"Hongbin, why didn't you tell me?"

The words rung in Hongbin's ears even after he had escaped Hakyeon's grasp. Even after he lied to his friend that he was only kidding about it to hide that he liked someone else, he still thought about it. For a split second, Hakyeon knew. Hakyeon knew he liked him. For a split second, everything fell apart and Hongbin prayed his little white lies would glue everything together, for now, until he was ready. 

Hongbin immediatelty sent Joohyun a long text, asking her why in the world she would tell Hakyeon his deepest secret. She only responded with a "I didn't do it." and the conversation was dropped at that moment. Hongbin layed in bed and stared at the ceiling. He knew Wonshik wouldn't tell Hakyeon, unless Wonshik wanted to get back at him, but he doubted that would happen. Wonshik was too close of a friend to him--he wouldn't break that over something small. The only thing he could think of was that Hakyeon found out himself, which was impossible. He laughed that off. He was so careful around Hakyeon, there would be no way. None at all. 

Hongbin groaned. His head hurt and his legs ached and he felt like . He wanted to disappear into nothingness and have everyone just forget about him. That would be much better for everyone. He wanted Wonshik to forget that night. He wanted Hakyeon to forget that he liked him. He wanted everything he ever did to be forgotten. He wanted so badly just to sink into his bed and never be heard from again.

He knew better, though.

He knew it would never happen, so he just accepted it. He rolled onto his stomach and shut his eyes tightly, hoping to fall asleep without any troubles, even if it was still light out and not even six o'clock yet. Sleep would let him drift away from his problems for now. And so he slept a short, restless sleep, but it was sleep nonetheless.

When he awoke, messages filled his phone, but he waited to check them. He was too tired, too moody to respond. It was four in the morning, but Hongbin didn't care. He ate some cereal and watched infomercials, since they were the only thing on. He didn't react much to the "BUY THIS NOW", as he didn't care. He just stared blankly at the screen and at some point, drifted into another sleep.

"Want to do something?" Wonshik asked, his voice flat. Hongbin shrugged.

"I don't care." he didn't. He could care less. Wonshik typed something into his phone then put it on the couch's arm rest. He sighed and stretched, Hongbin not noticing any of it. His gaze was fixed on the dirty off-white wall opposite him. He just then noticed all the dirt and grim that lined his apartment. He'd have to clean that later. 

"Hm," was Wonshik's only response and Hongbin felt terrible. He shouldn't have ever said those things he did at that cafe that one day when Wonshik had told him. He should have just laughed it off, but instead he was worried about himself only. Now it seemed as if Wonshik hated Hongbin. He wouldn't blame him.

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't be."

"Okay."

They didn't talk much more the entire visit.

The college's library was quiet and the perfect escape for Hongbin, who was having a mid-life crisis at 21. He buried his head in a book on a topic he didn't even care about, wasn't even studying. He read it anyway, the sentences going into his brain, but coming out on the other side a minute later. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up from the boring book. He met eyes with Hakyeon, whose face was gleaming with happiness. Hongbin smiled back at his friend, but it was small, not even his dimples found their way onto his face.

"Hey, buddy." Hakyeon said, sitting next to Hongbin at the table he had seated himself on. Hakyeon eyed the book and laughed. "I never knew you had any interest in The Art of Mechanics." Hongbin shrugged. He didn't.

"It was here and I was bored." Hongbin explained, closing the giant book. He hadn't even gotten past page five, but he didn't say that. He watched Hakyeon laugh and wondered if he had forgotten yesterday. Hongbin sure hadn't. Hongbin decided to change the subject, just in case Hakyeon asked him what he learned from the book. "How are you and Joohyun?" Hongbin asked, a slight hint of jealously lacing his voice.

"Okay, I guess," Hakyeon flipped through a comic book that sat on the table. 

Hongbin raised an eyebrow, "You guess?" 

"Nothing much more has happened since the date. We've hung out some, but... I don't know. I'll give it time." Hakyeon said. Hongbin saw the look in his friend's eyes and immediately knew Hakyeon really did like Joohyun. Hongbin nodded. He guessed this was the end. He'd just have to move on and forget about Hakyeon like that. He was only just a friend.

"Yeah, just give it time." Hongbin agreed, a small smile finding it's way to his face. He patted Hakyeon's back and his friend gave his hair a ruffle. They laughed, not really at anything in particular. That's when Hongbin felt a stab at his heart. He watched Hakyeon laugh and he knew that it was going to be harder to move on than he thought.

Soonkyu breathed heavily, her hand still clutching tightly to Taekwoon's arm as she felt someone grab her shoulder. She swore to god that Jaehwan was stalking her just to get on her nerves, just to start . She knew well that he was just about to do that. Taekwoon looked over at Jaehwan, his eyes burning holes into the latter. He knew well who he was, but he didn't say or do anything just yet. He waited. 

Soonkyu spun around, removing her grip on Taekwoon and stared at Jaehwan. Although he was much taller than her, she stood up straight about to take a fight if she needed to. She wouldn't let him push her around anymore.

"What is it, Jaehwan? I thought you learnt your lesson last time." she spat, her face turning red. Nothing had happened yet, but she was already filled with anger and hate, just thinking of all the things that he had done to her. 

"We keep running into each other." Jaehwan chuckled. "The universe is trying to tell us something." his smile was fake, Soonkyu could tell. He wasn't the kind of person to just go about and change his ways like that. 

"Please," Soonkyu laughed loudly, a loud mocking laugh. Something flickered in Jaehwan's eyes, both Taekwoon and Soonkyu catching it. Taekwoon watched closely, ready to jump at any moment. He knew Soonkyu could stand up to herself, she showed a lot of strength, but if a fight broke out, Taekwoon was ready to step in. He had taken a fancy to her, but at that moment, it wasn't more than a small crush, but he'd still protect her from this man. 

"And who's this?" Jaehwan changed the conversation, turning to Taekwoon. Soonkyu looked over at Taekwoon quickly before answering.

"This is Taekwoon."

"Are you two dating now?" Jaehwan's tone instantly changed from happy-go-lucky to something with a taste of hatred. 

"No," Soonkyu put in, her voice dropping only a tiny bit at that question.

"You two are cute though. You should date, but you'd probably just break up with him a month later if you weren't already cheating on him." Jaehwan said, nonchalantly as if it wasn't a harsh insult. Soonkyu took a large breath, shocked.

"How dare you..." she started but Jaehwan wasn't done.

"You're such a , Lee Soonkyu. I should have never dated you." a small smirk grew on Jaehwan's face, watching Soonkyu's eyes show hurt. "I'm sure you were ing all my friends, and your friends too, behind my back. I never doubted that for a minute. And then you treated me like , when I treated you like a queen. You're something else, aren't you? Watch your back, Taekwoon." Jaehwan insulted, his laughter ringing in Soonkyu's ears. She stared at Jaehwan, feeling a large lump in . Everything he was saying was a lie. She loved him and never thought about doing anything like that with another man. Taekwoon's mouth was slightly open, in shock of everything that had just been said.

"You ing liar!" Soonkyu screamed, lunging herself at Jaehwan, tears streaming down her face. Taekwoon grabbed her arms and pulled her back, hugging her tightly to him. She clutched onto him, but was still sobbing, still throwing threaths at Jaehwan, who was just enjoying the misery he caused.

"Come on, Soonkyu. We're leaving." Taekwoon said, tugging her along, away from Jaehwan. He didn't know who to believe, but he was on Soonkyu's side, considering the fact that this was not Jaehwan's first offense. 

"So long!" Jaehwan called out at the retreating pair. Soonkyu had never felt so insulted, so embarrassed and hurt in her life. She hated Lee Jaehwan and never wanted to see him again.

"I'm sorry," she heared Taekwoon mumble. "Don't listen to him." she wanted so badly not to, but his words, nonetheless, stuck in her head. 

---

Joohyun will come into the story more soon! Seo fans don't worry!