Joshua's eyes opened. He had just heard the front door open, signaling his arrival. It was already 4 in the morning, and most of the members were already asleep. The only members who were still actively gaming, or just doing something, were Hoshi, Dino and Dokyeom. Wonwoo entered their dorm, his mind full of thoughts about Eunsol. 

"Hey hyung, wanna join us? We're playing..." the maknae's voice trailed off after seeing Wonwoo's frustrated face. "Uhm hyung, you all right?" Dino asked, peeking at the rapper who was now sitting on the couch. Hoshi, too, stopped playing and stared at him, trying to read his expression. 

"I don't know," Wonwoo muttered, raking his hair with his fingers, deep in thought.

Joshua peeked from their room and seeing his dongsaeng like this, he already had an idea of what had happened. 

He walked over to the distraught boy and asked him to follow him to the pantry. 

Joshua leaned on the counter as he faced Wonwoo who had his hands in his pockets and leaning opposite of him. 

"So, how was your mini reunion?" he asked. 

"Not good." 

"It was good during the fansign." 

"It isn't now." 

"So what did you do that made it 'not good'?" 

"I didn't do anything." Wonwoo mumbled back, playing with the lose thread on the hem of his black sweatshirt. 

"It doesn't seem like 'anything' to me," the californian replied. 

Wonwoo stared at the boy in front of him. "We fought over stupid things." 

"Like?" Joshua pried. 

"Like how we're not spending as much time as we used to. Like how I saw Dasom at the terminal," Wonwoo took a peek at Joshua to see if he had any change in expression since he was the one who told her about it in the first place. But seeing that Joshua remained unfazed, he continued. "And how she thinks I still have feelings for my ex. It's been 6 months, hyung. I don't even know why she's bringing up my past relationship again when she knows that I treasure her a hella lot. Sure I was quiet the whole way back, but she," or you, Wonwoo added in his head, "can't just assume that it's because of Dasom." 

"So what you're saying is that you don't feel like this thing you have with her isn't mutual anymore? It's like a one-sided friendship on both your sides?" 

Wonwoo noticed the weird phrasing of Joshua's as he used the word 'thing', but quickly brushed it off as he answered. "Not anymore. I mean I purposely wait for the bus she's on in the morning, I walk with her, I eat with her. Basically I feel like I'm the one who's always taking the first step. And now she's complaining that we haven't been spending time together. Well it's her fault for not treasuring time," he said, obviously annoyed. 

Joshua nodded in understanding, and tapped his chin as he thought of how to respond. 

"Well, I guess it is natural for her to react this way. Could you blame her? She's trying her best to be a good friend too, helping you cope with your assignments. She wants you to be updated with school despite your hectic schedules. I would say she's playing her part as well. She's the one changing for you." The latter stated. 

"But even though, why does it feel like she isn't treasuring our time together?" Wonwoo muttered, more to himself but Joshua managed to catch it. 

"Do you like her, Wonwoo?" the californian blurted, catching Wonwoo off guard. "W-what?" 

"Do you like Eunsol?" he asked again. He already had suspicions that Wonwoo's views and feelings for the girl were more than just a best friend's. And Wonwoo knew as well where Joshua was heading for this topic. 

"I-I don't know. She's my best friend." he faltered. 

"That doesn't mean feelings can't bloom," Joshua said. 

Wonwoo scratched the back of his neck. Sure he knew for himself that lately he's been feeling all these jittery things whenever he was with her, but knowing that Eunsol didn't like anything related to boy-girl relationship, he usually pushed the thought away. He did reach a point where he admitted to himself that he liked her, but he'd always come up with a thousand of excuses to not like her that way to save their friendship. 

Joshua noticed his thoughtful expression, knowing that Wonwoo was thinking hard about whatever was going on between him and his 'best friend'.

"If I were you, I'd tell her already. So that she wouldn't feel so insecure about herself." 

The rapper looked up at his hyung, puzzled. Was Joshua indirectly telling him that he too had feelings for her? 

"Her best friend's an idol. A lot of people look up to him, so she's probably thinking that sooner or later he'll find better people in the industry, or he'll be facing those stupid controversies that made no sense. It's probably why she's been avoiding you and not telling her true reasons. So if I were you, I'd assure her and tell her that she has nothing to worry about. Because no matter what, I'll always be there for her." 

Wonwoo listened, trying to both mentally record everything Joshua had just said and reading between the lines. It seemed as if Joshua's feelings for her were stronger than his.

"But I won't tell her," Joshua paused. Wonwoo furrowed his eyebrows. Why wouldn't he? After saying all these things that actually made sense? 

"Because I'm not you. And I'm not the one that she likes." 

At this Wonwoo's insides churned. What did he mean by 'he was not the one that she likes'? Did that mean Eunsol had feelings for him? Because if it did, it would mean a load of regret since he had just said a ton of harsh words and also made her cry. But it also meant that their feelings were mutual after all. 

Wonwoo opened his mouth to ask what the boy meant, but he interrupted before Wonwoo could even start.

"It's getting late, we should sleep. We have a photoshoot tomorrow, remember?" Joshua reminded as he pushed himself off the counter and pat the rapper's shoulder once and headed back to the room he shared with Jun, Minghao and Jeonghan, on the way asking the boys who were still gaming (and maybe eavesdropping) to head to bed, leaving Wonwoo stunned and thinking.