Sungyeol and Myungsoo raced their way to the academy when they finished their classes. They were waiting for Sungjong's dismissal to spend some time with him and walk him home. Surprisingly, there were no tension this time. Both of them respected their wishes to spend time with Sungjong so they let it slide even if it means spending time with each other, too.

As Sungjong walk outside the academy, someone grabbed his bag and someone grabbed his books. He was about to scream for help when he turned around only to see Sungyeol and Myungsoo smiling, carrying his stuff. 

    "You guys know that you don't have to steal my things, don't you?" 

They walked the nearby cafe and asked Sungjong how his day was and if he gain some friends.

    "Uhm, actually. I didn't talk to anyone yet."

    "Why?!" Sungyeol asked frustrated. 

    "Maybe, I'm missing Woohyun and Hoya? I haven't even hang out with them since I moved. We just text because they're always busy."

Myungsoo suddenly giggled which confused Sungyeol and Sungjong on why he was giggling in a serious topic. He cleared his throat before he continued, "Sorry. Uhm. The thing is, they're both 'busy' with their love lives." Myungsoo smirked.

    "Love life?" Sungyeol and Sungjong asked in unison.

Myungsoo nodded, "Yeah. Hoya and Dongwoo's kind of getting official while they're trying to make Sunggyu and Woohyun work. Wooyhun's a tough one you know."

Sungyeol and Sungjong just looked at each other. They're both friends with those two and yet, they didn't know a single thing. Their hands were itching to text at the two and scold them on why they need to learn it from someone else instead of saying it directly.

    "Anyway, it's getting late. You should go home now."

    "No, we'll walk you." Myungsoo insisted.

Sungjong smiled at Myungsoo and took a quick look at the both of them.

    "Do I have the right to choose?"

Confused, both Myungsoo and Sungyeol just nodded.

    "Okay. I'll walk with Sungyeol tonight. Let's go!" Sungjong stood up, grabbed his bag and walked outside. Myungsoo and Sungyeol looked at each other. "What was that?" Myungsoo asked.

    "I don't know, but I got chosen. Hah!" Sungyeol stuck his tongue out and ran outside. Myungsoo ran and followed them, annoyed.

Myungsoo cleared his throat. "Whatever your plan is, I'm putting my full trust in you." he said, startling Sungyeol with his choice of words. "What do you mean? You don't trust me?" Myungsoo looked at Sungjong, to which Sungjong responded with a laugh. Sungyeol, still confused, got even more confused when the two started laughing. 

    "Nothing! Just go straight home." Myungsoo said. "I'll get going." he turned around and started walking even before the other two bid him goodbye. 

Sungyeol tried to run after him, but Sungjong stopped him. "Let him go home." 

    "Aish. Look at his attitude! Not even saying bye to his friends."

Sungjong looked at him, "F-friends?" 

    "I mean... you! Friend. Not me. No way. I hate that dude. Psh. Let's go!" Sungyeol turned around, clearing his throat.

Sungjong's face brightened up, knowing that the two were starting to get close. That even if he's gone, the both of them have each other by their side. He was glad to have the both of them in his side, but it wasn't forever that he'll be there. It's not forever that he wants to get caught up in a drama. And one day, he might feel sick about the idea of falling in love. He thought, atleast, they both earned a friend. This whole, silly thing wont go away in vain.

    "Uhm, may I ask? Why did you chose me to walk you home?" 

    "Maybe because I want to spend some time with you alone?" Sungjong said, smiling at Sungyeol. 

The night was perfect with the cold breeze. Everything was quiet, there were lights everywhere and the loud city could still be heard but only its echo. They stop by the playground swings and took a peek at the city lights while enjoying the moment, without having to say anything. 

    "Can I ask you a favor?" 

    "What is it?" Sungyeol responded, not leaving his eyes from the perfect city lights view.

    "Can you walk me home until Friday night?" And with that question, Sungyeol's eyes left the view and look at another. "W-why? And why me?"

Sungjong took a deep breath, "Because I want to spend time with you. Just you. I want to make up to you with every single thing you did just for me and my friends. Because you're my savior. Because you're always there when I need you. Should I continue?" he said playfully. Sungyeol shook his head and smiled.

    "...but most of all..." Sungjong added, "...I want to spend time with you because you deserve all of my attention. Because I haven't gave you anything, but I continously received everything. Just spending some time with you is the best thing I could think of, and it's not even enough. You deserve more and if there's anything else I could do for you, I would do it." he finished.

There is. Be mine. Sungyeol was dying to say these words. But, "Just spending time with me is more than enough." was all he could say. He couldn't say it because he was scared. He was scared of the thought that he can't fulfill his promises to Sungjong. He was scared that if he asked, then and there, that there could be some circumstances in wanting to be one step closer than Myungsoo. And of course, he was scared that Sungjong could reject him. He was scared that he'll lose Sungjong and he'll get farther than how he is right now. 

    "We're here!" Sungjong exclaimed.

Sungyeol smiled, "That was fast." 

    "See you tomorrow?"

    "See you."

But before Sungyeol could even take 5 steps away from Sungjong's home, Mrs. Lee already screamed his name out loud for the neighborhood to hear.

    "Oh my, oh my. It's Sungyeol, right? I missed you!" Mrs. Lee said while hitting then hugging Sungyeol.

    "It's been a while, right, Mrs. Lee?" 

    "Of course! Where have you been! Come inside, you're just in time for dinner!" 

Sungjong was trying all his might to stop his mom but Mrs. Lee already pulled Sungyeol inside the house for dinner. 

    "Mom, what are you doing?!" Sungjong said while dropping his things on the ground and taking Sungyeol away from his mom's hands.

    "What does it look like? I'm going to feed Sungyeol! Come here, sit down and don't mind my crazy Sungjong."  Mrs. Lee said while smiling brightly. "You should be Sungjong's boyfriend, okay?" she then added. Sungyeol just giggled at the thought of it while eating the dinner Mrs. Lee prepared. 

    "What the... stop!" Sungjong screamed while sulking.

    "Just sit down and eat dinner! It wont hurt you to do that much. Tsk!" Mrs. Lee scolded. 

Sungjong had no choice but to do as what he was told while staring at his mom treating Sungyeol as his own.

Every night, Sungyeol and Sungjong would hangout. They would go to some noraebang, PCBang and convenience stores jthen ust eat whatever they want. They would enjoy just simply eating Ramyun, some tteokbeokki at the streets and some ice cream. They would meet up after Sungjong's classes and just have fun. Unfortunately, Sunggyu saw them hanging out, looking closer than ever. 

He misinterpreted it and gave Myungsoo the wrong idea that they're together, and that Sungyeol sneaked up on him and went for Sungjong. Of course, it caused them another scene. Myungsoo took off Sungyeol's headphones and simply said, "Come outside." Without knowing anything but fully trusting Myungsoo, he went out.

Myungsoo threw his headphones on the floor. Sungyeol, still clueless, stared at his property, wondering what he dud wrong. He didn't bother analyzing and just went to Myungsoo for a punch. 

    "What the is wrong with you, dude?!" Sungyeol shouted while held back by Dongwoo. On the other hand, Sunggyu was holding back Myungsoo who was unbelievably calm.

    "You know what you did. Don't play dumb."

    "Was it really bad for you to disrespect me and ruin my things?!" 

    "Yes. And it's as bad as it could get that I can just ing kill you!" Myungsoo exclaimed while going for a punch, but he was held back by Sunggyu. Sungyeol was still clueless. "Well why don't you just tell me? Don't beat around the bush and make me play the guessing game!" Sungyeol answered.

    "You cheated!" Myungsoo shouted. "I thought we were starting to understand each other and even respect each other but you cheated! You thought you could get away with hanging out with my person? I will never let you have Sungjong!"

    "Wait, what?!"

    "You know what I meant!" Myungsoo said, still glaring at the clueless Sungyeol.

Sunggyu signaled Dongwoo to stop Myungsoo for his sake so he could explain instead. 

    "I saw you and Sungjong the other night, Sungyeol." Sunggyu finally said. 

    "And?" Sungyeol asked, with a hint of annoyance. "We're friends, why can't we hangout?"

    "It was 9PM, Sungyeol. And you were with him, just the two of you, alone. Late at night." Sunggyu emphasized.

Sungyeol scoffed. "Ahh. So it was your fault? You misunderstood the situation and made it into something inappropriate?" he said as he was slowly walking towards Sunggyu, hinting that he could hit him anytime. Myungsoo broke free from Dongwoo and faced Sungyeol while protecting his friends. 

    "Misunderstood? Anytime who sees you that time could definitely tell that something is going on." Myungsoo said, still glaring at Sungyeol.

Sungyeol smirked. He laughed then cleared his throat before responding. "Why? Are you scared?" 

Myungsoo grabbed him by the collar and pinned him to the wall. Sungyeol was calm, mocking Myungsoo's opposite behavior.

    "You know what Myungsoo? If you trust Sungjong, you will never even think of that. What? He keeps on leaving you hanging without telling you that we're together? Is that what you want to say?" 

Myungsoo tightened his grip onto Sungyeol's collar. "Shut your mouth."

Sungyeol rolled his eyes before he push Myungsoo, not leaving him without a punch. Myungsoo was about to fight back when his friends stopped him from doing so.

    "You're messed up!" Sungyeol shouted. "Don't you trust Sungjong? Huh?!" 

Then there was silence.

    "Don't you trust me?" Sungyeol added, which caused Myungsoo's expression to soften. "If you don't, it's fine. But atleast trust Sungjong. Trust him that he will never do that to you." he fixed his uniform before turning around. But before he could leave, he added a few things to make things clearer. "Sungjong asked me to hangout with him every night. If you don't want to believe me, you can ask him yourself."

    "Why would he want to do that?" Myungsoo asked, still with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Sungyeol remained silent for a while, while he was thinking of a better way to put his guess. "Because it's his way of saying goodbye." he then walked away leaving the three confused. 

    "Goodbye?" It was all Myungsoo could say as he was trying to catch his breath.

After class, Sungyeol made sure to not miss a single night. Be it they were seen or not, hanging out with Sungjong makes the punch he received all worth it. The moment he arrived at the academy, not far from where he stands, he saw Myungsoo and Sungjong talking. 

    "Is it true that you asked Sungyeol to hangout every night?" Myungsoo said as soon as they met.

Sungjong was caught off guard. "H-how did you know that?" 

    "Just answer my question." Myungsoo asked, emotionless and expecting to hear no.

    "Yes." Sungjong answered calmly without holding back. "Yes, I did."

    "Why?" 

    "Because he's my friend."

    "Then why did he say that it felt like a goodbye?"

Myungsoo stared at Sungjong not knowing what is expression meant. He could never read his expression very well. He wanted to read his mind too, but he can't. And just the thought of not knowing what's inside of Sungjong and Sungyeol's head makes him go crazy.

    "Sungyeol!" Sungjong exclaimed. Myungsoo was then back to reality after falling into the hole of his deep thoughts.

    "You're here." Sungjong added. Sungyeol nodded then gave Myungsoo a look. "I hope you know now that all I said was true."

    "Y-you told him about us hanging out every night?" Sungjong said, confused. Sungyeol shook his head. "Apparently Sunggyu saw us and misunderstood the situation." he then smiled. After that was silence.

Sungjong then cleared his throat. "Do you want to join?" He said bravely to Myungsoo.

    "Why do you want to hangout with him every night?" Myungsoo still asked.

    "I thought I already answered your question." Sungjong responded. "If you don't want to, it's fine. But please, before you approach me or Sungyeol, make sure you're calm. I can already tell from his bruises that it's from your fight. Good night. Go home safely." he then said, before leaving while pulling Sungyeol away.

No one bothered opening up a topic while Sungyeol and Sungjong were walking. Both of them clearly had something in mind but they both didn't want to open up about it.

    "Don't be mad at Myungsoo." Sungyeol said, breaking the silence. "You know how much he likes you, right?" 

Sungjong nodded. "Sungyeol..." 

    "Why?" 

Sungjong then shook his head, "Nothing. Nevermind."

    "Tell me what you want. I'll tell you what's in my head, too." Sungyeol persuaded.

    "W-what?"

    "I know you're curious about what I'm thinking about, too." 

Sungjong nodded. "Hmm. Okay. It's too much to ask from you. I think I'd rather not." he responded.

    "There's nothing 'too much' for me if you're asking for it." Sungyeol smiled, making sure that it's okay for Sungjong to continue.

    "Can you... can you tell Myungsoo that I like to hangout with him this weekend?" 

There was a moment of silence.

    "What?" Sungyeol asked to make sure he heard the right thing.

    "Nevermind." Sungjong smiled. 

    "No. I heard it." Sungyeol smiled back. "I'll make sure to tell him."

There was another moment of silence.

    "If I may ask, why are you asking to hangout with the both of us? Even seperately..."

    "Be-because I want to make the most out of my time with the both of you." Sungjong cut him off. "And you guys would just fight randomly." he sulked.

Sungyeol grabbed him in his arms and ruffled his hair. "Alright, alright. I get it. But! We'll still hangout every night right?"

   "Of course! Anyways, mom wanted me to invite you to dinner again. Call?"

   "Call!" Sungyeol exclaimed and lead the way as if it was his home.

As expected, Sungyeol was treated like a king. Mrs. Lee treats him very well and fed him like a kid. He was pampered and taken care of. If he was given a choice to stay, he would. He spent the night eating and playing with Sungjong's family. They would constantly ask him to stay for the night but he would decline because he haven't ask for permission yet. It was truely one of his best nights. He felt so happy, he wished it would never end. But under all these excitement and happiness, lies sadness that he doesn't exactly know where it came from. There was sadness slowly crawling out of his fun reminding him that any moment, this all could end. That no matter how happy he is and if they even asure him that every night, this night would repeat himself, he would not believe them wholeheartedly, because his gut feeling, his intuition tells him not to expect this to last forever.

When Sungyeol finally bid goodbye, and reminded them that he'll come tomorrow, Mrs. Lee approached Sungjong. 

    "You haven't told him yet, don't you?"

Sungjong let out a deep breath filled with regrets and sadness,

    "It's best that they won't know."