Not too surprisingly, he’d always been sort of a rebel, Jaebum’s cold attitude did nothing to keep Daehyun away from me. I suppose the fact that he was my seatmate did tend to make it hard for us to really separate, but sometimes, it felt as if Jaebum’s hisses and glares only managed to fuel Daehyun’s playful nature.

If anything, sometimes, it felt like he only stayed around me longer.

“Youngjae, I’m hungry.”

And his sudden need for skin-to-skin contact had appeared out of nowhere, catching both me and everyone else by surprise. Who knew that Jung Daehyun had been this way?

All of the sudden, it was like having a child as my best friend.

“Youngjae, I’m bored. Play with me?”

Doing my homework in peace just didn’t seem to be a possible situation anymore. “I’m kind of busy,” I mumbled under my breath, keeping my eyes down and away from Daehyun.

I never could understand Daehyun’s true motives for suddenly needing to bother me at every second of the day, but it had managed to irritate Jaebum to no ends. If that had been Daehyun’s goal, he was accomplishing it mighty well. Not only, but it was also managing to get me in much trouble as well.

“I want you to stay away from him.”

As if I didn’t already have too much on my hands.

Middle school had come and gone, leaving me stumbling in steps, gasping for the long lost breath I’d forgotten to take. I was now in my second year of high school, both together and separated with Jaebum.

As life would have it, Jaebum was no longer a turn of head away from me. I couldn’t walk over to the back of the class to sit on his lap and coo over his love for me anymore. But this also meant that he was no longer here to pick a fight with Daehyun – who, lucky for me, again both attended the same school and class as me – whenever he decided to be risky again.

Another thing to have changed was that Himchan was no longer sitting around at home anymore. I didn’t have to avoid him anymore. During my first year of high school, he had been accepted to the college of his choice, but had never bothered move out. Every morning, he would drive an hour to attend his classes, waking to the smell of his coffee and living off of the bitter drink. That all changed though when the first year passed over. Finally accepting how difficult it was, transporting to and from our home, he moved out, rooming with Yongguk as we’d all expected he’d do.

Everything was changing and in no way was I ready to let go. I wasn't ready, and in return, I was being left behind.