Hoseok's POV

"I'm sorry, oppa."

Three words that made my heart sink. 

Seol and I sat in complete silence, unsure of what to say next. I could feel the amount of emotion around the two of us. I didn't know what to do. 

"Oppa?" 

I slowly brought myself back to my thoughts as Seol took my hands in hers. I tired my hardest not to look at her, knowing that I won't be able to hold myself together in front of her.

"Oppa... I do love you, but as a friend; just a friend. What I said to you, when I said I liked you... it... it was all true." I heard her sigh before she continued. "But... that was so long ago. I admit... that I did have feelings for you after you left, but--- I don't know... I... I just don't feel that way anymore."

Suddenly, I felt her hand come up to my face and onto my cheek. Surprised, I turned to her. She was smiling. But not her usual happy smile; more of a apologetic one. Before I knew it, I pulled her into my arms, hugging her with all my might. I could feel that she was trying to resist, but in the end, hugged me back. I could feel the tears slowly filling up my eyes, but I forced them down.

"Seol-ah."

"Hmmm, oppa?"

I pulled out of our hug before I kissed her gently on her cheek. "I will love you, no matter what. Now that I know your feelings, I can't force you to love me. I understand you. I... I'm also sorry for making you go through so much." I looked at Seol, tears steadily coming out. 

I chuckled as I took my thumb and wiped her tears away.

"We'll still be friends, right oppa?" 

"Yeah."

"Best friends?"

I chuckled. "Yeah. Nothing will change that."

We both sat there, in each other's arms, embracing one another. I mentally sighed, knowing that I couldn't do this for me, but for our friendship... my friendship with Seol. No matter how much I do love her, losing her because of my selfishness would bring me to an end.

"Seol-ah." I turned my head to find a tired Seol asleep on my chest. I smiled as I gently stood up. She did move a little, but went back to sleep. I covered her with a blanket from her room and kissed her forehead. I slipped on my jacket and quietly left through the front.

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A FEW WEEKS LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kai's POV

"YAH HAUNG ZITAO!" I ran after Tao after he took my wallet. Apparently, Kris hyung didn't want to buy him breakfast this morning, so he snatched my wallet. I finally caught up to him, but it was too late. He had already bought a sandwich, munching away. I sighed as I took my wallet out of his jeans and into mine. 

We were already at the front of the school. Chanyeol hyung was already inside doing who-knows-what. I had nothing to do, so I decided to wait for the other members outside. Unfortunately, Tao was the first one to show up. 

I took out my phone and plugged in my headphones. IT was still pretty cold outside, but  today seemed to be a little bit more warmer--- I don't know if it was hormones or stuff, but I felt surprisingly happy?

I decided to ditch Tao and head to my one place. 

The garden.

It's been a while since I've been here. The last time I was here was when I was still with...

Anyway, the garden seemed to be in a better condition after what Seol and I had done to it. It was a lot warmer in here since the garden was never touched from the outside air. I was actually sweating. I took off my coat and laid it on the ground. I followed right after. In the end, I was lying on my stomach, fiddling around with my phone. 

Suddenly, I felt as if I was being squished. I coughed a little, using energy to turn my body. When I did, I saw a familiar face before I smiled.

"Ah! Yah!" Seol tried to get up from where I pushed her off but I held her down with my leg. She blew on her bangs before looking at me. I smirked before I took off my headphones completely. 

"Yah, what are you doing? Do you sit on people for fun?" I questioned her as she scoffed.

"Ani-yo~" She giggled, which kinda made it hard for me to keep a straight face. "I just came and I decided to check up on the place before going to my dorm." 

"Ahhh, I see, me too." I nodded my head in understanding, when Seol turned her head to me. "Kai."

"Yeah?" 

"Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure."

"Can I call you by your real name... sometimes?"

I looked at her with confused eyes. "Why?"

"I... I don't know, it's just that I heard you introduce yourself to my mother as 'Kim Jongin'... and I just wanted to--- ahh, forget it."

"Why? Finish what you were saying." I nudged her arm slightly. "Nevermind."

I sighed. "You know, it's rude to not finish your words for someone else to understand. It's like a crime to our language!" I exaggerated the last part, just enough to make Seol chuckle and sigh. "It's just that... I feel that your real name is---"

"y like me?" Seol turned to look at me before giving her loudest scoff. "Yah, you wish."

"Oh, well..." I held my heart pretending to be hurt before she finished.

"It's just that your name sounds more natural than Kai. It sounds more like you."

I turned to her as did she to me. "It sounds more like me?" She nodded. "What do you mean?"

"It's just that when I first met you... you seemed to be more of a distant type of person, isolated from everyone. Back then, 'Kai' suited you. But as I got to know you, as we became friends, 'Jongin' sounded more like you..."

I took it all in, understanding every word she meant. She was right. 'Kai'... Kai was just like a stage name. It was put up for show. I guess I just let people call me that because I really didn't care, or stopped caring. But hearing my real name again, it sounded a bit unfamiliar, but it was still me.

"Kai?" I looked at Seol as she had been looking at me all this time. I smiled at her.

"It's Jongin to you ma'am." Seol smiled as she laughed. "Okay, Jongin-ah, let's get going shall we?"

 She stood up and held out one of her hands. I grabbed it as I put my coat back on. I acutally put all my stuff in the dorm already, so before Seol could fight back, I grabbed her suitcase and ran through the narrow entrance... with Seol running right after me.

Seol's (Your) POV

I was finally able to catch the same pace as Kai--- Jongin before I opened the doors to the girls dormitory.

"Oppa, you can't go up there, it's not allowed." All I got back was a smirk. "I won't get caught. And if I do, I'll just climb out of your window and onto the trees." 

"But---"

"Your room is 510 right?" I nodded as he dashed up the stairs. I sighed before I followed behind him. By the time I came up to the fifth floor, Jongin was leaning against the wall. "Yah, what took you so long?" I rolled my eyes as I took out my room key. I opened the door and let Jongin in before anyone could see him. 

"Seol-ah."

"Your room is huge."

"Of course it is. It's for three girls."

"Yes. And only for girls Kai."

I turned around to hear a familiar sound and before I knew it, my face was a smiling mess. "Hyoyeon unnie!!!!!"

I ran up to hug her as she opened her arms. "Unnie, I haven't seen you in so long!" I pouted as she smiled and patted my head. "Omo, Seol-ah, I'm sorry. I left school early to go back to America, all my family is there." "Ahhh. Unnie, part of my family is there too."  She smiled at me before I noticed that she wasn't looking at me anymore. I followed her gaze to... Jongin?!

"Unnie... do you know Jongin?" "Jongin, do you know Hyoyeon unnie?" I looked at them both simultaneously, neither of them saying a word. 

"Nice to see you again... noona." I looked up at Jongin and then to unnie. "It's been a while, huh, Jongin-ah?"

                             ​  **************Explaining blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...***************

"OMO. REALLY?!?!?!? Unnie... you and Jongin were best friends? But... what happened?" The other two looked at each other before Unnie spoke. "Ji Son happend..... EXO happened..... life happened." THe way unnie stated it was hard and cold. Jongin's gaze on her was no different. Though his gaze softened, knowing that it was true. I couldn't put up with this. Seeing two best friends fight for this long... it was a no-no. I quickly took each of their hands and gently made them hold hands. They tried to pull out, but with all my strength I held them together.

"Now... apologize to each other... speak to each other." They looked at me as if I was a walking piece of 'adorable' meat.  Of course, the didn't say anything to each other-- but I definitely knew that they wanted to say something to each other, they just needed a little push. I sighed as I let go of their hands and they quickly pulled apart. I went for my suitcase and pulled something out. With every amount of courage and energy I had left in my body, I lept at the two and pulled out my handcuffs and secured it around one of their arms and locked them. 

I got up from the floor. Though their glares brought me back down to kneel. "Okay look. My best friend and I would fight too, and if we didn't work out our problems, our parents would handcuff us together and make us take to each other... for forgivness. I now you both want to say something to each other, so let's make this easy and just say it okay?" 

Nothing was said. I sighed before climbing atop of my bed. "Best friends shouldn't be fighting. You know, we have all day and tomorrow afternoon to keep this up, so I suggest to start now."

Hyoyeon's POV

Silence went on for at least 3 hours. Kai and I both refused to talk to one another and Seol just sat there, waiting for us to say something. She eventually fell asleep, watching our ever ending silence. It was such a long time that I was handcuffed to this guy and I eventually heard my stomach calling out for food. I mentally cursed at myself. I turned to Kai, who seemed to have heard it too. He slowly stood up and took something out for his coat.

Choco-pie.

I felt him nudge my elbow. "Here... eat this." Being the stubborn person I am, I refused. "No thanks."Kai sighed as he tried again. Still I refused. He eventually gave up and just threw the thing on my lap before looking away.

"...I don't know why you left."

I slowly made my way to face Kai, as did he. "What?"

"I don't know why you left Korea... for America." I scoffed. "I moved because my dad's business got transferred to America... and besides, I don't even know why you are questioning me, when I should be questioning you."

"What?" Once again, I scoffed. "Don't act stupid Kim Jongin, you know what I mean... why did... did you leave me behind?" Kai looked at me. I gathered my broken courage and kept speaking. "Why did you leave me behind? For members, for Ji Son? Why did you just abandon me?" 

"I....I.... I don't know." "Of course you don't."

"Yah, Hyoyeon-ah, you know it's not what you think." "Oh really Kai?! Because I really don't know what I'm thinking right now! You... you left me alone. We were best friends, and you left me for them-- you didn't even introduce me... you... you abandoned me." Before I knew it, Tears were all over the place. Never in my life had I been this angry and upset at the same time. I was then taken away from my thoughts as Kai wiped the tears away, just like how her used to."

"I'm sorry." He started off by saying. "I'm sorry that I never introduced you to the the members, I'm sorry that I didn't trust your words about Ji Son, but mainly, I'm sorry for abondoning you... I never meant toy hurt you."

"Yeah? Well, you kinda did." I heard him slightly chuckle. "Yeah, I know. I guess I was selfish. I thought that if I would introduce you to the other members, I thought that you would like them more than me... that you won't be my best friend anymore. I never meant to leave you. The day you left was the day I came to apologize, but you were gone. At first, I blamed myself for it but then, I started to blame you... because you left me too." 

I looked onto his eyes through my puffy ones and smiled. Jongin smiled back. 

"I'm sorry Kim Jongin".

"I'm sorry Kim Hyoyeon." 

At that moment, we both felt a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders as we hugged each other. Just then, another two arms hugged us. We separated to see Seol with her bed head joining the hug as well. "I told you so." We smiled at her. 

Seol eventually took of the handcuffs and I hugged her. "Thank you Seol-ah." "Your're welcome unnie."

Because we took so long to forgive each other, it was already dinnertime. Jongin thought that it would be a good time to finally introduce me to the members. He waited outside as Seol and I changed. We walked out and into the large cafeteria. The exo members saw us walking and waved. Kai gave me and Seol a seat. 

We were in the midst of eating and talking and Kai cleared his throat for s attention. "Ahem. Everyone. I would like you to meet my one and only best friend... Kim Hyoyeon."

****************** Hello everyone! I'm back! I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to upload for a while now. Hopefully, this chapter would be a start to help dear readers. Oh! Sepaking of readers, I would like to sincerely thank all the newly support I have gotten for this story, thank you very much for subscribing to me ^.^

Anyway, I have been very busy with my school life, with midterms all over the place. Also, I would also like to give a shout-out to my mother: Happy Birthday Mommy~ Ehhhh. I kinda find it funny that I'm saying happy birthday here, knowing that she can't read it anyway. Soooo, thank you all gain, and hopefully, I'll 'see' you again in my next update~~~**********************