Author’s POV

“Are you in love with me, Luhan?” Mirae’s question repeated itself in his head. Their eyes were still in contact, staring deeply into each other. The thoughts circled around Luhan’s head at great speed, making it hard for him to focus. Finally, he managed to snap out of his thoughts and immediately turned his gaze away from the girl beside him.

“Excuse me,” he muttered inaudibly and rose from his seat. Mirae didn’t seem to stop him from going, so Luhan continued inside the house and found an empty room where he locked himself in. He leaned on the wall with both his hands, staring down into the brown carpet which he stood upon. Luhan was nervous. Not only about the question Mirae had asked, since he knew the answer and knew he would have to tell her sometime, but he also felt nervous about asking her the same question. Because what if she hadn’t fallen for him yet and the issue would cause her to back away from him? To Luhan, it felt as though Mirae couldn’t move anywhere but backwards in what she thought of him. Although her touch had been both gentle and kind, he wasn’t sure it was because of love she had done it. Maybe she pitied him like the rest of them? Luhan didn’t want her to do that, above all else almost. She could think whatever she wanted of him; love him, not love him or like him or not like him at all, as long as she didn’t pity him. Luhan turned around and sank down against the wall while bringing up his phone. He knew exactly who he could call.

“Sehun speaking,” Sehun answered the phone.

“Hey, it’s me. I need help,” Luhan replied mildly. He expected Sehun to laugh at him or exclaim ‘Wow! Two hours and you already need help?!’, but he didn’t.

Instead Sehun said, “With what? What happened?”

“She asked me if I was in love with her or not. I don’t know what to answer. The truth? I don’t think I can do that. Lying wouldn’t feel right either. I don’t want to lie nor tell the truth. Not that she doesn’t know already since I stormed off... Oh, God. Tell me what to do!” Luhan ran his fingers through his hair – something he only did when feeling stressed or worried. And right now, he felt stress down to the last cell.

“Hm... Well, in my opinion, it might be good to tell her how you feel. Tell her that you’re falling for her more every day or something.”

“Put on the cheesy factor, really? Come on, Sehun, I’m serious here! If I tell her I’m in love with her she’s going to become scared that I’ll...you know. I would never hurt her! I know that, you know that. How do I get her to understand that? It’s not as easy as you might think it is. I saw her brother and he dragged me aside and told me that I ought to stay away from Mirae if I valued my life. I tried to explain to him that I wasn’t going to hurt her because I’d started liking her – I added as a friend so that he wouldn’t punch me in the face – then I left. He told me to stay away from him and Mi Song. It’s sick. It was like he’d given up on Mirae and just cared about Mi Song – it’s his girlfriend by the way, in case you didn’t know. Anyway, I went back to the backyard and Mirae actually told Jongin off. I said I wanted to leave and Jongin agreed that I should. I asked Mirae if she was coming with me or not, she pulled me with her into her room and convinced me to stay... Then we held hands during the coffee, we talked some and then she out of nowhere placed her head on my shoulder! I took her hand in mine and we just sat like that for a very long time! I don’t know what’s going on. What if all her actions are friendly ones and that once I ask her where her emotions lies about me, I end up ruining it all and entering some horrible friend zone!” Luhan burst out the last.

“A friend zone isn’t a bloody problem for you, dimwit. Have you forgotten that? You’re married to the girl! It’s not like she can leave you and you cannot go back to being friends if she doesn’t have the same feelings. However! May I add that I’ve never in my entire 20 year old life heard about a girl holding hands with a guy she isn’t in love with! It’s absurd to do such a loving act without the right intentions. Unless the girl is a real , which Mirae isn’t so I don’t get the problem. If you ask me – and you are – I’d say: tell her. What could possibly go wrong or be worse than a simple: no, I’m not in love with you. Give her some more time then, see if that helps her reconsider. Either way, it’s not going to be a freaking friend zone. Don’t wo