“Mom! I will go first!”

Without caring about his messy hair and wrinkled shirt, he got out from his room and ran towards the main door to wear his shoes. As he was struggling with his shoes, he heard a soft ‘Okay! Take care!’ from his mother who was in the kitchen. Every morning, he had a special routine for himself. He would run from his house to his college every morning just to look over his athletic crush, Jung Taekwoon.

Getting ready in his position, the petite boy named Lee Jaehwan started to sprint towards his destination. Before, he would walk to his destinations, whether it was his high school, college, or anywhere that Taekwoon was there, for more than 40 minutes but after he started to have a crush on that soccer team’s captain, he would arrive 15 minutes early from usual. His 2 best friends were also sacrificing for him since they had to chase him everywhere he goes.

“Yo, Lee Jaehwan!” exclaimed a tanned boy as he skipped out from his house and followed Jaehwan as they ran together.

“Yo, Hakyeon hyung! Did Sanghyuk text you?” he asked while panting softly, keeping h is legs working out for the run.

“Yeah, he did. He said he’s waiting for us in front of his house.”

“Really? He’s early today.”

“He has his own agenda—”

“You too, hyung.”

Jaehwan’s counter attack had left Hakyeon speechless. Truthfully, they had their own agenda in running to the college every morning. Well of course, at first, Hakyeon and Sanghyuk just there to accompany Jaehwan to stalk over Taekwoon but soon, they had come to fall for Taekwoon’s best friends instead; Lee Hongbin and Kim Wonshik.

The tanned boy with the named of Cha Hakyeon had set his eyes on Wonshik since the first time they locked their eyes together. Wonshik really did look handsome, tough and y but the moment Hakyeon saw the soft pink in both of his cheeks when they looked into each other’s eyes, Hakyeon couldn’t help it but to think that he looked so cute that time.

The younger of them all, Han Sanghyuk, started to fall for Lee Hongbin, the basketball team’s captain the moment he saw his bright smile. When he smiles, Sanghyuk thought that he was the prettiest guy that he had ever seen in this world. Hongbin even had dimples on his cheeks which only made Sanghyuk’s heart skipped a beat every time it would appear.

For Jaehwan, he had fallen for Taekwoon since they were in the middle high school 10 years ago. Due to his small and thin body, other students in his school would come to . So one day, when he was walking through the field for his Physical Education, a group of students came to him and shoved him away to the ground. They started to laugh at him, stating that his thin body was not normal at all. Going overboard, they were thinking on stomping and kicking on Jaehwan’s body but suddenly, there was a ball flied through the field and hit the head of one of the students.

From afar, they saw a boy stood tall with his usual cold expression. He didn’t have to speak anything as his gaze was enough to scare them away when he decided to walk closer to Jaehwan’s spot. The small boy looked up as the latter crouched down a bit to pull him up to his feet by his petite waist.

“Take care of your own self,” was the only words that slipped through the elder’s lips before he walked away and left the boy dumbfounded. Since then, his heart always skipped a beat every time Taekwoon passed through his sight.

Jaehwan’s thought about Taekwoon immediately burnt away the moment he saw Sanghyuk stood in front of his house.

“Come on, Sanghyuk!” the eldest of them all exclaimed bright as the youngest nodded and started to run with his two friends-like-brothers.

“Anything you guys want to inform, hyung?” Sanghyuk asked as he glanced at the others.

“Not now. Save your energy, little maknae.” Jaehwan muttered as he sped up his pace when the college entrance came into his sight.

‘The next phase’, he thought as he turned to glance at Hakyeon with a soft smirk.

“To the cafeteria we go!” he yelled happily, leading their way to the cafeteria. They ran from corridor to corridor and building to building till they arrived at their destination. Their racing hearts’ pace increasing as they turned around a corner and saw Taekwoon and his best friends sat at a table.

‘The final phase; acting.’

Jaehwan then took the lead and ran towards a table and made an abrupt stop as he slumped himself on a seat.

“I win!” he exclaimed loudly with his fists on the air. Sanghyuk, who was the second to arrive at the table, slightly jumped around in happiness.

“You’re last, hyung. Go buy our drinks now.”

“Yah! You’re the youngest, don’t speak like that to the older one!” he exclaimed his face flushed in red because of both his anger and embarrassment when his crush turned towards their table to watch them.

“Whatever, hyung. Just go buy the drinks. We will give you a massage later.” Jaehwan said softly as he leaned to the tanned boy with his cute face. The latter stared at him while narrowing his eyes, not sure if the younger was saying the truth or not.

“Really?”

“I swear, hyung. If Sanghyuk don’t want to do it, I will do it for you. Now go buy the drinks as the punishment for our race.” Glaring at Sanghyuk who was panting softly with his eyes close tight, Hakyeon shrugged his shoulders and sighed softly before walking away to the counter and sighed softly before walking away to the counter to order the drinks. Jaehwan let out a soft chuckle as he rubbed Sanghyuk’s back gently, his eyes would sometimes glance over Taekwoon at the table which placed at the corner of the cafeteria.

“Hyung, what course that Taekwoon hyung take?” Sanghyuk suddenly asked after he had regained himself.

“Engineering—wait, why?”

Nothing, just asking. I heard that Hongbin is in the Law’s course. What a boring class….heh. Didn’t you take Engineering course as well?”

Sanghyuk’s question had left Jaehwan with his idiotic smile. He nodded softly before staring down at the table, letting himself fell into his deep thought. Since he fell for Taekwoon, he had followed him everywhere like a stalker. When he knew that Taekwoon took Engineering as his course, Jaehwan didn’t even think twice before choosing the same course just to be with his beloved crush.

“You choose it purposely, right? You’re insane, hyung.”

“So, what? Love makes you idiot, seriously.” Sanghyuk rolled his eyes and sighed softly before turning to Hakyeon who stood at the counter with a tall guy beside him.

“Hyung….why I’m not lucky like you guys?”

“Why did you think like that?” he asked softly, finally stopping himself from staring at his crush as he turned his attention towards his phone.

“Try to look at Hakyeon hyung.”

“What—oh, wow. Jackpot!” he whispered softly to himself excitedly as he saw Hakyeon was talking with Wonshik as they were waiting for their drinks respectively. Jaehwan could see Wonshik gave his handkerchief to Hakyeon to wipe away his sweat.

“He’s so lucky, I’m jealous.” Sanghyuk sighed softly before hanging his head low just to earn a soft pat at his back.

“Oh, look….Hongbin is staring at a girl.” Listening to Jaehwan’s casual voice, Sanghyuk frowned deeply and quickly looked up at the said guy before widening his eyes when his gaze was locked with Hongbin’s for a moment.

“Oh, I mean…He’s staring at you, sorry.” Sanghyuk regained his composure and turned to hit the older as Jaehwan snickered happily while giving him a peace sign. They were too deep in their own world till they didn’t even realized that Hongbin was still staring at Sanghyuk with his flushed red face and Taekwoon got up from his seat to take his leave first. Soon enough, Hakyeon approached them with their drinks on a tray.

“Know what, guys? Wonshik ask me if I would like to go out for a coffee!” the tanned boy squealed happily like a high school’s girl while Jaehwan, who realized that Taekwoon was not there with Hongbin and Wonshik, sighed softly with his head hung low.

“You’re so lucky, hyung. I’m going to class now.” He mumbled lightly before getting up and waved weakly at his 2 best friends. He then made his way to his class with a soft frown plastered on his face. Fortunately, his day went smoothly with Taekwoon in his sight for the whole day. Everywhere he went, Taekwoon would be there, passing by his sight coincidentally…..coincidentally?

He went through his classes with no problem till the last class that he had to attend; Architecture class. They were going to have an assignment where they were needed to build something around the campus. Jaehwan silently groaned at the back of the class since he knew his body was small and not strong enough to do the building work but he had to. He needed some points and marks for his grade. Jaehwan also noted that a group consist 5-6 people to do the works. Among the members, there will be one leader and one leader’s assistant.

Jaehwan didn’t even give his attention at the instruction till the lecturer turned to read the groups’ members list. He straightened his back and looked to the front. Once his name and group was announced, he couldn’t help it but to widen his eyes in surprise.

“Group 5. Lee Minhyuk, Peniel Shin, Yoon Doojoon and Lee Gikwang. Leader, Jung Taekwoon and Leader’s Assistant, Lee Jaehwan.”

From the corner of his eyes, he could feel there was a pair of sharp eyes piercing through the back of his head. Once he turned around, he was greeted by the fierce, cold gaze of Jung Taekwoon. The latter then lazily picked up a paper which he wrote: ‘Meet me after class. We need to discuss about it.’

Due to the sharp glare, Jaehwan immediately nodded his head and turned back to stare at the board with his eyes wide open. He still couldn’t believe that their lecturer chose him to be Taekwoon’s assistant but at least he was grateful to the fate for being so nice to him. However, thinking that he would spend his time with Taekwoon more often than usual made his stomach flipped till he felt like he wants to vomit right away. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself down from the excitement and focused his mind towards the lecturer who was teaching them at the front of the class.

The whole period of the class went through smoothly till the end when Taekwoon suddenly sat on the seat in front of Jaehwan’s table. Seeing the cold guy was sitting in front of him, his body trembled a bit due to the aura that circling around Taekwoon at the moment. As they waited for the students to walk out from the classroom, Jaehwan took the chance to admire Taekwoon’s tough back. He was smiling alone like an idiot till he didn’t realize that the other male was already turned to face him after he made sure that they were left alone in the classroom.

“What are you smiling at, hm?” the older male asked, making the younger startled and flustered afterwards.

“N-Nothing! Uhh…so, what are we going to do?” Listening to the younger’s words, Taekwoon narrowed his eyes and leaned forward while Jaehwan just looked around, avoiding any eyes contact. The older then scoffed before turning a bit to take out his book and placed it on Jaehwan’s table.

“You always like to change the topic. Okay, I will let it slide away. So, do you have any suggestion for the project? I think we should do something for the garden. It’s too empty to be a college’s garden. What do you think about it?”

“It’s a good idea. I think we should make a place for students to enjoy their time there while taking some fresh air. Maybe we should do a gazebo there.” Jaehwan said softly, trying hard to hide his own nervousness as he took a pencil and started to sketch something in Taekwoon’s notebook. The older leaned closer and peeked over the sketch, humming softly in respond. Jaehwan was always the best in drawing and sketching. Having Jaehwan in the group, however, was an extra bonus for them even though his body wasn’t enough to build something because he would always give the best buildings’ sketches ever. He once highly praised by everyone due to his beautiful artworks. He gained many fangirls and fanboys just because of his amazing skills. Giving back the notebook to Taekwoon, he smiled lightly.

“Look, people can rest here while admiring the scenery. People also can do their assignments here because of this table…” he mumbled softly, immediately sketching some tables and chairs as for samples. Humming again, Taekwoon finally nodded and tapped his pointing finger on the sketch.

“It’s great. We can use this sketch and build it. Draw it again in orthographic and isometric and any other way that you think it’s perfect then give all of it to Minhyuk. Let him decided on which materials that can be use to build this since he had always be the good one in choosing those things. And please tell him that I need the most suitable woods with this gazebo, not the cheap woods.” Obeying to the elder’s words, Jaehwan immediately got up from his seat and started to pack his things.

“We’re done for now, right? I’m going back home as fast as I can so I can finish the drawing.”

To be honest, Jaehwan was too flustered to be alone with Taekwoon, his own crush, like he ever did something wrong with the older. Breathing in the same air with the older somehow made him felt suffocated in that moment, different from usual, so he wanted to get out as fast as he could. However, when he was about to walk away from the class, his steps immediately stopped by the other male’s voice.

“Seriously, are you going to keep doing this to me?” he asked, giving a cold gaze towards the younger which shown how mad he was towards the other. Jaehwan could feel the shiver ran down his spine. Letting out a soft awkward chuckle, he turned to face the older while smiling innocently.

“Doing what, hyung?”

“Are you being serious right now, Lee Jaehwan? Are you going to keep following me and hide like you’re a stalker of mine? Stop it.” Taekwoon’s words somehow shot through his heart, hurting a bit and he could felt it cracked—his words were like a sharp dagger that broke deep into his beating heart, stopping it immediately. Jaehwan looked down, somehow the floor look interesting for him in that moment.

“Is it wrong?”

“It’s disturbing me! Stop doing like that. You know you’re not a stalker! So please, stop bothering me with your act and—”

“I will stop. I won’t bother you anymore. Let’s just do this project like nothing ever happened.” Without giving Taekwoon a chance to speak up, he immediately ran out from the class, leaving the older behind with a soft groan of frustration.

Afterwards, Taekwoon noticed that Jaehwan didn’t stalk him anymore. He no longer came to the school early like usual. It was Sanghyuk who was replacing his place as he started to stalk Hongbin. Wonshik and Hakyeon were officially together for some reasons. For the project, Taekwoon also realized that Jaehwan act like nothing ever happened. He talked to him casually; he would only talk about work with him and he noticed that Jaehwan was no longer flustered or stuttered or even blushed every time he was around him. Other than talking like a co-worker, Jaehwan just would avoid the elder. Taekwoon indeed felt comfortable when Jaehwan finally stopped to stalk him but somehow, he felt empty. He worried about something.

The project went all well and their relationship was more to friend with friend instead of a boy with his crush now. As Taekwoon’s assistant, Jaehwan did his works really well. He slowly got used to the sudden change of his life but the situation that he had to face had made him worried and anxieties started to consume him. One day, he went to the locker room to take his things but what he had saw broke his heart into pieces right on the spot. The moment he saw Taekwoon pinned Hongbin to the locker, he could heard the cracked sound that came from his heart. He was so speechless; he was heartbroken by the sight of his crush pinning other guy against the locker. But well, he was nothing to Taekwoon, he thought. Who was him after all? With a soft sigh, he turned around and walked away from there.

For the 2 whole weeks afterwards, Jaehwan completely avoiding Taekwoon. He didn’t even attend the project that they were currently working on. Either if he was busy or he had to go back to the hometown to meet his grandparents, he kept on giving Taekwoon excuses to avoid the project. Yet one day, he knew he still had to face Taekwoon even he didn’t want to.

The sound of the ringing phone from his nightstand had made him jumped a bit in surprise. Reaching for his phone he noticed that it was Minhyuk who called for him. Jaehwan then sat up on his bed and straightened his spine before tapping on the green button.

“Yes, hyung? What’s up?”

“Can you come to the college right now? Taekwoon is not here to lead us so we need our leader’s assistant here. Are you free right now?” Minhyuk’s question made him shut his mouth for awhile, biting his lips as he was deciding about it.

“Taekwoon hyung is not there?”

“Yeah, he’s not here. I won’t call you if he’s here. You won’t come when he’s here with us, right?” Jaehwan was flustered a bit. Minhyuk already knew the reason of why he was avoiding the project. And he was sure that everyone knew about it including Taekwoon himself.

“Where did he go?”

“Hmm? Oh, wait…” Jaehwan heard Minhyuk started to whisper with the other members for awhile before returning to him, “They said he goes out with Hongbin. You know him, right?”

“…..I’ll be there in about 30 minutes.” As soon as he muttered those words, Jaehwan immediately hung up the phone without giving Minhyuk a chance to talk anything, leaving him dumbfounded just like that. He thought he will be okay; damn he thought he will just let it slide away just like that but recently, he couldn’t hold it anymore. Every part of his body would feel numb every time he heard that Taekwoon was hanging out with Hongbin, he was having lunch with Hongbin and he had to stay with Hongbin at the younger’s house because he was sick. His heart would break every time he heard Taekwoon’s name was paired with Hongbin.

With his heavy steps, he forced himself to go to the project’s site and met with his team’s members who were currently discussing about their project. Jaehwan approached them with a soft smile as Doojoon immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Hey there, leader’s assistant.”

“Hey, guys,” he greeted back, “so, what can I do today to help you guys?”

“We’re thinking on going to the next phase where we had to settle up the roof. We need to put up the supporting frame up there and place the tiles on it.” Peniel immediately explained to Jaehwan due to his constant absence. The latter frowned slightly at the mention of the tiles since their original project plan didn’t use any tiles as the roof and instead, they were just going to make an open roof.

“Tiles? Didn’t my sketch shown that we had a see-through roof instead? And what with those all right-angle triangle frames, rafters and else? Our original project was using the open flattened roof instead right?”

“Yes, we know that and I’m afraid that you have to touch up your sketch a bit since Taekwoon changed into the hexagonal roof.” Gikwang said softly, apologization could be heard in his tone. It made Jaehwan frowned deeper since Taekwoon was the one that agreed with the original idea.

“But why?”

“Because Sang—”

“Because Hongbin asked him to change.” Like they were planning something, Minhyuk immediately cut down Doojoon’s words and nudged him afterwards. Fortunately, Jaehwan didn’t saw their moves since he was too occupied by the words that he heard just now.

“He said maybe people couldn’t use our gazebo at all because it didn’t protect them from the heated sunrays or the heavy rains.”

The words flew around his mind like viruses and he was infected by it. He thought, maybe Taekwoon likes Hongbin more because the latter was smarter than him. While Hongbin could think about what people want, he never tries to think about the advantages and disadvantages of their project for the college’s students. Thinking about all of it again, Jaehwan couldn’t help it but to feel that he was too stupid.

“Okay, then…. I’ll go to the storage to take the tools for you guys like usual.” He then muttered softly before swiftly made his way to the storage nearby the campus’ garden. Without Jaehwan realizes, they were actually smirking lightly the moment the latter turned around and walked away from them.

As Jaehwan stepped inside the storage, he let everything out from his heart that he had concealed neatly. All his tears that he held for these past few days finally burst out, rolling down against his slightly chubby cheeks. He cried again and again while his hands were busy on choosing the right tools that can be used in their project. After a few moment of crying, he felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around his torso firmly.

“You idiot little fluffy ball. Why are you crying now? Did you finally learn the lesson now, my Jaehwannie?” the man behind him asked him softly, making the younger cried louder due to the soothing voice that he had missed so much.

“Didn’t you suppose to go out with Hongbin?” Jaehwan returned Taekwoon’s question with another question. It made Taekwoon laughed softly before slowly turning Jaehwan around to face him. With a gently touch, Taekwoon wiped away the tears from the younger’s face.

“I told them to lie to you. If they said I’m here, you will not going to come here. You always avoid me nowadays.” He whispered softly at the younger as he tried to calm down his lover down.

Sighing a bit, he continued when he knew that Jaehwan wouldn’t say anything, “what you waiting for actually? I’m your boyfriend for almost 10 years now but why did you want us to act like strangers when we first enter this college? What do you want? What will you get from it? When I asked you to stop stalking me, I’m not asking you to stop giving me your attention and else but I want u s to become a sweet couple like before. You’re my boyfriend not my freaking little stalker! Don’t you know how much I want to hold you and tell everyone that you’re mine and ONLY mine? Why didn’t you think about me as well? Did you do this because you don’t want people bash you with ‘why a little coward boy like you can get the soccer team’s captain as your boyfriend?’ every time you walk around this college? If yes then you don’t have to worry about it! I’m here to protect you! I’ll do anything for you because I love you. I love you so much, Lee Jaehwan.”

Jaehwan didn’t quite remember on when Taekwoon started to talk for so long before but he was sure that this was the longest speech that he had ever heard from the oldest male. Sniffing a bit, he slowly lifted his head up and looked at Taekwoon with his puffy eyes.

“I thought you don’t love me anymore. I thought Hongbin is much better than—”

“I don’t have anything with my own best friend, silly. He likes your best friend, Han Sanghyuk. I didn’t change our project because I like him either. Minhyuk just help me to trick you. Actually, Sanghyuk is the one who complaining about your sketch without knowing that it’s yours. And since Hongbin tried to do something for him, trying to get his heart, he asked me to change it. Understand?” he asked, patting on Jaehwan’s head gently. Taekwoon’s statement made Jaehwan flustered a bit and he frowned slightly as he stared at a spot.

“You pinned him to the locker….”

“Oh? You saw us that time?” Taekwoon asked again and laughed softly afterwards before continuing his words, “he asked me on how he should confesses to Sanghyuk so I show him something that I wouldn’t ever forget, something that I always remember and cherish.” He muttered softly while slowly stepping forward, backing the younger till his back hit the cabinet behind him. Taekwoon then gently wrapped his arms around Jaehwan’s petite waist and dipped his head in the crook of the younger’s neck. Jaehwan inhaled sharply as Taekwoon’s scent started to blend with the air around him, making him felt a little bit dizzy. Feeling comfortable with the elder embrace, Jaehwan slowly leaned towards Taekwoon and gently wrapped his arms around the other’s neck.

“Do you remember the moment when I confessed to you?” whispered Taekwoon as Jaehwan flustered, a knowing smile suddenly appeared on the younger’s face.

“Yes…. I remember.”

14 years old Lee Jaehwan was running from his house to his high school to meet his athletic crush, 16 years old Jung Taekwoon. He would feel this excitement in every morning as he started his running to the school as he routine for almost one year now. Different from the other days, he would go straight to the field to watch his crush for his soccer training but today, he needed to take his books from the locker room first. As he was taking his things, he was shocked by a soft voice behind him.

“Why didn’t you go to the field today? I miss you,” said the voice. Jaehwan was about to reply when he suddenly realized who the owner’s voice was. He then immediately spun his body around and stared at Taekwoon with wide eyes.

“What did you do here?” he asked, shock could still be heard in his tone. Taekwoon tugged his lips upwards into a soft meaningful smile as he gently pinned the younger against the locker, placing his palms on the either side of Jaehwan’s head.

“If you can go to the field when you miss me then why can’t I go to wherever you go when I miss you, hm?” Gently placing his forehead against the younger’s, he nudged Jaehwan a bit, making him flustered at the action.

“W-What do you mean b-by that? W-What are you doing now?”

“I like you as well, can’t you see it. If you think you like me first then you’re wrong because I like you since before I saved you from those bullies already. Remember that chocolates box under your desk? That was from me for the Valentine’s Day. So, since I know that you finally like me as well, I want to ask you something. Will you go out with me, Lee Jaehwan?” he asked quietly in a whisper tone while the younger’s eyes widened bit by bit. He was too shocked by the sudden confession and never expects that the older will like him as well. And with the fact that Taekwoon liked him first before him, Jaehwan felt his heart skip a beat every second Taekwoon’s soft voice went through his ears.

“So? What’s the answer, love?” he asked once again as he was a little bit impatient with it. The younger slowly looked up at Taekwoon in the eyes and smiled widely before wrapping his arms around the latter’s torso as he hid his face on Taekwoon’s still undeveloped broad chest.

“Yes! Of course my answer is yes! I love you so much, hyung!” he exclaimed, immediately confessed his obvious feelings as well towards his now athletic boyfriend. Nothing could describe how he felt in that time because he was too happy to be in Taekwoon’s warm embrace. The lockers were their witness as they officially announced themselves as lovers.

“I love you too, Lee Jaehwan. I love you the most.”