~~~~~

On the front porch of the Lee’s Residence, Hongki, with the same outfit he wore yesterday night, was pacing back and forth rehearsing his speech, “…I was drunk and it was kinda hard to think straight after being slapped like that in public. I—“

“Hongki?”

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Hongki spun to see Jiyeon on the door carrying a bag of trash.

“Oh h—hey,” he greeted awkwardly.

Surprise was evident on Jiyeon’s face but she tried to cover it up by half-running half-walking to the dumpster. “Are you—are you going to get your things?” she asked trying to sound nonchalant as she placed the trash bag to the said container.

“What? No, why would you think that?” Hongki said sounding a bit offended.

Jiyeon didn’t make any eye contact as she passed by the latter, “I don’t know. Because you clearly told me you want nothing to do with me and Minsoo.”

“Wait it’s not like that,” Hongki was just about to grab the brunette’s wrist when Yoona appeared at the door. She frowned when she saw him, “Oh, it’s you. What are you doing here?”

“Right back at you,” he countered earning a gasp of disbelief from the girl.

“Ya! This jerk! You wanna die right now?!”

Jiyeon grabbed a hold of the wild girl’s shoulder halting her, “Yoona, it’s alright he’s just getting his things.”

“No, I’m here to,” Hongki paused squinting at Jiyeon’s best friend, “Uhhh…Yoona can I talk to Jiyeon alone?”

Yoona crossed her arms glaring, “What if I don’t wanna go?”

The redhead sighed and finally gave her a pleading look he has been using to girls to get what he wants, “Please?”

As expected Yoona soften and turned to Jiyeon to hug her, “Fine. I’ll get going Yeon .Watch your mouth Hongki or I’ll rip your vocal chords apart.” And with that she was gone.

Inside the house, Jiyeon was the first to speak, “We’re alone. What do you want to talk about?”

Hongki took a deep sigh before starting, “I came to say sorry, not only to you but also to Minsoo. I didn’t mean what I said last night. I wasn’t thinking straight. I love Minsoo, you know that and I want to be his guardian as much as want to be, I knew that but I suddenly got scared of the future.”

“But I was scared too,” Jiyeon pointed out.

“Yes, I know. I was being insensitive…and selfish…and irresponsible…and well jerk,” Hongki looked over at the stoic girl in front of him expecting her to smirk or laugh or to agree that he finally admitted it himself but her face remained blank so he kept going. “You see I haven’t thought about the things the social worker said hard enough to understand and make decision, it’s just that…I knew I want out. But… BUT! After thinking about what you told me and missing Minsoo this badly, I realized I never really wanted to give up. I’m his father now.”

Jiyeon stayed silent but she knew she already forgave him the moment they walked into the house. For some reason she can’t keep hating this guy, especially that this particular guy is not known for not caring about responsibilities. And she could tell in his eyes that he was being sincere.

“So, will you forgive me?”

She shrugged, “It’s not me who you’re supposed to be apologizing to. It’s Minsoo.”

“Yeah still, I did hurt you too. And we’re supposed to be partner’s right?”

“That’s okay. What’s important is that your back,” Jiyeon said and she actually meant it.

Hongki’s eyes lit up with hope, “So does that mean you’re forgiving me?”

“As long as you don’t forget your schedule on picking up Minsoo ag—“

She gasped even before finishing her sentence as to Hongki was already hugging her and leaping her up in the air easily, “Yes! Yes! Of course! Thank you! You don’t know how much I feel so relieved right now!”

“Okay, okay, I got it! Now put me down,” she yelped in between feeling her face flush with pink. But it finally progress to deep red when Hongki put her down and suddenly kissed her on the cheek, “Thanks again, geek! Here I got you some strawberries.”

Jiyeon gulped feeling her knees quiver as she watched Hongki leap his way to Minsoo, who was playing with his toys in the living room carpet. It was hot, really hot. She couldn’t even hear her own breathing because of how loud her heart was pumping. Or was she even breathing?

No, I know this feeling. This can’t happen, not with him again, she thought alarmed by her body’s reaction with the kiss. You can’t act like this, it’s just a simple kiss on the cheek nothing more. He was just happy he can be Minsoo’s father again.

Shaking her out from her trance, she heard Hongki snap his fingers, “Ah! I know what I could do.”

She didn’t respond but he wasn’t expecting her anyway.

“I’m taking you two to the zoo on Sunday!” he announced.

Yoona smiled to herself after eavesdropping on her best friend and Hongki’s conversation. Satisfied, she crept silently away from the porch and hauled a cab.

As the cab drove away she texted Jonghun: Good job on kicking out Hongki.

A few seconds later she received his reply: What are best friends for?

With that, she smiled to herself and sighed.

WOOOTTTSSSSSSS~ FT ISLAND'S COMEBACK AKSJDHFJKAHSDKFHAK!!! :DDDD SO YOU BOUGHT THE ALBUM ALREADY? KEKE~