warning: it's second part of flashback 

Chapter 23: Second best.

Seunghyun thought he couldn’t make it without his father’s money, but he got a place to live in Hyunseung’s floor and a job as bartender in a bar near to the building, he didn’t have to travel far for work and had plenty of time in the morning to write things.

On the other hand, Hyuna made the cooking and cleaning, she was like a perfect wifey for Hyunseung. When she had spare time, she spent it drawing.

One day she found Seunghyun sleeping on the couch of the living room and she drew him.

Seunghyun felt someone was looking at him, he woke up and when he found Hyuna so close, he cried out in shock.

“Seunghyun oppa! It’s me!” she replied.

“What are you doing?!” Seunghyun hugged the cushion tightly.

“I was…” she blushed “I was drawing you…” she showed her notebook to him.

“Wow, you drew this?!” Seunghyun exclaimed in surprise as he saw himself on the paper “Are you pro or what?”

“It’s just a hobby” she took back her notebook “It’s late, are you hungry? I already made dinner”

“I have to go to the bar; my schedule starts within two hours”

“Come on, Seunghyun oppa, you have time to take dinner, the bar is near” she held his hand and dragged him to the kitchen.

She made him to sit down at the table full of dishes.

“I think I’ll eat too” she said and sat down in front of him.

Seunghyun couldn’t help but staring at her, she was so cute and always smiling that made him smile as well.

“You never eat vegetables, it’s good for your health” she picked broccoli and carrots with chopsticks and brought into Seunghyun’s bowl.

Just girlfriends do this… Seunghyun thought and shook his head briskly She’s my best friend’s girlfriend! I have to stop thinking nonsense.

 “Seunghyun oppa” she said as Seunghyun looked away and blushed, praying that she didn’t catch the way he was looking at her “Do you think Hyunseung is cheating on me?”

“What?!” Seunghyun replied in shock, almost spitting his food.

“He always arrives late; he says he stays at his friend’s place studying, but… He smells woman fragrance that isn’t mine…” there were tears in her eyes, but she didn’t want to cry in front of Seunghyun, so she snorted and kept eating.

Her hand shook and released the bowl that fell and broke in pieces, she rushed to pick them up, but she cut her hand.

“You, stupid” Seunghyun reached her hand carefully and took her to the sink to clean the wound.

Seunghyun always kept distance between himself and Hyuna, because he liked her a lot, but now they were so close, he thought she was really beautiful at that point and craved for kissing her.

“Seunghyun… oppa…” Hyuna replied with her lips close to his.

“I better go to work now” he moved away quickly and walked away leaving a very confused Hyuna behind.

Seunghyun felt like garbage, he was in love with his best friend’s girlfriend. Hyunseung shares his home with me after my parents kicked me out and I pay him like this, trying to steal his girlfriend! I don’t deserve anyone of them.

The ladies were very generous and gave good tips to Seunghyun when he served drinks for them, sometimes male customers were generous too and Seunghyun was glad, but that night he was depressed, his feelings grew day by day for Hyuna. At first he thought she was annoyed, always acting cute, always smiling, but he ended falling for her cuteness and smile.

“Hey, Seunghyun oppa” a waitress called “Can you help me with table 7? I need to, you know, toilet…” she blushed and ran away.

“Man…” Seunghyun didn’t like attending tables, he left the bar and went to table 7, he stopped half way when he realized the customers were Hyunseung and a beautiful girl that wasn’t Hyuna.

Hyunseung kissed the girl before realizing Seunghyun was looking. It was an awkward moment for both. Seunghyun ran away and Hyunseung went after him.

“Hyung! It’s not what you’re thinking about!” Hyunseung reached the black haired man in the middle of the corridor.

“Damn you, are you cheating on Hyuna?” Seunghyun replied.

“No… I mean… It’s just a thoughtless affair, I love Hyuna…”

“Few hours ago, she asked me about you cheating on her!”

“What?!”

“She isn’t stupid, she’s aware you arrive late at home and spend time at your friend’s house too much time and smell woman perfume…”

“Oh crap…” he bit his lower lip “Please, tell her I love her, I would never cheat on her… I… I’ll… break up with… with… my…”

“Lover?”

“Yes” Hyunseung nodded.

Seunghyun wanted to tell everything to Hyuna, so she’d dump Hyunseung and be with him instead, but he didn’t want to make her unhappy, she loved Hyunseung so much she’d be hurt if she knew about his affair.

“Ok, just break up with your lover, I won’t say anything” Seunghyun said and continued working.

The coming days, Hyunseung was the best boyfriend ever, he had a gift for Hyuna every day and he took her to amusement parks, dinner, movie, even a trip outside Seoul. Hyuna was happier than ever. Even if Seunghyun knew Hyunseung didn’t deserve her, he was happy because she was happy.

Seunghyun wrote a lot of poems inspired by Hyuna, inspired by his unrequited love for her. He dreamed of her day and night, he wished she could fall in love with him even if that hurt Hyunseung. But in the end he couldn’t be that selfish and he kept his love for Hyuna a secret.

Then again, the happy relationship didn’t last forever, Hyunseung started cheating on her again and Seunghyun knew that and Hyuna knew that, but nobody said a thing.

Hyunseung started staying at his friend’s house too much and sometimes he didn’t even go to the apartment. Hyuna always stayed awake late and cried in silence, Seunghyun could hear her crying behind the walls, and he felt miserable unable to help her.

He wanted to go with her and say how much he loved her, but he knew Hyuna didn’t feel the same for him.

One night, Seunghyun was working in the bar and Hyuna showed up and drank until she got drunk, Seunghyun had to take her home, he tried calling Hyunseung, but the younger never answered.

He laid Hyuna on the bed and pressed his fingers on her lips and longed for kissing her, but he stepped back and left.

Later, that same night, Hyunseung returned drunk too and he carried woman perfume all over his clothes. Seunghyun couldn’t stand it and punched him. Hyunseung was so drunk he didn’t feel the punch though.

The next day, Hyunseung woke up with hangover; he reached the kitchen and found Seunghyun making coffee.  

“Hyung, why did you punch me?” he asked as he had a bruise on his left cheek.

“You know why! You promised me you would never cheat on Hyuna again” Seunghyun said and handed a cup of coffee to his friend.

“I’m… not cheating… it’s just… a party, I drank too much with a classmate… I love her, I love Hyuna”

Seunghyun snorted and ignored Hyunseung’s complains, later, Hyunseung gave up and went to classes. Hyuna showed up in the kitchen and found Seunghyun writing on his notebook.

“I heard everything…” she said as she took sit and cried silently.

“Sorry…” Seunghyun replied powerless to comfort her.

“I know him since we were children at our town… I fell in love immediately… We always spent time together at school, but he had to move with his parents to Seoul and we lost contact… I never stopped loving him… Last year he went to the town and we met under sakura trees and I confessed how much I love him and he said the same back and asked me to come here to live with him… He would make his career and I’d support him… This sounds like a crappy manhwa now…”

Seunghyun didn’t want to listen; he felt breaking into a thousand pieces. He couldn’t stand Hyuna loving such a liar like Hyunseung.

“Oppa, what can I do?” Hyuna asked.

Dump him, dump him. Dump him…

“You like to draw, right? What about taking painting classes or something like that to distract yourself from this?”

“I… I just draw like hobby…”

“I write for hobby…” he said “You should make things for yourself instead of depending on Hyunseung… He loves you… he needs time to realize it, so you…”

“I think the things Seunghyun oppa writes are amazing” she said surprising him “I still have the paper you threw me” she took out the paper from her pocket and put it on the table for Seunghyun to see.

“This…”

“It’s one of your poems, you were tossing them to people, I don’t know why… They’re so wonderful… I even picked some from the streets…” she took out more papers from her pocket and showed them to the black haired man.

“This is trash” Seunghyun collected the papers and threw them into the trash can, however, Hyuna reached for them again.

“If you don’t want them, I do” she pouted “You don’t know the talent you have, but I know, I’ll keep reminding that to you, ok?”

“Why do you make this to me?” Seunghyun replied and left with tears in his eyes, he wanted to take Hyuna and kiss her, but it was wrong, not matter how cheater Hyunseung was, he couldn’t betray him.

Seunghyun started hanging out with Daesung and girls they met at bars, and soon, Daesung was the only one that knew about Seunghyun’s feelings for Hyuna and he felt bad, because he couldn’t do anything to help his hyung to forget about her.

Seunghyun thought about moving out always, but he never did that. He wanted to stay close to Hyuna, no matter if she smiled for Hyunseung, no matter if she kissed Hyunseung, no matter if they slept together in the same room while Seunghyun was in the guest room listening to how much they said loving each other…

Hyuna followed Seunghyun’s advice and started taking drawing classes, she was so good, teachers always praised her and several months later, she got a scholarship in the best art academy in Florence, Italy, but she didn’t want to go, since that meant leaving Hyunseung, breaking up definitively.

Hyuna was sitting in the balcony and watched the snow fall from the nocturnal sky. Seunghyun came back from work and found her crying.

“What did Hyunseung do to you this time?” Seunghyun asked in anger.

“It’s not about him… Well… Somehow… I’ve received a scholarship for an art school”

“It’s great!”

“In Italy… I don’t want to go; I don’t want to leave him…”

Seunghyun’s heart broke again and again, he was sad knowing Hyuna was leaving for Italy and he was sadder to know she cared a lot about Hyunseung. He wanted to make her stay and be with her every day, but he knew how important the scholarship was for her.

“You said you were going to remind me how talent I am at writing and reaching my dream someday…” Seunghyun took her hands in his “I want to remind you always how talent you’re at drawing… You have to go to Italy or wherever to make your dreams come true”

Hyuna kissed Seunghyun, then embraced him tightly in her arms.

“I wish for Hyunseung to be like you…”she whispered with her head buried in his chest.

Hyuna’s kiss melted Seunghyun’s heart, but he knew she did that like a little sister would do. She was in love with Hyunseung and she will always.

Next week, Hyuna broke up with his boyfriend and went to Italy. Hyunseung was heartbroken and very sorry for the time he cheated on her instead of being with her. He stayed at the bar where Seunghyun worked and drank his loneliness and regrets away.

Seunghyun felt like drinking too, but he couldn’t, because he had to work.

One year flew by and Hyuna returned to Seoul to visit her family in her old town, she called Seunghyun to meet, since he was her only friend and she didn’t want to meet Hyunseung, she was still hurt from his lies.

But Seunghyun knew she was still in love with Hyunseung and made a plan to bring them together.

Hyuna thought she was going to meet Seunghyun, but she met Hyunseung instead under the sakura trees. Like the first time they confessed their love, they confessed again, this time, Hyunseung learned the lesson and he never would cheat or leave her again.

Seunghyun watched the happy ending from a distance; Daesung was with him and comforted him.

“Hyung!” Daesung replied in frustration as they started walking away from the lovely scene.

“I guess second best is all I will be” Seunghyun shrugged his shoulders in defeat.