“So who is he?” Jaemin asked as she and Songyi gathered around the kitchen island, preparing sandwiches for their outing that day. I walked into the kitchen, having just woken up after a long night down at the beach with Junhyung. I smiled a little to myself as I walked over to the fridge, opening the stainless steel door to grab the orange juice my mother always kept cold. He was an interesting one, that Junhyung—he never asked a single question about my past, my family, or anything that would potentially make me upset. Instead, he made me laugh. He made me feel special.

He made me forget who I was, even if it was just for a moment.

“Who is who?” I wiped the smile off as I turned to face them, grabbing a clean cup from the sink. They watched me carefully as I slowly poured the pulpless orange juice into the clean cup, watching me as I took a small sip of the orange liquid.

“That kid,” Songyi finally spoke up after a moment of observing me, “that you’re always with.”

“What kid?” I mumbled, finishing off my glass and turning to place it in the sink.

“That kid!” Jaemin pointed out the window, causing me to glance over and see that once again, he was sitting out there.

Waiting for me.

“You’re smiling,” Songyi suddenly noted, causing the smile that had discreetly appeared on my face to disappear, “I haven’t seen you smile like that in a while, Taeyoung.”

“What smile?” I muttered as I the sink to rinse out my dirty cup, trying to ignore the single person on the beach. “I’m not smiling.”

“Yes, you are,” Jaemin grinned, walking around the island to look at my face, “you’re smiling!”

“No, I’m not!” I tried to disprove her, only to let myself down. “Are you guys done with the sandwiches?”

“Just about,” Songyi grinned, the mood in the kitchen becoming considerably lighter. “Hey! Why don’t you two come along?”

“Us two? Who’s us two?” I asked her as Jaemin clapped loudly, grinning from ear to ear.

“That’s a great idea!” she turned to me excitedly, “it’s been a while since you’ve been out with us, Taeyoung! And we get to know this kid a little more!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I tried to stop their excitement, “I barely know this kid! We’ve only been talking for a few weeks, wouldn’t it be a little weird to ask him to go on one of your monthly outings?”

“Nonsense,” Jaemin waved her hand at me as she started to head towards the back door, “I’ll go ask him.”

“What? No!” I exclaimed as she stepped outside, her grin shining brighter than the sun. “Jaemin!” I called after her as she headed down the boardwalk, “Jaemin!” With a sudden burst of adrenaline, I raced down the creaky wood, grabbing her thin arm and pulling her back. “I’ll ask him,” I panted, “I’ll ask him.”

“Really?” her eyes shone like a child’s would on Christmas, “great! I’ll go help Songyi make more sandwiches. You go ask him, okay?” She a pat on my shoulder, she skipped her way back up the boardwalk, and back into the kitchen. I stood there for a moment, wondering what exactly I had gotten myself into. I glanced at his lone back, hunched over, head up, eyes to the horizon. The day was windy, as usual, but a certain amount of sunshine was shining over him. With a deep breath, I gathered all of my courage and walked down the beach to where he sat, stuffing my hands into the pocket of my hoodie.

“Hey,” I said softly as I lightly kicked him with my bare foot, “you awake?” He jumped slightly and turned to me, his face breaking into a smile.

“Hey,” he replied, patting the spot beside him. “Sit.” But I shook my head, causing a flicker of surprise to cross his face.

“Actually, I—I have to head in soon,” I said, pointing up to the house where Songyi and Jaemin were watching anxiously from the kitchen windows. “But I was wondering…” I looked down at his calm face, not a single dramatic expression in his features. Might as well just do it, I said to myself as I took a deep breath again, “I was wondering if you had any plans today.” His eyebrows shot up as another flicker of surprised crossed his face—that hopeful look in his eyes nearly made me want to take back my words, unable to see disappointment in my only companion again. But with the stares of my friends behind me, I knew I couldn’t.

“Uh, not really,” he said, a smirk crossing his handsome features, “why?”

“Well,” I hesitated for a minute, “my friends usually go on this all day outing thing with their boyfriends where they go into town and go shopping and stuff, and I used to go but I kind of lost interest after…after a while, but I was wondering, if you didn’t have any plans today, maybe you’d like to go? With…with me?” I took a deep breath as I watched him process my jumble of words in his mind, his expression remaining unreadable. That long pause caused a mini-panic to occur in my heart—what if he refused?

“Sure,” he said, a huge grin breaking across his face, “I’d love to come.”

“Really?” I let out a sigh of relief as a smile suddenly crawled onto my face without my knowledge, “then, um, why don’t you come up to the house? You can help them pack food while I…I go get dressed.”

“Sure,” he nodded, starting to stand up and brushing the sand off of his dark jeans. In silence, we made our way up the boardwalk to my house, my heart pounding rapidly at how close he was walking next to me. I could smell his spicy sweet cologne again as I felt my limbs shaking with a newfound giddiness—positive feelings I haven’t felt in a while began to explode inside of me as I opened the back door to my kitchen.

“Um, guys,” I cleared my throat as my friends pretended to bustle around the kitchen, pretending not to have been spying on us. “This is my…this is Junhyung.”

“Hi,” he grinned an easygoing smile as I watched the two of them exchange a look of approval between each other, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s great to finally meet the guy Taeyoung’s been spending all her time with,” Jaemin grinned brightly as she walked over to him, grabbing his arm. “Come in and help us pack food! Taeyoung, why don’t you head upstairs and get dressed? Tell Kikwang to hurry too!” I nodded as I watched the two of them fuss over him for a minute, feeling his little bubble of happiness in my heart.

It was a feeling that I haven’t felt in a very long time.

As I headed up the stairs, I bit my lip, attempting to hide the smile that had been wanting to burst out of me all day. I opened the door to my bedroom and closed it softly, suddenly spinning around in the midst of my giddiness the minute my hand left the doorknob. He had said yes to me, even though I’ve said no to him. He wanted to spend time with me, outside of sitting on the beach all night.

He seemed like he wanted to be with me.

“Well, aren’t you happy?” A sarcastic voice said from my doorway as I stopped in my tracks, turning to face my younger brother.

“I’m-I’m changing, Kikwang,” I stammered, embarrassed to be caught spinning around my room like a child.

“Is he coming along with us?” he scoffed, crossing his thick arms over his broad chest, “that guy?”

“His name is Junhyung,” I replied stiffly, starting to walk over to my dresser, “and yes, he’ll be coming with us.

“Does he know about…?” I stared at my brother through the mirror on top of my dresser, daring him to say the name out loud, daring him to bring me back down to reality.

“No,” I replied softly, “he doesn’t know anything.”

“I don’t like him, Sis,” Kikwang softened a little bit as he stepped into my room, watching me walk from drawer to drawer, “he’s bad news.”

“Well, you know what, Kikwang?” I spun around to look at him, “I don’t need good news right now. I need a friend. And that’s what Junhyung gives me.”

“You have a lot of friends!” he protested as I pulled out a few items of clothing, tossing them on the bed beside Kikwang. “You have me and Jaemin and Songyi.”

“No, Kikwang,” I shook my head, turning my back to him. “You guys didn’t give me a friend when I needed one.”

“Then what did we give you?” I heard him stand up angrily, his temper rising. “What did I give you, Taeyoung? I let you mope and whine and sit on that stupid beach every day! I let you stay in this house, knowing that every single corner brings you enough memories to kill you! I let you keep that dumb diner job of yours! What else do you want, Taeyoung? What else is there?”

“I needed someone to listen, Kikwang!” I spun around, my temper also rising. Tears threatened to fall once again as I faced my younger brother, but like always, they didn’t. “I needed someone to just let me cry without feeling weak! I needed someone to just sit there in silence and let me be comforted by their presence! I needed someone just to be there!”

“I have been there, Taeyoung,” Kikwang spoke quietly, looking at me as his eyes drowned in sadness, “I’ve been there.”

“No, Kikwang,” I shook my head again, “you haven’t.”

“So you’re telling me this guy has?” A dangerous, sarcastic laugh left his lips as he pointed towards the door, indicating the third presence downstairs. “You’re telling me that this guy you just randomly meet on the beach has given you more comfort than your own flesh and blood brother has?” I stared at him, directly in his dark brown eyes that were exactly like mine, and I nodded.

“He’s done more for me than you’ll ever know.”