"So that was what—girlfriend number twenty-three?" Sohyun shook her head in disapproval as the blond male told his story in exaggerating detail. Dongwoon disregarded her interruption and continued illustrating the scene where "girlfriend number twenty-three" sank to her knees and begged him not to leave her, speaking in falsetto during her dialog parts.

The usual group was sitting in the center of the cafeteria: Dongwoon and Sohyun on one side; Ilhoon and Jinri on the other. Jinri's neck was extended too far over the table, as if she would miss a detail of Dongwoon's story if she wasn't close enough. Ilhoon's head rested heavily on his hand, a perfect representation of his boredom and disinterest in the words coming out of the other male's mouth. His eyes were focused on Jinri's chest; it seemed to have grown since the last time he stared at it. Noticing this, Sohyun kicked his shin from under the table, prompting him to sit up straight and look at Dongwoon as he continued his story.

"Why'd you say yes if you were just going to break up with her anyway?" Sohyun inquired, though she had no interest in an actual response, and continued sipping on her milk. Dongwoon knew this and gave none. It had become a sort of tradition for her to ask after each of his breakup stories. They both knew the answer so there was no reason for him to actually explain it.

The circle sat in silence until "Fancy"—Dongwoon hated that song so she kept it as her ringtone to spite him—erupted from Sohyun's back pocket. She answered hastily as soon as she saw the caller on the phone screen.

"Oppa?" she answered with no attempt of hiding the excitement in her voice.

That was the first red flag. Dongwoon adjusted himself in his seat and shifted his legs toward Sohyun so that he faced her more directly. He turned to the pair in front of him with a questioning expression. Who? he mouthed. Ilhoon and Jinri feigned ignorance as they turned their attention to the food on their plates.

"Yeah, I'll be right there," she said as she hung up and gathered her possessions to make a quick escape. She was stopped by the male to her side; Dongwoon held onto her wrist with widened eyes. She raised her eyebrows, expecting for him to give in and say the three words neither of them would ever say out loud.

"W-where are you going?" he asked, his confidence wavering. Sohyun noticed this and decided to use it to her advantage.

"Unlike you, I don't play with people's feelings," she replied as she shook free of his grasp. She smiled and shrugged, leaving Dongwoon with more questions than answers.

"What the hell?" he exhaled as he slumped back into his seat, scratching his head frantically in confusion. That was the second red flag.

"It's probably that Minhyuk person she's been meeting after school," Jinri stated, forgetting her oath to Sohyun to not tell a single soul. As soon as the sentence escaped her lips, Ilhoon flung his arms in panic and covered fruitlessly; the words were already out, and there was no way Dongwoon was going to pretend he hadn't heard.

"Who?" he questioned, no hint of humor or sarcasm in his voice. "Minhyuk who?" The third red flag was on the rise.

"Might as well tell him since you let the cat out of the bag," Ilhoon muttered.

"What cat? What bag? What?!" Jinri replied, shaking her head as she tried to make sense of another one of what she thought were Ilhoon's "made up metaphors." Both him and Dongwoon frowned and shook their heads at the lack of brain activity occuring in Jinri's cranium.

"He's a guy from her dance class. Her classes are only on weekends, but they started meeting up after school since last week," the more intelligent of the pair explained. The way he explained it so casually infuriated Dongwoon. Why did only the two of them know? Why was it so important that he couldn't find out? Why didn't they feel guilty about keeping him in the dark? Although his list of questions was endless, he decided he'd get no results if he actually tried asking. He stood up without another word, threw away his plate, and rushed out of the cafeteria without a clue of where Sohyun could be.

"You don't even know where—" Jinri began before Ilhoon placed his hand on her loose lips.

“That’s enough out of you for today,” he stated, looking into her eyes sternly. Jinri couldn’t help the heat rising to her cheeks, so she nodded and quickly turned away before he was able to see the growing blush on her cheeks.

Dongwoon was becoming impatient. Three times he’d been scorned by a teacher complaining about his excessively loud voice. Twice he’d been reprimanded by the third years for going into the girls’ restroom. Once he’d walked in on the janitor getting it on with the vice principal. He was about to surrender his search when he heard the most obnoxious sound pierce the air and stab his eardrums: Sohyun’s forbidden laugh.

Sohyun had four kinds of laughs, and he knew all of them by heart. The one he was most familiar with was the sarcastic, dull laugh that meant “You’re not funny and I hate you, so please go away.” He liked to think she reserved that one especially for him, and all he cared was that it made him that much more special in Sohyun’s heart. The second most common one was her real laugh—his favorite. Dongwoon had his comedic moments (but mostly they laughed at Jinri’s lack of common sense), and Sohyun acknowledged them with a hearty, lively laugh, filing up the whole room and his own ears with a fluffy cloud of Sohyun-ness. The third was her nervous laugh. She wasn’t the “gets-nervous-easily” type, but when she found herself in sticky situations, her laugh would come out at awkward, choppy intervals and at a high pitch that Dongwoon swore would hurt any dogs exposed to it.

The one he heard was different. It was the laugh he hated most of all and wished didn’t exist in her laugh index: her flirty laugh.

Two times in their entire friendship had Sohyun confessed to liking a boy who wasn’t Dongwoon (because he was convinced she'd been in love with him since the moment they met). In third grade, it had been Changsub, a chubby, elf-like transfer student who would leave love notes in the then eight-year-old’s cubby and placed chocolate kisses on her desk whenever she went to the restroom. In ninth grade, her heart had been momentarily seized by Jinyoung, a charming pretty boy who, according to Dongwoon, had hypnotized Sohyun with his demon eyes and psychic powers. But neither of the times had he heard Sohyun’s flirty laugh, and he was grateful because it meant she didn’t like them that much.

But there she was, sitting on the bench in the front patio, her eyes in the shape of crescent moons and her finger twirling around locks of her long, orange hair. Sohyun was flirting with the guy next to her, pushing him playfully and placing her hands on his arm from time to time. Dongwoon even swore he could see her blushing. The scene was too much to take in all at once, so the male hiding behind the wall diagonal to the bench took deep breaths to suppress his agitation.

Although Dongwoon thought his spying skills were comparable to a ninja, it didn't take long for the object of Sohyun's attention and affection to notice his snooping behind the wall. He locked gazes with Dongwoon and noticed the annoyance in his eyes. Being mischievous by nature, the male decided to test his patience, since he figured he was bothered by the image of him and Sohyun.

The unknown male leaned towards Sohyun's face and focused his sights on her tiny, pink lips. To anyone watching from the angle Dongwoon was, it was impossible to arrive at any other conclusion besides "they're going to kiss," and Dongwoon was not about to let that happen if he could help it.

"Kwon Sohyun!" he shouted, blowing his cover and risking the loss every ounce of pride in his body.

Sohyun turned immediately at the sound of his voice, and her acquaintance smirked because Dongwoon had reacted just the way he had imagined.

"Dongwoon..." Sohyun stated, her reaction unclear. "W-what's up?" Dongwoon had to pinch his arm to clarify that he wasn't dreaming because he had never heard Sohyun stutter like that in front of him. 

"Who's your friend?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound jealous—even though he was. Sohyun panicked at the question and was scratching the back of her head to come up with answer. She hit her forehead with her palm several times as if to turn her brain on. When the male in question realized she wouldn't be able to answer, he held her hands down so she would stop hitting herself and smiled in reassurance.

"I'm Sohyun's boyfriend," he answered, looking straight at Dongwoon, finally giving him the chance to fully observe this nuisance. "Lee Minhyuk."

Dongwoon was disappointed to find that the guy holding Sohyun's hand was just as good looking—he would never admit anyone was better looking—as him, and his tighter-than-necessary shirt revealed the fruits of constant exercise and training. If he and Sohyun had passed him by on the street, she would've definitely rated him twenty out of ten. He was the epitome of what she looked for in guys.

"Oppa!" Sohyun seemed to protest. This escalated Dongwoon's hopes that maybe he was lying. Anxiety released his heart before it clutched onto it right away. "You promised not to tell anyone," she continued in a soft voice, looking down to hide her red cheeks. Dongwoon felt like Minhyuk had torn his heart out of his chest and was using it as a punching bag. What the hell was so great about him that he had Sohyun blushing and acting all...cute? 

"Sohyun, is he telling the truth?" There was so much desperation and unease in Dongwoon's voice that Sohyun didn't recognize him. She inhaled deeply and sighed; it was her way of saying "I don't know how to answer your question."

"Oppa, I need to talk to him. Can I?" she asked, turning to who was apparently her boyfriend. He nodded in response, releasing her hand, and Dongwoon realized then that he had been holding it this entire time.

Sohyun led Dongwoon out of Minhyunk's earshot and looked up at him with the biggest eyes he'd ever seen.

"You've gone out with lots of girls, you know. And I've never said anything because I figured you have your reasons,” she began, and Dongwoon could see the dejection in her eyes as she talked about it. Yeah, he’d gone out with plenty girls, but he wasn’t serious about any of them, and he had never actually done anything with them. But his pride was too big to ever admit that to her.

“So is this your way of getting back at me?” he questioned, immediately regretting his words as soon as they escaped his mouth.

Sohyun exhaled loudly and crossed her arms, scoffing at his inability to take anything seriously.

“I’m not going out with Minhyuk to take ‘revenge’ or anything,” she explained, using air quotes to emphasize the word. “I like him, and he likes me, so we’re doing what normal people do when they share mutual feelings.”

“You like him. You don’t love him,” Dongwoon clarified.

Sohyun’s face reddened at the use of the word. “Don’t throw that word around if you’re not brave enough to use it yourself!” she spat. She didn’t wait for his response and instead ran back to Minhyuk’s side, intertwining her fingers with his. Even if Dongwoon wanted to retaliate, the lump in his throat had made it impossible. Worse, the thumping in his chest made his surroundings and thoughts inaudible. Sohyun’s words had been too much for him to handle.

For once, Dongwoon tried to push aside his ego to understand what was going on in Sohyun’s mind. Maybe if she had been the one going out with countless guys, Dongwoon would have felt the same way. When he thought of it that way, he realized what an idiot he was. Sohyun had waited for him. She’d been patient for so long, and he had always taken it for granted. He never would have imagined she would get tired enough to find someone else. He just figured she’d always be there, ready when he was.

He was so stupid.

“Did you guys fight because of me?” Minhyuk asked as he and Sohyun continued walking down the sidewalk. She had decided to skip school because there was no way she could face her jerk of a friend after that encounter. The question surprised her, and she stood in place, wondering if she had said the right thing.

"N-no," she replied without thinking, but her boyfriend wasn't convinced. Her eyes had lost the spark they possessed when they had been chatting on the bench, and her shoulders were slumped, terrible posture for her usual straightened back. He pulled her into his arms and rested her head on his chest.

"You don't have to keep things to yourself. I'm your boyfriend, so you can rely on me. Actually, I want you to rely on me," he assured. He brushed her hair with his hand and her back. He wanted to affirm his support for her.

Sohyun relished in his warmth and accepted his feelings. It was an indescribable feeling, being held by someone and being told to rely on them. She felt that maybe her like could grow into love.

But when Dongwoon's smile flashed in her mind, she realized it would take a lot more than a hug and reassurance to eliminate the feelings she held for him.