"They're coming! They're coming!"

Kim Kibum turned to see a group of fangirls lining up from the entrance of the school. They looked like the maids in a huge mansion, ready to greet their masters. They were holding banners with the names: Kim Jongin, Luhan, and Choi Minho.

When the three ulzzangs, usually called The Big Three by their fans, entered the school, the fans bowed and greeted, "Good morning, Jongin-ssi, Luhan-ssi, and Minho-ssi."

Kibum fought the urge to laugh. He saw it happen every single day, but it still didn't make it less amusing. He was acquaintances with the three, which made it even more entertaining.

"Yo, Kibum. You're looking fabulous today," Kim Jongin hooted when he saw him standing on the left side of the corridor. He just rolled his eyes at him. Jongin was the craziest of the three. He was always standing to the right of Luhan. He could always be found half- during break time, even during Winter. He was also the darkest, but it was his charm. The girls liked to call him, "Black Pearl."

Luhan, the smallest of the trio, was in the middle. He preferred to be called manly rather than cute, but his fans deemed him too adorable to be manly. He was the prettiest and he could be sometimes mistaken for a girl. He was a very good soccer player. He nodded at Kibum, acknowledging his presence.

And finally, Choi Minho. Tall, dark, and handsome. He was a little too vain for a normal human being, but he wasn't normal. He was like a god with his oozing charisma and good looks. He liked taking pictures (of himself) and playing soccer. He was the ideal man of one-third of the female population. The other two-thirds belonged to the other two. He could be perfect.

For Kibum, he already was.

Minho sent him the smallest of smiles, but he knew what it meant. Their hands subtly brushed against each other and sent shivers down his spine.

Three girls walked up to the trio and simultaneously said, "Oppa, good morning!" They were the presidents of the fanclubs of the three. Seohyun was the president of Luhan's club, Krystal was Kai's, and Sulli was Minho's. They handed them lunch boxes, bowed, and walked away.

Sulli sent Kibum a glare when she walked past him. He didn't know why.

 

 

 

Kibum was pushed back to the lockers. Minho's lips crashed into his. It was the best feeling for him.

When Minho pulled back to get a breather, Kibum took the chance to ask, "Minho, what am I to you?"

The ulzzang looked back at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean, Key?"

"You. Me. Us. What are we?"

Minho placed a hand on his cheek and called out softly, "Key."

He knew very well that Minho was trying to escape answering the question. He was very weak when it came to Minho's soft touches and name-calling. But he wasn't going to let him off this time. "Everyone knows that I'm gay."

Minho pulled his hand away and stepped back. "So? What do you want me to do?" His voice was cold.

Kibum knew that it was Tactic Number Two. He hated it when Minho got mad at him and he knew that, so he was using it for his own gain. But Kibum wasn't going to let him off this time. "Look, I know how important your reputation is to you. But am I not important as well? I'm just so tired of hiding things from everybody-even my best friend. This has been going on for too long."

"Then let's stop this," Minho said. He looked at Kibum, eye to eye, challenging him.

He smiled sadly. He liked Minho a lot, but he was tired. "Alright."

Minho looked surprised. "What-"

"Finally!"

They looked at the newly arrived and was surprised to see that it was Minho's fanclub's president, Sulli. She was leaning on one of the lockers, arms crossed.

"What are you doing here? This is the men's locker room," Kibum said.

"How long have you been here?" Minho asked her nervously. She couldn't know. Nobody could know.

Kibum glanced at him and saw how scared he was. He felt sorry for him.

Sulli smirked. "No one is here to reprimand me. Except for you, maybe, but I doubt it since I've been here long enough to see you guys fooling around." She abandoned her post and walked to them. "Oppa, I caught everything on camera. With just one click, the whole school can see what you've been doing whenever you're gone." She pulled out her phone and smiled sweetly at Minho.

Kibum finally realized why she was glaring at him earlier. He took away her precious oppa. She had known for a long time now. "What do you want?" he growled. He looked at Minho who was tensing up.

"I want you to break up with him and date me, oppa," she told Minho, eyes never wavering.

Minho's eyes flicked to Kibum then at Sulli's handphone and back to him. Then he pulled her to him and gave her a long, hard kiss. When he pulled away, he said, "Of course, Sulli." He looked at Kibum one last time, then walked away, holding her hand.

 

 

 

"He treated me like ," he screamed. He pulled out wads of tissue from the box and wiped his tears angrily. "I was only his toy. That damn mother-"

Nam Woohyun hit him on the head and scolded him, "Ya, stop cursing. My mom will hear you."

"When I broke it off with him, I didn't mean it. I thought he would stand up for me. I thought he would fight for me. I was wrong," he sobbed. "I liked him a lot. That good for nothing jerk. He meant so much to me."

"So much that you never even told your best friend." They were in Woohyun's house. Kibum had begged him to let him stay there for the night. He needed someone to comfort and console him, he had said.

"Can we talk about that later? I'm a crying wreck, damn it. Can't you comfort me first?" Kibum wailed.

Woohyun left his bed and put an arm around Kibum, who was sitting on the floor. They were surrounded by used tissue. "There are a lot of men out there, you know. Men who will treat you like a queen. Men who will take care of you. Men who will love you."

He leaned his head on his shoulder. "Really?"

"Really. Just make sure not to keep your best friend in the dark once you find him." Woohyun squeezed his shoulder.

"I promise."

 

 

 

Minho stared at his ceiling for the fifth consecutive hour. He couldn't believe what happened that day. He got himself a girlfriend and lost a boyfriend.

He still wasn't sure if Kibum was his boyfriend. They never really made it official. They just knew that they were off-limits to others. Well, Kibum was. He was free to gallivant. He was Choi Minho after all.

So why was he feeling that way?

He came to school the next morning feeling cranky and, for the first time in his life, ugly. He didn't get any sleep the night before.

"Oi, Minho, what's up with you?" Jongin asked him when he saw him.

"None of your business," he growled. He didn't even wait for Luhan an Jongin anymore. He just barged inside the school and ignored his fans.

Sulli, however, was waiting for him beside his locker. "Oppa, good morning," she greeted. She pulled him in and kissed him on the lips.

The other presidents and the fans gasped in surprise. "Ya, Sulli, what is the meaning of this?" Krystal asked. She glared at the older-by-a-few-months president.

She just smiled at them sweetly. "Minho oppa asked me out yesterday," she announced. Some of the fans gasped and fainted. Seohyun and Krystal just stared at her like she was crazy. She looked at Minho, encouraging him.

With a heavy heart, Minho confirmed, "I asked her out yesterday. We're dating now."

More of the fans fainted. Some just ran away, crying.

"Looks like I'm not fan-zoned anymore," Sulli said. The two presidents were furious.

"What happened to our no-dating rule?" Seohyun asked.

"Unnie, if Luhan oppa asked you out, what would you do?"

Seohyun just gritted her teeth.

"Daebak. Of course she'd say yes!" Krystal answered for her.

Sulli smirked. "And that's exactly what I did." She faced Minho. "Oppa, let's go to my classroom first?" She intertwined their fingers together and pulled him away.

"Daebak," Krystal said and rolled her eyes.

Jongin and Luhan walked to them. "What's up with Minho?" Jongin asked.

Krystal glared at him. "Oppa, just ask me out already. This is really annoying." She kicked Jongin's foot and walked away.

Jongin clutched his right foot and tried to run after her. "Hey! Where's my lunch?"

Luhan just muttered something in Chinese and left the angry Seohyun.

 

 

 

"Oppa, what's wrong with you? You don't look fine," Sulli said. She was sincerely worried.

Minho looked at her with a straight face. "Are you saying I'm ugly?"

She shook her head. "No, of course not. You're handsome."

He just nodded.

They reached Sulli's classroom and he left without any comment.

When he got to his classroom, he immediately looked for Kibum. He was happy to see that he wasn't there. He was happy to know that he wasn't the only one suffering.

But his happiness was short lived. Kibum entered the classroom, laughing, his arm slung around Woohyun's shoulders.

His eyes widened when he saw them together.

They took their seats, still laughing and talking loudly.

"Hey! Can you guys keep quiet?" Minho shouted at them.

They looked back at him. He couldn't figure out the look Kibum was giving him. It looked like it was a mixture of longing and hate. Woohyun was glaring at him. They went back to talking and laughing loudly.

Jongin, who had just entered the classroom, walked to him and sat on his desk. He received a glare. "It's your fault I don't have lunch today," he told him.

Minho pushed him from the desk. "Leave me alone, Jongin. I'm not in the mood."

Jongin knew better than to irritate an already irritate Minho. He shrugged and walked away. He frowned at Luhan who was coolly looking from his seat.

The day passed by uneventfully. Minho missed fooling around with Kibum during break time. Instead, he was stuck with Sulli. Fortunately, she didn't pull him around everywhere. She just went wherever he wanted to go.

But he didn't want to go anywhere.

"Oppa, what's wrong? You've been sulking since morning," she asked during lunchtime. They were sitting under a tree, with other students lurking around. It had been a while since Minho ate lunch in a crowded area. He would usually be in the rooftop with Kibum.

There he was again, unconsciously thinking of him. He groaned. He closed his eyes and leaned on the tree. A few minutes later he opened his eyes and spotted Kibum and Woohyun feeding each other.

"Idiots," he muttered.

Sulli stopped eating and looked at him with eyes. "Sorry? What did you say?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." He picked up the lunchbox and started eating the food Sulli prepared for him.

The torture went on for a month. He always saw Kibum with Woohyun. But lately, he had been seeing Kibum with another guy. It only made him crankier and meaner.

One hot day, Sulli couldn't take it anymore. They were sitting in their usual spot under the tree, but no one else was there aside from them. The other students preferred to stay in the cafeteria where it was colder. "Oppa, what is wrong with you? We've been dating for a month now, but you've never kissed me. You've never hugged me. You've never held my hand."

Minho looked at her with a raised brow. "We kissed last night," he answered.

Sulli let out a frustrated sigh. "I kissed you. You didn't kiss me."

"Do you want me to kiss you then?" he asked. "I can do that."

"No. Don't even do it if you're only forced to do so." Sulli sighed yet again and smiled at Minho sadly. "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I forced you into this relationship."

He blinked a couple of times and didn't say anything until he saw Sulli crying. He tried to crawl over to Sulli's side to comfort her but she raised her hand and said, "No, please. Just stay away."

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

She sniffed. "I'm sorry too. I didn't know you like him that much."

He gave her a confused look.

"Kibum oppa," she answered. "You like him a lot. Ever since you broke up with him, you've been like that."

He forced a laugh. "Like Kibum? I don't. He was just a toy to me."

Sulli looked at him with red, puffy eyes. "Oppa, stop lying to yourself. I can see how much you like him. I shouldn't have taken you away from him."

Minho stared at her then took a deep breath. She was right. He had to stop lying to himself. "No, it's okay. I wouldn't have realized how much he meant to me if it weren't for you. Thank you."

She wiped away her tears. "You shouldn't have said that. Now I feel sorrier for myself." She managed a small smile. "Now, go. Before I take you back and never let you go."

He stood up and nodded. He have her one last smile before jogging off and looking for Kibum.

When Sulli couldn't see him anymore, she sobbed.

"That was very brave and kind of you," Jongin said.

She looked up and saw him leaning on the tree. "How long-"

"Luhan and I know everything. We knew about Minho's relationship with Kibum. We just never told him because we wanted him to tell us himself. After some investigation, we also found out about your threat," he explained. "We know you took a video of Minho and Kibum," he made a kissing sound, "kissing."

"Jongin oppa, how did you-"

"Detective Jongin," he corrected jokingly. He sat beside Sulli. "I asked Krystal for the password of your phone, but she didn't just give me the password. She also gave me your phone."

"That b-"

Jongin placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "She was just worried about you. She told me you weren't acting like your usual self." He leaned on the tree. "You shouldn't have done that, you know. He can date whoever he wants to."

She sniffed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I think you've learned your lesson. Minho needs to learn his lesson too," he said. "He needs to learn that people aren't his toys. He treated you indifferently. He's never once thanked you for the lunch you painstakingly make everyday. It's not just your fault. It's his too."

Sulli looked at him in awe. "Oppa, I didn't know you were that..."

"Wise?" He grinned at her and pinched her cheeks.

She blushed. Then, she noticed that he was wearing his top. "Why aren't you half-?"

Jongin laughed and Sulli realized that it was different from the laugh she usually heard. He sounded sincere this time. "That's just for fanservice. Although, I actually want to strip now because it's really hot." He looked at her and grinned. "I hate walking around half-, but I have an image to keep up."

From a distance, a boy with big, round eyes approached them. He looked like he was the same age as Jongin.

"Kyungsoo!" Jongin called.

Sulli saw how his eyes lit up when he saw the new kid. "Oppa, is he-"

Jongin stood up, placed a finger on his lips and winked. "This is our little secret, alright?"

"Do Minho oppa and Luhan oppa know?"

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

He walked to the boy named Kyungsoo and laced his fingers with his. They walked into the small forest in the school yard without a care in the world. 

"Daebak," Sulli said to herself.

 

 

Luhan found Minho in the men's restroom. He was looking at himself in the mirror looking confused and scared.

"Minho," the Chinese boy said.

He looked at him in surprise. "Luhan? How did you know I was here?"

"I followed you," he answered. "We've been following you for a while now. You kept disappearing during lunchtime before, so Jongin and I thought we should check on you. So yes, we know about you and Kibum. We've known for quite some time now." He gave Minho a supporting smile.

"And you didn't hate me?"

Luhan looked surprised. "Why would we hate you?"

"Because I'm," he cleared his throat and said softly, "gay."

Luhan walked to Minho and hugged him. "We don't really care about your uality. Your uality doesn't define who you are inside. I'm sure there's a deeper reason for your vainness than uality." He chuckled. "But really. We accept you for who you are. Sure, we're a bit hurt that you didn't trust us enough to tell us, but we understand."

Minho hugged him again. "Thank you. Thank you."

"If you're really thankful, go get back Kibum."

He nodded and ran out of the restroom.

Luhan chuckled again and muttered in Chinese, "Two out of three of the Big Three are gay. The girls would flip." He left the restroom whistling a cheery tune.

Inside one of the cubicles, a boy named Sehun was smiling giddily to himself. "So he's not homophobic," he whispered to himself. "There is hope!"

 

 

 

Minho ran around the school, looking for Kibum. He even bumped into a first year student in the process.

The boy dropped all of his things on the floor. Minho helped him pick everything up and apologized, "Sorry, uh," he glanced at the boy's ID, "Taemin."

Lunchtime ended and he still wasn't able to find him. He went back the classrom and saw him there.

He was sitting on his chair and looking outside the the window. Minho thought he looked like an angel.

He felt like time had stopped for them as he approached him. He thought he could hear soft music playing in the background. A smile graced his lips when he was only a foot away from him.

But Woohyun got to Kibum first. He looked at Minho who still standing in shock. He smirked.

"Stupid tree," he growled.

 

 

After dismissal, Minho immediately went to Kibum and confronted him. "Key, can we talk?"

Kibum looked at him, utterly surprised. Before he could say anything, Woohyun appeared and said, "Bum-ah, Jonghyun hyung is waiting outside."

They all looked outside and true enough, the senior was standing outside the classroom. He was the guy who was always with Kibum. Minho felt a surge of jealousy erupt inside of him.

Kibum looked at Minho then at Woohyun. He smiled. "Hyun-ah, go with Jjong first. I'll just follow. I need to talk to Minho first."

Minho smiled triumphantly while Woohyun glared at him. The latter nodded and left.

Kibum looked at him and asked, "Do you want to go to the rooftop?"

 

 

When they reached the rooftop, Kibum ran to the railings and yelled at the top of his lungs, "I'm the queen of the world!" With a laugh, he faced Minho and said, "You should try it. It's really fun. You'll feel better about yourself."

He nodded and walked to where Kibum was. He shouted, "I'm sorry for what I did! I really like Kim Kibum!" He looked at him and expected him to hug and kiss him, but he just stood there with a sad smile. "What's wrong?"

Kibum pursed his lips and confessed, "I'm dating someone else, Minho."

His world collapsed. "You're kidding, right?"

The shorter boy shook his head and sighed. "I felt like , to be honest. You made me feel like I was the only one you could ever love, but you left me just because of a single threat. I didn't know what to do at first. I had to stay at Woohyun's house because I was scared that I would do something incredibly stupid."

He looked at the setting sun in the horizon. "I forced myself to go to school, but every night, I cried. It hurt so much. It still does, a bit. I felt betrayed-no, I really was betrayed. Seeing you with her every single day didn't help. Thank God Woohyun was there to help me cope."

He finally looked at Minho, who was trying his very best not to cry. "I can't say that I don't like you anymore. But it's starting to hurt less."

"Do you love him?" Minho managed to ask. "That boy you're dating. Do you love him?"

"Not yet, but I'm starting to fall in love with him," Kibum answered. He hugged Minho and whispered, "Thank you for making me feel loved. But you can stop now."

Kim Kibum broke the hug and left the rooftop. He walked away from him and his life.

Minho finally let the tears fall and crumbled to the ground.

"I love you, Key."