“This is my boyfriend,” Cheonsa said, her eyes staring straight into Luhan's. He only stared back at her, unable to move a muscle.

The man embracing Cheonsa chuckled and outstretched a hand to Luhan. “My name is Kris. Nice to meet you,” he said.  His voice was deep and manly, completely different from Luhan’s light, childlike voice that never seemed to go past puberty.

Luhan cleared his voice and accepted the offered handshake. “I’m Luhan,” he said, cringing inwardly when he heard his squeaky voice.

“Luhan, this is Kris, my boyfriend,” Cheonsa repeated as if Luhan didn’t hear her the first time. “Kris, this is Luhan, he is my…” she paused, trailing off at the end.

“I know who he is, baby,” Kris said, eyeing Luhan from head to toe, “But he doesn’t look that much of a threat,” Kris whispered, but it was still loud enough for Luhan to hear.

Luhan held back his anger. It was embarrassing enough that he was standing there, hoping for a chance with a girl who was lovingly hugging her declared 'boyfriend.' He didn’t want to add to more of his embarrassment by causing trouble.

At that moment, someone from the bar called Kris. “I have to go, Cheonsa, but I'll be right back,” Kris said, loosening his hold on her shoulders.

Cheonsa’s hand lingered on his for a second, as if she didn’t want to let him go. Luhan knew the feeling all too well−where you had to let go even if it hurt. With a nod and a quick kiss−Luhan didn’t know whether it was a kiss on the lips or on the cheek since he averted his gaze− the taller male left.

Cheonsa and Luhan were both left awkwardly sitting face-to-face. Cheonsa was looking at everything but Luhan, but instead of mirroring her actions, he stared intently at her.

Not being able to stand the tension anymore, Cheonsa cleared . “He is a bartender h−“

“What are we?” Luhan asked, cutting her off.

“What?” she asked, not really listening to him.

“What are we?” he repeated with a stern voice.

Cheonsa remained silent. She met his eyes but found nothing there. “I…don’t know,” she whispered truthfully. “You were my friend…before you broke your promise. Now, I don’t know what are we anymore.”

It was impossible. Luhan didn't think he could be more hurt after meeting Kris, but the words she just spoke broke him repeatedly broke him down. He could feel the trace of tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

“Is there really no chance for me?” he whispered, his voice cracking with desperation.

“I don’t know that either.”

Luhan knew that wasn’t what she wanted to say. He could see it very clearly. He knew from the way she avoided his eyes and from the way she bit her lip and played with her fingers.

He knew.

Why did love have to hurt like this?

Luhan didn’t know the answer.

He instantly got up from his seat. “I want to go out for a second,” he said and quickly left without waiting for her answer. He walked out without thinking, letting his legs take him wherever they felt like going. He didn’t care anymore. He just wanted to escape from this horrible feeling. His fists clenched, fighting away the dreadful feeling that was slowly consuming him.

The next thing he knew, he stumbled into a monkey bar.

Luhan looked around, finding himself in an old abandoned park somewhere in the eastern part of town. Mindlessly, he sat on the edge of the kid slide and buried his head into his hands, wishing to simply disappear from the world. He was drowned in so much pain that even his panic attack didn’t even surface like it did just moments before. He prayed that these feelings would stop. He would trade numbness or even emptiness for this heartbroken feeling. But as always, nobody listened to him. Nobody came to help.

Luhan didn’t know how much time had passed. He didn’t care. The only thing that somewhat comforted him was the old and abandoned state of the playground, left there to be forgotten; it was exactly like him.

All of a sudden, he felt warm hands cradling his head and raised his head up from his hands. He saw an outline of someone kneeling down in front of him, but he didn’t know who it was. He couldn’t see clearly. He blinked a few times, and a warm hand his face, wiping something wet from his cheek.

That was when Luhan realized that he had been crying.

When his sight got a little bit clearer, he recognized the person in front of him. It was funny how he was able to instantly recognize the person when they had only met a few times. But that didn’t include the countless times he saw her in his dreams or the times where he had endlessly stared at her face in the photo.

“Why are you crying?” she whispered, her melodious voice slipping into Luhan’s mind, ironically healing him of his pain when she had been the cause of it. Sometimes, he hated how easily she could play with his feelings. No matter how strong he strove to be, he always was reduced to being defeated and helpless when it came to her. Her thin, long hands always wrapped around him, never allowing him to escape. But when did he ever try to escape? He gazed at her, realizing that words would never be able to describe his feelings.

Didn’t she see it? Didn’t she know what was inside his heart when it had always been that obvious? Didn’t she see how he acted in front of her?

Didn’t she know how his heart always longed for her?

Didn’t she know how much his heart yearned for her?

Didn’t she realize anything at all?

Thousands of questions struggled to escape from his lips, wanting to be asked, but only three simple words came out.

“Don’t leave me,” he shakily whispered, voicing his deepest feelings. She needed to know. A simple ‘I love you’ wouldn’t suffice. Those words were voiced by billions around the world, yet the same people who declared them to each other ended up separating. 'I love you' wasn't sincere enough. Luhan didn’t want to become one of those who treated love like a trivial thing. Because that wasn't what love was. Love was a special and extraordinary feeling. Perhaps that 'Kris' person had already said it to her, between kissing and snuggles when they spent their weekly movie nights together. But Luhan was sure that Kris had said those words like everyday words, and that was not how he thought of them. Luhan wanted to be special.

Because of that, he pleaded. He pleaded to her, hoping that she would never leave him alone. Because if she did, he wasn’t strong enough to survive without her. No matter how many times hope had betrayed him, he would always find himself pleading again, wishing and hoping desperately for her to stay with him.

It happened in an instant: he could see her head quickly moving up, her eyes widening, and her hand covering in shock. He could see how, bit by bit, the realization was finally dawning on her. In the midst of it all, Luhan wanted to scoff a little. Someone else would have noticed it a very long time ago, but only she wouldn’t.

Maybe that was one of countless reasons why he loved her. She was a smart person--he knew it since his mother had mentioned her receiving a scholarship to Seoul Universty--but when it came to things like this, she was pretty dense. Luhan's eyes widened when he saw drops of tears falling from her eyes.

“No no no, please don’t cry,” he said, panicking while trying his best to wipe her tears away.

“How long have you been loving me?” Luhan’s hands instantly froze.

“I don’t know. It just happened,” he stammered. She shook her head. “No…this can’t happen. This is impossible. Please don’t.”

Luhan’s jaw tightened. “Why not?” he asked.

More tears fell from her eyes. “Because…I know that feeling. It's terrible. I don’t want anyone else to feel it too.” He crinkled his eyebrows in confusion.

“What feeling?” he hesitantly asked. Cheonsa laughed a little, but the sound made Luhan cringe a little. It wasn't the usual tinkling laughter from happiness but more of a bitter, pathetic kind of laughter. She gave him a weak smile.

“Aren't you feeling it right now? The feeling when someone you love doesn’t want to be with you.”

Luhan got even more confused. What was she talking about? Didn’t Kris love her? Why was she talking about a one-sided love? “Doesn’t he love you ba−“

The answer came almost instantly to him, making Luhan clamp his mouth shut. There was a bus station located across the street from the playground they were at. Even with its damaged, flickering streetlamp, Luhan could still see it from where he sat. He saw Kri−no--that person, currently waiting at the bus station. Cheonsa could have easily seen him if she turned around. However, at that moment, Luhan's eyes widened in shock at what he was seeing.

That person was hugging and laughing with a woman that was clearly not Cheonsa. The woman was wearing skimpy clothes that barely covered her body; if Sehun were here with him, he would have guessed that the woman was a e. Cheonsa remained motionless, as if she already knew what was happening behind her.

A gasp escaped from his mouth when that person and the woman began kissing passionately across the street. Luhan immediately became angry, aware of the burning fire inside his heart.

How dare he?

How stupid could he be to ignore a girl who would put Juliet to shame?

How ridiculous was he to trade this angel ror such a tramp-like woman?

When a bus came, Luhan swore his eyes met with the other male’s eyes for a split second. But nothing happened; he simply ignored him and focused on the woman beside him. They boarded the bus, leaving a petrified Luhan who was too livid to move. The situation could have made anyone laugh. He, Luhan, loved this girl more than anything else in the world, but this girl had someone else whom she loved. And it turned out that the person she loved was having an affair with someone else.

Maybe there was an error written in his book of destiny, or the cupid could have made a mistake by shooting the wrong target. Whoever was responsible for this mess, Luhan wanted nothing else at that moment than to kick some sense into their head.