You were walking your way home after grabbing a piece of cheesecake ice cream from the 24 hour minimart nearby. You started eating it on your way and you were so into it you didn’t realize the guys following you behind.

You played cool and kept walking but kept your ears sharp and tried to hear what they were saying.

“You block her from the front!”

“No I’ll just grab her from behind.”

“What if she runs away?”

You couldn’t help but laugh hearing their stupid conversation on how to attack you. They caught you off guard and one of them took a strong grip on your hand, making your ice cream drop. You were halfway eating it and you stared at the melting ice cream on the ground.

The guy held your wrist firmly as you tried to struggle. “YAH! AHJUSSHI LET ME GO!”

“Ahjusshi?” said one of them. “We prefer being called oppa.”

You scoffed while still struggling free. “Oppa? There is no oppa in my dictionary. Let me go you erted ahjusshi! You made my ice cream melt!”

“This girl is hard to handle,” said the guy who was grabbing your wrist. One of them stepped closer.

This is not good.

You noticed a pair of hands started to make its way behind you. You were about to turn around and knock the guys all down but a figure suddenly rushed in front of you. It happened so fast, you were in the middle of a fist fight. There were punching sounds here and there but you had no idea who is winning. A few seconds later the three guys were on the ground, wincing in pain with bruises all over their body.

“Stupid boyfriend to the rescue. Guys let’s get out of here,” mumbled the guy.

You watched them scatter away and turned around to see who was the knight in armor that saved you. You found a familiar figure, dusting away his knees and tidying up his school uniform, which is actually the same uniform you were wearing. He finally tilted up his head to see you already observing him and gave a shy but relieved smile.

“K-Kwangmin?”

He shrugged and messed up his hair though it still ended up falling perfectly. “Are you okay, sunbaenim?”

You blinked. He looked at you. You blinked again. He was staring at you.

“How… how did you? I mean, you? Why are you here? How did you beat them all?” you stared at him in amazement.

He smiled again and awkwardly scratched his head. “I was just passing by. Youngmin went home early since I had some extras to do at school. I thought you kinda needed some help.”

Your mouth was agape. “You…”

“I learned martial arts since kindie so yeah. I still have the skills, I think,” he said, wincing when he talked. He touched the edge of his lips and it started bleeding.

“Oh my God, Kwangmin you’re bleeding!” you started to panic when you saw his lip stained with blood.

He smirked uncomfortably. “Ah, it’s nothing.”

You grabbed his wrist and make him sit on the bench in front of the minimarket. “Don’t go anywhere!”

He replied with a nod and stared as you flee inside the market. You grabbed a tiny bottle of alcohol and a small pack of cottons. You made your way back to Kwangmin just in a minute.

He stared as you sat down beside him, opening the bottle of alcohol and carefully applying it to a piece of cotton.

“You shouldn’t have beaten them up all alone. I could have helped you,” you said. Your left hand gently touched his chin to make him face you.

Somehow you could hear his loud heartbeat. Or was it your own heartbeat that was pounding uncontrollably?

“This might sting a bit so bear with it, okay?”

Kwangmin nodded. He looked a bit eerie when he saw you and your cotton slowly approaching the edge of his lips. You touched it once. He didn’t react. You touched the cotton to his lips a bit harder this time. He groaned.

“Argh! Sunbae it stings!” he pounced back as he winced and had his eyes closed, he was fanning himself.

You couldn’t help but laugh. “I told you it’s gonna hurt! Come back here I am not even finished.”

He hesitated but moved back closer. He closed his eyes this time. You smirked as you touch his chin again to make him stable.

“Nuna, your hands are freezing,” he murmured. He couldn’t speak properly since you were treating his cut.

You stopped touching the cotton. “Did I just hear you calling me ‘nuna’?”

His eyes popped open. “Sorry! I mean sunbaenim,” he was torn whether to back off or stay in place but you just chuckled.

“Don’t back off I am almost done,” you said. You took a new piece of cotton, dropped a few alcohol to it and touched it to his cut again.

He was closing his eyes again and this time he winced but he didn’t back off.

“Does it hurt?” you asked. He merely nodded. You started blowing right towards his cut, making him feel the cold from the alcohol.

While you were busy and so into your whole medication thingy, Kwangmin slowly opened his eyes just to see your face so close to his. He admired your exquisite and flawless face for a second. He closed his eyes again to control his heart from beating even louder.

You moved back after giving a final blow and patted his head. “There you go! It should be dry by tonight. Don’t make unnecessary moves with your mouth, don’t yawn to wide, careful when you eat, and just… just take care, okay?”

He was extremely touched by how you took care of him. He wasn’t coincidently passing by, he was purposely following you to find out where your house was. He already was curious about you. And when you were in danger, he really wanted to protect you. In the end, he felt guilty since he just made you take care for him again, instead of him taking care of you.

That’s right. He already had feelings for you.

You had no idea why he was staring blankly at you. You had to call his name twice to made him back to conscious again.

“Kwangmin!”

“Ah! Y-yes?” he stood up seeing you already standing up gathering the first aid stuff you just bought.

“I’m going back home, okay? Thanks for kinda saving me,” you gave him your most sincere smile.

He smiled back. A sweet one. A smile that made your heart skip a beat.

“Thank you, nuna,” he tried to show his gratitude for you treating his bruised lip.

You tilted your head. He realized he said something wrong. “I mean.. sunbaenim!”

You laughed softly. “It’s okay you can call me nuna if you want to. Okay, I’ll be leaving now. Byebye.”

He nodded and waved to see you away. He smiled to himself and told himself he would send you home one day, instead of secretly following you.

~~~~~

A week went by, you were playing with your phone when you suddenly received a text message.

From : Kwangmin

Nuna! Are you free this Saturday morning?

You tilted your head in amusement. You replied.

Uhm, no. I am expensive.

You chuckled before settling your phone beside your legs while reaching for the tv remote. In a few seconds a reply came in.

From : Kwangmin

Nuna T_T I am serious.

You typed quickly and sent a reply.

I am serious as well. I have nothing to do tomorrow, Kwangmin. Why?

He texted you back saying that he would go to your house and go for a bicycle ride around the park. You immediately agreed, without realizing you can NOT ride I bike. You don’t know how to.

It has been days since Kwangmin bravely asked for your phone number, and insisted taking you home. He was really thoughtful and caring. He would send you cute messages, and somehow you never get sick of them. Your mom even noticed him and admitted that he was cute.

You shrugged and shook off the thought of attempting to ride a bike this Saturday.

Will I even make it?

~~~~~

The bike ride was fabulous. You didn’t have to show that you couldn’t ride a bike. Kwangmin came to your house riding this lovely red tandem bike. He said he used to ride around the park with Youngmin with that bike. You stared in awe before hopping on to it. The two of you rode slowly to the park.

You would sometime stop pedaling and let him pedal his soul out. He would then turn around to see you carelessly stretching your arms and letting him do the hard work.

You both agreed to park the bike and walked around the park. As he stopped the bike, you got off first and looked around while waiting for him to properly lock the bike. However, you heard him whimper and the sound of a bike collapsing to the ground after it.

You quickly turned around to see Kwangmin on the ground, his leg crushed – well, not really crushed – under the tandem bike. You squealed and rushed over to help him.

“Kwangmin are you okay? What happened?” you asked as you settled the bike.

He tried to stand up but collapsed back to the ground. You squatted down to his side.

“Are your feet injured?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t stand up properly. My left foot hurts.”

You carefully lifted his left foot and saw it bruised. It was sprained quite badly and turning red.

“I was getting off the bike and was trying to park it when I lost balance and it just fell on me,” said Kwangmin. His voice was shaky as if he was going to cry.

“Aww, it’s okay,” you pulled him in for a hug. He was shocked, but hid it inside. You gave a few pats on his back before helping me up.

“Let’s just sit here for a while, okay?”

He nodded and sat where you pointed. You kneeled down in front of him. His eyes widened.

“Nuna! What are you doing?”

“What do you think I am doing? Checking your sprained ankle, of course!” you snapped.

He blinked and stayed still as you gently removed his shoe. “This looks pretty bad. Should we go to the clinic or something?”

He quickly nodded. “I don’t wanna see the doctor. I am sure some gel and light massage would cure it.”

You nodded back and stood up to reach your belt bag. You opened the zip and Kwangmin was amazed to see all sorts of first aid medicines inside. Band aids, tiny bottle of alcohol, counterpain, and all.

“Uwah, nuna, you bring those every where?” he asked. His eyes went big again and it blinked twice.

You chuckled to see his face. “Not really. Only when I go for jogging or some light exercises like this. You said gel and massage would cure, right?” you asked while taking your tiny counterpain out of your bag.

“Ah!” He looked uneasy. “I didn’t mean for you to…”

“It’s okay Kwangmin I won’t feel burdened. After all, it was you who took me around for a ride so I guess this would return the favor.”

He looked down to his feet, feeling somewhat guilty. He watched you applying the white gel to his foot and gently massaging it. He suddenly felt tears in his eyes.

“Hey if it hurts, just shout, okay? Don’t kick me,” you teased, your face wasn’t looking up.

Kwangmin didn’t answer. It made you look up to him and find him covering his face.

“Kwangmin?”

There was no answer. You took a grip of his hand and made him reveal his face. His eyes were red and wet. You were shocked to see him in such a miserable state.

“Are you crying? Why? Which part hurts, hmm?” you asked, half panicking, touching his feet gently and also his hands.

You were still kneeling in front of him when he finally responded. He shook his head. “No, nuna. I just feel like I am a burden to you.”

You sighed and sat by his side. You rubbed his back, trying to make him comfortable. “Kwangmin, you are never a burden to me. Stop feeling sad and guilty okay. You look better when you smile. I mean you look good in any kind of expression but smiling is your best.”

He chuckled between his tears threatening to fall down. He looked up and blinked, making the tears go away.

“Thank you, Nuna.”

You nodded. “No worries,” you kneeled back in front of him and started curing his foot. “Remember just to shout if it hurts, not kicking me, okay?”

He laughed knowing that you were just teasing. He nodded at you and you gave him the most caring smile he could ever remember.

~~~~~

“So did you confess?”

Youngmin was chewing a pack of chips when he saw Kwangmin entering the room, limping.

“Wait what happened to your foot?” he asked.

“Sprained it,” answered Kwangmin. He threw himself to the bed.

Youngmin frowned. “Hey what’s with the bad mood. What happened?”

“Eungh.. gihingh.. aeuph..” murmured Kwangmin.

Youngmin put his chips on the table and pulled the pillow out of Kwangmin’s face.

“Speak properly!” nagged Youngmin.

“I’m giving up!”

Youngmin blinked. Kwangmin had this tired, i-had-enough face and collapsed back on the bed.

“What? How could you give up? What happened? Did she do something bad? Something mean? Does she have someone she likes?” Youngmin threw daggers of questions as Kwangmin curled up on the bed.

“She is always nice. Always caring. She never said something mean. She is just so caring that I couldn’t handle it more. I am always a burden to her. Every time I go with her I always wish that I could be the type of guy who could protect her. A guy who could make her feel safe and pleasant. But do you know what happened? I keep screwing up myself. I look so weak in front of her. Do you know how much it hurts to see her eyes full of concern as if I needed so much protection?”

Youngmin went speechless due to Kwangmin’s long speech.

“I want her to see me as a guy. I don’t want her to look down on me, to think that I am just a dongsaeng to her. I don’t want her to give me protection, I want to take care of her! I want to be the one who protects her! I keep looking so fragile in front of her, it embarrasses me so much that I just want to give up now. There are so many guys out there who is more worth it. Who are much better than me. A weak, cute dongsaeng in her eyes.”

Youngmin sighed. Kwangmin curled up and hugged his Pikachu plushie.

“This is what you call crisis of confidence,” said Youngmin. He climbed up to bed and sat beside Kwangmin. Kwangmin wasn’t facing him. Youngmin continued his words.

“You know, I understand how ___ nuna is like. She is strong and independent. She is the type that doesn’t need full 24 hour protection. I mean, she’s independent enough to look after herself so you don’t really need to…”

“Well that’s what makes it even worse! I can’t believe I fell for someone who is 2 years older than me, who is more mature in age and personality. Why couldn’t I just like someone my age or younger than me,” Kwangmin burst out cutting Youngmin off and curled back hugging his Pikachu again.

“Ng.. well. I don’t know how it feels like to like someone older. But if you do like her, and if you find the real definition of you ‘liking’ her, you wouldn’t easily give up, would you?”

Kwangmin remained silent. Youngmin took a deep breath.

“If you really care for her, if you really grown fond of her, you would learn how to be brave and how to protect her, not whining and declaring that you give up like this. Who knows, maybe your fragile personality would be a plus for her. Who knows she has the same feelings as you, that’s why she always takes care of you? You shouldn’t drop down as easy as this, Kwangminnie.”

Kwangmin blinked. He slowly get up to a sitting position. Still hugging his Pikachu, he looked at Youngmin.

“Have you told her about your feelings? Do you even know what your feelings are?” asked Youngmin.

“I don’t know who to define it,” mumbled Kwangmin.

“Then tell me what do you feel when you are with her.”

Kwangmin looked up to the ceiling, thinking. “Whenever someone mentions her name, my heart skips a beat. When I see her down the hallway, I have this urge to greet her but I always ended up frozen in place. When she greets me, I get nervous. When we start talking, I wish for the time to stop… and…”

“And?” asked Youngmin, wanting Kwangmin to finish his sentence.

“And whenever she takes care of me, I feel butterflies in my tummy. That’s how I feel,” Kwangmin ended his speech.

Youngmin smiled and gave a round of applause. Kwangmin frowned and looked at him weirdly.

“What’s with the claps?” he asked.

“You just gave a whole new definition of love,” said Youngmin.

“Love?”

Youngmin nodded. Kwangmin shook his head.

“No I am not sure if this is love or not. It could be just a crush!” denied Kwangmin.

Now it was Youngmin’s turn to shake his head. “Your explanations define them clearly, Kwangminnie. This is love. Even if you are denying it.”

Kwangmin tilted his head. “Then why do you sound so experienced? Are you in love too?”

Youngmin laughed. “Of course not! I am watching some series lately. The one I recently watched was a Thai movie. Your acts are just like the main character! Except the main character is a female and she is a junior while you are a guy and you are playing the junior role so…yeah.”

“How did they end up?” asked Kwangmin curiously.

“They ended up together,” said Youngmin. Kwangmin grew a wide smile on his lips. “But they had to wait for seven years,” continued Youngmin.

“What?!”

“It’s because the main character confessed, but it was too late. The sunbae was already in a relationship. You wouldn’t wait for ___ sunbae to get into a relationship too, would you?”

Kwangmin shook his head vigorously. “No! No, absolutely not!”

“So you should quickly confess to her before she gets taken,” suggested Youngmin.

Kwangmin nodded. But then fell lifelessly on the bed.

“What again?”

“I am too embarrassed to. What about you go confess to her for me?” pleaded Kwangmin.

Youngmin pouted. He then saw a light bulb on top of him and snapped his fingers.

“I got an idea!”