EunSun found Namjoon outside waiting and walked up to him hesitantly.

“Let’s go get some food,” he said. He grabbed EunSun’s hand but she was quick to pull away.

“What do you want?” she asked. “You already told me you didn’t like me. Why are you asking me to meet you out here?”

“I believe I may have spoken too soon. I was thinking maybe we should go on a date and see if there really is something.” She wanted to say yes. Her heart was begging her to.

“What if we aren’t meant to be?” EunSun questioned. “And you said that you weren’t even looking for a relationship.” It was going to kill EunSun to say this but she didn’t want to get hurt.

“We can go back to being friends if it doesn’t work,” Namjoon said. But EunSun shook her head and looked down at her feet.

“I’m sorry. I want to give you a try. But you said no first for a reason. I’ll head up first. You can go get the snacks.” EunSun her heels and hurried back upstairs. She smacked her forehead and cursed herself for saying no. Then she felt a tear roll down her cheek and cursed again. Instead of going inside, EunSun sat outside the door and cried to herself.

“You could have said yes,” EunSun said to herself. “But you just had to say no and cry like an idiot.” The door opened and EunSun looked away from Jimin as she wiped at her eyes.

“Were you crying?” Jimin asked. He shut the door behind him and sat next to EunSun.

“No,” EunSun said as she continued to wipe her eyes. Jimin reached out and turned EunSun’s head so she was looking him in the eyes. He sighed and brushed his thumb across her cheek, getting rid of the tears that were left. It pained him to see her cry.

“Does this involve Namjoon?” Jimin asked.

“He tried to ask my out again.” Jimin’s eye went wide. “But I said no and now I feel stupid because it’s what I wanted but I figured I’d just get hurt in the end.” Jimin put his arm around EunSun and she laid her head on his chest.

“You did the right thing,” Jimin said. “You need to find someone who doesn’t need time to think about whether they want to be with you.” Someone like me…

Jimin comforted EunSun until Namjoon came back with the food. Seeing the two, Namjoon stopped and gave them a confused look.

“What are you two doing out here?” Namjoon asked. They stood up and EunSun hurried back inside. Jimin walked up to Namjoon and gave him a shove. “What are you doing?”

“If you make EunSun cry one more time, I will hit you. I don’t care that you’re my friend.”

“Wait, she was crying?”

“I told you not to hurt her because you think you may have feelings for her. Why did you ask her out?” Namjoon was at a loss. Not only had he managed to hurt his friend, but Jimin was furious with him.

“Do you like EunSun?” The question through Jimin off guard.

“D-don’t change the subject. Why?”

“I thought it’s what she wanted. I had no idea she’d cry.”

Inside, EunSun saw the two sleepyheads were waking up. EunAe got up from the couch and ran over to EunSun.

“You were crying?” she asked. Jungkook’s eyes flew open and he ran to see if this was true. Taehyung paused his game and looked over as well. EunSun looked down at the floor and shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s nothing,” she claimed.

“Where’s Jimin?” Jungkook asked. Looking around he saw that Jimin was not in the room.

“Outside talking to Namjoon,” EunSun answered. “Don’t worry guys, I’m fine.”

Jimin and Namjoon came in and everyone turned their heads toward them.

“Maybe we should go,” Jungkook suggested. He noticed Jimin looked as if he was going to snap on someone at any moment.

“Yeah,” EunAe agreed. “Jimin, EunSun, are you coming with us?” EunSun nodded and headed out first, EunAe and Jungkook following behind. Jimin took a second to calm himself before going after them.

No one talked on the way home. One by one they stopped at each other’s houses. First was Jungkook, then EunAe. When EunSun and Jimin arrived at her house Jimin walked up to the front porch with her.

“I’ll see you later, Jimin,” EunSun said.

“Are you going to be okay tonight?”

“I’m tough,” EunSun put her hands on her hips and gave a small smile. Even though she wanted to ask Jimin to stay with her a little longer, she chose against it. Jimin was supposed to date EunAe.

Jimin left once EunSun was inside and headed to his own house. He found sleep hard to come by as he thought about Namjoon’s words to him.

“Don’t think just because you wiped away a few tears that she’ll magically fall for you. She likes me. Not you. Might as well give up.”

Jimin’s parents woke him up in the afternoon to inform him that he had company. Half asleep, he walked out to see EunAe was sitting in his living room. Seeing Jimin, EunAe stood up and walked over to him.

“Can we talk about last night?” she asked. “Something happened and EunSun won’t tell me anything. She keeps telling me she’s fine but I know she’s not.”

Jimin checked the time to see he had slept in until almost noon. He ushered for EunAe to follow him back to his room to talk where his parents wouldn’t ease-drop.

“Namjoon decided to change his mind about EunSun but she decided not to go out with him because she feared that he’d hurt her in the long run.”

“She’s insane. If I’d liked someone for three years of high school and they changed their mind I’d date them in a heartbeat.”

“Three years?” Jimin asked. Sure, he has known. But he never realized just how long she’d liked him. Again, he thought about Namjoon’s words. Maybe it was pointless to try.

“Yeah. On the last day of summer before she started high school, she was so nervous. She called Namjoon and they hung out all day and he eased her worries and told her he’d be there for her tomorrow if she needed any help. And that’s what started it all.” EunAe couldn’t help but notice how Jimin suddenly became sad. “Hey, no need to worry about EunSun. She’s smart. If she said no to Namjoon, clearly she thought it was for the best in the long run. What do you say we go over and see how she is doing?”

At EunSun’s she was still wide awake after getting no sleep last night. EunAe had tried to call and see what was wrong but EunSun ignored her calls. She was trying to decide if she made the right choice last night. For three years EunSun had waited for that very moment where Namjoon would ask her out. Yet she turned him away.

“You never told me what happened between you and Namjoon last night,” Mrs. Song said as she entered her daughter’s room. “How did it go?”

“He said no,” EunSun said. “But then he said yes and I said no.”

“But you really liked him. Why did you turn him down?” The last thing EunSun wanted to do was have this discussion with her mom. Yet she found herself answering her mom anyway.

“Because it made no sense to me. In an hour, he goes from not wanting a relationship to suddenly wanting to try things out with me.”

Mrs. Song smiled at her daughter and sat down next to her and gave her a hug. She then saw Namjoon in the doorway and left the two alone. Namjoon  came in and sat down next to EunSun on her bed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I never meant to make you cry. I feel really bad about last night.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” EunSun said. “I could have said yes. But something was telling me that this wasn’t going to end right.” EunSun looked Namjoon in the eyes and he looked right back, scooting closer.

“I really do care about you,” Namjoon murmured. In the battle between heart and brain, EunSun felt her heart winning by a landslide. She could feel herself leaning into Namjoon slowly as his hand slid over to grab hers. Realizing what they were about to do, the two froze. They could feel each other’s breath and EunSun closed her eyes, preparing herself. Namjoon closed the remaining space between their lips and began kissing her. EunSun barely had time to kiss him back before she felt him pull away. EunSun opened her eyes to see Namjoon being yanked away by Jimin. EunAe moved out of the doorway to let Jimin through and then looked over at EunSun. She gave her a thumbs up and EunSun felt her cheeks go red.