All morning I’d been silently convincing myself I was ready to face Hyemi again, repeatedly encouraging myself that we could overcome what had separated us and that everything will be fine. Wonshik of course aided in that, too. Every time he caught me biting my lip or twiddling my fingers or standing much too stiffly to be considered natural, he would be by my side in an instant to comfort me with reassuring hugs and whispers.

Though I still nearly jumped out of my skin when the doorbell rang.

From my place on the couch I immediately froze and kept wide eyes glued to the door, as if it would open on its own and reveal my worst fear if I removed my gaze. After a few seconds it rang again and my breath hitched, and my body still refused to move.

“Hakyeon-oppa?” I heard her call from outside and forced myself to inhale again as I finally stood up and walked towards the closed door. I couldn’t bring my hand to turn the knob, so it just stayed positioned above it, shaking slightly. I squeaked in surprise when I felt Wonshik’s hand on my waist suddenly. I snapped my head around to look at him, too worried about my upcoming encounter to glare, but too unsure to ask him for help. He seemed to do the latter anyways as he placed his hand atop mine and turned the doorknob with me.

“Stop fretting, it’ll be fine,” he whispered one last time with his forever sweet smile before pulling the door open completely.

“Oh,” Hyemi jumped a bit when the door opened, and quickly put her hand back down from where it was raised to press the doorbell again. I somehow got myself to crack a smile, albeit uneasily and greeted the girl.

“Ah… hi, Hyemi-ah…” I felt Wonshik rub my side gently from where it was still partially hidden from Hyemi’s view behind the door.

“Hello again, oppa, and,” she looked to Wonshik and waved slightly, “Wonshik-ssi.” Wonshik smiled to her and for some reason I felt myself frown before I quickly straightened my face out again.

“Nice to meet you, uh, please come in,” she nodded and stepped inside, not forgetting to scan every inch of the room with her eyes before following us and sitting on the loveseat when Wonshik and I placed ourselves on the long sofa. Everyone seemed pretty tense for a minute before Hyemi broke the silence.

“So, um, are you and Hakyeon-oppa…” her eyes faltered for a second and she was obviously uncomfortable. I already knew what she was going to ask, so I just shook my head.

“No, we aren’t a couple,” I chuckled at how she exhaled in relief. Wonshik patted my thigh twice quickly before standing up. I looked at him wondering what he was doing and he simply smiled down at my confused expression.

“I’ll leave you two alone for a bit so you can talk,” I pouted, doing this at all was scary enough, but now doing it alone? I sighed. Pretty soon my friend had disappeared upstairs and Hyemi and I sat in awkward silence as we were both fidgety, waiting for the other to talk first. Eventually, I decided I should say something, but just as I opened my mouth, Hyemi beat me to the punch.

“I’m so sorry, oppa,” I looked up at her and her entire face displayed regret,” my eyebrows raised as she continued, “You were totally right, I should have tried to help from the start. I’m glad Wonshik-ssi found you…” I let out a dry laugh.

“Yeah, imagine if he hadn’t. Who knows where I’d be now, right?” she nodded and frowned. “I’m sorry too, Hyemi-ah,” she slowly brought her head up to meet my gaze again, “I shouldn’t have been so impulsive… I’d never want to hurt you…” I could feel myself tearing up again, but I blinked back the tears before they could fall.

“I understand now that you were really sensitive then, I didn’t think what I did would affect you so harshly, but—”

“It’s okay. Looking at it from your perspective, I’d be really freaked out, too. Thanks for not letting me do anything to you, Hyemi-ah. I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if I had,” I smiled sadly to her, “You mean way too much to me. I can’t believe you forgave me,” I stopped myself. Shoot, that probably wasn’t the right way to say that… I clapped a hand over my mouth and waited for her to tell me she changed her mind and that she never wanted to see me again… again. To my surprise she giggled, but as soon as I stopped worrying, I started again because she stood up.

I mentally applauded myself for not breaking out into relieved tears when I felt my friend hugging me like she always had before. Without even thinking I wrapped my arms around her and she squeaked out a laugh when I unleased one of my bear hugs.

“Hyemi-ah?” I pulled back and looked at the girl in front of me as she sported her usual smile that I felt like I’ve missed for centuries. She just looked back with a raised eyebrow, silently asking what it was that I wanted. I chuckled and stood up, motioning a hand toward the kitchen, “What should we have for lunch?”

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sometime later, the three of us were all sat contentedly at the center island of the kitchen, munching on my freshly-made chicken curry bap. Wonshik and Hyemi seemed to be getting along well, and I was glad there wasn’t any weird tension brewing between them with the whole old friend, new friend thing. Right now, Hyemi was in the midst of telling Wonshik embarrassing tales about me from when we were in high school. As many times as I tried to break away from all the humiliation, Hyemi always stopped me by an arm and forced me to sit back down and endure the comical torture. Wonshik was loving every second of it.

“So then oppa spent the entire rest of the year putting love notes on her locker, but neither of them ever talked to each other!” I groaned and hid my red face in my hands as the two howled at my failed attempt at courting some now long-forgotten crush. Well, up until now, that is.

“Hah, yeobo, you probably scared her away with your stalking!” Wonshik mocked me and I lifted my face up for a second to glare at him warningly before replacing my hands. Hyemi stopped laughing abruptly by my side and I looked at her, wondering why she had. Her confused expression answered my question before I even had to think about it.

“Oppa, why do you call Hakyeon-oppa that if you’re not a couple?” she seemed genuinely confused, though people always do. Wonshik waved it off as nothing with a flick of his hand as he gulped from his glass of water. Rather unflatteringly, if I might add. I responded for him.

“It’s just something we do with each other; it doesn’t mean nearly as much as people always think,” I shrugged and ate another spoonful of curry and rice. Hyemi didn’t seem very satisfied at all with that, but didn’t question it further, thankfully, and disregarded the topic with a quick flip of her bangs out of her eyes and a small puff of air from her lips.

No one spoke for a bit after that which is why we all jumped when the doorbell rang.

And rang.

And rang.

I grumbled under my breath about ‘annoying brats’ as I got nearer to the door, loudly stomping the whole way there.

“Hyukkie-ah, you better quit ringing it unless you wanna pay for it when it breaks!” I threated the other man outside. Immediately he stopped trying to play Beethoven’s Fourth with the blasted doorbell and I yanked the door open to reveal the still ever-so childish Sanghyuk and his still ever-so smiley lover.

“Umma!” The now brown-haired boy launched himself into my arms and nearly knocked the wind out of me as he kept pecking my right cheek. I squirmed uncomfortably as he coated me in his weirdo cooties and was grateful when Hongbin come up shortly afterward to peel the boy off of me.

“Hey, hyung,” he smiled and waved shortly before waltzing into the house like he lived here, Sanghyuk closely behind. Automatically the two gravitated towards the smell of food and I exhaled in exasperation before joining them in the kitchen where Hyemi sat looking at the two and giggling and Wonshik had face-palmed himself.

“Ah, Hakyeon-oppa, I take it these are more friends of yours?” she smiled widely and acknowledged the two with a nod before waiting for me to introduce the two.

“Ah, yeah,” I gestured to HyukBin and gave a tight, embarrassed smile at the two’s behavior, “This is Hongbin and his partner Sanghyuk,” I nodded in satisfaction before unquestioningly walking over to scoop the two up some food from the big pot on the stove.

“Umma~” Hyuk whined again and I just rolled my eyes, “You forgot to say I’m your son!” he gasped dramatically, “Are you disowning me?!” I walked over to him and smacked him lightly upside the head as I placed his food down in front of him. Wonshik piped in.

“Yah, Hyuk-ah, you’re making a scene in front of Hyemi!” He reprimanded and Sanghyuk pouted.

“Appa, why so mean?” he whined before tucking into his food as Hongbin smiled softly at his companion. Hyuk had almost taken a bite before he suddenly started giggling. All of us looked at him oddly, well excluding Hongbin who just sat smirking as he chewed, keeping his gaze on his plate. Hyuk looked up and spoke to the man across him.

“Hongbinnie, you’re gonna have to start calling them umma and appa, too~” Excuse me, what? I mentally questioned as Hongbin chuckled uneasily. I briefly recognized Hyemi whispering in my ear saying ‘should I ask about the umma-appa thing?’ I just kept my confused face on as I answered her with a slow shake of my head, not taking my eyes off my ‘son’.

Hyuk jumped up from his seat and started waving his hand two centimeters away from my face so that all I could see was a pale blur and… something glinting? My eyes widened and I stood up abruptly, knocking my seat over. I snatched his hand down and gawked at it in astonishment before grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him, releasing a sound that was high pitched and a cross between a laugh and a screech. He laughed with me as we both began jumping up and down and spinning each other around, both squealing madly and excitedly. I yelled at the top of my lungs.

“MY SANGHYUKKIE IS GETTING MARRIED!!!”

Briefly I heard Wonshik scoff, “Women,” I stopped my jumping and snapped my head to look at him and grab Sanghyuk’s wrist, shoving his ringed finger in front of my ‘husband’s’ face. He smiled and patted the still a bit uncomfortable Hongbin by his side and said, “Congrats, man,” and then added in a slightly lower tone that I couldn’t differentiate between being serious or joking, “And you better take care of my son,” he grinned and Hongbin gulped as he nodded his head so quickly it could fall right off his shoulders.

I smiled at the exchange and skipped over to the fridge pulling out a bottle of champagne and popping it, letting foam get all over the floor, “I say this calls for a celebration!”

Soon enough the five of us were engaged in a loud, impromptu engagement party as we drank and danced madly to the music blaring from the entertainment system.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I sighed contentedly as I let my head rest on Wonshik’s chest. We sat together on the sofa, me on his lap as he traced random patterns on my arm. I curled comfortably into him more as “It’s Okay, That’s Love” played on the television. Somehow I was barely even focusing on my favorite drama; I guess my friend’s warmth was just so much more intriguing at this moment.

I had only just completely calmed down after HyukBin announced their engagement last week, and I giggled slightly as I watched Haesoo and Jaeyeol on the screen, being all… couple-y like my two friends.

“Hey, sweetheart?” I started a little when Wonshik suddenly spoke, his low voice practically booming over my head. He chuckled and pulled me even closer to him. I lifted my head up to look at his face, one side of my head still pressed against his chest so I could hear his heartbeat underneath it.

Doogeun, doogeun, doogeun.

Why is it beating so fast?

Wonshik stared straight ahead at the screen for a few more seconds before I saw him swallow nervously and finally bring his gaze down to meet mine.

How am I only just realizing how gorgeous his eyes are?

I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling uneasy under his intense stare, “Yeah?” My friend’s eyes softened and he cracked a small, uncertain smile, seemingly taking in my face before he said whatever it was he was going to.

“Hakyeonnie… I don’t know if I should ask this considering how long we’ve both been kind of avoiding it. But I keep thinking about, how well we get along, how even though everyone says we already look like a couple we never became one, how neither of us even has secrets from the other anymore. Then I think about you, about your huge amount of energy, the way you talk way too much sometimes, about all your annoying little habits and quirks…and the more I think about it all, the more I love it all,” I sat up and he took my hands into his own and held onto them gently, “The more I love you.” Now it was my heart’s turn to beat at a hummingbirds’ pace. He continued.

“I want to be able to call you ‘honey’ without having to quickly dismiss it as a nickname between friends. I want to be able to kiss you in public and have everyone know you’re mine and only mine,” He raised my left hand and pressed a soft kiss to the knuckle of my ring finger, “I want to be the one that will end up putting a ring on this finger someday… I want to be yours,” I remained gazing into his glossy eyes with my own. I rubbed the back of his hand with my finger, silently encouraging him to go on. And go on he did as he laced his fingers into mine, “So I ask you this in all sincerity: Cha Hakyeon…will you be my boyfriend?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, really just staring back at him to make sure if he was serious. He just poured his entire heart out to me, or it really seemed like it. I have to admit that I’ve been thinking about that myself for quite a while now, and right now, I only wanted to give my everything and all to Wonshik: my joy and pain, present and future. Oh my God, I hope he’s serious…

I got my answer when his face reddened and his eyes fell from mine, choosing to look to the floor instead. Then he started talking to fast I could hardly catch a word.

“I—I know we’ve just been friends for so long, and you might not even like me that way, but—”

“Yes,” I breathed, feeling my lips stretch into a smile. But Wonshik didn’t stop talking.

“I’m sorry if I just upset you and you wanna move out now and never see me again—” I chuckled softly and brought my hands up to cup his face and make him face me, though his focus still remained downcast and he never ceased muttering apologies.

“I said yes, Wonshik,” I gazed at him in all seriousness and smiled even wider when he finally shut up and looked at me back.

“W-what?” Aww, his shocked face is so adorable~ I cooed internally before smashing my lips to his in a soul-shattering kiss that meant so much more than all of the others had.

~끝~

~End~

A/N: *barfs* ew, go away Wonshik, you're sooo cheesy.

So there's the end! I hope I didn't disappoint, I tried hard to wrap everything up! Hakyeon and Hyemi are friends again, Hyuk and Hongbin are engaged, and OMG FINALLY Wonshik and Hakyeon are a COUPLE! Woo!

Please upvote and comment you guys, I really love your feedback. :)

*prances away happily*