Sun Woo woke up late. He half expected to see his family peering down at him, watching him sleeping. Thank God they didn’t do that as often now. It’s becoming more creepy than cute. He tried to got up from bed and wonders why his bed feel so cramped. He looked on the other side and shocked to find Taek sleeping soundly beside him. Seems he had too much alcohol last night if he didn’t realize someone already sleep on his bed. He watched Taek’s peaceful face, his conversation with Jung Hwan last night comes to his mind.

(flashback)

Sun Woo grabbed the beer that Jung Hwan offered, he make himself comfortable on Jung Hwan’s bed. Jung Hwan sat on his desk and took a sip of his beer. He stared at the blank wall in front of him, then played with the hem of his shirt, feeling nervous on how to tell Sun Woo. He might be his best friend, but he also Taek’s stepbrother. He doesn’t want Sun Woo to think that he hurt Taek by snatching his crush. He turned to faced Sun Woo, “I told him I’m dating Deok Seon.”

Sun Woo didn’t say anything. Waiting for Jung Hwan to finish what he wanted to say. Jung Hwan rarely told him about his feeling, even when they are already friends for a long time. However he understood Jung Hwan well, Jung Hwan just not the type of person to make a fuss and rather kept his feeling to himself.

Jung Hwan took a sip of his beer. Fueled by the alcohol, Jung Hwan starting to relaxed, “Taek-ie… He told me his feeling all this years. He said he gave up on pursuing Deok Seon. He said he already know that Deok Seon would choose me, and I should be good to her.”

 “That bastard even said, that he will always on Deok Seon side if we fought. Because he doesn’t want to be hit by Deok Seon.” 

Feeling relieved, Sun Woo laughed, “Crazy bastard.” It meant they were good, right? He would hate it if their relationship changes because Jung Hwan and Deok Seon dated. He didn’t want to take side, because they all precious to him. He asked carefully, “So, you two are good, right?”

Jung Hwan bit his lip, “I don’t know. For now, I think it would be best if we don’t hang out together as often.” He sighed, “I don’t want to hurt Taek. He might act like he is okay. But I know. I’ve been there. Loving someone one sidedly for years, only to give it up in the end.”

Sun Woo nodded. He could understand Taek and Jung Hwan. Anyone who just having a heartbreak, normally would avoid the other. Heck, he even avoided visiting Jung Hwan’s house for a while after he broke up with Bora, afraid to bumped into his ex-girlfriend. Eventhough he knew Bora only coming home on weekend.

Sun Woo walked to Jung Hwan and put his hand on his bestfriend’s shoulder. “Yah. Honestly, things will be awkward for some time. But don’t worry, chingu-ya. It will passed and things will get back to normal as always,” he shrugged his shoulder, “Anyway, we all busy, man. With you in Sacheon, Deok Seon and Taek always travel to god knows where, and my residency, we couldn’t even get together often. So I won’t take it if you also avoid me and Dong Ryong. I will make plans with Dong Ryong to crash your date with Deok Seon if you did.” 

Sun Woo hit Jung Hwan arm, “Be good to Deok Seon, she is my future sister in law. I’m agree with Taek, I don’t want to take your side and getting hit by Deok Seon.”

Jung Hwan finished her beer and grinned, “Well, it seems that I have to be extra good to Deok Seon in order for my friends to live peacefully without getting hit by my girlfriend.”

(end of flashback)

The clock on his desk shows that it’s already noon. They missed breakfast. Sun Woo shook Taek’s shoulder to woke him up. “Taek-ah, wake up. Let’s eat. We already missed breakfast.”

Taek opened his eyes and stretched, “Oh, you already up.” He rubbed his eyes and sat on the bed, he asked in a hoarse voice, “Were you having a date with Bora Noona last night? I waited for you.”

Sun Woo knitted his eyebrows in worry, “Why? Did your head start to hurt again? You still take the medicine regularly, right?”

Taek chuckled, “Nope, my head is fine. I just miss you. We used to sleep together, but now it is so hard to see your face.”

“Woah, look who’s talking. You’ve been busier than me. I thought you still in Busan,” said Sun Woo. “Speaking about Busan, did you win?” asked Sun Woo, though he already knew the answer. Ahjussi told them yesterday that Taek has won another match.

Taek sighed, “I won. But I feel like I just lost. By the way I’m not talking about baduk here.” He rubbed his eyes and leaned on the bed frame, he cracked a tiny smile, “Well, I lost my first love, to another man.”

“Ah, so I’ve heard,” said Sun Woo nonchalantly.

Taek raised his eyebrows, surprised to find that Sun Woo already know. “You knew? Did Deok Seon tell you?”

“Jungpal did.”

“Ah. I see.” Taek smiled bitterly, “I already had a feeling they will be together, though. Remember what you said years ago that you can tell my feeling, just by looking the way I look at her? I saw how Jung Hwan looked at Deok Seon. Later, I saw how Deok Seon looked at Jung Hwan.”

He sighed, suddenly his eyes feel hot, “I knew their feeling to each other. But I chose to stay silent. I’m hoping maybe, just maybe, someday Deok Seon could look at me like how she looks at Jung Hwan.”

“But even after 6 years, I could always see that. The way she smiles when we talked with Jung Hwan on phone, how she always wears make up and nice clothes everytime Jung Hwan comes home, or how she always looked annoyed whenever Jung Hwan told us he’s having a blind date. I could notice all of those.”

Taek buried his face in his hand. “I’m the worst friend ever, Sun Woo-ya. I let their heart broken, and secretly happy for that. Because I can’t live wihout her. I don’t like her taking care of other man. I hate the sight of her with another man, even if he is my bestfriend. But I can’t stand seeing the look of heartbreak in her eyes everytime she looked at him. At last, I decided to confess my feeling, fully prepared to be rejected.”

Sun Woo patted Taek’s shoulder gently, “It’s not your fault. If they really meant to be together six years ago, they would already figure that out themselves. It’s their life and their relationship. They made their choices. We couldn’t do anything about it. We could only support them.”

Hearing Sun Woo’s words, Taek couldn’t help but letting his tears fall. Sun Woo let him cry for some minutes, before jumping down the bed and stood in front of Taek, “Eey~ What would your fan girls said if they see you crying like this. Yah, cry and move on.”

He hit Taek’s back, hard enough to make Taek jumped off the bed. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving. And please wipe those tears first, I don’t want our family thought that I made you cry.”

Taek smiled gratefully at Sun Woo despite being hit. He might lose his first love, but he will always had his family and friends to support him in any situation. As he watched Sun Woo prepared their meal, Choi Taek 8-dan vowed to move on from his broken heart and continue to live well. Slowly but sure, Taek freed his heart from years of one sided love. 

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Do you like it? Please let me know in the comments :)

PS: I don't know when will I be able to update the story. My workloads is kinda crazy right now, but I promise to continue writing this story in my spare time. Gosh, I miss Jung Hwan and Deok Seon so much 3