He honestly didn’t know where she would go. Did that mean that he didn’t know her well enough? Or was it his lack of awareness, his refusal to accept things as it was, to try and not understand the people around him that made him unable to figure where she would go?

Whatever it was, he realized that it was pointless to run around trying to find one girl. He stopped running and calmed himself down. He surveyed the area, but no one was in sight.

He frowned and started to walk aimlessly through the streets of the square. He stopped abruptly in front of an ice cream shop where a lonesome person was sitting on a bench in front of the shop eating ice cream in a paper cup.

He blinked his eyes once, then twice, before approaching the person.

“Kyungjin?” he said slowly, carefully, as he was trying to approach a wild animal, once in got within earshot.

The girl stopped eating and looked up at Minseok with the spoon in . She stared at him before breaking into a wide smile. “Minseok! Have you tried this ice cream? It’s one of the best things in this town.”

Minseok stared back. Her exuberance was disturbing as a deep frown engrained in his face. “Are you okay?”

She gave him an odd look with a light grin. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Minseok tentatively sat next to her. “Because you saw Sehun.”

The smile immediately fell off her face for a split second before returning. She gave him a half-hearted wave. “Aw, that. Yeah, I’m fine. I was just surprised. I mean, who wouldn’t be.” She turned her attention back to her ice cream. “This is good; you should get one too.”

Minseok carefully observed the expression on her face. She looked the same with the same smile on her face, but he knew it was unnatural. “Kyungjin.”

She turned to him and smiled brightly. “Yeah?”

“Stop lying to me.”

Her smile was gone and was replaced with a shocked look. Her eyes wavered as she bit her lip. She gave him a weak smile, a forced one, one that said everything wasn’t alright. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I know what you’re thinking, remember?”

A look of realization came across of her and after a lingering look at him, she broke down.

She gripped the paper cup in her hands tightly, setting it next to her. She brought her hands to her face and bent her head in despair. “Why?” she whispered. “Why did he come back? No, why did he seem like it was nothing? I …I should be happy that he’s back, right? He’s my best friend, right? But why do I feel so…so…pathetic seeing him? After years of trying to get into contact with him, he just appears out of nowhere, expecting me to happily welcome him?”

He face still in her hands, Minseok glanced nervously at her, and before he knew what he was doing, his hand was hovering behind her back, as if he was about to attempt to soothe her with a pat on her back. But he hesitated because the rational part of his mind whispered to him of why that would be any help to her.

She dropped her hands from her face and turned to Minseok with anxious eyes, causing Minseok to flinch and retract his outstretched hand quickly.

“How am I supposed to feel?” she murmured to him but more to herself.

Minseok stared back with blank eyes, unable to find a way to answer. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but all he did was leave his mouth agape, not knowing what to say.

She turned away and stared absently in front of her. “What am I supposed to do?” she murmured softly.

Minseok clasped his own hands silently in front of him and stared in front of him as well. “I can’t tell you that,” he replied.

Kyungjin glanced momentarily at him with a quick turn of the eyes and resumed looking in front of her. She didn’t respond to his comment.

Minseok, who was becoming uncommonly nervous from her lack of words, stumbled over his own words. “I mean…I’m not you, and you’re not me. So, what I would do is…what you wouldn’t do. And…uh…I don’t er…really understand Sehun. So, I can’t tell you what to do. Only you do.”

Misneok shifted his eyes rapidly from left to right but altogether avoiding Kyungjin’s own confused eyes, wondering what exactly he had spat out. It was uncharacteristically for him to be so unsure, to put so much concern over someone, that it bothered him deep inside, like there was a pit of fire in the depths of his stomach. It felt uncomfortable, awkward, and unpleasant.

Kyungjin still hadn’t spoken, and Minseok was beginning to feel uneasy. Both from how uncommon for Kyungjin not to say anything, and from the thought that he had no idea of what she was thinking right now.

A long silence lingered between them before Minseok heard something close to a snort. He carefully turned his head towards the girl who had a half-smile on her face and a hand over , trying to suppress a laugh.

He furrowed his eyebrows, not appreciating the humor in all of this.

She waved a hand at him, letting the laugh out. “Sorry, sorry,” she gasped out. “It’s just…are you trying to comfort me, Minseok?”

Minseok looked expressionlessly at her. “Is there a problem with that?”

A quick smile flashed on her face before settling on a firm line. “No, it’s only that I never expected you to do so.”

Minseok gazed at her before directing his attention away. “I might not care about certain things and I might find certain things pointless and ridiculous, but I’m not that heartless.”

She smiled wryly at him. “I know.” She looked away, repeating more softly, “I know.”

Minseok gave her a quick glance once more and looking the other way, raised his hand and patted on her the back once. A one pat that was quick and brief that his hand was back to himself in less than a second.

Kyungjin looked at him with brief surprise before quirking a smile momentarily and letting the comfortable silence envelop them.

Though Minseok wasn’t the best at comforting, he had tried his best. And he wanted to believe that it helped somewhat, but even he wasn’t sure. Kyungjin didn’t speak when they walked back, making it impossible for him to know what she was thinking. But within their conversation, Minseok knew that she was thinking hard about Sehun, reevaluating her feelings and making sense of what had happened. He knew that he couldn’t help her with her thoughts because for one he didn’t know how. He wasn’t able to understand her feelings despite knowing them. He had never experienced something like this, and he was never one to offer kind and comforting words. The best he could do was support her silently. And that was what he did.

“I’m going to meet up with him today.”

Minseok looked up from his book that was lying on his lap and met the eyes of Kyungjin. He cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

She nodded determinedly. “I’m going to meet Sehun today.”

Minseok stared back at her, going over her words in his head, trying to make sense of them even with them being straightforward.

“You haven’t seen him since the day he came back, correct?” Minseok reaffirmed.

She nodded silently.

He frowned slightly. “Why now?” he asked. “You had a week. And from what I heard, when he had tried to visit you, you refused to see him.”

She shifted her eyes nervously, avoiding Minseok’s direct eyes. “I might have…waited for you,” she mumbled embarrassedly under her breath.

He blinked at her. “Waited for me,” he repeated. “Why?”

She shot her hands in the air in an exaggerated shrug. “I don’t know!” she cried out. She turned to him. “I just feel that I can’t meet Sehun without you there. It just feels right, you know?”

“No, I don’t know. And I’m not going to meet him with you,” Minseok replied frostily.

“What? Why not?” she shouted in desperation.

He shook his head. “This is yours and Sehun’s problem that you need to work out. Bringing in me, a stranger, is not going to help.”

“But what about me?” she mumbled softly.

“What about you?” he questioned, not understanding.

“About how I feel.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

She stared directly at him. “I would feel better if you were there with me. I feel like I can face him with you there with me. I need you.”

With her upfront words and her thoughts being as direct as her words, Minseok was feeling a little dumbfounded. He knew how honest Kyungjin was with her words, but hearing it from her own mouth without having to extract it from her thoughts, it still felt odd due to what he was used to from previous experiences with other people. He thought that even though Kyungjin practically said what she was thinking, she would still have things that she wanted to hide which there were. And he thought she would be less upfront of her feelings. But he thought wrong.

He had the urge to agree, to go with her to see Sehun, but he forced that thought down. He shook his head once more. “No, you have to meet him on your own.”

She sighed, looking sorely disappointed.

“Does he know that you wanted to meet today?” Minseok asked instead. 

She nodded solemnly. “I asked Jongin to tell him for me. He’s the only one I know who talks to Sehun regularly.”

“And you guys are going to meet…”

“At Jongin’s bookstore. There’s a small area where we can talk quietly. And if anything happens, Jongin’s going to be there.”

“I see,” Minseok murmured.

She turned at him with one last hopeful look. “Are you sure you won’t come?”

“I’m sure.”

Or so he thought.

Kyungjin had left earlier, bidding Minseok a pitiful good-bye before heading to their arranged meeting place. Dr. Soo had allowed Kyungjin to go by herself, feeling that the short distance was fine for her to go alone. And if any did happen, Jongin had the hospital on speed-dial. Minseok knew that the doctor wanted him to go along but didn’t express his wish out loud, so Minsoek didn’t push it.

But not even five minutes had passed, when Minsoek abruptly got up and quickly walked out of the hospital. And instead of heading home like had planned, his feet took him in front of the bookstore.

He stared blankly at the store sign that hung above, wondering what he was doing. He shook his head, his feet about to make a turn, when he heard the soft twinkle of the door chime.

Minseok glanced behind him to see a head pop out and grin slyly at him.

“Couldn’t stay away, could you?”

Minseok faced the person and gazed at him vacantly.

Jongin’s reading glasses were still perched on his nose and a grin filled his lips. “So, are you going to stay out here all day, or do you want to come in?”

Minseok continued to stare at him and took a step toward the bookstore which Jongin held the door open wider for him.

After a brief sweep of the store with his eyes, Minseok reached to the conclusion that Kyungjin and Sehun were not in the general vicinity of the store.

Jongin seemed to know what he was thinking as he walked past him without giving him a single glance saying, “They’re in the back.”

He walked back to the counter and hopped back on his stool, letting one elbow rest on the counter and his cheek resting on the palm of his hand. He grinned. “I knew you would come.”

“Why?” Minseok asked as he approached the counter.

Jongin shrugged with a light smile. “I just did.”

Minseok knew that it wasn’t as simple as “I just did”, but he didn’t probe deeper, only glancing at the door to the back room.

Jongin caught his gaze and chuckled. “She didn’t think you would come. Absolutely glum when she walked through the front door. I’ve never seen her look so lifeless.”

Minseok barely nodded, still staring at the door.

“Are you worried?” Jongin grinned. “Do you want me to let you in?”

Minseok tore his gaze off the door and attached it to Jongin. “No,” he replied firmly.

“Then why did you come? What’s the point?” Jongin probed.

Minsoke glanced at him and then down at his feet. “I was…worried.”

“About?” Jongin continued.

Minseok didn’t look at him, knowing exactly what he was doing, and didn’t give him the pleasure of a reply. 

Jongin shrugged, pushing up his reading glasses higher on his nose bridge, focusing his attention back to the book he was reading before he had spotted Minseok outside of the store.
Minseok frowned slightly. He was at a lost at what to do. He had entered the store on an impulse, and now it seemed bad-mannered for him to leave when it was obvious why he had come inside in the first place.

Jongin glanced up at him and then eyed the door. “It’s up for you to choose to go inside or not. You could at least observe what is going inside. You don’t even have to meet with them.” He grinned cunningly. “And if you prefer me to stay quiet, I would be happy to oblige. Anything that happened here stays between you and me.”

“And you think that would persuade me to go?” Minseok asked.

Jongin shrugged. “Who knows?”

Minseok narrowed his eyes at him. “You want me to go inside. You want me to burst inside and cause havoc. Tell Sehun off and steal Kyungjin away.”

Jongin blinked at him and laughed. “Yes! Yes, I do! I want you to be that character in all the fairytales and books. The one who saves the day and gets the girl. But I know that isn’t in your personality to do so. No, you seem like the one who analyzes the situation and acts accordingly. How boring.”

“Isn’t Sehun your friend? Wouldn’t you want Sehun to make up with Kyungjin?”

Jongin only smiled mysteriously and gestured to the door before focusing his attention back to his book.

Minseok sighed heavily, glancing at the door, and then at Jongin who was paying no attention to him. He felt his shoulders slump down in defeat and headed towards the door. Jongin continued to ignore him, but when Minseok passed by him, he swore that he saw him give a little smirk and murmur something under his breath. Minseok paused, wondering why he said those words, and continued on.

There was a small corridor behind the door which led to a back room. It was so eerily quiet that Minseok thought that Jongin had been joking around with him and misleadingly told him that they were in the back room. But he knew that wasn’t true because Minseok knew that he was telling the truth.

A loud series of shouts echoed throughout the room. A female voice.

Minseok inched his way toward the more open area, not wanting to revel himself just yet.

“Why are you acting like this?” he heard Kyungjin shout. “It almost seems like you don’t care!”

Minseok heard a snort in response. “Maybe you just take things too seriously.”

“But this is a serious matter, Sehun! You can’t just shrug it off like nothing.”

“It is nothing. So I came back unexpectedly.” Minseok could almost hear Sehun shrugging. “So what? Plus, I for sure remember putting that I was coming back in the last package I sent you.”

“That’s not the point! The point is, you can’t just waltz in here like nothing, like all my previous attempts to contact you were pointless and stupid. Like there was no reason for me to try.”

“Well, if you put it that way…”

“No! Do you not understand? I feel so…so…worthless, so insignificant. Did our friendship mean nothing to you?”

“Oh, Kyungjin. Don’t be so melodramatic. Of course, our friendship meant something to me. I just never had the time to keep up with you. I was extremely busy.”

Kyungin sighed. “That attitude is the reason why we’re not progressing with our conversation. I don’t even know why I wanted to talk to you.” The sound of a chair screeching back was heard. “I’m going. Good-bye, Sehun. Perhaps our next meeting won’t be so pointless.”

There was a pause until Sehun spoke up. “You’ve changed.”

Another break of silence rose among them. “And you haven’t changed. And you say it like it’s a bad thing.”

“It is.”

“What?”

Minseok had crept up closer that he was hidden by the wall of the corridor, but was now able to see the two other people. Kyungjin was standing up, hands on the table, glaring at Sehun. Sehun, on the other hand, was reclined against his chair with a relaxed expression.

“Where did my best friend go? The one that always went along with my great adventures. The one who I could have so much fun with,” Sehun sulked displeasingly.

“Times have changed. I’ve changed. I can’t do the same things you can anymore, remember?” Kyungjin answered with a grimace.

Sehun rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I remember. That’s why I left.”

“What?” Kyungjin let out in a breath.

Sehun looked up at her. “That’s. Why. I. Left.”

Kyungjin blinked at him in rapid succession. “Because I got hospitalized, you left.”

Sehun shrugged. “The only reason why I was staying in this boring town was because I was hoping you would come with me. After that was impossible, there was nothing holding me back.”

“But you didn’t even say good-bye to me,” Kyungjin whispered.

Sehun shrugged again. “I didn’t want you to beg me to stay. Save you the trouble.”

“Save me the trouble?” Kyungjin cried out, her words increasing in volume. “You…I…” She shook her head. “Forget it. I’m done with this.” She made an attempt to leave.

“Wait, Kyungjin,” Sehun suddenly said, rising up from his seat.

She turned her head to look at him. “What,” she stated aggressively.

“We can always start over. Start on a new foot,” Sehun said, a look of what seemed of hopefulness but mixed with smugness.

She sighed. “Maybe. But today, I just want to leave. I don’t want to deal with you anymore.”

Sehun gave a hard and long look before scoffing. “Fine. Leave.”

Kyungjin looked at him and gave him a wry smile then walked away.

Minseok realized that he was in awkward position, glancing at the door at the other end of the corridor. Before he could react, Kyungjin had already turned the corner and around the wall now facing him with mild surprise in her face.

“Minseok?” she mused questionably.

Minseok blinked at her and replied. “Hello.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked with a chuckle, a grin of relief breaking out on her face. “I thought you didn’t want to come.”

“Me too. I thought that too,” he muttered under his breath.

Kyungjin laughed. “Well, you’re a bit too late. I’m already done here.”

Minseok nodded. “I’ll walk you back.”

“Yes. Yes, you will,” Kyungjin playfully demanded.

In the midst of their conversation, Minseok noticed in the corner of his eye, Sehun getting up and looking at them. 

Kyungjin noticed his attention was not focused on her and followed his line of view to Sehun.

“So, your little boyfriend is here to pick you up, is he?” Sehun mocked.

Kyungjin rolled her eyes, ignoring Sehun completely. “Let’s go,” she mumbled to Minseok. She grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away.

Minseok took one last glance back at Sehun who looked like he was glaring at him.

Jongin looked up from his book when he heard the door open. He swiveled his body around to see Kyungjin and Minseok come out. He smiled at them. “Did you manage to reconcile with Sehun?”

Kyungjin made a face of annoyance. “No,” she retorted bitterly.

Jongin frowned slightly before grinning and looking at Minseok. “Because of him?” he smirked, nodding towards Minseok.

Kyungjin’s face twisted with bewilderment. “What? No. Why would it because of Minseok?”

Jongin blinked at her. “He came in gallantly, proclaimed that you were his, and declared war on Sehun?” he stated in a question.

Kyungjin stared at him in bafflement and burst out in laughter. “Oh, Jongin. You are hilarious. Do you even know Minseok? Do you think he would do something like that?”

Jongin stared pointedly at Minseok. “I was hoping for it,” he murmured under his breath.

Kyungjin sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m so drained of energy that I just want to fall right here and now and sleep.”

“Don’t,” demanded Jongin. “You would scare potential customers if they saw you lying in the middle of the store.”

Kyungjin rolled her eyes and slapped Jongin on the arm. “It was an expression. Don’t be all serious. It just makes me more tired.”

“Fine. Shoo then,” Jongin said, using his hands to make the motion.

“Bye, Jongin. Thanks for letting me use this place, even if nothing good came out of it,” she called out, waving.

Minseok looked at him, nodded his head in farewell, and followed Kyungjin out of the store.

Jongin watched them leave and took off his reading glasses, rubbing his eyes. He let out a long sigh, but looked up when he heard the back door open again.

“Did she leave?”

Jongin rolled his eyes. “Of course she left, . What did you do? I told you to tone down your pompous arrogant self.”

Sehun didn’t answer and stared at the door. “Hey, that guy she was with. His name is Minseok, right?”

Jongin narrowed his eyes. “What about him?”

“Is he close to Kyungjin?”

Jongin blinked at him before smirking. “And what if I said that he was? And why do you care? It doesn’t pertain to you, does it? You never took interest in things that never involved you.”

Sehun shrugged vaguely. “Just curious. There’s something off-putting about him.”

Jongin thought about it. “It must be his way of presenting himself. But he’s not a bad person. Actually, I like him a lot.”

“Is that so…” Sehun murmured.

Jongin pursed his lips, wondering if he just made things worse, but he shook his head of those thoughts. He was simply an observer and was simply enjoying the show.

To Minseok, Kyungjin seemed to be her normal self. Except he knew that she wasn’t. The way she walked, the way she didn’t say anything, the way the atmosphere around her seemed different, Minseok knew something was wrong. It was simply the matter of how to ask, but he simply didn’t know how.

He kept glancing at her, going through different ways in his head to bring up the topic, but Kyungjin interrupted his thoughts.

“Can we make a detour?” she suddenly said.

“Where to?” he asked back.

She pointed to the woods near the edge of the town, close to Minseok’s house. “There’s a small clearing in the woods that I haven’t been to for awhile.”

Minseok took a look at the trees and back at Kyungjin. Her eyes seemed to plead with him to say yes. In the end, he nodded in agreement, but he had to ask one thing. “Why?”

Kyungjin looked at the sky and spread her arms behind her before bringing them up slowly. “I want to tell you a story.”

Minseok blinked at her. “A sto-?”

“About a girl and a boy,” she interrupted him. “Named Kyungjin and Sehun.”

Minseok finally understood where she was going with it. He opened his mouth to ask why again, when Kyungin answered his unspoken question.

Without looking at him, she said, “I know you’re going to ask why. And it’s because I want you to know about our past, my past, and his past. Because I feel like I need to talk to someone about this. Sort out this mumble of feelings in my head.”

“Why me though? What about your cousin? Kyungsoo, Yixing, Lina, or Jongin? Or your mother? Why me?” Minseok questioned.

She shook her head. “No, it can’t be them. It has to be someone new, someone who doesn’t know anything about what has happened before. And someone who can think about it rationally.”

“Me,” Minseok stated dubiously.

She stretched her arms and leaned forward so she was looking up at him. “Yeah. You,” she grinned.

Minseok felt like there was something else in the reason why she wanted to tell him, but he forced himself not to listen to her thoughts. Because he wanted to hear it from her personally.

“Shall we go?” she grinned. And before she received a response, she grabbed onto Minseok’s arm and pulled him forward. “And to the woods we go!” she cried in excitement.

And even though Kyungjin had dragged him many times before in eagerness, he knew this time was different. This time it was forced, and this time it hurt him in his heart.

A/N: I’m alive! I’m back! But only for a while. Oh, how I missed you all.

School has been so busy, and I get back late almost every night. Apparently, this quarter has decided to force a busy schedule in my face. It’s almost over though. Three more weeks, three more weeks.

Anyways, thanks for waiting so patiently. This long periods of waiting may become more frequent, unfortunately. Hopefully, this chapter will tide you over. Maybe?

I mean, Minseok! The progress is slow, but it’s there. Don’t you just want to hug him? And I realized that he asks “Why” a lot. But it is to be expected, right? He’s in a learning process.

But thanks for sticking with me and reading! You all mean a lot me.