After a good thirty minutes of ranting about your awful day to your best friend, Kyungsoo, you stopped to take a couple of deep breaths. It honestly felt like you just ran a marathon, when in reality you were just letting out your emotions because you were frustrated over the fact that your teacher had given you the wrong grade in class. It may have seemed a little dumb, but you were only five points away from an A, and you had noticed how the teacher had actually incorrectly graded your test.

And the teacher wouldn’t even change the grade at all because he was simply too rude to do so.

“And I just, I can’t take it!” you rambled on. “That would literally be my first and only A that I’ve ever gotten in that class and now he won’t even fix it! Don’t you think that’s ridiculous, Kyungsoo?”

You waited for Kyungsoo’s input, but all you got was a blank stare from him. He blinked a few times and took a sip from his cup of coffee, but that was about it.

“Kyungsoo!” You banged the table with your fist lightly and looked him straight in the eyes. “Give me some advice, please! I’ve been ranting for a good thirty minutes and all you’re giving me is that stare!”

He let out a sigh and neatly folded his hands together. He honestly looked like an irritated parent that was about to give a long lecture to their dumb little kid.

“Well,” he began. “Maybe you actually did get the question wrong, but you’re just blaming it on your teacher. As much as you probably don’t believe it, teachers aren’t all that mean enough to refuse to grade your paper again if they made a mistake.”

“Kyungsoo! But I checked the paper like five times and then looked in the textbook!”

“Maybe your vision is failing you.”

“KYUNGSOO!” You paused for a second to inhale deeply, not wanting to freak out on him in the middle of a public coffee shop. He was truly a your friend, but at times that boy just always got under your skin and you couldn’t take it. “Can’t you actually be on my side for once, please?” you asked him with a pout. “You never agree with me on anything!”

He shrugged. “You tend to be wrong the majority of the times in an argument.”

“No, I have my moments.”

“I don’t recall any.”

“You are a pain in the , Kyungsoo. I hope you know that.” You took the last sip from your drink and stood up to go throw it away. “Absolute worst,” you added shortly after under your breath.

At your words, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but crack a smile. “I hate you,” he said.

When you reached the trashcan, you plastered a smile on your face and waved. “Hate you too, buddy.”

The next day at school, you gave up on the idea of talking to your teacher. After Kyungsoo’s little lecture, you decided to just let it go and say that your teacher knows what he’s doing.

But on the inside, you still couldn’t let it go. You really wanted that A.

“Hey, why are you looking all sad?”

You looked up and saw your smiling friend, Jongdae by your side. He always seemed to be in a good mood, despite the situation. Unlike Kyungsoo, who was just moody all the time.

“I was five points away from an A on my test yesterday,” you explained to him as you continued to walk down the hallway to your first class. “And I’m pretty sure that the teacher gave me the wrong grade, but after Kyungsoo talked to me yesterday, I just kinda gave up.”

Jongdae followed your steps down the hall since he had first period with you this morning. When you finished your explanation, he furrowed his eyebrows and said, “Kyungsoo?”

You nodded. “Yeah, he pretty much convinced me that the teacher was most likely right, and I’m wrong.”

“Well I think you should still go and do something about your grade. If you feel that strongly about it, then you have to be right.”

You smiled; at least somebody was on your side. It felt good to know that maybe there was a possibility of getting your grade up.

“Here.” Jongdae took a step to the side closer to you and grabbed your hand. You were surprised by his gesture, but then you noticed how he was steering you in the direction of the class you were in yesterday, the one where you felt you were unfairly graded. “If you’re not going to go talk to your teacher, than I will! You deserve a better grade!”

Finally the two of you had approached the classroom door and stood outside awkwardly. Glancing at your watch, you saw that you had a good ten minutes before first period started. Just enough time to go in and talk with your teacher.

Jongdae noticed that you weren’t moving and sighed. “Come on,” he whined. “Go in there, I can go with you if you want.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.” You smiled at him and pulled him in for a hug. “Thanks, Jongdae. You’re the best.”

Jongdae grinned and hugged you back. “No problem. Now get in there and fix your grade!” He leaned forward, opened the door for you, and pushed you inside.

Just a few feet away, Kyungsoo was stationed right by the water fountain, watching the entire scene. He wiped away the water that was on his lips and blinked several times.

He knew Jongdae very well. They were really good friends, in fact. But for some reason right there, he just really didn’t like the image of you hugging Jongdae like that. He didn’t like that you were smiling at him like that with your eyes shining bright. There should be only one person you should be acting that way to.

And it should be him.

“What?” Kyungsoo scratched his head and tried to think about what he just went through in his mind. Was he…was he actually jealous of Jongdae? Because of you? “No way…” he mumbled. “No, I don’t like her. She’s just my friend. And an annoying one at that.” He snorted and started to walk off into the other direction, abandoning you and Jongdae.

He still, however, didn’t hesitate to keep a careful eye on the two of you as you left.

About an hour later, you found yourself sitting at the library, looking into every single textbook on history that you could study from. Turns out, your teacher still wouldn’t change your grade, but he did offer to let you take the test again.

This goal to get an A had driven you towards endless study for your entire free period. There was nothing stopping you from hitting those books.

“What about these ones, _____?” You friend Kai pulled out a beaten textbook from the shelf and held it in front of him.

You scanned the title and shook your head. “Wrong subject, Kai. That’s geometry, I’m studying for history.” You chuckled at his little mistake.

“Oh.” Kai’s face flushed and he shoved the book back in the shelf. “I’ll continue looking for you.” He sauntered over to the other aisle of books and continued searching.

You continued to chuckle softly as you looked back down at the textbook that was wide open in front of you. You were just about to finish the last sentence on the page when you heard somebody plop down on the seat across from you pretty loudly.

You gazed up and saw Kyungsoo staring at you with that famous blank expression of his. You set your pencil down and nodded at him. “Can I help you?” you asked.

“What did your history teacher say about your grade?” he asked quickly.

“Oh, I thought you didn’t care about my grade anymore. I thought you said that the teacher would be right.” You grinned, knowing that this little bickering would get on his nerves.

“Well, what did he say?”

You picked up your pencil again and went back to focusing on your book. “He wouldn’t change the grade, but thanks to Jongdae, he convinced my teacher to let me take it again.”

“Jongdae convinced him?” Kyungsoo asked in bewilderment.

You nodded. “Yeah, he’s a good friend. Unlike you.” You stuck out your tongue and flipped the page.

“Jongdae’s annoying,” Kyungsoo scoffed. He didn’t like it at all that you seemed to always talk about Jongdae whenever you were with Kyungsoo. All you ever talked about was Jongdae and how amazing he was.

“Why are you so mean to him?” you asked.

“I’m not. Why are you so defensive over him.”

“Um, maybe because I’m his friend and I don’t like it when people are rude to him for no reason?”

“Yeah, or maybe you have feelings for him or something. Maybe that’s it.”

You laughed out loud and nearly threw your pencil across the room. What the heck was his problem today? He seemed to be getting irritated by the simplest things.

“I don’t have feelings for Jongdae,” you finally said. “He’s just a friend. And if you don’t believe me, you can go ask him.”

“I don’t want to ask him anything,” he said stubbornly. Kyungsoo zipped open his backpack and searched for his textbook. He wouldn’t really even bother looking inside his textbook, the only reason he came to the library was because he heard you were in there….from none other than Jongdae.

“_______!” Kai called from the aisle of books. “I think I found your textbook!” He happily trudged out of the aisle carrying a heavy textbook in his hands. He set the book on the table in front of you and smiled wide. “I got the right one, right?”

You nodded and thanked him. “You worked hard, Kai. Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.” Kai sat down in the seat next to you and offered to help you study by quizzing you. You gingerly agreed and slid the book down to Kai, so that he can read you the questions.

Kyungsoo sat there and stared at you guys intently. Why did you basically just ignore him and turn all your attention to Kai? Why didn’t you ask him to quiz you instead of Kai? Why was he even having these thoughts at all?

“I’m leaving,” Kyungsoo announced and stuffed his belongingness inside his backpack. He angrily zipped up the bag and stalked away.

“No need to announce it, I don’t think anybody really cared,” you chimed with a joking matter.

Kyungsoo stopped at the door and looked back at you. “I hate you,” he said.

“I love you too, Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo felt his heart leap at your words. Whether you meant them or not, he didn’t know, but what he did know was that they had meant something to him.

When Kyungsoo got home that same day, he threw his backpack on the floor and went to go sit on his bed. He needed time to think over his strange behaviors today. It didn’t make sense why he got so easily jealous over the stupidest things.

“________, ________, _________, ________,” He said your name over and over again as if it had hidden answers in it.

And then, after a good twenty minutes, he realized some things.

He loved your little rants that you let out all the time.

He loved the way you’d force your eyes shut whenever you got frustrated.

He loved how whenever you smile, your eyes always seemed to shine bright as well.

He loved how you were always so determined on something and you never gave up until you got what you wanted.

Most importantly, he loved you.

As soon as he realized this, he didn’t need to think about anything else. He immediately bolted out the door and ran straight to your house.

It took him a good ten minutes to get there, considering that you lived only down the block. It was practically below freezing point, but he didn’t care. He had to tell you.

When he got to your door, he knocked endlessly until you answered the door.

“I’m coming!” You called as soon as you heard the knocking. You quickly ran downstairs and opened the door to reveal and breathless Kyungsoo standing there. “Oh hey, what’s up?”

“______, I need to tell you something.”

“O-Okay, go ahead. Come inside though, you’re gonna freeze to death.” You grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside, shutting the door behind you. “So, what’s-“

“You were right,” he cut you off and looked you straight in the eyes. “You were right.”

“About what?”

“I was jealous.”

You were taken back. “Wait, what?”

“______, I like you. Like…a lot.”

“Kyungsoo,-“

“Wait, no, no that’s not right.” He started pacing back in forth in the room, talking to himself quietly and trying to figure it out. “No, ______ I love you. And I know this may seem really odd and uncomfortable to you, but I had to say it. I just realized it and I just had to say it. I love you, ______.”

You froze and stared at him. You could tell that it must’ve taken him a while to notice that he had these feelings for you. And you could also tell how incredibly nervous he was at the moment.

There was a silence that fell over the two of you then. It lasted about three minutes until you decided to break it. “It took you long enough to notice,” you said.

“Wait, what?”

“Every single time I said ‘I hate you’, I meant ‘I love you’. And every single time I said ‘I love you’,” you stepped forward and closed the gap between the two of you. “I meant it,” you whispered.

“Really?”

You smiled and nodded. “Really.”

Kyungsoo stood there and blinked. “So…do we like… kiss now or something?”

“Oh my goodness, you awkward child.” You did what both of you wanted to do at that moment, and finally closed the gap between the two of you by placing your lips on his. “I hate you,” you said with a smile as you pulled away.

Kyungsoo smirked. “I hate you more.”