girl standing in front of Yeunja.

“Oh nothing, we were just having a nice talk,” the girl sent the red head a smile. It was the same girl he had in his English class. Miss Popular, as he liked to call her . He’d be changing that to Miss .

He ignored her as he took Yeunja’s hand, “Come on, you can’t be safe in a snake’s nest.”

“Snake?!”

He ignored Gyuri as he pulled his sister away from the crowd that had also begun to disperse. It wasn’t until they reached the stairs that he stopped to face his sister. They encountered Dongwoo and Hoya on their way back and followed closely behind. He crossed his arms as he studied her but she refused to meet his eyes.

“What was that all about?” he asked, finally, “And don’t you dare say ‘nothing.’”

“… I don’t know what got into her. She just came up to me.”

“Yeunja,” he warned before softening his voice, “Is she the one who’s been giving you those bruises?”

His sister looked alarmed, glancing at Dongwoo and Hoya, “We all know about it, so spill it.”

She groaned as she covered her face before looking up at her brother, “Fine. But you have to promise me you won’t get mad.”

He gave her a look but relented soon after. He knew she’d keep tight lipped otherwise. His sister acquired that trait from their father after all. She fidgeted for a second, sparing glances to Dongwoo and Hoya.

“Because of… Woohyun…”

“…What…?”

“Because of Woohyun!”

“What do you mean ‘because of Woohyun’?” Sunggyu asked, confused.

“Come on! You know how popular he is with the girls! They’re just mad that we get along…”

Sunggyu stared at his sister, his expression somewhere between confused and surprised. Didn’t stuff like that happen in those predictable teen movies with the popular girls and the not-so-popular girls? That was exaggerated in the movies, wasn’t it? Sunggyu turned to Hoya who shrugged.

He then turned to Dongwoo, “I hate the girls in this school.”

Dongwoo giggled as he remembered his first declaration of his dislike of the girls a while back.

“I guess you’ll just have to stop getting rides—”

“No! That’s admitting that I’m afraid of her! I’m not afraid of her!” Yeunja exclaimed, irritated.

“I don’t care if you’re afraid or not! Think of our parents!” Sunggyu argued back.

There was a moment of silence in which his sister seemed to want to shout her counter-argument as well, but she took a deep breath instead, calming herself down. Sunggyu relaxed at seeing that.

“I am thinking of them. I could have just as easily pulled her hair off if I wanted to back there, but I didn’t. I don’t want to get in trouble over something like this. I can handle myself, okay?”

Sunggyu sighed but was not the least bit satisfied.

“I gotta go. My teacher is probably mad I’ve been gone so long. See you guys later,” she said as she headed off to her right, opposite to where all the drama took place.

They watched her walk away silently. A dozen thoughts occupied Sunggyu’s mind. He was still in utter shock that this bullying thing was really happening with his sister all because of Woohyun.

What the hell is this guy doing to us? He couldn’t help but wonder. He was messing with their lives a little too much. Maybe they should put some kind of distance between each other.

“Sorry…,” his head snapped towards the direction of the voice and slight panic crossed his mind. Woohyun was standing at the foot of the stairs looking up at them.

“For what?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t eavesdropping.

“I heard everything…,” Sunggyu sighed, figuring he probably did, “But you know she has a point. She can’t back off like that. She’ll become an easy target later on.”

Sunggyu glanced up towards the direction his sister took. She was no longer in view. He was satisfied with that as he climbed down the steps, the other two following behind. Woohyun did the same once they reached him.

“Then what do you suppose we do?” he asked.

“What if I pretend to have a girlfriend?” the junior suggested.

“You think that’ll work?” Hoya asked, raising a brow.

“Well, I’m pretty sure everyone knows that I’m single,” he reasoned.

“Who are you willing to trust enough to do that?” Dongwoo inquired, already seeing a couple of problems with the idea.

If he got a ‘girlfriend,’ all the hate and bullying would simply transfer to her. Yeunja would be left alone but someone would still end up getting hurt.

“Well, she doesn’t necessarily have to be from this school… or actually real, for that matter. I can just say I’m dating an older girl,” Woohyun reasoned easily.

“Okay…,” Sunggyu agreed, finding the solution to be way easier than he could have expected.

He wondered if it would really help.

“Hey baby,” Sunggyu froze completely.

The phone almost fell from his hand as he felt his skin break into goosebumps. He almost made an unattractive, non-cohesive noise. Dongwoo’s brow rose when he saw the blood rush to his best friends face.

“What are you up to?”

He swallowed around his dry throat and after a second finally spoke, “W-what?”

Dongwoo was a little worried now, “What is it? Did something happen?” he whispered as he stood in his friend’s line of sight. The red head could only shake his head at the moment.

“Oh, you’re working?”

“What?” he asked again, his stomach twisting into a knot.

“Is it so shocking that your boyfriend is calling you?”

“M-my boyfriend?!” the red head nearly shrieked.

Dongwoo’s brows rose this time but he said nothing anymore, opting to wait until Sunggyu was kind enough to fill him in, despite the fact that he was about ready to snatch the phone from him and demand to know what was going on.

“Can’t you forgive your cute boyfriend?”

“Cute?” Sunggyu asked, his shock leaving him when he started to realize what was going on.

“I’m not cute?” he heard Woohyun ask.

Sunggyu could only roll his eyes, “Listen here Nam Woohyun, you are so dead when I see you.”

He heard the male chuckle, “I can’t wait to see you either.”

The senior groaned in frustration, “Why me? Why do I have to play the girlfriend? Couldn’t you have done it with your brother?”

“My brother? He’s right here with me. He’s doing well.”

“Right…,” Sunggyu answered as he face-palmed, “I hate you.”

“I love you, too.”

His skin broke into goosebumps again and all he could do was huff. He heard Woohyun chuckle again through the phone and he spoke again, “Are we done?”

“I know you’re busy so I’ll let you go.”

“Well I’m so glad you understand,” the red head said sarcastically.

The male on the other end chuckled yet again, “I’ll go visit you later, babe.”

“You little brat, you think I’m just gonna—”

“Love you too, bye!”

He froze for another second before sighing and mumbling under his breath, “Who does this idiot think he is?”

“Obviously he thinks he’s your boyfriend,” Dongwoo said teasingly but Sunggyu merely groaned.

“How can he do this to me, Dongwoo?” he asked, a hand over his chest.

He knew nothing Woohyun said was sincere, yet still his heart constricted in happiness when he heard him speak to him like that. It was like he was given a glimpse of something he could never hope to obtain.

“You really like him, don’t you?” his pink haired friend asked, his countenance turning soft.

“I really tried not to… but…,” he sighed as he stared at his phone before pocketing it, “Is this how you feel with Howon?”

It’s Dongwoo’s turn to sigh but it’s quickly replaced with a smile, “These are things we can’t control. So don’t hang on it too much.”

Yes it's a two chapter update today!