The boy sitting in front of them, smiling non-stop with his cute little eyes, was extraordinarily cute like a puppy, Himchan concluded. Junhong—Baby-Z’s real name— introduced them to Jongup, his self-acclaimed favorite hyung,  who happened to be a hacker—despite that he appears to be all muscle and biceps.

“So, this is Jongup-hyung, Jongup-hyung this is....” Junhong seemed at lost in describing the mismatched group. “...my popular sunbae from school.” They exchanged awkward greetings, except of course, Himchan.

“Aigooo, what happens with the world today? Cuties here and there....” He (un)gracefully hugged the two youngest in the group, and they both grimaced while Yongguk sadly facepalmed. “Look, Gukkie! Their skin is smooth like a baby!”

Yongguk pulled Himchan by his back collar so he can stop harassing the innocent kids. “Stop it, you’re embarassing us...”

“So, back to the main problem...” Daehyun, who was ignoring the bickering elder in the background, scooted nearer to Jongup and his computer. “Will you help us? And How?”

“I’ll hack into her account and poff! We’ll know her identity!”

“He’s a very talented hacker, this will be a piece of cake for him!” The ramen-haired boy patted his friend’s hair as if he was a puppy.

So, with both the oldest still bickering on the background, Daehyun spent the next fifteen minutes staring at the computer screen, who was full of numbers and words which he didn’t understand. While at it, his hands aimlessly played with Youngjae’s hair, who sat in the chair in front of him, fairly unamused. “Hey, if you find out who is it... What will you do?” Daehyun asked, curious.

“I don’t know...” Youngjae absent-mindedly answered. He had been quiet for some times, Daehyun didn’t know whether it was because of all these new people or something was currently bugging the younger’s head.

“Really? I mean, don’t you want to kick some ?”

“I don’t do violent, Daehyun....”

“HAHA. Funny, Youngjae...”

He got kicked in the shin. “See?” He begrudgingly remarked.

“I can’t, there is a huge probability that it’s a girl... I have a reputation to hold, okay?”

“A reputation as an arrogant ice prince, it is....”

A smack in the head. “Stop being so violent, Youngjae!”

“You’re the one asking for that...”

“I’m still y—“

“EHEM”

Both stopped their argument and turned their head to face Jongup, who was still happily smiling at them. “Sorry to interrupt your love quarrel, but I think we have a name and a face to recognize...”

Daehyun quickly looked at the screen, and the other followed suit. Jongup had somehow accessed the private email of their school’s homepage. “I recognized that everyone from your school use the school’s email. So I hacked into her account in the forum and made my way to her email account and straight to her official bio in the school archieve.”

Honestly, no one cared about–or understood—all those things Jongup had said.

“I don’t know her...” Junhong gave up. “She is not a freshman.”

“I don’t know either...” Yongguk chimed in.

“Me too....” Himchan agreed.

However, Daehyun KNEW this girl. Even he, who was pathetic with names and faces, knew this girl. He anxiously looked at Youngjae, whose face a mix of disbelief and dismay...

“Youngjae-ah...”

*****

The empty hallway shone with the reddish glow of the sun kissing its surface. The muted conversations were coming from the faraway side of the building, where some students were still busy preparing for the upcoming festival. This side of the structure though, was deserted. The silence was only interrupted by the occasional footsteps coming from the room at the end of the hallway.

Youngjae stood in front of the announcement board, absentmindedly looking at the posters lining up on the 4 x 4 metres blackboard, wanting his attention. The culture festival’s poster was a bright and cheerful piece of paper sticking up like a sore tumb—but in a good way, if that’s possible—

“It’s pretty....” He said as a certain black-haired girl approached the board. She was about to put another yellow colored poster on the other side of the board.

“Yeah... your sketch helps a lot...” She muttered quietly, not looking at Youngjae.

“Well, that was nothing. The graphic editing is the one who made it looks so good.” Youngjae smiled and turned his head to look at her, she bit her lips as she struggled to pin the poster to the black surface. Youngjae swifted his gaze to the poster again as silence engulfed the two of them. The girl was already done with the poster. She stood there for a minute, contemplating between staying or not.

“I—“ Youngjae said—half shouted— as the girl started to walk away. Her back facing him as he changed his position to fully address her. “I got all your messages... Minah-ah” He added.

The girl, Minah, stopped on her track. Her back stiffened.

“I... I got it all.”

Another silence.

“So, what?” Her voice was restrained. Her hands curled into a fist, trembling.

“I—“

“What will you do then? Report me to the teacher?”

Youngjae didn’t know. He didn’t know what to do. All of his anger was gone with the unveiled truth, completely replaced by curiosity.  “Or do you want to tell the whole school about that?” She was afraid, Youngjae knew that much. But she won’t let it show through her voice.

“I just want to know...” Youngjae finally said. “Why?”

She laughed at that. “Why? You asked me why?” Minah then turned to face him, her face burning red. Partly from embarassment, partly from anger. “You asked me why? Why not, huh?”

“I thought that you were....” He weakly said.

“YES! Yes I am Yoo Youngjae, I was and still am your fan. One of your first.” Her voice shook from all the emotions that finally out of its bag. “And that’s why... that’s why....”

“Why?” Really. Why? If she was—and is—his fan. Then what was all of that hatred messages? It didn’t make sense. If she is his anti, or Daehyun’s fan.... that would be an acceptable story. But this? What the hell was all this nonsense?

“Because I’m your fan...” She was about to cry. “I knew you even before everyone else... Even before everyone started to gather around you: I already noticed you. And I had enough of trying to get closer to you, I accepted the fact that you’re this unreacheable star that I’ll just admire from afar. I stopped trying to get your attention or trying to befriend you...”

“Then Daehyun happened. Then you suddenly became friendly with him. You, Yoo Youngjae, suddenly are friends with everybody! Why Youngjae, why?”

She was now crying. Her tear-streaked face gave Youngjae this funny knot in his stomach.

“Why... why do you have to change when I already gave up on you? Why can’t I befriend you when Daehyun can? Why is it so unfair?” Her voice got weaker and Youngjae still couldn’t found his own. He would never have guessed...

And before he could even say a word the girl had stormed off of the scene.

 *****

Daehyun peeked at the dark room, and spotted a lump on the bed. His face litted by the dim light of the laptop. Youngjae had insisted on coming to school alone and confronts the girl on his own. But by the way he slumped when he got home, it seemed that nothing went well.

“Hei...” He opened the door slowly, the other boy only looked at him briefly before staring back at his laptop.

Daehyun went inside and sat on his bedside. “You okay?”

A hum was all that he got.

“You can tell me you know, the story how you kick that girl’s !” He tried to laugh it off as if it’s funny, but seeing Youngjae’s reaction he clearly wasn’t amused. “Seriously, Yoo Youngjae. If you gonna act like a dead rag after knowing that you have an anti, you’re simply pathetic.”

“She’s not...” He mumbled.

“What? I can’t hear you?”

“She’s not....”

“What?”

“SHE IS NOT AN ANTI YOU KETTLE-EAR!” Youngjae jumped from his position and screamed right through Daehyun’s ear.

“Dammit Youngjae! I don’t want to be deaf yet!” He scolded, but smiled anyway. “So, ready to tell me your story?”

Youngjae sighed, knowing that this time Daehyun wouldn’t give up. “She’s my fan.... and, I don’t know but... she said that she did it because I suddenly became friendly with people and she thinks it’s unfair...”

“Well, you know how fangirl is... They are crazy sometimes...” Daehyun tried to sooth him by patting the younger’s head affectionately.

“I know, but... they have feelings...”

“What did you mean?”

“I always thought that fangirls are... fangirls. I mean, they’re noisy and annoying. I never thought that they do have feelings. That when I act cold like that, I hurt them. I hurt their feelings Daehyunnie. And I never knew....”

Daehyun kept silent. Giving the younger all the time he wanted to talk, “I was so selfish. I thought that by doing that, I can keep myself from getting hurt. But I’m doing something that I hate the most. I hate to get hurt, but I hurt people. And... and.... It hurts me....”

“That girl, Minah... she was wrong, but I was also in the wrong... I always thought that it’s okay to distance myself. It’s okay to shut people out. I never knew that I can hurt people by doing that. She only wants to be my friend, or well, she only wants to know me maybe. And I shut her out like the rest of them and... I don’t know Daehyunnie. I don’t know...”

Youngjae had never looked so vulnerable. He was always this stubborn kid who knows exactly what he wants. But this Youngjae, he’s lost and confused. Daehyun had never thought that the day when this boy in front of him breaks will actually come. It actually hurts him.

“It’s okay Youngjae-ah....” He pulled him into a hug. “It’s okay...”

The body in his embrace shook his head. “It’s not...”

“No, it’s okay. We’re human. We hurt and get hurt. Relationships.... whatever that is, is fragile. The bonds between humans are fragile. That’s why in the process of learning how to bond with people, we get hurt and hurt them. It’s perfectly okay because it shows that you’re human. You may hurt her, and many other girls, but that’s not the end. You’re still learning, just like I’m still learning, to build a bond with people. It’s only a part of that learning process..... ”

Youngjae sniffed.

“It’s okay... we just have to do better tomorrow...” Daehyun hugged the bundle in his hands a little tighter. “You know? Like... starts to greet people, and smile a little or you’ll get wrinkles in your face, and treats me to a lot of good restau—OUCH”

A jab in the rib wasn’t a good thank-you note.

“Yoo Youngjae how dare you!”

Daehyun crushed Youngjae’s body with his hug, and the boy struggled and asked for his mercy and laughed.

A laugh that maybe Daehyun kinda missed to hear....

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I'm still alive! *BB Still Alive plays in the background*

Sorry for not updating for long, life's and well....this arch kind of give me a little WB

I don't know how to end this part of the story, and still wasn't sure about this one....

I hope you guys didn't mind my crappy closure to the Youngjae's Stalker Arch *if that's even a thing....

AFTER THIS! A more fluffy happy-go-lucky arch of culture festival will comeeee *if that's even a thing anyway....

OH IM SO SORRY AND THANK YOU FOR STICKING UP TO THIS ;____________; #SOBS

PS: I'm mybrokenshoes on Tumblr if someone wants or maybe chat with me *shameless self-promo*