Soora's POV

I was speechless. For a moment, I just stood there, stared at the door and listened to the clock ticking peacefully, as if nothing was wrong. But that was not the case. Everything was wrong. I managed to move into the living room and sat down at the big table, the camera bag in front of me. After what seemed like forever, the front door opened and my heart skipped a beat in anticipation. I thought it might be Zelo who'd laugh at me, saying that he was joking, until Hye-sun showed up and my hopes decreased. Zelo would never joke around with something like that. “I'm going to cook your favorite food today!”, she stated cheerfully, but I could just stare at her.

“Ah, that's great. Thanks Hye-sun.” It might have been the monotony in my voice – or the fact that I didn't look happy at all – but the maid frowned, put her bag of groceries away and sat down next to me.

“Soora, is something wrong?”, she asked carefully and I sniffed when I felt the events of the day crushing down on me like a giant boulder.

“I don't know”, I whispered, looking at her while shaking my head. “I really don't know a thing, Hye-sun.”

“Honey, you've got to explain this a bit more detailed for me, please. What happened at school?”

“It wasn't at school!”, I was quick to retort before I shyly told her about Daehyun. The way he had looked at me, the way he had behaved – what he had said and what he had done.

“Oh my god, that is so cute of him, he's so romantic. Totally boyfriend material!”, Hye-sun exclaimed with wide eyes, but calmed down to examine my face as I bit my lip. “Why do I feel like that's not all?”

“Because...Maybe because it isn't?”, I suggested and swallowed. “Well, in fact, Zelo-”

“I haven't seen him around, what happened?”

“-is gone.” A long silence surrounded us and the thought of Zelo's absence caused me to feel kind of empty. “He left when I got home.”

“You can't be serious, right?”, Hye-sun asked in disbelief. “How long will he be gone, I bought jelly for him?”

I shivered for a moment. “He won't come back, Hye-sun.”

Her frown deepened even more, thinking of possible reasons for this behavior – just like me. “Why would he leave just like that?”

I shrugged and tugged my knees under my chin. “Don't know... I really don't know how to deal with all this, you know?”

Something in my voice caused her to stand up and hug me tightly. The sound of a desperate teenager maybe... “Aww, honey, I'm so sorry for you. But I think you should answer Daehyun before thinking about others. You shouldn't let him wait since it's really hard to even confess. Having to wait for a reply is even worse, you know? Zelo will have a reason for leaving, I'm sure of it, even though it really is sudden... “

“Daehyun, huh?”, I whispered and a tiny smirk tugged at the corners of my mouth. It was small, but it was there. “Maybe...” But why did I feel like this wasn't such a good idea? I had to think about it again. And again. And then over-think it, just in case I missed out on something.

“You know what will distract you?” I glanced up at Hye-sun with a frown and she smiled at me. “Preparing dinner together. Come on, don't just sit there, do something!” She took my hands and helped me to get up as I hesitantly gave in. Alright, maybe this would really help, it was worth a try, right?

Zelo's POV

I had to distract myself. Quickly. But where should I go? Everybody would ask about her. Yongguk, the kids at the orphanage – Jongup wasn't even an option. I ran a hand through my hair in frustration and got up. No, this wouldn't be solved by people I was close to, but maybe another place could help. I confidently grabbed my backpack, stood up and made my way towards the city center.

The interior was dark, matching with the sky on the outside since the sun had gone down half an hour before, and neon signs were blinking as the people were moving along to the beat of the music. The big sign on the outside showed the name of the place, framed by two dragons: The Dragonman.

Besides the fact that this name sounded weird, there was an actual meaning behind it. “Dragonman” translates as “Yongnam”, which is a hidden reference to the owner: Yongguk's twin brother; Bang Yongnam. I hadn't seen him for some time now, but he wasn't a complete stranger either. Yongnam was what some of you might describe as a lady's man, he really flirted with everybody at the same time from what I knew and him running a club only seemed legit in my opinion.

As I walked up to the counter, squeezing past various human bodies, I could already see him between two ladies: A perfect copy of Yongguk-hyung, but without any sense of moral on the inside. “Yo, dragonman!”, I shouted and he looked up, smirking as he recognized me.

“Zelo, what a surprise! Tired of Guk's rules at home, huh?” It was obvious that he was a bit drunk and I sat down next to him.

“Kind of. I need to clear my thoughts”, I replied vaguely and Yongnam laughed out loud.

“Sure, boy! Just sit down, enjoy yourself. There are so many ladies here tonight, and pretty ones on top of that, what do you think?” One of the women by his side leaned over to me with a crooked smirk.

“I don't see you around that often, boy. Where are you from?”, she asked with a voice that sounded like a purring cat.

My stomach twisted, because I thought of the one girl I had left behind. I wasn't ready for anyone else, I just didn't feel like it. “I'm still only 17, you know? It would be illegal and you'd probably go to jail for not doing anything against it”, I replied casually and the woman retreated with a sulk.

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Too bad”, Yongguk's twin continued as he raised his hands. “You should think about how important that stupid law actually is to you, my friend. Let me tell you that fun should always come before morals.”

Only for you though. I forced myself to chuckle when actually there was a giant lump in my throat. “I'll think about it, hyung.” I let my gaze wander, but none of the girls were pretty enough to make me question my ways. And not a single one of them would be able to ease my pain. “But I'll go with some alcohol instead. Give me beer”, I concluded and Yongnam laughed out loud as he stood up to prepare my order.

Forget her. Just forget her.

Soora's POV

(The next day)

I hadn't slept that well. Maybe 4 hours, but not a second longer. You know the reasons, I won't name them again. When Hye-sun entered to wake me up, I told her I felt sick and wanted to stay at home. “Soora, you shouldn't stay at home now. It will only make things worse”, she said, but I insisted on staying in my warm, big and comfortable bed, no matter how hard she tried.

In the end, she had to give in, but I admit that it might have been better for me to get that out of bed before everybody started to worry about me. In fact, I only had to wait for two hours until Daehyun texted me from school.

“Where are you? Is something wrong?” I didn't know what to write. To compare this to another event of my life, I felt just like when my mother had died: Helpless and kind of alone. But I wasn't alone, right? Daehyun was there.

“I'm worrying, Soora....”

“If there's something I can do for you, just text me, okay?”

I sighed and leaned against the wall behind my bed. “You can't help me when it's about you...”

Another message was received by my phone. Jongup.

“Why are you not at school?”

“Aish, he really knows everything, doesn't he?”, I groaned.

“I don't feel like it.”

“You don't feel like it? Why? Say, how's Zelo doing?”

I swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Zelo isn't here anymore. He left.” I was trembling, typing these words. “And I'm afraid of going to school, because I'm so confused.”

It took him another moment to reply. “Left? Wait, what?! That bastard, seriously, driving me crazy!”

“Go eat something, I'll take care of this.”

I panicked on the spot. “There's no need to. Just let him be” I wrote this, but I was wondering why Jongup even cared about him while hoping that he would go and search for him at the same time. Don't make up something like that, why would he voluntarily say-

“I won't let him be. He owes me an explanation.” Then, Jongup went off-line. “Well, I won't stop you”, I mumbled against my knees as I stretched my back with a yawn and rubbed my eyes. Some more time passed by – 30 minutes in which Hye-sun entered five times to ask if I was okay and I always replied with the same affirmative hum. Then, I heard the doorbell ring and after a short conversation, I couldn't make out the content of, someone came up the stairs again.

The door opened and I had prepared the same hum as before, but it wasn't Hye-sun. It was Daehyun. “Hey”, he mumbled with a bashful smile and I stared at him as if he was an alien, my face blushing furiously as I recalled the kiss.

“Oh...”

“What's with that 'oh'?”, he chuckled nervously, leaning against the door, closing it at the same time.

“I-It's just...Shouldn't you be at school?”

“If you don't feel well, I worry. Now tell me why you didn't come to school.” He then showed me a serious expression. “If it's because of me...then... forget about what I told you yesterday. I don't want you to get bad grades because of me.”

“Wait, no, it's not like that... Well, my grades anyway”, I exclaimed, but Daehyun's eyes made me shut up for a second. They showed me a pool of shyness, fear, warmth, nervousness and worry, causing my stomach to start bubbling. I averted my gaze, this was crazy. I was probably hungry.

My friend (?) swallowed before stepping closer and grabbing my wrists to drag me on my feet. I suppressed the urge to flinch, because there was nothing bad to it. I was just confused, because his actions were now so obviously caring. “I was told that you haven't eaten yet?” I shook my head. “Not good.” With these words, he dragged me along, down the stairs, and sat me down at the table in the living room, where a bowl of cereal stood.

I stirred the mixture for a while, trying not to look at Daehyun so that I wouldn't run beet red again. “Now you're going to get bad grades because of me, not the other way round”, I mumbled, putting a spoonful of cereal in my mouth.

He sighed. “Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. I told you that I was worried and that's all there is to it.”

“You know, I just need time to process everything that happened yesterday...”, I mumbled quietly while munching the crispy stuff.

Daehyun's back straightened on the spot and he froze for a moment before speaking up again. “I'm sorry to have confused you that much...uhm-”

“It's not just because of you”, I interrupted him and he looked at me in surprise as I smirked at him. “Being self-centered, huh? There are still other people around me, you know?” The short glare he shot me caused me to lower my gaze again. Damn, he looked handsome when he glared at me.

“Then it's Zelo?” I heard it. There was a spoonful of anger added to the pool of emotions in his voice. I turned my head to the left to look out of the window with a silent nod. “He... Did he hurt you? If that bastard did anything to you-” I shook my head and Daehyun tried to calm down again by exhaling slowly. “Alright, that's good. That's very good. But then again, what happened?”

I continued to eat my breakfast, because I realized how hungry I was all of a sudden. The knot in my stomach began to loosen and I was relieved that Daehyun was here – that he had come because he was worried.

Totally boyfriend material, Hye-sun's words echoed in my head. A grin tugged at the corners of my mouth. Maybe Zelo would have to wait. Just for a little while. I pushed the camera bag, I had left on the table the evening before, away – just like the thought of Zelo's leave.

“Dae?”, I whispered.

Our eyes met and I decided not to look away this time. “Hm?”

“Can you promise me something?”

Daehyun leaned forward on his chair. “Sure. Anything for you.”

“Don't say that”, I chuckled. He really wasn't joking and neither was I. “Can you promise me not to leave?”

He seemed to understand my question the right way. He got that Zelo was gone and even though he never liked him in the first place, he understood how much this meant to me. Reflexively, his hand reached out to my cheek while he raised the other one as if to swear an oath. “Of course I can. I won't leave you, until the day you tell me to go to hell. I promise.”

“There you go again”, I grinned, successfully banning the stick-figure from my thoughts, at least for the moment. His frown asked for an explanation. “Being all romantic. Sounds like some form of Romeo and Juliet to me.”

“But they die at the end of the book”, Daehyun sulked quietly.

My eyes widened and I almost choked on my cereal. “They do? Well, thanks for ruining the book, Jung Daehyun!” He raised his hands as if to defend himself.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to!”, he shouted before his hands touched the table again. “But was my answer good enough? I heard romanticists are rarely convincing.”

I finished breakfast, stood up and stopped behind his chair. “What if I told you it was?”

His gaze never left me, which is why he was now glancing up at me before rising to meet me at eye level. He was obviously nervous, his eyes restless and always moving around, but hell, I didn't think I looked any different! “I'd think that you might say 'yes' concerning my confession.” His breath hitched as I pulled him closer, burying my face in his chest.

“Yes.”

He stopped for another second, unable to trust his own ears. “Are you sure?”

I playfully hit his arm. “Of course I am”, I said, swallowing down my last doubts and worries. “But I don't know why you asked me yesterday. There are better girls, you know?”

Daehyun rolled with his eyes, but relief made his body relax. “There's no one I'd rather be with, Kim Soora.”

I smiled into his chest and he let out a happy chuckle as he locked me in his arms. “Then my answer is yes and I'm totally sure of it, Jung Daehyun.”

In the meantime, Jongup had found Zelo. And it didn't look very rosy for the latter. But who would care about others when he had just answered a confession with yes, goddammit?!

Guys, this is getting serious °^°

I know, this was all a bit quick and maybe even more confusing, but wait for it. Please. I beg you ;^;

So, Soora got a boyfriend :D .....and it's not Zelo. Oops.

BUT let me assure you again, that this is all going as planned!

I wonder in what condition Zelo was when Jongup found him....hm, who knows~~