“I’ll do the confession this time.” Oppayam started.

 “My mind cannot even recall when was the first time I started to root for you. I tried to do my best to play cool around you so that I can avoid myself from falling out of my league. My lame jokes started to evolve naturally; I lost my wittiness whenever I try to make you smile. I was quite happy to see your cute annoyed face every time I express my epic attempts.” He smiled while looking down shyly as he took the courage to hold both of my hands against his warm palms.

“The scar on my collar bone will always remind me of your tight hug when we fell off the bicycle when I insisted for you to ride with me. I tried my best to protect your fragile body. It doesn’t really hurt that much when it happened, I remember myself trying to make you stop crying because you are sobbing like I was going to die. You’re a cry baby and that moment made me greedier to protect you; I guess that accident sparked something inside me.” Oppayam said while trying to trace the scar on his upper chest.

“Remember when I stopped sharing my notes with you? Your mad face is still inside my head that time you accidentally saw what is written at the back of my notebook. I was so embarrassed that you saw the raw lyrics of this song. You were furious and sad. You were broken-hearted but pretended to be okay but I am not.” Dongwan Oppa squeezed my hands and held them as tight as he could.

A clip of what happened that day replayed inside my head. I was shocked, and yes I was hurt and in pain.

“Omooo! What is this?” I tried to control my emotion while trying to digest that hopeless romantic poem scribbled on his notebook.

“Hey don’t read that! It’s.. It’s for someone I love.” Oppayam screamed in panic. His face flushed red as soon as he grabbed it from my hands.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know – you already have someone.” I felt like choking, running out of breathe  - even dying that day.

“I.. I skipped the special class because I tried to arrange all of these with them every afternoon while you are clueless in school waiting for me to show up beside you. I don’t know what made them help me gather all the soil and plant all these flowers but this made me more determined to tell you the truth. I was so immersed working on this greenhouse proposal which turned my skin to tan color and even made my muscles chunkier. I looked ridiculous I know.” He bit his lower lip while trying to think of the next words to say.

“I forgot the fact that, you hated surprises. I shouldn’t have allowed the misunderstanding to grow inside you; I should have helped you defeat it as soon as it ate all your patience. I am sorry that I am telling you this just now – but HE_Sunshine song, the one that you accidentally heard while I am practicing on our school’s bleachers was one of my options for this event. It was such a sad thing that on the contrary, it brought you more confusion.” He let out a deep sigh and removed the strap of the guitar from his body to put it down beside our spot.

“The girl whom you are jealous of – actually made the arrangement of the song and taught me how to play guitar. She knew that I am about to make a very huge decision in my life and that is giving up our friendship and risking the words YOU and ME in exchange for an unsure transformation to WE.” Tears are starting to gather up on the edge of his eyes. I am starting to feel like I am about to lose my strength in front of him. Everything is so precise.

“I was never in a relationship with her. I devoted my time in the music class because I tried to compose this song for you. I planned to give you my best version of saying – I LOVE YOU.” He paused to gather more confidence from his lungs and he snatched the moment to wrap me with a very warm hug.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY; the feeling is so mutual from the very beginning.

“How can I be such a victim of unrequited love Sweet Potato? How can you be so mean and just leave me like that back then? But thank you for coming back. Thank you for being with me right now.” After saying that he planted a kiss on my forehead and tears fell from my eyes like a river.

He embraced me once again and brushed my hair like he is trying to comfort me while on the other way around; I honestly knew to myself that he suffered as much as I did.

“Ya! I hate saying things twice; I just told you I love you.” He nagged.

“Why do you always do that?! Let me cry first.” I punched him lightly while I am still trying to stop from sobbing.

Oppayam just laughed. We stayed like that, just like that under the light of a thousand fairy bulbs above our heads for a couple of minutes until my soul calmed down for a proper response on his expired confession.

“I have a confession too.” I told him slowly. I am still dazed but I am ready to go for it.

“Oh wait!!! I have one more song! WAIT HERE!”Oppayam suddenly stormed his way up the stage again and started to strum the guitar.

I wanted to punch his face.

“This song is the song that made us close – I wanna sing this before you say anything!” He hurriedly continued to the next part of the acoustic song, it was Ed Sheeran’s Photograph.

It will be my first time to do this but I don’t care anymore. I am in no condition to let him know until he finishes our theme song, I inhaled loads of oxygen and from my diaphragm, I screamed at the top of my lungs the words that he longed to hear;

“I LOVE YOU TOO KIM DONGWAN! I LOVE YOU AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE ME!” I ran to the stage to join him and sang the song with him.

Our five guests outside suddenly stormed their way in throwing confetti at us and candies as well. It was such a celebration that will be forever engraved in our hearts.

He will always be my best friend, my future ex-boyfriend who will eventually become my husband someday. 

FIN ^_^