The autumn’s sky was so beautiful today. She was sitting beside a boy that said that he had something to confess to her today. Leaf that fell, felt like they wanted to see and became the audience of what the boy was going to say to her. But he still didn’t say it while on the other hand; she was starting to feel cold.

“I love you,” the boy finally confessed, “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

There was silence for a moment.

She looked at the boy beside him. It was Kim Myungsoo, her classmate that was her crush for few months already. But she found it hard to accept his confession. Why? She wasn’t dating with anyone right now, and Myungsoo wasn’t her enemy. Why was it hard to accept the confession? Was it because of… that boy?

“I’m sorry,” she said in the end, “I can’t be your girlfriend, Myungsoo-ssi.”

“I will be waiting for you, until the end, Hyejung-ah.”

Hyejung shook her head in disagree, “Don’t wait for me.”

“I will wait for you.”

“It is up to you, then,” Hyejung sighed as she stood up, was about to leave, “I’ll be going now, see you later.”

-

Hyejung was sipping her warm chocolate in a café with her friend, Sohee. She was her friend since first grade, but they had not many times to hang out together these days due to their business in their own club.

“So, Hyejung, what are you going to tell me?”

“Yesterday, Myungsoo confessed to me,” she explained simple and to the point. Sohee’s face lit up, since finally, Hyejung got a boyfriend. But her face fell after Hyejung continued her explanation, “And I reject him.”

“WHAT? Are you crazy? You’re not dreaming or kidding me right now, are you?”

The girl just shook her head at Sohee’s sentence, “I’m dead serious. I reject him. And now I’m confuse.”

“Oh my god,” Sohee said as she took a sip of her drink, “The Kim Myungsoo that has been your crush since god knows how long and  famous kingka was confessing to you and here you are confuse, and well, reject him? You’re crazy!”

“I know I am. Something must be wrong with my brain. I do like him, I really do. But I found it hard to accept his confession. I just feel like I won’t be happy with him, when he clearly made my day everyday,” Hyejung explained the-matter-of-fact.

“Is it because of Lee Byunghun?”

Dash!

It was like a sudden thunderstorm in this great autumn evening. Lee Byunghun, that boy. Was it really because of him? Lee Byunghun was Hyejung’s ex—well at least this is how people address him—boyfriend. But even remembering and hearing his name made Hyejung’s blood boil. She told Sohee to never mention him in front of her, yet she still did it.

“Don’t mention his name again,” Hyejung warned her best friend, “Well, to be honest, Kim Myungsoo, I don’t believe him.”

“Wait… what? But you do believe him for an important project! Something that Park Hyejung not usually do!”

Hyejung shrugged, “It was different, Sohee,” she said, “With his life now, I find it hard to put my trust on him. Well, he and all the basketball club activities and he was kingka. He was famous and has many fangirls around the school. I can’t bear to have a boyfriend that was outside all-night-long.”

“Well, you got the point. But aren’t you feel comfortable around him?”

Hyejung sighed. Yeah, she felt comfortable around him. Myungsoo was the one who cheer her up and the one that made her smile after that incident. But again, it was different. “Trust and Comfortable. That was two things that completely different, Sohee-ya.”

“I always thought trust will appear naturally. Don’t you think so, Hyejung?”

She kept silent at her friend’s question. This was hard for her. Especially when she was still confuse with her own feeling. “I don’t know.”

“This must be because of Lee Byunghun,” Sohee said as she mentioned that forbidden name again, “I do trust Byunghun. And to be honest, I ship Byungjung more than Myungjung.”

“Why?”

“You always said that you adore how Minho and Minji’s sunbae dating.”

Heard Sohee’s explanation, Hyejung couldn’t help but nod. She always adore their way of dating, how they could dating while studying. In short, study-date. “What’s the connection?”

“Geez. I don’t know you’re this dumb. You don’t understand?” Sohee asked which earn shook head from her best friend. She just sighed as she start to explained, “Well, Byunghun is a nice and handsome nerd, you know that. You can follow their ‘study-date’ style if you’re dating with him. It must be great~~”

“…Let’s not talk about it.”

-

A week passed. Hyejung was studying with Sohee in school’s library when she could feel someone held her hand. “I need to talk to you,” he said as he dragged Hyejung out from the library.

They arrived in a park near the library where Hyejung pulled her hands of him. “Speak. Lee Byunghun.”

She couldn’t believe who was in front of her. Lee Byunghun. A Lee Byunghun, talked to her again? She didn’t even remember when was the last time she talked with him. Well, it was when they broke up. But again, when was it? Five months ago? Or Six? Or it was a year already? And she felt a slight of excitement when she knew that Byunghun was talking to her again.

“Do you hate me?”

His sudden question made Hyejung startled. Hate him? “I don’t know,” she answered shortly. She didn’t mean to look cold, she just too lazy to speak today.

“I take it as yes. I know, I was a jerk back there. You can hate me as much as you want,” Byunghun said in disappointed tone.

Yah! Lee Byunghun! I thought you’re small but are you that stupid? Why do you think so? I didn’t hate you! I just too lazy to speak and I felt this kind of nervous when you’re talking to me again. I mean, we’re not talking for god knows how long. Don’t you know that now my heart is racing because of nervous?

“I supposed to be the one who asked that,” Hyejung finally spoke.

“Sorry?”

“Do you hate me?” she questioned him in clearer way.

Please don’t say that you’re still not understood.

“I never hate you, Hyejung. Not even once,” he answered in low tone. 

“Then,” Hyejung paused, “Why did you never talk to me after that day?”

Byunghun then answered the matter of fact, “I thought you hate me. I mean, we broke up after 19 hours and I don’t even talk to you during that 19 hours. You must be hate me. And I just feel like I’m not good enough for you.”

“So… Back to the point. What are you going to say, Byunghun?”

He bit his lips as he took a long breath, “I love you.”

“Byunghun…” Hyejung didn’t know how to react. Well, just imagine. Two guys confessed to her in these two weeks.

“You’re going to reject me, right? I know this from beginning. Myungsoo was perfect, as always,” he said.

Just… how come a boy can be that negative minded?

“It’s not that. Not the matter of who’s perfect or who’s not.”

Byunghun looked up, “Then why?”

“I just… I can’t.”

“Explain.”

Hyejung took a deep breath, “There are so many things that you can’t explain with words, Lee Byunghun. And my reason is one of it. In the future, I’ll make sure that I tell you my reason, just not now. Once again, I’m sorry.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

“Don’t wait for me,” she said as she took her leave and back to library only to find Sohee was reading another book.

Sohee turned her attention from the book when she saw Hyejung was back already. “You sure take a long time,” she said, “What did you guys talking about?”

“He wants me back.”

“Wow, congrats! You need to treat me lunch as the ‘new-couple-treat’ today!”

“I reject it.”

“What?” Hyejung told everything about what Byunghun said to her to Sohee. She looked shock after I told all of story, “So you reject him too? With no reason too? You’re crazy.”

“I just not feel comfortable, I feel awkward around him. But in other hand, I do trust him.”

“Well, you have two choices now,” Sohee declared, “You can’t force yourself at both of it. It’s either a comfortable relationship with no trust or an awkward relationship with full of trust. Just pick one.”

“I don’t know. It’s like Myungsoo or Byunghun. That was what were you trying to say, right?”

Sohee nodded as she patted her best-friend’s back, “I know it’s hard for you, Hyejung. But you need to choose one. One of them will make your life beautiful.”

“I don’t know.”

“You need to choose,” Sohee suggested—or more like commanded—her best friend, “Will you grow trust in a comfortable-ness or will you grow the comfortable feeling in a trust. Come on Hyejung, I don’t want you to stay single! So we can do a double-date sometimes~”

Hyejung glared at Sohee who had a boyfriend already. “I won’t think about it. At least not now.”

“If I were you, I will choose Myungsoo instead. Well, you will never alone and  lonely because he’ll beside you, always.”

-

Drrtt… Drrrtt…

Hyejung felt her phone vibrated on the desk when she was browsing the internet. It was a new message.

From: Kim Myungsoo.

Hyejung-ah. I’ll wait for you. Even though you said that I shouldn’t, I will wait for you.

After read the message, Hyejung threw away her phone to her bad. That boy, how could he became so confident? “Ah! Please don’t disturb me with that kind of message again!” she screamed on her room like a crazy.

Suddenly, the door opened, “Lower your voice, Hyejung-ah,” said a voice, made Hyejung turned her attention to her, “What’s up!”

“HYERIN EONNI!!” she shouted as she ran to her hug. She was Hyerin, Hyejung’s sister who was studying abroad. “I miss you.”

“Same here. Why did you scream like that?”

“There’s someone that keep bugging me,” Hyejung said in upset tone. “Eonni. What are you going to do if someone that you’re comfortable with that someone that you trust confessed their love for you?”

Hyerin raised a brow as Hyejung told her everything that happened these past two weeks. The older girls thought about it for a moment before answered, “I’ll choose trust.”

“Why?”

“In a relationship, a trust is really important. If you’re not believe in your own boyfriend, you relationship won’t last long.  There’ll be always worry and jealous fulfilling your mind. Especially when you said that the boy was a kingka, he sure has many fangirls. I just give you the worst scene.”

“What should I do now…”

An idea popped in to Hyerin’s mind. “Well, you’re going to take the scholarship for a year, aren’t you?” she asked and Hyejung nodded. Yeah, Hyejung was going to take a scholarship to Japan to finish her high-school there, “The one that truly in love with you are going to wait for you no matter how long it is.”

“The connection?”

“Leave Korea for Japan with no trace. Make sure you don’t leave anything that they can track. In one year, you’ll comeback to Korea, right? And when you’re back, you can know who’s truly in love with you.”

Hyejung thought about his sister’s idea for a while and well, there was not hurt to try, right. “Thank you.”

-

Around a year passed now and it was time for Hyejung to back to Korea after finishing her third year of high-school in Japan. Now, she was walking around Seoul since she missed this city so much after one year. And moreover, she missed him.

Her choice?

She had chosen her choice. She would choose Myungsoo instead since she thought; a trust would grow naturally as he kept giving her comfortable atmosphere.

Suddenly, her step stopped when she saw something. A scene that Myungsoo was kissing Chaerin in a café. Chaerin was his ex-girlfriend long ago. But why didn’t she feel jealous? Or hurt? Then she could feel a body hugged her, blocked her view of them.

“You don’t need to see it. I won’t let you see those scenes,” the voice of the owner of the body said. His voice was so familiar.

“I’m okay. Let go of me.”

“I don’t want to.”

Hyejung put all of her strength to let go of the boy. And how shock she was when she knew who was hugging her before. “Lee Byunghun?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you here?”

“Accidentally pass this area,” he carelessly answer, “Can’t I?”

“That’s okay. Why did you hug me?”

“Because I miss you?”

“Sorry?”

“Just kidding. But I really miss you,” he said as he smiled, “I just don’t want to see you cry because that view.”

Who’s going to cry? I don’t even feel hurt. Not at all.

“Who’s going to cry? I’m not crying,” Hyejung said as she rubbed her eyes. No, it wasn’t teary.

“Your heart.”

Why are you sure?

“How did you know?”

“I know you, Hyejung. And I also know that you’re going to pick Myungsoo instead of me,” he answered in low tone. There were hurt and disappointment in his sentence which somehow made Hyejung felt sad. “As long as you’re happy, I’ll be happy as well.”

Was he waiting for me?

“Why are you so sure?”

Byunghun looked at me as he smiled with hurt clearly written on it, “I never make you happy, Hyejung. I know you’re going to pick happiness, something that Myungsoo can give you,” he said as he looked down. His voice sounded like crying.

Why should you cry?

“Are you waiting for me? If you know that I’m not going to choose you, why are you still waiting for me?”

“I’m not waiting for you.” Byunghun’s answer made Hyejung’s heart hurt. She didn’t even know why. Was she actually choose Byunghun all along? “But I’ll make sure that I’ll be here for you.”

“Byunghun…”

He smiled again, “I never ever once have a thought to leave you. Never. Why? Because I really love you. And I’m sure that someday, you’ll feel the same. Because the proof of pure love is real.”

“Why do you think Myungsoo is not really in love with me?”

“Because… he used you for a bet.”

“Bet?”

“Let me tell you something that you should know.”

Flashback

Byunghun was walking around as he accidentally hear the conversation between INFINITE members.

“So she reject you?” Hoya asked.

“You said that every girl in this world will be yours,” Sungyeol said then he added, “Such a liar.”

Woohyun laughed, “I’ve told you and I’ve expected this. You’re going to failed.”

Then Myungsoo defended himself, “It’s not easy to get her!”

“Too bad, Myungsoo, too bad,” Woohyun said, “Now Chaerin is mine and you lose both of them.”

“NO! CHAERIN LOVES ME!”

“Don’t force it, Myungsoo. Just face the fact that you lose both. You really think that she will accept you, don’t you?”

“No, I will not lose both of them,” Myungsoo said, “I will have both of them.”

Flashback end

“Are you sure?” Hyejung asked, still couldn’t believe in what just she heard from Byunghun.

“Why do you think I need to lie?”

“Myungsoo…”

Byunghun pulled her on his embrace once again, “Don’t be sad. I love you.”

The sudden confession made Hyejung froze.

“It’s okay if I can’t be a man that filled your heart. But just to let you know, I’m ready to be your guardian angel,” he said.

-

The graduation party. Hyejung didn’t expect herself would get the invitation since she didn’t take the third grader there. So she attended the part and made surprise by playing piano there.

After the party was done, Myungsoo approached her. “Hyejung-ah.”

“Yes?”

“I’m still waiting for you,” he said, “Be my girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry, but I have a boyfriend already,” Hyejung rejected him coldly.

Why did you like this, Myungsoo? I always thought that you’re a good guy that will never play on hearts. Do you want me to get bullied by Chaerin? Aren’t you satisfied with Chaerin that hundred times more beautiful than me?

“Who?”

Then Byunghun suddenly came and covered Hyejung with his coat. “Baby, why are you still here? It’s cold here.”

“I’m sorry, Myungsoo-ssi. I’ll be get going now.”

Then Byunghun took Hyejung to his car and they were in park now. “I’m very thankful. Thank you, Byunghun.”

“It was okay, dear,” he said, “I love you.”

“Byunghun-ah.”

“I know it’s over for you. But for me, it’s not over but the beginning of it.”

“Sorry?”

“I know. From the beginning, we just put on an act, right? To get away of Myungsoo. But I feel like I can and I’m good enough to be your real boyfriend. Not just to be a fake boyfriend,” he said.

Yeah, Hyejung asked him to be his fake boyfriend for a day to get away from Myungsoo since Sohee told her that Myungsoo was going to confess to her again after graduation party, She knew that Myungsoo wouldn’t get away of her if she didn’t say that she had boyfriend already. So she asked Byunghun a favor.

“Byunghun-ah. Am I good for you? I don’t think so…” After all she did to him, she didn’t think that she was good enough for Byunghun.

“I don’t want to be fake, Hyejung,” Byunghun said and he held Hyejung’s hand, “I’m truly in love with you. With all my heart.”

She thought about what she was going to say for a while. Now she realized it. That she was in love with Byunghun. How her heart race faster and how he always be there every time she needed him. She also realized, that what she needed the most for a relationship was trust, not comfortable feel. It needed trust and time to make a relationship comfortable.

“I love you too.”

Lee Byunghun. I choose you today, because I believe in you.