You sighed as you sat back on Yunhyeong's sofa and shook your head. You were exhausted, but you knew getting rest wouldn't do you any good. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Yunhyeong was surprised at how helpless and weak you looked considering how strong and cold you'd looked up until then. He predicted there was more beyond what you had shown everyone, but he didn't expect for it to be this bad. Even when you and Bobby were going through the rough chapter at the end of your relationship, you looked completely cold and kept everything between you and Bobby. He shook his head, sort of breathless and thoughtless from the observation. "What do you want to do?"

"I just want to fix it," you replied, chuckling weakly as you stared up at his ceiling. "I could care less if I survive, I just need... I just need him to be okay."

You were still realizing these things as you said them. All this time it was about you -- protecting yourself -- but now all of your guards were fully down. You'd get on your hands and knees if you had to, and that was the greatest destruction of being in love with Bobby. You had to be both stronger and weaker than ever all at once.

Yunhyeong eyed your expression, completely at a loss. When you were cold and stiff, all it took was a shove in the right direction to help you do what you knew by instinct, but this was bigger than him. You were hardly the person you were before. He sighed. "You still love him, don't you?"

Now this was a question you hadn't even answered yourself for a long, long time, but the answer came automatic.

"Always," you whispered weakly. 

You straightened and shook your head, your breaths shaken as you dryly chuckled it off. You avoided Yunhyeong's eyes, but everything in your expression wasn't hard to notice. All of your thoughts tore through your expression without the strength to mend it. "I just need to know how to fix it. That's all I need to know. I don't even know if he's willing to listen to me, but I can't let things stay where they are."

Yunhyeong nodded. He hardly knew what to do, either. He was one of Bobby's best friends and he knew as much as you did, whether it be because Bobby revealed so little or because Yunhyeong didn't know how to interpret what he did. He obviously didn't know much about love if Haeri dumped him as soon as things turned sour -- just as she always did. He shrugged helplessly, his eyes on the ground. "I don't know, either. Just be honest with him, Ahri. He's a mess because he doesn't know anything. He draws his own assumptions and expects the worst."

"He won't even listen to me," you replied, laughing bitterly as you wiped the tears from your eyes and buried your face in your hands. "I tried. I don't even care if he hates my guts, I just need him to be okay again."

You'd said it over and over again as though it was the only thought on your mind. You needed for him to be okay.

"Well you're going to have to try over and over again," Yunhyeong replied as he stared into your eyes until you looked back. He eyed you sincerely. "Don't give up on him, Ahri. Only Bobby can fix himself, but he can't do that without you. That's the truth."

///

Hangovers subsided, bruises faded, and you willed yourself to continue on as though it wasn't the hardest thing to do for yourself.

It had been a week since talking to Yunhyeong, and while you were anxious to see Bobby again, you knew you just hadn't been strong enough to do that yet, not until now. Maybe it would've been better if you didn't speak to him for a little, just because you knew how hard it would be for the both of you.

"Ahri, did you hear what I said?"

Donghyuk snapped his fingers in front of your face and you blinked, looking across at him. "Huh?"

"Skatepark after lunch," Donghyuk replied as he gave you a curious look. "Yunhyeong said to bring you along. Wanna go?"

You felt a mile drop in the pit of your stomach, but it didn't pass through your expression. You nodded with a slight sigh. "Will Bobby be there?"

Donghyuk's expression fell like he expected the worst. "Oh, come on. Not with that. It's Monday."

"No, it's okay," you replied as you blinked, your expression a tone different as you thought to yourself. "I want to see him."

"You do?" Donghyuk replied, raising an eyebrow, looking completely lost. "And what's that about?"

"I don't know," you replied with a shrug, ready for anything.

///

Bobby kicked his skateboard up to his waist and leaned over it as he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with his sweatshirt sleeve. He had given up skating a while ago without much of a thought, but now he didn’t realize how much he’d missed it — missed doing something on his own without any bad consequences, anyway. 

Ever since he and Hanbin got into that fight the previous week, skating was the only thing he could do without Hanbin getting on his back, so he'd been skating more and more. Even so, he couldn’t shake the inescapable weight on his shoulders. It had been there for a while, and at this point he didn’t think he would be able to lose it. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you and Donghyuk walk through the skatepark gate and he shook his head, looking away as he pulled his sunglasses over his eyes. Just like that, more weight was added to his shoulders. He got back on his board and dipped down into the bowl, letting the wind catching through him go at the heat on the back of his neck. 

He couldn’t for the life of himself figure out why you were still bothering with him. When you said you hated him, he believed it. When you said you cared, he couldn’t think of a more obvious lie. He hated you for having the nerve to say that right to his face as though he might actually believe it. 

He pulled his hood up over his head and clenched his jaw as he swooped up the bowl, his bandaged fingers grasping hard at his board. His ribs squeezed in an unbearable pain at the motion, but he didn’t let it show and he certainly didn’t let it stop him. He stepped up on the other side and skated off to the far end of the park, at the farthest end away from you. 

There was a group of irritating girls worthy of several headaches sitting at the bench, but he walked up to them anyway just to keep his mind off of you. Even better if you got irritated by it and got the hint not to come toward him. 

“The nerve she has, right?” one of them said as she looked at Bobby and smirked with a raised brow. “Coming here with another guy. She’s a complete idiot.”

Bobby rolled his eyes as he dropped down on the bench next to her, barely looking at the girl. “I don’t want to hear about her.”

“Yeah, who cares about her?” the girl said as she smiled proudly, as though she had done any good. “If you ask me, I think you could do a lot better.”

Bobby almost laughed as soon as she said that.

///

You had a pair of dark sunglasses on, but everyone around you could sense your tensed expression as your eyes connected to Bobby across the park, surrounded by the group of girls.

“He’s really trying his best to get on your nerves,” Yunhyeong sighed as he looked over your shoulder and shook his head. It was obvious that had some correlation to you since Bobby hadn't so much as looked in another girl's direction since you two split.  

“He says not to care and then he does that like he wants me to,” you replied plainly as you looked over at Yunhyeong with a tired look. “He doesn’t make any sense.”

“When has he ever?” Donghyuk replied as he raised an eyebrow, eyes still on Bobby who had an arm hooked around some giggly girl. “It’s Bobby.”

“Well, seems like the perfect time to talk to him,” you replied as you stepped forward. You were impatient. You didn’t know if he was actually in a good mood or if he was just doing that deliberately to get on your nerves, but you were going to talk to him. By now you had more than enough energy and were more than ready to talk to him. About what? You didn’t know, but you’d figure it out when you got there.

“Now?” Yunhyeong blurted, giving you an incredulous look. “Ahri-“

“He won’t see it coming,” you replied blankly. “What does he expect me to do? Ignore him? I’ve had enough of that.”

“Oh, no,” Donghyuk replied as he sighed and leaned back against the bench. “Here we go again.”

“You have absolutely no idea,” Yunhyeong replied breathlessly as he watched you walk off, no hesitation in your steps. 

///

Bobby didn’t really care about the attention these girls we