"Do you even love him?"

Eunji let out a small gasp and looked up with wide eyes. Her eyes were drawn to a blushing Junhee, who bit her bottom lip while looking at Dasom. Dasom gave her a cheesy grin when Junhee slowly nodded her head. Jieun squealed and gushed over Junhee's blooming romance while the boys only gave her a look of acknowledgement or a congratulatory smile.

Eunji sighed in relief. Her shoulders sank a little, glad that the question wasn't for her and for Junhee instead. Byunghun glanced at Eunji for a few seconds before turning back to Junhee.

"So you're really dating Chanyeol?" Byunghun asked.

"Y-Yeah…" Junhee remained quiet before turning even more red. "This is so weird. I'm not used to all this attention on me. Can we talk about something else?"

"Of course not! I want all the details," Dasom said.

"But I have nothing else to say—"

"Oh please," Jieun said, rolling her eyes. "You have plenty to say, especially since it took you two forever to get hooked up."

"You couldn't be expecting me to tell you guys everything. Chanyeol and I just…talked and got hooked up. Our feelings were mutual and that's it," Junhee murmured.

"That can't be everything. You summarized it too quickly," Dasom said disappointedly.

"I'll start," Jieun said. She cleared . "You see, Chanyeol had a huge crush on me first—"

Before she could continue, she felt a hand cover . The group looked up, noticing that it was Chanyeol who was preventing Jieun from speaking any further. He was red with embarrassment, knowing exactly how childish he was when it came to his first love.

"Can you not talk about this," Chanyeol mumbled, gritting his teeth, "like, ever again?"

Jieun removed his hand and flipped her hair. "Why? It makes me feel better knowing that I was attractive enough to grab your attention. This is a good story to keep retelling. It'll make Hyunwoo jealous."

"Of course. Somehow, Hyunwoo comes into this topic," Taemin said.

"What? Problem?"

"No, I don't have any problem."

"Hey, but Chanyeol, if you came a bit earlier, you would've heard Junhee admit that she loves you," Dasom said teasingly, grinning at the taller boy.

Junhee turned bright red and so did Chanyeol. The two quietly glanced at each other, trying to figure out how to respond or what to say. Dasom and Jieun snickered, thinking how cute it was for the two to be secretly lovey-dovey with each other.

Eunji smiled faintly at the newborn couple and at her friends before getting up on her feet. Everyone looked at her, wondering what she was doing.

"I'm going to step out," Eunji said, forcing a smile. "I want to get a drink from the vending machine."

"I'll go with you," Byunghun said, getting up.

Eunji widened her eyes. "That's okay. I'll just buy your drink—"

"Who else wants a drink?" Byunghun asked, interrupting her. "I'll pay!"

"Me!" Dasom said excitedly. "Orange juice!"

"I want strawberry milk!" Jieun exclaimed.

"Get me coffee," Taemin ordered.

"Junhee? Chanyeol? Want anything?" Byunghun asked.

"Water is fine," Junhee muttered.

"S-Same with her," Chanyeol said.

"Aw, look at these two. Getting the same drink. How cute," Dasom teased.

"You two might as well share," Jieun added.

The two girls snickered, leaving Junhee embarrassed while Chanyeol remained flustered. Eunji gave the group a simple smile before walking off with Byunghun, who told her that he would help her carry the drinks.

Eunji and Byunghun walked in silence. At first, Eunji accepted the silence as a form of mutual comfort, but she later started to get the feeling that he was keeping quiet on purpose. Usually Byunghun would be more talkative, but his silence made her slightly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she decided to not bring it up and continued walking besides him in silence.

"So," Byunghun said after the two arrived at the vending machine, "you still haven't responded to Daehyun's confession, huh?"

Eunji tensed up as she inserted coins in the coin slot. "Is this why you followed me?"

"Basically, yeah," Byunghun said, nodding his head. "Of course, I'm being considerate and decided to help you carry the drinks, too."

"Forget it, Byunghun. What happens between me and Daehyun is just between us. You don't have to worry about me," Eunji said.

"Oh, I'm not worried about you," he said, snorting. "I'm worried about Daehyun."

Eunji looked at him. "What?"

"Eunji, I trust you to make your own decisions when it comes to your relationship with people. However, you realize that you're keeping Daehyun waiting, right?" She nodded. Byunghun sighed. "That's why I'm worried about Daehyun."

"What do you mean?"

"He's going to stick to his words," Byunghun pointed out. "You know that."

She paused a little before speaking. "Well, I asked him when I should give him a response and he said that he can wait—"

"That's not right," Byunghun said. "You shouldn't make him wait. If you're this hesitant, then shouldn't you reject him?"

"But what if I grow to like him?" she asked.

"Would you allow yourself to be in that position?" he asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I sort of understand what you went through with Howon and everything, but it's painful for a man to be kept waiting. In a way, Daehyun and I are pretty similar. Except that I was the one who waited for Sunyoung to look at me when she never would. I didn't give up on her until she got a boyfriend."

"So what are you trying to say?" Eunji questioned him.

"Answer him," Byunghun told her.

"But then I'll be rushing it—"

"Come on, Eunji."

She bit her bottom lip. "Byunghun, do I even have the right to move on—"

"Yes," Byunghun said quickly, preventing her from hesitating any longer. He placed his hands on her shoulder and stared at her seriously. "You do have the right to move on. You are the one who's alive. At the end of the day, you're the only one who can permit yourself to love someone else or not."

Eunji looked at him uncomfortably, showing that she thought he was pushing her too much. Byunghun, noticing her bothered expression, let out a soft sigh before pressing the buttons to collect the requested drinks. He bent down and picked up all the drinks while leaving Eunji to hold her own drink.

"Let's go," Byunghun muttered. "I'm sorry that I'm pushing you. I'm just worried that Daehyun might really wait for a really long time, and that can do stuff to people."

"I-I know," Eunji murmured. "It's just…"

She stopped herself, knowing that her excuses weren't going to work on Byunghun. She kept quiet, letting him know that she was going to stop.

He gave her a small smile. "I understand. Sort of. Not really. Just sort of."

She chuckled. "Well, thank you for sort of understanding."

He snickered. "Come on. Let's go…"

The two went back to the classroom, where they handed the drinks to everyone in the group. Right after all the drinks were passed, Byunghun got up, saying that he was going to go somewhere else. Taemin, having nothing better to do, decided to excuse himself and followed Byunghun out of the classroom.

When the boys were alone and far enough from the group, Taemin gave Byunghun a small nudge on the arm.

"So how'd it go?" Taemin asked.

"She's still not over Howon," Byunghun said, "but I think she's interested."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I just think she feels guilty over the whole Howon business."

"So is she going to reject Daehyun?"

"She doesn't know."

Taemin grunted. "This isn't good."

"I know. I tried to tell her that, but she wouldn't listen," Byunghun murmured.

Taemin sighed. He looked out the window and stared up at the sky.

Come on, Howon, the honor student thought. You promised me that when you're in heaven, you'd give Eunji to a better guy. What happened to that promise?

"Achoo!" Daehyun sneezed and sniffed, rubbing his nose. He looked around, then shuddered, causing stares from her classmates. He turned slightly pink in embarrassment, but didn't do anything else. Someone's talking about me. Someone is definitely talking about me.

When the bell for the end of lunch rang across the building, students swarmed back into the classroom. Daehyun casually took his seat and watched the crowd of classmates squeeze through the doors. His eyes—like always—landed on Eunji, who came into the classroom without Taemin.

I guess they didn't eat lunch together, Daehyun thought.

The two made a brief eye-contact. Daehyun blushed and averted her gaze, while Eunji bit her bottom lip in guilt. He continued to look away, forcing his eyes to stare out the window until he felt a presence standing in front of his desk. He slowly moved his brown orbs and met Eunji's eyes once again. His heart pounded against his chest.

"Daehyun, do you have time after school today?" Eunji asked.

"T-Time? A-After school? Today? Uh, yeah. I have no practice. W-Why?" Daehyun asked.

"I want to take you somewhere before I answer your confession," she said.

Daehyun felt his heart squeeze. Oh damn. Did she already decide?

"It's not right for me to keep you waiting, but before I reply, I need to do something else," Eunji said. She took a deep breath, "and I've decided to take you to the place I need to go to do the something else."

"I-I…" Daehyun felt his lips tremble. Both excitement and fear began to overwhelm him. He kept quiet for a few seconds before clearing his throat and staring straight into her eyes. "Okay. I'll meet you at the gates after school."

Eunji smiled. "Thank you. Thank you very, very much."

Daehyun felt sick when he realized that Eunji had taken him to a cemetery. Was she going to reject him at the cemetery? Why at the cemetery, of all places? It didn't really make any sense to him. Maybe she wanted to promote the dead and gloomy feeling of being rejected with the dark aura of the cemetery? 

Whatever the reason is, I have a bad feeling about this, Daehyun thought. He gulped and continued to follow Eunji, who began to lead him through the graveyard.

"This way," Eunji suddenly told him.

"R-Right!" he exclaimed nervously. He continued to follow her lead until she stopped in front of a particular tombstone. He looked down at the letters of the tombstone before tensing up and turning slightly pale. "Howon…"

Eunji forced a small smile. "I come and visit once in a while. No one really knows about this, though."

Okay, now I have no idea where this is going, he thought.

"…What do you think Howon would say if he saw you and me together like now?" she asked him.

"He'd be crushed," Daehyun said without much thought.

She chuckled softly before nodding. "Yep, he'd be terribly upset…"

"But," Daehyun continued, surprising Eunji, "he'd probably wish you happiness." He looked at Eunji. "If I know anything about Howon, he was always happy when he saw you happy. Even though it'd hurt him, he'd probably still smile and be grateful that you're happy."

Eunji paused. "Honestly, I haven't thought that much into it."

"Really. I'm serious. If anything, Howon would probably congratulate you and wish you eternal happiness or something like that," Daehyun said. He paused, then broke into a small smile. "Well, he'll say it in a dialect that you two always spoke in."

She managed a laugh. "Yep! I can imagine that!" Her laughter died down and turned into a warm smile. She kneeled on the ground and stared at Howon's name on the gravestone. "I can definitely imagine that…"

Daehyun stood still before deciding to bend down on his knees like Eunji. He slowly reached over to touch her hand and squeezed it a little.

"You know," Daehyun said, "that I can make you happy again."

"I know," Eunji said, nodding her head. "Maybe that's why I'm so hesitant in replying to your confession." She looked back at Howon's grave and closed her eyes. "Howon, I hope you're doing fine up there. I hope you're healthy and well up there. We didn't spend much time together, but I had a lot of fun when I was with you."

Daehyun felt something pull on his heart. Am I really getting jealous over Howon right now? How low can I get?

"But…" Eunji lifted her eyelids and gave the tombstone a sentimental expression. "I think I'm ready to move on." Daehyun felt his heart stop beating. He looked at her with incredible wide eyes while she continued to look at the stone. "I'm going to move on and be happy, but I will never forget about you. You will always be etched into my memory. You were my first boyfriend, and you will always hold that title. I will move on, date other guys, and learn to fall in love. Despite all that, I will not forget who you were and how important you are to me. If it's like this, then I think I can move on properly without hurting you or hurting me."

"Eunji…"

She finally looked at Daehyun. She got up on her feet and looked down at Daehyun. Just when he was about to get up on his own feet, Eunji quickly bowed and gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry!" Eunji exclaimed, shocking him even more. "Even though I decided to move on, I can't date you!" She looked at him with a painful expression. "I know that I can be happy with you, but I'm just not ready to fully give you my affections. Daehyun, you're important to me just like how Howon was important to me. I've been thinking about this, but I just feel like that I'm not ready to date now."

"B-But what about moving on?" Daehyun asked, confused.

"Moving on just means that I'm going to learn how to be happy again," Eunji said, smiling. "I've been depressed over Howon's death far too long. I just didn't know how to move on from him. It felt like a crime to be laughing and smiling with my friends when he wasn't here to share the same experience." She managed a giggle. "Besides, I was never interested in the idea of dating. I only accepted Howon's confession because it was one of his last wishes that I could grant."

Daehyun wasn't sure what to say. Sure, there was the pain of being rejected, but at the same time, he was sort of glad that he got rejected. He wasn't exactly sure why he was glad since he knew that he really liked her, but he assumed that he was happy that she took him seriously.

"I still hope we can be friends after this. Like I said, you're important to me," Eunji said.

Daehyun pressed his lips, then slowly nodded his head. "Okay, I think I can work with that." A pause. "For now, of course."

Eunji stared at him with wide eyes and turned slightly red. Seeing this, he chuckled and turned around.

"I'm ready to go back home," Daehyun said.

"Don't you want to say anything to Howon?" she asked him.

"Nah. He never really liked hearing me talk," he reminded her. She giggled and nodded. She looked at the grave one last time before bidding Howon a "goodbye" and left with Daehyun.

Moments later, Taemin appeared behind a tree. He had been listening to the entire conversation the whole time and found it difficult to come out and make his appearance during the time Eunji and Daehyun were talking. He slowly walked over to Howon's grave and stared at the tombstone. He clasped his hands together and prayed a message before opening his eyes and looking back at the grave.

"Thanks," Taemin said. He looked at the direction where Daehyun and Eunji left. He smiled comfortably. "Thank you for helping Eunji find a good guy. Daehyun seems to be a pretty nice guy, doesn't he?"

With that, Taemin turned and left the cemetery.

Near Howon's grave, the leaves began to rustle, mimicking what seemed to be Howon's weak laughter before the wind faded back into dead silence.