You are Hyukjae (Eunhyuk) and Donghae's highschool classmate. Your name is  Jung Eunhwa (鄭 慇花 / 정 은화). You are about 17~19 years old (highschool senior) and have known Donghae since he transfered in from Busan sometime in middleschool. You are also Hyukjae's childhood friend and know just about everything about him and bicker like siblings. This is an Alternate Universe themed story featuring JYJ's Xia Junsu.

A Friend's Heart

"Hey, anchovy," I clapped the skinny boy on the back, startling him. I look at the papers in his hands and sigh. Future plan forms. "Whatcha doing?" He's just too gloomy nowadays. 

He folds the blank papers and sits on them, giving me a gummy smile before frowning and realizing what I just called him. "I told you to stop calling me an anchovy! How the hell do I even look like one?"

"It's 'cos you're handsome, Hyukkie~" And I jump as Donghae suddenly appears behind me. "Yo, Hyukkie, Eunhwa~" And he smiles that wide grin that he always does while staring off into space. Or rather, at a girl in the other class . . .

"Fishy, eyes back in your head," I elbow him lightly.

"Hm? Ah . . ." He shoves Hyukjae a little to the side to make room for himself on the bench, taking the papers from under his friend's bottom in the process. "Hey, Hyukkie, have you decided on your future plans yet?" He begins to open the papers, but Hyukjae snatches them back and glares at him.

"My name is Hyukjae, stop giving me pet nicknames like Hyukkie," he snaps. "You're so annoying, geez--"

"But I know you like it," pouts Donghae, forcefully pulling both of us into a hug. My neck hurt from the strength he used to draw my head down, but I just smiled. Good to know that he's as childish and cheerful as ever.

"I really don't," Hyukjae shoots back, but he's lying as he can't hold back the gummy smile on his lips.

And I mentally start a countdown from ten as they begin to bicker, and before just as I reach one, Donghae kisses Hyukjae on the cheek and runs off before his buddy can slap him for it. Yup, it's like this every morning. My eyes follow Donghae as he follows the girl from the other class, but when I look down, I see that Hyukjae is looking at Donghae. I frown. Jealous over the same girl? That's new for you.

"Hey, anchovy," I pinched his cheek. "Dilated pupils back in your head, please."

"I'm not an anchovy--"

"If you like her, go for it. I'll root for you," I say, pushing his head down a bit. "See you in class."

After class . . .

"Hey, Donghae," I waved a hand under his dazed eyes. "Fishy, eyes back in your head. Fishy?"

"Hm? Ah, Eunhwa, what's up?" He looks up, smiling his wide grin again. I narrow my eyes. His eyes look fishy.

"Mm, was just wandering what put for your future plans. Mine's still blank, and we have turn these in by tomorrow, somehow . . ."

He keeps smiling as he digs the papers out of his book bag. "Lookie, I bet teacher will be really proud of me." He slaps the papers down on the desk proudly and points at his aspirations. It read:

             "A successful and happy fishy that always has his friends' backs. =)"

I stare at it and blink. Was he serious or . . . ?

"It's good, right?" he nudges me, still smiling.

I look at him, then back at his paper. Well, this IS Donghae . . . complete with the "=)" at the end . . . "Um . . ."

"It's so good that you're speechless," he chuckles. "I actually have no idea what I want right now, but teacher only said to fill it out, so I did. But Eunhwa, maybe you should put down idol-singer, you really do look like SES's Bada-noona."

I don't know why, but I felt my face flush a bit. "I-I don't." Why am I blushing when I know he says things like this often?

And suddenly, his face is right under mine, staring intently. "Oh, you're right, you don't. You have the same dark hair and dark eyes though."

"Lee Donghae!" I huffed as he laughs. "All Koreans have dark hair and dark eyes!"

"And we all look like Bada-noona~" 

Ah, he's spouting nonsense again . . . I shake my head, throwing Donghae out of my head. "By the way, do you know where ancho--Hyukjae went? Let's all go for ddeokbokki, my treat."

And Donghae's smile fades away, his eyes filling with a mixture of guilt and sadness. "Sorry, I don't," he says quietly, sounding almost cowed. "But maybe he--nevermind . . ." He looks away.

I huff again. "Fine, I'll just find him myself!"

Normally, Hyukjae would wait in the hall for Donghae and I to finish cleaning duty, but as I speedwalk up and down the almost-empty corridors, I don't see him. Dance studio, maybe? He likes to dance, so . . . Maybe he's there with Junsu . . . Then I bump into Junsu in the hall.

"Hey, what's up, Eunhwa?" he asks me, catching my arm after I apologized.

"Sorry, Junsu," I say again. "But have you seen Hyukjae?"

"My servant? What did he do this time?"

"Nothing, he just seemed a bit gloomy earlier . . . and Donghae and I want him to come with us for ddeokbokki," I pause and think for a beat. "Can we drag you along, too?"

"Ah, sorry, but I have remedial lessons that my mom will skin me for if I skip them," Junsu rubs his head apologetically. "She doesn't like my grades . . ."

"Well, you did score second to last in the whole school--"

"But teacher still likes me at least," sulks Junsu. "I really have to go now though, the tutor is really scary . . ." He waves and turns to go, but I grabbed his elbow.

"Ah, Junsu . . . Have you seen Hyukjae though?"

"Sorry, I haven't!" And I let him go, puzzled as to where that anchovy could be. The track maybe? He likes sports . . .

At the track field . . .

While looking around, I crashed into a jogging Siwon, a hoobae that we often hung out with.

"Sorry, Siwon-ah--" I began as he helped me to my feet.

"No, no, it's my bad, noona," he smiled, bowing slightly. "Are you looking for something?"

"Yeah. Have you seen ancho--Hyukjae?"

"Hyukjae-sunbaenim? He was here a little while ago, I think he went home. Did something happen? He looked really upset."

"I don't know if 'something' happened, but it might be that girl--Thanks, Siwon-ah!" And I waved to Siwon before running off to look for Hyukjae again. 

If he's upset to the point that he doesn't stay to mess with Siwon . . . Since Siwon didn't ask me if he looks like a horse . . . There's no way that he'd head home . . . Then it hit me. The sausage shop!

"I found you, finally," I say breathlessly as I see his face in the window. I walk in and greet the staff with a smile before making my way to his table; he was sitting alone and just picking at his favourite food. "Hey, anchovy!"

"What?" He doesn't even look at me.

I sat down across from him, angling my head under his face to see his expression; his eyes and nose are a bit red. I sigh and pat his shoulder reassuringly. "She's not the only girl in the world."

And he finally looks up at me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You don't like her? I thought you and Donghae fought over her or something--"

He laughs bitterly. "That's what you thought? Do I really look that pathetic?"

"Ye--" I bit off my own reply, now was probably not the time to . "What do you mean?"

"I told Donghae that I liked him as more than a friend," Anchovy sighs. "Hey, dog-poop--"

"I'm not dog-poop!"

"--if you had to choose between love and friendship, which one would you choose?"

"Huh?" I was taken aback by this question, since in all the years I've known Hyukjae, he's never given a second thought about these things; he'd always choose love over friendship.

"If you had to choose between love and friendship, which--"

"Yeah, I heard you. But why choose? Shouldn't it be if you can't have both, you should give up on both?"

"I guess . . . but if you had to choose?"

I bit my lip, thinking hard. God, Hyukjae . . . what can I say that won't hurt you? Then it hit me. "If I had to choose, no matter what?"

"Did you hear me?"

"Yeah. I'd choose friendship, because true friends won't leave me, and they have my back. But love kinda comes and goes."

He blinks. "But what if they aren't true friends?"

"Then it isn't choosing between love and friendship, it's between love and blah then. And eat that before it gets cold."

"But--"

"Eat." I pick up a pair of chopsticks and stuff a sausage into his mouth before he can finish his sentence. "You'll feel better after you eat."

"Hyukkkkkiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeee~" I freeze as that voice goes off from behind me. Not now, not now . . . can't you tell the mood isn't good right now and he probably doesn't want to see you right now? I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed that Hyukjae wouldn't explode. I crack open one eye and see that Donghae's arms are wrapped around his best buddy, and he was using a napkin to blot at his face. And Hyukjae was futiley trying to peel Donghae off of him.

"You're so annoying, geez--"

"But I know you like it, Hyukkie~"

"I. Do. Not." He glares at the pouting fish.

"Guys--" I began.

Donghae looks at me, smiling like a little kid. "Hey, Eunhwa~ You found him~"

"Lee Donghae--"

"And I got rejected. Friendship is so better than love, Hyukkie, your philosophy !" And like in the morning, he kisses his buddy on the cheek and runs off before he gets slapped.

"Lee Donghae, that--aish!" Hyukjae wipes furiously at his cheek, pretending to be angry. But he can't hide that big gummy smile of his.

"Huh. I guess a friend's heart is better than any girl's heart, right?" I say, stuffing another sausage into his face to stop him from rubbing it raw with the napkin.

END

20130815 - Jaedelle wants to discontinue this short-story series, every installment just gets dumber ㅠ_ㅠ