We were the three best friends you could imagine. We were practically attached at the hip ever since we met as little kids. Bobby was the mood maker. Always making everyone around him laugh. He always managed to come up with schemes for us to get involved in while Hanbin was the voice of reason within our triad. I was never afraid to take lead but that always brought on endless bullying that the two of them always willingly stood up against.

It all came to an end when my parents sent me to live with my aunt in Seattle – a tradition within my family to study abroad and a chance to explore bits and pieces of the world on our own. We had been separated before though. Bobby had moved to the States when we were little but we were reunited during middle school. And this time, it was my turn to leave.

It was bad timing to say the least. My relationship with Hanbin changed when we were reunited in middle school. A certain twinge of jealousy showed on his face whenever the three of us hung out and Bobby was his usual self, friendly and not afraid of displaying affection.

The tension hit an all-time high when the two of them confessed their love for me within an hour of each other:

Bobby caught up to me on my way home from school, “Hey, I thought you had soccer practice?” I asked as we walked together.

“I skipped out, I need to do something at home.” He said after catching his breath.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s all good. But I was hoping to catch up to you.” His mood changed, causing me to stop to make sure he wasn’t playing a prank on me… he wasn’t. I hadn’t seen him so serious. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without a massive smile on his face.

And then it happened.

“Jiyoon-ah,” he said, “I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while and I’ve been thinking about it for just as long. I don’t want anything to change between us and I sure as hell don’t want this to ruin our “Holy Trinity”,” he continued, “But if I keep going on like this, I feel like I’m lying to you as well as myself so I figured I need to tell you that I love you. I thought about you so much when I was in ia and it killed me.” He finished.

My mouth hung open as I kept trying to put words together for a reply. But I honestly had no idea how to react. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach and had the wind knocked out of me.

“You don’t have to say anything.” His smile appeared again and engulfed me into a hug, “I hope for a reply but I won’t rush you.”

We went our separate ways. My mind was still buzzing with Bobby’s confession that I didn’t notice my phone go off with a text from Hanbin saying that he was waiting outside my house so imagine my shock when I saw him sitting on my doorstep.

“I didn’t mean to scare you. Everything’s okay, I just wanted to talk to you before I went to work.” He assured me. All I could do was smile before letting him into the house. The last thing I wanted was another friend crisis… but I spoke too soon.

“Is everything okay?” I said with concern as I brought him a drink.

“Fine,” he smiled nervously before chugging the apple juice. And suddenly, it all clicked in my head. All that was left was for the other pile of bricks to pummel me. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been acting weird ever since Bobby came back and that’s because I’m jealous. I’ve always thought that you two were so much closer and I can understand why. But I also know that you’re aware that I’m always looking out for you. And that’s because I love you.”

Just leave me under this pile of bricks. Why me?