As you were walking towards the bus stop, you were mentally debating what to call SanDeul. Part of you wanted to call him oppa, because you really wanted to just admit to yourself that you liked him but the other half of you wanted to just keep calling him SanDeul-ssi and ignore your feelings as best you could. Deep down, you knew it was a silly thing to be so undecided about, but you couldn't help it.

You knew it would be easier to just ignore your feelings and only be friends with SanDeul since you were going to have to return to your own country eventually.

You were so distracted by your thoughts that when you reached the bus stop you said, “Hello, SanDeul oppa.”  First off, you actually greeted him, something you never did. Secondly, you had called him oppa again. Your eyes widened at your own words and you stared up at the idol in disbelief.

“Hello, ____-ah,” he greeted back, a happy smile on his face.

You stood beside him awkwardly, your lips pursed as you looked around, taking in the trees thats leaves swayed with the wind and the sun that shone brightly overhead. You looked anywhere but at SanDeul, who was watching you out of the corner of his eye. Little did you know that he was just as nervous as you were. There was something he wanted to say to you, but he didn't know how to tell you.

He was scared that you would reject him. Though you had started calling him oppa, he was still uncertain about your own feelings towards him. He started to absently chew on his bottom lip, thinking of the best way to tell you. Finally, he took a deep breath and just said what was on his mind.

“____-ah,” he started. You turned to him at last, waiting expectantly for him to say what he wanted to say. “I... like you.”

You blinked slowly, taking in his words, trying to find out the exact meaning. You took a deep breath and debated what to say in turn. You could feel the warmth in your cheeks and silently cursed yourself for blushing. You heard the bus pull up, yet you didn't start to board it, you weren't going to run away from the situation. You held SanDeul's serious gaze. Once more, you started to feel nervous and there was a tightness in your chest that made it hard to breath. Your thoughts were racing much too fast for you to process them clearly, which frustrated you to no end.

You had known that SanDeul liked you, you could tell even before Baro had told you that. But hearing it from SanDeul's own mouth gave you a completely different feeling. You heard the bus pull away and still you didn't move or say anything. You closed your eyes for a moment in an attempt collect your thoughts.

Finally you opened your eyes to meet SanDeul's slightly worried expression. His heart was racing fast and he had grown slightly pale. He was thinking of taking back his words, too nervous to wait for the rejection he was sure he was about to experience.

“As a friend, right?” you said. You felt like an idiot after saying that. SanDeul's face fell.

“No, ___-ah. Not like a friend,” SanDeul stated firmly, trying to gauge your feelings by just examining your expression.

“So... more than that?” you questioned slowly. At this point you just wanted to be absolutely certain. SanDeul smiled and nodded. He still wanted to know how you felt about him, but he didn’t' want to push you.

“I hope I haven't burdened you,” he said lightly.

The corner of your mouth lifted up in a half-smile and you shook your head. “No. I already knew,” you said quietly. Your heart hurt as you kept back what you really wanted to say to him. Four words, four simple words. But still you couldn't bring yourself to say them. You knew it was stupid; it wasn't like you were confessing your love to someone. And even so, simply saying that you reciprocated his feelings was too much for you to verbalize.

“Really?” SanDeul asked, seeming utterly surprised. He had thought he had done a pretty good job at keeping his feelings hidden.

“Yeah. I think everyone knows,” you laughed.

XXX

A/N: Darn, I really thought I'd be able to reach 1000 words, but alas, this is barely over 700. And yes, I just have to make this whole relationship thing complicated ^_^ Luckily, I have up to chapter 32 outlined so I hope everyone sticks around!