A month living in the same house and being in the same class with Yoo Youngjae, and Daehyun still couldn’t figure out much about the said boy. He’s strange and unpredictable at its best, with his constant swap between the cold city boy and the fanboy mess. At first Daehyun had seen him as this one-dimentional kid who liked to be popular, but apparently he wasn’t that simple. He’s not like Himchan, who enjoyed being known by many and made a lot of friends –heck, Youngjae hadn’t made a single friend in highschool. He have a lot of fangirls—and maybe a few fanboys, but not a single friend. He’s this aloof kid whom people avoid to get close to.

He’s also unlike Yongguk, who is popular because of his dedication. People respect him –boys and girls, because he’s a role model figure to many. Even with his scary and stoic appearance people still loved him and longed to be him. Youngjae? The only thing in his mind was BAP, BAP, and how to go to BAP’s gigs and buy their merchandise. He refused to work up a sweat for others because it sounds like too much of a hassle.

And of course he’s also completely different from Daehyun, who is popular eventhough he’s clearly never wished for that. Youngjae wanted to be popular –he needed to be popular. He always double checked his look before coming to school –even wearing the contacts that he despised, he studied extra hard every night so he will get the best score in their grade, he sealed all his true self and put that fake persona just to make sure that people admire him. Yet, he refused to be surrounded by his so-called fans and ‘enjoy’ his popularity.

It was as if all he wanted to be is untouchable.

Well, who knows? No one knows exactly what in the freak is Yoo Youngjae, and so does he.

“Daehyun-ah, I have something to show you!”

Daehyun paused his absent-minded strumming, and turned his head. Mrs. Yoo was standing by his doorstep wearing her excited look. She held something in her hand, a photo album?

“What is that, aunty? You can come in...”

She seated herself in his bedside. It was indeed a photo album, and a seemingly old one.

“So, I found this while cleaning up the storage room.” She opened the first page, a gentle smile crept on her beautiful feature. There was a big photograph of two laughing families, her and his family. “It has been such a long time, remember when you come over to have barbeque with us?”

In the photo, the younger version of the two dads were grinning to the camera, with their wives among them. Mrs. Yoo’s hand was draped loosely in her mother’s shoulder. In front of them, two little kids smiled happily, one of them holding the other’s arm tightly. It was him, and apparently, Youngjae.

He finally remembered Youngjae’s face when they were still a child. He was chubby, and his eyes shining with thrill. His soft black hair swaying everywhere everytime he shook his head, or run, or doing just anything with such excitement. He was such a cute kid, how could Daehyun actually forget about him?

“Look at how close you two back then! Gezz... both of you were literally inseparable. You would follow Youngjae everywhere, and so does he. He cried soo much when you moved to Busan.”

And he also cried a lot at that time.

He remembered it now, how much he cried when he thought he wouldn’t be able to see his favorite friend again. Then why did he suddenly forget everything about their childhood? Did time really have that kind of effect in human’s memory? Strange.

They went on with looking at the album, laughing as they reminiscent about the past. It gave Daehyun such a warmth inside, he suddenly missed the old time. “We should do it again some times...” He said with a smile, and Mrs. Yoo nodded slightly, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

When she was about to close the album, a photograph suddenly fell. Daehyun picked it, he scruched his face unintentionally when he saw whose it was. “Is this really Yongjae?”

Mrs. Yoo gave it a slide glance. “Yeah, it was him in middle school. Such a geeky kid, right?”

Youngjae indeed looked a bit geeky. He was chubby in this certain photograph –even a little fat. He wore a round glasses, his hair was a mess –a complete opposite with his current self. And he looked somehow devastated.

Taking another look at the photograph, a theory suddenly formed in his head.

Well, maybe it wasn’t that complicated. Maybe Youngjae was just a really normal teenager, and he had a problem like everyone else. A problem that Daehyun might actually understand.

*****

“Hey, hyung!”

Daehyun greeted Himchan, who was standing impatiently in front of a departement store. He had agreed on accompanying Himchan to shop earlier, but he had somehow overslept. “Sorry for the wait, I overslept...”

“Aissh, you good-for-nothing dongsaeng, let’s go! The sale begin in ten minutes!!” Himchan dragged him into the big department store. After he refused his offer to be the student council secretary, Himchan hadn’t give up on Daehyun. He had made it his goal to coax the younger into joining. That’s why, after that Himchan had frequently forced him to hang out together –mostly with Yongguk tagging along— and somehow becoming friends in the process. Now, when Yongguk failed to accompany the diva then it somehow become Daehyun’s responsibillity.

“For a man, your fondness of shopping is a bit extreme...”

“Don’t bring gender into something like this, fashion is as important to guys as it is to girls!” Himchan retorded. “Don’t you learn anything while climbing up into the top three at our school?”

Daehyun rolled his eyes. Himchan seemed to be the only one interested in this popularity business. He’s almost obsessed with it. “It’s such a given to have that face of yours, you didn’t even need to try and suddenly BAM! you’re this popular guy that everyone knows about!”

“It’s not like I enjoy it....” He mumbled under his breath. “Why are you so excited by all this popularity stuffs, hyung?”

Himchan briefly stopped, and looked at him with questioning look “It’s interesting isn’t it? I mean, you got to know a lot of people, and they’ll treat you nicely?”

“But the keep bothering me....” Daehyun sighed. His classmates had been treating him normally after a few weeks had passed, but then the other students pestered him in exchange. Girls keep sending him letters and gifts, and it bothers him a lot.

Himchan patted his shoulder, “You’ll enjoy it when you stop minding about it too much...”

“But...”

“Aish, learn from Yongguk or that Youngjae kid! They’re popular as hell but they don’t even care! Just stop whining and come with your hyung... the department store needs our attention!”

Daehyun scoffed but still came along. Well, maybe Himchan was right. He just needed to stop caring about such trivial things.

*****

It has been two hours already, and Daehyun believed that Himchan had brought half the thing avaliable in the store, but no one could actually stop the fashionista. Daehyun kept glancing at his watch, he was bored to death. Could someone please come and save him?

As if heaven had heard his prayer, he suddenly spotted a certain someone in a bookstore not far from where he was standing. He wasn’t the best option, but practically anyone would be better than Himchan in this kind of situation.

He sneaked out of the clothing store and approached the black-haired boy. He never knew Youngjae liked to read.

“Hey!”

Youngjae jumped in surprise and glared at him. “Aish, why are you always appear so suddenly! Are you a ninja?”

Daenyun just flashed him a wide grin. “Maybe? What are you doing here?”

“Me? I’m playing soccer in a freaking bookstore. Isn’t that obvious?”  Daehyun opted to ignore the sarcasm. They were now standing in the comic section.

“Do you like to read manga?” The image of the geeky kid from the photograph suddenly appeared in his head.

“Yup, but it was supposed to be a secret....”

At this point, it was not a surprise anymore for Daehyun. The younger apparently thought that everything which are parts of his real self weren’t cool enough.

“Then why do you buy it so openly like this? Can you like, online shopping or something?”

“Well, just because....”

Both went silent. Daehyun keep glancing back and forth between the comic book in his hand and Youngjae, he was dreading to ask something from a while ago.

“What? Just say it already...”

Well, is he really that easy to read?

“Did you get bullied in middle school?” He blurted it out in an instant, and suddenly regretted his action. Youngjae’s expression was a mix of horror and disbelief. Did he say something wrong?

Fortunately, his expression soon went back to normal. Almost blank. “I did. How did you know?”

“Well....” Daehyun scratched the back of his head. “It’s a lucky guess?”

“Ohh...”

Now, the silence was ankward.

“I was bullied... by the girls.” Daehyun never thought that Youngjae would actually open up about this to him. “Well, I was fat and ugly, and I’m a geek who liked manga, games and all. Then I liked this pretty girl from my class and confessed, of course she turned it down. Then after that the girls keep making fun of me...and it just escalated after that.” His tone was casual, but his hand trembling ever so slightly. It must’ve been hard.

“That’s why I changed! You keep asking me why I keep pretending right? It is the answer. I want to change so I wouldn’t get bullied again. My personality wasn’t something that I could change for people.... that’s why I act like a cold and distant guy, but I also make sure that everyone would love and admire me. That way, I won’t get bullied but I wouldn’t need to force myself into hanging with annoying people –which are almost everyone in our school.”

Daehyun didn’t know what to say, he had guessed almost everything correctly, but to hear it directly from Youngjae was a whole new experience. And not to mention the look in his eyes; he was sad.

“I—...”

“You don’t need to feel sorry. You’re the first one to know about this –even I didn’t tell my mom. You should feel honoured! Hahaha”

He couldn’t bring himself to laugh along with the younger. It was too painful to look at.

“Yah, Youngjae-ah...”

“Is that really Yoo Youngjae?!”

He was about to say some random comforting words when suddenly three girls with too much make up on appeared from around the corner, and practically yelled at them. For some reason, Youngjae’s body instantly tensed. He nervously looked down –and believe him when he said it, Yoo Youngjae never looked down.

“Yah! It’s true! It’s Yoo Youngjae.... Woah, he had changed soo much!”

Daehyun didn’t like the way those girls pointed at Youngjae like a group of vultures, circlyng around him like he’s some kind of a rare animal.

“Look at him! Where’s the fat kid went to?”

“Did you get plastic surgery, Youngjae?”

It was unusual for Youngjae to keep silent after getting insulted like that, or for him to actually seemed...afraid. The sudden realization hit Daehyun like a shock wave. Those girls must be Youngjae’s friends from middle school, that was the most likely explanation. What a bad coincidence...

“Wahh....they could really do something like this huh?”

Daehyun unconciously clenched his fist, he felt the anger boiling up inside his chest. These girls irritated him even more than his loud fans. How could they say something like that to Youngjae, after what they had done to him before?

“Who are you guys?”

He step forward and put his arm around Youngjae protectively. He could feel the younger's body shakes lightly under his grip. “Do you actually know my Youngjae?”

The girls looked at him with a blatant amazement, half for his look and half for how he had called Youngjae ‘his’.

“W-well....who are you?” The girl with the long, curly hair blinked her eyelashes repeatedly, shamelessly tried to flirt with him.

“I think it’s not your business.” Daehyun tighten his grip on Youngjae,  “but it seems like you’ve mistaken him with someone else. My Youngjae had always been perfect from the start” He didn’t miss the envious glares that those girls throw at Youngjae, but the slight smile that appeared in Youngjae’s face was  more than enough to ensure him that he was doing something right.

Leaving the still shocked girls behind, he led Youngjae away from the scene with a happy grin.

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Fyuuh....I'm updating this again! Yeyy~

I felt really sorry for my other fic (Kidnapping Plan) but that fic had entered the difficut part

And I was a bit hesitant about a lot of things -i know i'm useless hahahaha

Well I hope this is interesting enough! >___<

So...enjoy! And thanks for commenting, it made me realllyyyy happy ^^