"Goodbye, everyone." He bowed to his co-workers as he left the cafe.

It was 3 in the afternoon and he was going to meet a very special friend(for him) in an Italian restaurant in 30 minutes so he had to hurry up. He was the one who invited so he needed to be there early. But before going there, he changed his clothes to a much more formal one even if it wasn't a very fancy restaurant. He just felt like it was the occasion to do so.

He arrived five minutes before 3.30. He sat on the table near the glass window so he could see her coming. He was shaking. He was obviously nervous. He didn't know how to act and how to tell her how he felt. He just knew that he had to tell her.

He waited patiently for ten good minutes before he finally saw her. He smiled as she went in the restaurant and until she made it in front of him.

"Song Qian." He stood up and greeted her before he pulled her chair for her.
"What a gentleman." She smiled and sat down.

Jinki instantly called the waiter. They were regulars there so they need not take long to pick which to order. While they were waiting for their order, they chatted for a while with "how are you" and "what have you been doing" and some other random stuffs. Jinki didn't want to get to the topic yet so he just went with the flow and tried his best not to make things awkward.

"We're finally graduating in a month." Qian was so happy.
"Yes. Have you had a job offer?"
"I'll be teaching kids ballet at a small dance school near my flat." She told him with a smile. Actually, Jinki was really amazed of her grace when he saw her recital and he basically fell for her after seeing that recital a couple of years ago.
"And you?"
"Nothing. I'll be stuck at the cafe." He shook his head.
"You're a great architect, Jinki. You'll find one."

While they were eating though, he finally thought that the right time had come. He had to tell her before they finished hoping that it wouldn't ruin both of their appetites.

"Qian," Jinki started putting down his fork.
"Hmm?" Qian raised her eyebrow.
"I have to tell you something,"
"Tell me." Qian had stopped eating and looked straight into Jinki's eyes.
"I... Uh..."
"You?"
"I..."
"Just tell me, Jinki."
"I... I like you." He finally said it. He couldn't look at Qian  at first so he looked down on his plate. But he knew he had to because she wasn't talking and he didn't know what she thought. He looked up and saw her surprised expression. He couldn't tell if it was a good or bad surprise.

"Jinki, I..." She paused thinking of what to respond to him.
"I like you too but..." There was but. A very huge but. He knew where their conversation was going and it didn't make him happy.
"But only as a good, no, a great friend. And..." Another long pause. She was hesitating.
"And I already like someone else." Qian bit her lower lip. She knew she just hurt the sweetest guy friend that she had.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"No, Qian, you don't need to apologize." Jinki faked a smile though he knew it wasn't a very convincing smile.
"I wasn't really expecting you to feel the same way. I just wanted to let it all out, that's all." He stated. He didn't want to make Qian feel guilty when she didn't even do anything wrong.
"Let's continue eating, there are still the desserts coming!" He said with a cheerful tone.

"Jinki,"
"Hmm, Qian?" Jinki had his mouth full with risotto.
"We can still be friends, right?" She asked and he simply nodded with another fake smile.

"Thanks for the time, noona. Goodbye." He bowed before he left her at the bus stop.

Jinki walked aimlessly. He felt so stupid. He seriously thought they had something. But apparently he was wrong. It was only him who felt that something and Qian was feeling it with some other guy. It wasn't Qian's fault. He was the one who expected.

...

Soojung left her house that afternoon nervously. She couldn't even lock the door right because she was shaking. She breathed in and out deeply before she went off. She tried to calm down with the huge breaths she took as she waited for the bus to take her to her destination. Before she knew it, she was in front of his apartment.

"It's now or never!" She pushed the doorbell and waited patiently for him to open the door.

"Soojung, do you want to come in?" Minho opened the door and invited her in.
"No, no. If you're ready, let's just go." Soojung smiled and Minho nodded a little before he put on his sneakers and closed the door behind him.

They walked to the park that was right in front of the apartment building. It was a bit chilly cos it had been raining a lot that spring but they were lucky the sun was out that day.

They strolled around the park talking about the most random things. Although Soojung was the type who went straight to the point, she kept her cool and didn't rush things. She knew she'd get there but slowly.

"Minho," she started after they had bought cotton candy at the stand they saw at the center of the park.
"Yes, Soojung? Is there something wrong?" Minho looked at her curiously. She shook her head.
"I have a confession to make."
"What is it? Did you take my favorite video game AGAIN?" He raised his right eyebrow but Soojung shook her head once again and giggled. She used to hide his video games just to play a little trick on him.

"It's not that, Minho. Actually, I..." She was hesitant. She wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing. But she thought that she had liked him for too long that there was no better time than that.
"I like you, Minho!" So she just blurted it out closing both of her eyes tightly.
"Soojung," she slowly opened her eyes when Minho said her name. He didn't look so contented. In fact, Soojung could see a frown on his face so she instantly knew it was no good.
"I adore you, Soojung, a lot. But only as a sister. My little sister." Soojung felt her chest hurt. As if her heart was crashed into tiny little pieces. It wasn't even friendzone. It was worst than that—familyzone.

"I'm really sorry, Soojung. I didn't—"
"It's alright. Don't apologize. I just wanted to tell you how I feel. You know, just, just forget about what I said, okay?" She raised her eyebrows and smiled as if what happened didn't matter. She got it all planned out. If she gets rejected, she has a back-up plan though she wasn't sure if she could act it all out.

"Oh, wait, someone's calling me." She took her phone from her pocket as if it was really vibrating and someone was calling her.
"Hello? Jinri? Why are you calling? Do I really have to go? But I'm with Minho oppa right now. Can't we talk later? No? Is it really that urgent? Okay, okay, I'll be there in ten minutes." She put down her phone and looked at Minho.
"Oppa, I have to go. Jinri needs me right now. Let's hang out some other time. And please, just forget about what I told you. Bye!" She shouted as she ran off.
"B-but, Soojung!" Minho called her but she didn't look back. He sighed knowing that he just hurt her.

Soojung ran, ran and ran till she couldn't run no more. She tried so hard not to cry because she really didn't want to. Because she thought that crying would lead her no where like her feet that moment. But once she stopped running from tiredness, she then started crying. She couldn't help it. Her heart was broken. It was the first time she had her heart broken and heck it hurt. A lot that she just didn't want to feel anything anymore. She sat at the bus stop and calmed herself down by watching the cars passed by. She couldn't think of anything else that would calm her down and that would stop her from crying. She was a bit embarrassed because there were so many passers-by but her tears won't stop falling every time she thought of what just happened. She stopped after an hour or so but she stayed there until it was dark or until she got hungry. She then decided to go to the ramyeon stall that she used to go to with the boys. She thought that the stall sell the most comforting meals.

"A bowl of ramyeon, please!" She shouted but in chorus with someone.
"Oh? Soojung?" It was Jinki.

They sat next to each other as they waited for their order. They didn't speak like the usual because they were afraid that they might make each other mad again which brought them both to the thought of what they were planning to do once they meet again.

"Look, I'm—" they said in unison.
"You first—" and they chorused again.
"I'm sorry about yesterday." And so both laughed.

"We were kinda stupid acting like that yesterday." Soojung was still giggling.
"Kinda? We were stupid. We're too old to act that way."
"Old? I'm not old. You're old." They had a five-year age difference. Soojung just had to emphasize that. But Jinki just laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I acted a little immature, too." Soojung admitted.

"Have you been crying?" Jinki couldn't help but notice her two red swollen eyes.
"Uh, I don't know if I should tell you this..." She half smiled as she looked at her hands on the table.
"Tell me. I'm here to listen. Maybe, I can make you feel better." He wasn't pushing her to tell her story but he was really hoping that she would.
"Don't laugh, okay?"
"I can't promise that I won't." Jinki joked so Soojung punched his arm.
"I won't! I won't!"

"I... got rejected."
"Guess what? I was rejected too." Jinki said that made Soojung look at him with wide eyes. He nodded so she would believe him. And then they laughed loudly. But after a few seconds, Soojung's laughter turned into tears.
"H-hey," Jinki got worried.
"Soojung, stop crying. I didn't make her cry." Jinki panicked. People were looking at him probably thinking that he made the young girl cry.
"Soojung, when I told you I got rejected, I meant it. I didn't say it to make you feel better."
"I know, but..." She cried even louder.
"It must've hurt really bad, huh?" He felt sorry for her. Even if she didn't tell him who the guy was, he knew. He was just really observant that he just noticed the way she looked at Minho all the time.

"Stop crying, come on. You look ugly when you cry." Jinki her back but with what he said, Soojung punched his arm again. Jinki couldn't help but laugh. He wiped her tears with both of his thumb and smiled.
"Our order, please!" Jinki shouted.

"Unfair. Yours got more seasonings. I should've cried too." He frowned like a kid and so she laughed again.

They ate so happily. Jinki told Soojung that food mends all broken hearts or any kind of pain so she should eat as much as she could. He also told her he would pay so she didn't have to worry and so she wouldn't cry again. He kept talking nonstop saying  that he hated seeing girls cry, that it hurt him. He was so talkative and Soojung didn't expect that from him. But Jinki defended himself telling her that he only talked when he was supposed to. That was his way to comfort her. Soojung smiled. Soojung finally realized what she was missing out not having Jinki as her close friend. He was really nice and gentle like how everyone else described him. He was funny too although his jokes were a bit odd. At least he was able to make her feel better and make her smile.
 

First of all thanks to everyone who subscribed!!!!

Actually, this plot has been in my head since last year. This was originally an OnBer fanfic then I thought of Let Love... plot and so I put this plot aside. I had a year of hiatus and I wasn't even an active shawol for a while too but I still tried writing some stories but I couldn't finish anything. Then I came across my old notes last month where this story was and bam! It suddenly inspired me to continue this story changing it to OnStal though(no regrets haha).

A new school year has just started a month ago but since I kinda hate school, I started writing again.So yeah, thank school for encouraging me to write again. hahahaha. And I'm trying to be an active shawol again. My twitter account is now full of SHINee. Mostly JongYu and OnTae or OnJongTae because they are currently my OTPs(I love my OT5 too!!!) and that's why they're gonna act like couples or daddy-baby here.  haha. It has been 4 years since I was this active though I was kinda active a year ago too. I'm like this.

I want to experiment some crackships and not so crackships like TaeBer but I can't in this fanfic, maybe the next if ever an idea comes to my mind. Or maybe I could write a one-shot.

Okay, no one cares. hahahha

Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

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