“Hongbin-hyung!” I heard my name being called and looked behind me. A young blonde boy was running towards me and my mouth formed a smile.

    “Sanghyuk!” I called back, walking forward to meet him halfway. He hugged me when I got to him and we stayed like that for a few seconds. I had known Hyuk, as I called him, since we were little kids. We were in high school now and lucky for us, we had all our classes together. On the first day of school, we both quickly chose seats next to each other so we could talk throughout the long hours of school. He was the only person I really trusted although I had many other friends, but to me, Sanghyuk was the only one who actually understood everything about me.

    We walked to the cafeteria together, talking about the things that happened today in class. Many of the kids, to us, in our class, were pretty stupid. Not so much in intelligence wise, but in everything else. They would do the dumbest things and although it seemed rude, all we would do is laugh at them.

    The cafeteria was filled with kids as it usually is, but today everyone seemed much louder. I shrugged it off and continued to walk with my best friend to our regular table. Four other kids were already sitting there. Throughout our four years so far of high school, we met these four guys and a friendship blossomed. Hakyeon was the first boy. He died his hair different colors a lot and although he was the oldest, he was the most immature. Jaehwan was also there and sitting next to him was Hakyeon’s best friend, Taekwoon. Taekwoon always acted as if he hated Hakyeon, but the way they looked at each other when something happened, proved otherwise.

    On the other side was my second best friend, Wonshik, who liked to be called by his “stage name”, Ravi. He was an aspiring artist and loved to make music. He often wrote songs for the many girls who doted on him, but once they left him, he gave them to one of the guys in our gang, which at times, ended up being weird. 

    Hyuk and I sat down, throwing our lunch bags on the a table. Hakyeon started talking to us but we both ignored him, figuring it was as important as he was acting like it was. Taekwoon rolled his eyes a bit, obviously annoyed by his friend. Hyuk turned to me and smiled, holding his chopsticks in his hand. Hyuk was one of those kids whose mom still made him lunch for him. I made my own lunches since I was the only one living in my apartment.

    “So, remember that girl who said she liked me a few weeks ago?” Hyuk said. I nodded. Her name was Song Jihye. I never noticed her, since I didn’t care about girls too much, until she came up to Hyuk one day while we were talking. She cut our conversation and suddenly confessed to my friend. I didn’t like it one bit. It was rude to just come in between us like that and just say it out of nowhere. Believe me, I’m not jealous, I just didn’t trust her.

    “Well, today we agreed to go on a date. I’ve been talking to her for a while now and she’s really sweet. I think I may like her.” Hyuk said dreamily, thinking about Jihye. I shook my head. Young love. He only thinks he’s in love with her. Ravi, who was listening to the conversation, laughed lightly.

    “Wow, so our Hyukkie finally got a girl?” he asked. Hyuk smiled and nodded at him.

    “I thought it was just a date.” I commented, getting a bit upset for reasons unknown to myself. 

    “It is, but I may ask her out…” Hyuk trailed off, his cheeks starting to become red. I guess he was embarrassed because of his hyungs’ constant questions. I decided to drop the conversation and eat my lunch. Everyone on our side of the table suddenly became quiet until Hakyeon decided to inform us on his day so far.

---

    “Hey, Hongbin,” Ravi threw his arm around my shoulder as we were walking out of school together. Today we decided to skip study session after school, so we left earlier than many of the other kids. Hyuk stayed after for a little while since he said he wanted to study but later, around dinner time, he was going to go out with Jihye. “Want to go to the café?” Ravi asked. We always went to a café down the street from my house, called Star X. It was cute and small and perfect to just hang out in. Ravi met a lot of his girlfriends there and it’s also where he dumped a lot of them. He thinks he’s in love with these people, but he never really is. Another reason I don’t want to date-- it’s too confusing.

    When we arrived at Star X in a short time and ordered two coffee flavored bubble teas. We sat at our regular table in the corner and talked a bit.
    “So, are you jealous of Hyuk?” Ravi asked, taking a sip of his drink. I looked up, surprised. How could he think that I was jealous of Hyuk? Does he even know me?

    “Of course not. You know I’m not interested in girls.” I said, hiding a bit of harshness in my voice.

    “Me too.” Ravi responded. “I’m tired of all these girls. Too much drama.” I almost spit my drink out. Was what I was hearing even possible? Ravi giving up chasing girls?

    “You can’t be serious.” I looked at him, my eyes wide in shock. 

    “I am. I’m going to wait for the right person to come to me.” he explained. I started to laugh, unsure what to say. It was too unreal to actually be happening. Ravi was such a player, this was insane. He tilted his head at me, clutching tightly to his bubble tea. “Why are you laughing?” he questioned. I took a second to answer, unable to stop the laughter.

    “I just can’t imagine you, of all people, doing that.” I finally answered once I had called down. He squinted at me, seeming to be disappointed in my inability to accept his desire to change his ways. 

    “Well, it’s going to happen.” he spoke proudly. At the same time as I was surprised, I was also kind of happy. Ravi’s player ways was getting annoying and no one in our group of friends liked it. Every two weeks a new girl would come with Ravi to our table and no one would be very friendly to her. She would always complain to Ravi and that would be their first fight. 

    “I’m going to support you.” I smiled at him, showing my dimples. He smiled back and we continued our chat, changing the topic and sharing a few laughs, then reminding ourselves of Ravi’s bad girlfriends of the past. 

    We walked over to my apartment building after finishing our drinks. My door wouldn’t open when we got up to my room. It was normal since this building was old and my door was just one example of that. At last, after we both pushed with all our might, we got the door open. My apartment building at this time was not the cleanest although I tried my best. I hated dirty things but with the little amount of time I had for cleaning, it ended up getting messier than I hoped it to be. 

    “We should do our homework.” Ravi said as we got inside and put our bags down. I nodded and soon we were sitting at the small round table in my kitchen/living room. Papers were laid our all over the place as we worked together to do problems and try and organize the mess. 

    Two and an half hours passed and it was 6:00. Ravi had to go home so I was left alone with my thoughts. I thought about Hyuk and that girl, Jihye. I thought about how Ravi asked me if I was jealous and deep down inside, I think I was, but not of Hyuk, of Jihye.