Music blasted from the speakers. Screams and cheers echoing around the stage. Sanghee danced in perfect synchronization with the others. Moving to the center gracefully, she let out a beautiful high note that had the fans screaming with joy. With one more swift movement, a smile and wink the music ended with even more cheers.

Breathing heavily, the three member group thanked their fans for coming and quickly exited the stage. As the youngest headed backstage she spotted Hongbin and the others among the staff. With a giggle she stopped in front of him, “Did you come to watch?” She accepted a water bottle from the staff and gulped it down.

Hongbin stood there watching her, no expression to be seen, “The others wanted to watch and I came with them. It’s only reasonable we would be here to support our sister group.”

Sanghee smiled lightly, “So how did you like it?”

Hongbin just shrugged his shoulders, “It was okay. The dance needs a little bit more practice though.”

“Well it is a hard dance.” Sanghee replied, the joy of her performance slowly fading away. Suddenly a staff member called for her. “Guess I’ll talk to you later.”

Hongbin let out a loud sigh as Sangee walked off. Truth was he really couldn’t take his eyes off her the entire performance. Her high note had sent his heart almost jumping out of his chest. He had been mesmerized by her whole dance that he almost regretted telling her it was okay. Whenever she’s around he just feels so nervous and ends up being cold to her for no reason. He wonders if Sanghee will go and find a new friend now. Somehow he doesn’t like the sound of that.

Knocks on the door echoed down the hallway. Hongbin slowly sat up, yawning he climbed out bed and headed for the door. Wondering who could be knocking so early in the morning. Looking out the peephole, Hongbin saw Sanghee standing there all dressed up.

His cheeks suddenly felt warm and he immediately backed away from the sight. Making sure he looked decent, Hongbin finally opened the door to be greeted by her wonderful smile. “Hongbin, good morning!”

“Good morning.” He greeted back, wondering what he had done to deserve such a beautiful sun ray in the morning.

Sanghee’s cheeks grew pink as she looked around, “Do you want to go somewhere today?”

Hongbin studied how she had dressed up so nice, her hair done up into a pretty ponytail with accessories to match. Her beautiful smile with luscious pink lips. Hongbin doesn’t think he could stand being around her for another second.

Hongbin knew Sanghee would never want to actually date him and that this was just an innocent invitation to hang out. If he accepted, then he might cross a line he shouldn’t.

Hongbin awkwardly laughed, “Well you see….I had plans for today and….” At Sanghee’s disappointment he begin to feel bad. He moved to close the door, “I’ll see you later then….”

“Hongbin, you're avoiding me, aren’t you?” Sanghee looked so sad at this moment, the guilt in Hongbin’s chest overwhelmed him.

“I’m not-”

Sanghee quickly walked off before he could fully explain. Leaving him feeling even worse than before.

It was a week later when they had schedules together again. Hongbin knows something is wrong when Sanghee never even looks in his direction. He begins to feel horrible for avoiding her so often because of his own strange feelings. Now with Sanghee doing the same, Hongbin doesn’t know how he can live.

He wants everything to be the same between them again. Hongbin scoots a little closer to Sanghee on the couch. Sanghee looking intently at her phone. The moment he is about to speak she stands up to walk over to Taekwoon.

Hongbin feels strange at the sight of just the two of them talking. His heart hurts and he feels a heavy weight of guilt. Maybe he deserves this payback from Sanghee. But it’s not what he truly wants.

It’s a few days later when the two groups are having a small barbecue party to celebrate. Hongbin leans over to accept a piece of meat from Ravina, the rapper of Sanghee’s group, when someone elbowed him in the side. He turned his head swiftly to see Sanghee almost glaring at him. A thought immediately crossed his mind wondering why she even doing this to him. Sanghee avoided his gaze, her arms crossed and looking straight towards where Taekwoon and Hakyeon were, the smoke rising in the air. She blinked her eyes rapidly, in the usual way that Hongbin knows. His anger fades away as he sees her eyes tear up and she immediately stalks off.

Hongbin immediately goes after, “Sanghee!” She finally stops when they’re out of earshot from the others.

Before he could say anything, Sanghee turns to him, “Why are you doing this to me, Lee Hongbin?” Her voice cracks as tears slide gently down her cheeks.

“Doing what?” He quietly answers.

Her voice rose in frustration, “You’re so confusing! First...you start acting as if I’m the only one and then….then you act so cold and ignore me. I thought maybe you felt the same...and I thought maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me. We were really good friends but then you started to ignore me. But then when I thought you aren’t worth it, you started coming back. I...I just don’t understand why you’re doing this...I don’t even understand why I even...care about you this much….”

Hongbin felt an overwhelming sensation of hope rising up in his chest, “Sanghee….I’m sorry for acting that way towards you. I...there was this strange feeling I started having around you. I didn’t understand what it was at first and I didn’t want our friendship to change. I thought maybe if I stay away for a while everything would go back to normal. But it only made this feeling become deeper. I know now what this feeling is but thought you would never feel the same. I never thought it would’ve hurt you or that you held the same feelings. So I felt lost when you avoided me and I realized that I really just wanted you by my side.” Hongbin took a deep breath, his ears glowing red, “I like you, Sanghee.”

Sanghee blushed at his confession, “That is really you though, hiding your feelings behind awkwardness.” She laughed and his heart skipped a beat, “I was just going to ignore you to see if you got the hint but then I got jealous seeing Ravina flirting with you and I just couldn’t take your oblivious anymore.” She smiled softly at him, “I like you, Hongbin.”

They both felt like bursting with happiness at their shared feelings. Hongbin felt like these past few weeks and days had all been for nothing and that he would have confessed sooner but, it had been worth it in the end. Hongbin smiled brightly as he took her hand and entwined their fingers together. They laughed together at their own mistakes and hope for the future.

Meanwhile the other members watched the new lovey dovey couple and was glad they finally confessed to each other.

This was one of the more simple requests I’ve gotten but it took me so long to write since, I had an idea for it but just couldn’t exactly figure how to write it (if that makes any sense). I know this isn’t the best I could’ve done and not sure if it really goes with the request but I hoped everyone enjoyed reading it!

Today is my birthday and I turn exactly 20 years old today, so I did think of writing something special for my birthday but I haven’t been really able to write much of anything as of late. So I decided to just finish up and update with a request I’ve been working on for a long while.

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this! Thank you for the birthday wishes and comments! Thank you all to my wonderful subscribers, commenters, and readers! Comments are always welcomed!