“Sometimes the one you love turns out to be the one who hurts you the most, and sometimes the friend who takes you into his arms and cries when you cry turns out to be the love you never knew you wanted.” –Unknown

Hey, I’ll be at your front door pretty soon.

You read over Jay’s text a couple times before sighing softly to yourself. For some reason Jay was being unusually weird lately and you didn’t really know why. It seemed as though he came over or called you at every waking minute to “talk” to you. “That boy has been weird ever since your met him,” you thought. You weren’t necessarily complaining about his ability to send you over ten texts in one minute though, because you knew it would be worse if you had no one who cared about you at all.

Jay was ready. He had been your best friend since the fourth grade. He still remembered the day you two met because it was a rather embarrassing moment for the both of you. He had made you laugh so hard that milk squirted out of your nose and happened to land on his shirt. It was gross, but to the mind of a fourth grader, it was pretty sweet. Ever since that milk filled day, the two of them, along with their parents, were attached at the hip. Hell, you picked up your life in one country and moved to another one with him. But it wasn’t until a few months ago that he realized he liked you much more than just a friend. You were the one who was always there for him, even in the past ty relationships he was in. For the past few months, he was planning on telling you, but surprisingly, it was much harder to do than he imagined. Finally though, he had worked up the courage, and he was planning on telling you during one of their classy, netflix binge watching sessions.  

Once you heard the knock on the door, you knew it was Jay, and you were beyond ecstatic to tell him your news. You knew for a fact that Jay was close to Sunghwa, and you planned to ask him what Sunghwa’s ideal type is and maybe even how you could get to his heart. When you opened the door, Jay gave you his biggest smile and immediately pulled you into a huge bear hug. He enjoyed squishing you in his arms; you never had any complaints. Both of you laughed once he released you from his killer grip. Jay invited himself into your apartment and tugged you along with him. You could tell he was overly excited tonight; it wasn’t everyday you got a huge bear hug at the door.

“Okay, letting yourself in is perfectly cool too. Hey, uhm, oppa, I have to ask you a question.” you announce as soon as both of you plop onto the couch. You kept your face clear of any detectable emotions when you saw Jay looking over your face with a minor squint of his eyes. Oppa was something you never used with him, or anyone else for that matter. It just bugged you when it rolled off your tongue, so you avoided saying it at all costs, usually. You had read an article online that said calling him oppa was a sure way of getting him to do what you wanted. You couldn’t help but snort at the memory.

Truth be told, his gaze made you nervous. You had asked him far more embarrassing questions in the past, yet this particular question made your cheeks turn red. Even though you were always around to help Jay with his women problems, he never really had to help you deal with guy problems because you never seemed to have any. During high school, you were way too focused on drawing and constantly being on the internet that you never really found any guy particularly interesting. Anyway, it was too late to change your mind now.

“Alright ____,” Jay said with a small smile spreading across his lips “I’ve got something to ask too. You first.”

Jay was starting to get nervous. When he heard you call him Oppa, a shiver crept down his spine because he never thought he’d hear that word come out of your mouth. It probably would have been more amusing if he wasn’t concerned about why you used it in the first place.

You brought your finger up to your nose and tapped it lightly as you thought about the best way to approach the situation. You could feel Jay’s stare burrowing into your face. Sighing softly, you turn to look at him and quickly ask him if he knows what Sunghwa’s ideal girl is. The last word in your sentence comes out as nothing but a whisper when you felt your cheeks beginning to heat up. When you saw the expression on Jay’s face, you couldn’t help but turn your head to avoid any type of eye contact with him.

Your hands ball into fists as you turn to look at him again, the red in your cheeks fading to a light pink color. “I think I like him, and I want you to help me. I’ve always helped you, so this time, will you help me?”

Jay remained silent, all indications that there was ever a smile on his face disappeared. A million thoughts and questions crossed his mind within just a few seconds. The most popular one being Should I really help the girl I’ve fallen in love with date my best friend. He looked down with a smile of disbelief on his face; his heart pounding and his chest tightening. He honestly never thought that something like this could feel like a slap to the face, I mean, he technically hadn’t even been rejected yet it sure felt that way. When he got the courage to actually look up at you again, he faked a warm, welcoming smile. He saw you tilt your head to the side a bit when you saw his face, but you remained silent.

“Look, I totally understand that you prob-” you started saying before Jay’s hand was placed over your mouth.

You widened your eyes and looked at him.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you his ideal type. The fact that I even know it is a little bit disturbing to me.” Jay said, rolling his eyes.

Jay uncovered your mouth and slowly began spilling everything he’d learned about Sunghwa’s interest in the opposite . It honestly pained him to tell you anything about Sunghwa because you knew that he wasn’t a good match for you. How you even began liking him was beyond him; all he knew was that Sunghwa didn’t necessarily have the greatest track record with women, but he couldn’t tell you that. He’d feel too bad about it, and you’d probably just think everything he said was a lie.