Three weeks, two days, five hours and twenty-six minutes.

For a while, Se Hun counts the days that followed his first break-up. He counts for three weeks, two days, five hours and twenty-six minutes. On the twenty-seventh minute, however, he stops counting.

On the twenty-seventh minute, he came face-to-face with a young man not older than he was. The stranger was shorter by a few centimeters, had doe-like curious eyes that held the universe in question, and porcelain skin that seemed like fine china. In all honesty, Se Hun was debating whether the stranger in front was a boy or a girl. He was too beautiful for his own good.

Beside the stranger stood his best friend in all her technicolor puffy hair glory. Her signature grin was intact, and she seemed to…shine. His best friend, who took things rather loosely, whose humor was rather dry and corny, who had not the faintest hint of interest in the opposite —was sparkling, as if she were in love.

“This is Lu Han,” she introduced—almost boasted— gesturing to the young man. Lu Han gives Se Hun a curt bow and a small smile, and reaches his hand out to offer him a handshake. Se Hun noticed that this Lu Han’s fingers were like fine china, too, and he can’t help but be careful—he might break them. Se Hun gingerly clasps his hand and slowly, very cautiously, shakes his hand. Lu Han’s palm is soft and his fingers are long and delicate. They’re too beautiful for their own good.

“It’s uh…nice to meet you. I’m Se Hun,” he replies awkwardly, ending the handshake.

His best friend chortles—and oh god, it sounds so weird because his best friend does not chortle, at least not in the way she was doing so. It sounded happy and sincere, and different from when she cracked an unnecessary pun or joke. She chortled when she was trying to convince herself that her pun was funny; she chortled in place of Se Hun when he didn’t want to admit that her pun was funny. But she certainly did not chortle when a boy other than Se Hun was around. “He’s my best friend, Lu,” she says, and Se Hun feels a tiny, pinching feeling at how simply she said it, as if it were the absolute truth. (Which it really was, but Se Hun did not know why the word ‘absolute’ felt distasteful) Se Hun’s face also scrunches when he hears her say ‘Lu’ as if it were the most amazing name in the world. It was a single syllable, and it didn’t even sound Korean. There was nothing beautiful about it.

Lu Han turns to his best friend and shoots her a smile—it’s charming and sparkling and Se Hun knew that it was the kind of smile any girl would fall for—“Really?” At this, Se Hun’s face scrunches even more. Was there something wrong with her best friend being best friends with him?

She nods, grin still there, and it annoys Se Hun at how she didn’t even detect the subliminal message of that question. “Although…Sometimes, he’s more of a spoiled  little brother. He refuses to call me Noona when he should, and never admits it when I’m right. He’s a big brat, really,” she says, snickering.

What in tarnation? At this, Se Hun can no longer ignore the gnawing in his heart? mind? –whichever, and bursts into a mini-tantrum. “I am so not a brat!” he defends himself, but it supports his best friend’s statement more than his cause. She has her eyebrow raised and her lips into a self-satisfied smirk, while his poor heart is pounding like crazy. Could she not hear how obnoxiously loud it was?

Suddenly, Lu Han starts to chuckle—it’s melodic, like the song of bluebirds in the morning and robins during sunset. “Your best friend sure is cute. You both are. I’m jealous of your relationship.” His words, however, sounded pretentious to Se Hun.

Se Hun tries to regain his composure, clearing his throat to add to the effect. He chooses his words wisely, afraid that he might appear immature and like a brat—just as his best friend had said. “So, umm, Lu Han-ssi, you’re…?”

“We’re research partners,” Lu Han replies. “And you can call me Hyung, if you want to.” Lu Han gives him one of his sparkly smiles and Se Hun swears that should he go blind, he has his best friend to blame for bringing the sparkly creature and showering them with his unnecessarily unnecessary bright sparkles. He also decides not to reply to Lu Han, because even though the man was apparently older (Se Hun didn’t want to believe—no, not ever), calling him Hyung was every bit of wrong as he was beautiful. Hyung meant that they were close, Hyung meant that he respected him, Hyung meant that he was someone who would stick around for a longer time than necessary. All of those, Se Hun did not like one bit.

“Oh, uh… I see…I guess, umm, I should leave so you could work…?” Se Hun looks to his best friend, sending her an expectant glance. She blinks at him, and gradually, her bright face falters, and she looks down at the floor. Was she…guilty? He has never seen her don this look before. It bothered him. It bothered every bit of him.

“If it’s okay with you. This paper is really important, and we don’t have much time.” She said it so quietly, barely above a whisper, that for a second, Se Hun forgot that this was the same best friend who enthusiastically shared puns she found on the internet, and puns she made herself.

She could not even meet his gaze.

Something ate at Se Hun’s heart that instant. It felt as if everything had suddenly fallen to the pits of his stomach, and he just wanted to puke it all out. It was a familiar emotion—the same one he had felt three weeks, two days, five hours and thirty-two minutes ago. What he could not understand was why he was experiencing it again. His ex was not brought up, the break up was not talked about. Why then, was the feeling back?

Se Hun frowned. Did she actually want him to leave? She has never denied him—not ever. Although she never admitted it, she felt lonely, living in her tiny apartment alone. He knew she welcomed and appreciated his company, even though he was not exactly the best listener and preferred to talk rather than listen. She enjoyed his company, so why was she asking him to leave? The research paper may be a probable cause, but he would not have any of it. She was a focused person; even with him, she could do that paper with ease. Se Hun could not believe this.

But what disturbed him the most was the fact that she ignored the expression he gave her. His best friend knew when he was disappointed, when he was happy, when he wanted something, did not want something. She knew every one of his expressions (or lack thereof), but despite all that, she asked him to go.

Reluctantly, Se Hun bids them farewell, giving both of them a forced smile. Once outside, Se Hun ran, dashing off to wherever his feet would take him. Her apartment was his only place of solitude and solace, and with her denying him access, he did not know where to run.

He did not know where to run and seek comfort.

Se Hun finds himself on his bed, staring up at his cream-colored ceiling. It is filled with glow in the dark stickers she had put there when he was a child. He had been afraid of the dark, so she stuck them there to provide light and tranquility for him. When he was stuck at home doing schoolwork and could not go out to personally see her, all he had to do was turn off the lights and look at his ceiling. But after two weeks, four days and fifty-two minutes, he realized that this was no proper substitute for the warmth his best friend’s corny jokes gave.

Se Hun blinks. Two weeks, four days, and fifty-two minutes. That is how long he has not seen nor talked to her. She was busy writing her research paper with that Lu Han; she had not even sent a message—not even once! Then again, ever since the incident, Se Hun himself has not tried contacting her. Suddenly, there was this unfixable, unbridgeable distance between them, and he did not know what to do nor say.

He tries to think. He tries to understand what was happening to him. Why it hurt. Why his heart hurt. Why his best friend seemed so far away. Nothing was right. Everything was complicated—too complicated. It was never like this.

He did not like it like this.

And it all started because of that Lu Han and his sparkles. Did she like those sparkles? Because Se Hun has never seen her smile like that nor chortle like that nor ask him to leave. Never. Never ever ever ever. Never. His best friend was not interested in dating; she cared more about the next color of her hair than whom she would spend the rest of her life with.

Se Hun tries to think again—this time about his own feelings. When he met Lu Han, there was this annoying, constant gnawing sensation. It crept up his skin, into his system and wormed its way into his heart—eating, swallowing it up. And for two weeks, four days and fifty-four minutes, his heart has done nothing but swell in agony and…

Longing.

He wanted to see his best friend after so long. But he wasn’t just looking for his best friend—he missed the girl behind her, his Noona. His Noona who took things rather loosely; who was unsympathetic to everyone except for him because she had a soft spot for her bratty best friend; who cracked jokes even when the situation did not call for it; who took him in and cheered him up whenever he felt like he was a failure, when things weren’t going the way they were planned to, when he was lonely and needed to hear a pun even if it was the corniest thing ever happened in the history of human kind. He missed his best friend, but more than that, he missed her.

And like a bolt from the blue, Se Hun experiences the greatest epiphany of all. He shoots up, eyes wide in realization. “How could I have been so stupid?” he mumbles to himself. He jumps to his feet, throwing his blanket to wherever, and speeds out, frantically dialing a memorized number on his phone.

Two weeks, four days and fifty-seven minutes—there was no way he was going to let that grow longer.  

Author's Note:

Hi, again! The final chapter will be up in a few days as I am adding my final touches, haha! 

And UH-OH, looks like something wicked comes this way for our lovely protagonist, Oh Se Hun! D: Stay tuned for the Third chapter! 

I would love to read your thoughts on the first two chapters! :-) Thank you for reading and subscribing!