---

After all the screams and cheers have died down, the professors took over the microphone and went on to evaluate our performance. They all said good words regarding your vocals and my rapping style, but what impressed them the most was our chemistry. One professor said that good things would happen if we officially debut as a duo since our connection with each other is sincere and deep, and it can be clearly seen in our performances.  They also pointed out that individually, we also managed to express the right emotions based on the lyrics and effectively affecting the audience’s feelings.

And this led a certain spawn of Satan— I mean professor, to openly lay an intriguing question in front of us.

“Since your expressions were so real, are you…perhaps, really dedicating this song to someone special? Ms. Kim?” The nosy faculty member leaned across the table with her attention now focused on you.

I know I’ve already decided to give up on the hopes of us being more than just best friends, though I never stated that I’m fully prepared for something like this. God, isn’t it too soon? What did I do wrong in my previous life to deserve this? I asked the heavens above for possible explanations as to why I am experiencing such emotionally draining situations all in one day, but of course I got no answer. Even if I did, I probably would have to find it by myself.

My train of thoughts got distracted when I felt your fingers intertwine with mine, just like a few minutes ago. I turned to you, and upon noticing how your lips quivered as if you wanted to say something, the sting in my heart started to get more unbearable. There were only two choices to pick from, and the crystal clear hesitation on your face told me the answer.

“How about you, Ms. Moon?” The impatient professor now directed everyone’s focus on me.

Why does life hate me so ing much?

“H-huh?” I feigned innocence, buying myself more time to come up with a believable explanation.

“Are you dedicating this song to anyone?”

“Ah…I’m just—“

Without any warning, you spoke through the microphone and revealed the much awaited answer to the expectant audience. Everyone’s eyes were back on you, including mine, and the uneven breathing that I had earlier came back. The answer to the question that I never wanted to ask presented itself as if it was mocking me, telling me that I didn’t need to do it myself anymore. It started out the remaining strength that I had at the moment, and what I wished to happen now was for the professor to just drop her interest and not pry much further.

However, luck obviously wasn’t on my side today.

“So, is he here in the auditorium right now?”

I heard you inhale a sharp breath before you answered. “Yes.”

My stomach sank like a dead weight. I felt a stinging sensation all over my body, as if salt was being roughly rubbed on my open wounds. I didn’t dare to look at you anymore because I knew that once I did, the towering waves of emotions that I’ve been struggling to fight back will easily crash down on me. All I wanted to do right now was to break free from your grasp and run away before my dam of tears crumbled down. I wanted to remain cohesive, but this ongoing conversation that was leading to a confession kept on cracking my already poor façade.

Yongsun-ah, can’t you save it for later? Later when I’ve fully accepted that it’s never going to be me?

“I-I need to go to the bathroom for a second.” I whispered as I loosened my grip so I can pull my hand away. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

You didn’t answer. Instead, your grip tightened a lot more, which made my fingers a bit numb. It was like you chose to ignore me and just paid attention to the professor, as if you’re ready to answer the following questions that she was about to throw. My vision then panned to the two kinds who watched from the side of the stage and saw their concerned look directed at me. Hyejin mouthed some words, but my mind refused to function properly and only kept registering things coming from you.

“Does he know that this was dedicated for him?” The professor went on.

“No, but I’ve decided to answer the confession through this performance.”

Everything felt heavy for me, and the pain now became unbearable. I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore. “I really need to go.” I tried my best to sound normal while still trying to free my hand from your grip. “Please, I cannot take it anymore.”

“Stay.” You finally replied, dropping the microphone so that no one would hear our little conversation.

“But it hurts, Yongsun-ah.”

This time another faculty member joined in the conversation, getting all giddy because of what he’s witnessing. “Then why don’t you take this opportunity to say something to him?”

Your hold on my hand loosened already, but I didn’t bother pulling away anymore and just waited for everything to be over. You wanted me to stay because I’m your best friend, right? Since I’ve always been there with you in the most important events in your life, this one is no exception. I’m going to watch you bravely declare your love to the person who I consider the luckiest man in this universe, and even though it hurts a lot, I know that my nose muscles will still naturally appear because seeing you genuinely smile has always been my happiness.

Besides, I guess it’s better to face it this early, hmm? You know, emotional endurance training.

All of a sudden, my mind got filled with thoughts of my expectations from him. This guy should be a saint to keep up with someone like you. He should be prepared to be your punching bag whenever you get nervous and flustered. And whenever you react badly to his cheesiness, he shouldn’t get pissed about it and just accept that you’re not into that kind of stuff. He should also understand your love for any Black Bean dish and not complain if you cook for him the same meal for three straight days. He shouldn’t judge your hip-hop tendencies, no matter how embarrassing it is. He should also accept the fact that you are not a good listener, and that you have a short attention span. He should—

“Byul-ah, what’s wrong?” Your voice brought me back to reality after it went through and cleared my head.

“W-what is it?” I asked perplexingly after noticing everyone’s eyes set on me.

“Ms. Moon, why are you crying?” one of the professors then asked, and the moment I blinked, the sensation of the hot tears on my cheeks finally registered in my senses.

.

“A-ah…I’m sorry about this.” I immediately dried my tears away and provided an explanation. “I’m…I guess I’m just extremely happy for my best friend. I’m so proud that she had this courage to— wait, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Look who’s spacing out.” You then crossed arms and raised an eyebrow. “You clearly weren’t listening.”

“I was, okay? You just confessed to him!”

“Are you sure?” A smug appeared on your face as you inched closer. “I wasn’t even saying anything yet. I was just about to.”

“Huh? Wait—“

The following moments went by so quickly that I’m still not sure about what just happened. Despite the loud cheers that surrounded us, my body didn’t respond to these external stimuli. I’m not even sure if I’m still breathing. Right now, I can’t think of anything besides that short and sudden sensation that I felt on my lips. Wait, lips? After a few seconds of repeating this thought, my brain finally processed it and I started to blink. That was when I slowly got out of my fugue state but at the same time, that was also when everything began to sink in. The shyness in your smile and the pinkness on your cheeks, along with the soft feeling that still lingered on my lips helped me connect the dots, but it wasn’t until you leaned in closer and whispered these certain words that made the buffer vanish and completely made me regain my senses back.

“It has always been you, Byul-ah— the sun who lights up my life and the moon that shines on me during my darkest hours.”

“You…how did you…” I felt warmth of my cheeks upon realizing that you had the letter all this time. “B-but when did you get it? And was that the reason why you were cold the other day? But yesterday you were a bit clingy? Also, what about him? Didn’t he confess…“

“I secretly hate every person who freely confesses to you. I wish it was me.”

“Unlike other people who have these slow-motion moments whenever they look at the person they love, mine goes fast forw—“

Without any hesitation, I put my hand over your mouth to stop you from further revealing the contents of my letter, while my free arm went over your shoulders and roughly pulled you in for a hug as I faced away from the audience. Cheers erupted once again, but even if I already knew the reason why, my embarrassment over the fact that you’ve read and memorized my cheesy confession was greater than these mixed emotions that’s making my heart race now that my arms found its way around your waist.

“Really, that cheese made me crazy.” You teased more. “Just like how you do.”

I am at a loss for words.

It went quiet for a bit when one of the professors finally spoke up. “So, Ms. Kim…what were you about to say again?” She requested, even if her face clearly showed no trace of curiosity.

You gently pulled away, and with a now confident smile on your face, you turned to the audience and took a few steps closer to them. “Listen, everyone.” On the other hand, I just stared at your back and waited for you to continue speaking, but then I noticed that you were also waiting for the noise to completely die down. It didn’t take that long though, and our eyes matched once again after you looked back at me and began talking.

“Byul-ah…”

My arm felt weak and my hand trembled as I raised the microphone near my lips. “W-what…?”

And there it was— the same bright and genuine smile that made me fall for you countless of times as you finally said the words I never thought that I would hear. I let out a sharp breath, and it was as if every bit of negativity had been lifted off my body. Dropping my gaze on the floor, I hid my already moist eyes and wet cheeks behind the thin curtains of my hair.

I then heard your slightly annoyed voice and footsteps as you approached. “Hey, Moon Byul Yi, I just confessed and you won’t even say anything back? Did you not hear? I said that I love—” 

Do you know that moment when your mind finally agreed with your heart that you didn’t need to think of anything? That’s exactly what happened when I finally let go of what now seemed like irrelevant concerns and pulled you in for a kiss. You were slightly taken aback, but I knew that it didn’t last that long when I felt your hand behind my neck and started to respond.

I love you too, Kim Yongsun.

Finally, everything felt so right.

---

It was already 4 in the morning, and both of us were still wide awake. I adoringly watched as you cutely apologized for your cold attitude a few days ago. You said that you really got confused and scared for our friendship after you had read my letter that I stupidly forgot inside the jacket I lent you. You didn’t want to do something about it unless finally sure, and maintained a distance because you found it hard to make rational decisions whenever I was only centimeters away. What made me laugh the most was your explanation behind the sudden change of our song:

“I don’t know too.”

Your blank face as you failed to come up with any reason…ugh, how can you be this adorable?

Our conversation went on as we touched on different topics— family, friends, goals and ambitions, our future, us. It was actually starting to get emotional, until you dropped an explosive revelation that really left my jaw hanging.

“You actually…planned all of that?!” I sat up and looked at you in disbelief, bewildered at the revelation about what happened a while ago. “And those two kids knew?!”

You laughed at my priceless reaction and nodded. “The professors knew too.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, but I only told them about it minutes before our performance.” A proud smile was plastered on your face as you revealed some details of your perfectly executed plan. “To be honest, I was already giving you obvious hints the day before yesterday but you were the one who was so…jittery.”

“Did you know how mentally disoriented I was that day? You went from 0 to 100 real quick and just became as greasy as I am, if not worse!” I argued back. “And please, Yongsun-ah…if you have anything more to confess, tell me now. I already reached my quota for today’s big surprises.”

“Hmm…” You looked up and tapped your chin a few times as you pondered. “Ah, Seungho confessed to me again yesterday. He seemed pretty determined.”

I furrowed my eyebrows upon hearing his name. “What did you say?”

“I just repeated what I said to him the first time he confessed. Something you didn’t hear because you were too busy spacing out.”

“And that is…?”

A grin formed on your face as you pulled me down and whispered. “That I am already destined to the first daughter of the third Moon.”

That’s a lot load of cheese, but , that’s the least of my problems right now.

“So basically, I’m the only one who didn’t know. Unbelievable…” I resisted and didn’t let the hot breath you exhaled against my skin bother me again. “Anyway, we need to clean up this mess we made in my living room before we fall asleep.”

“Do we really need to do that now?” You whined and pouted. It was very cute, but it didn’t extinguish the small flame that already started to spread throughout my body. “I’m too lazy to move anymore.”

“If only Grandma isn’t visiting so early, then we could just go to sleep— ouch!” I felt my back hit the couch. I must’ve blanked out for a few seconds, because the next thing I knew, your face plastered with a smirk hovered only a few inches away from mine. The sight of the blanket on the floor made me realize that we were defenseless once again. “W-what are you doing? We need to clean, remember?” I tried to lift myself up, but you immediately pinned my shoulders down.

“Yeah, I know.” You casually nodded.

“Then why are you not letting me stand?”

Out of the blue you leaned closer and whispered words that sent chills down my spine. “Because I’m going to clean…” You paused and lightly bit my earlobe before you finished the sentence in the most flirtatious tone I’ve ever heard.

“…you up first.”

That’s it.

Goodbye, sanity.

-----

A/N: Yay the final chapter! /gets bricked/

On a serious note, I would like to apologize to every subscriber of my first ever MMM work. I’m sorry that it got delayed for two months, and this is the main reason:

I started getting busy in our volleyball league here, and I was playing thrice a week. Even if we have rest days in between games, I still felt very tired to the point that my mind could only produce one or two sentences a day. Not to mention the graduation practices and urgent trips to university that I had throughout May.

Buts still, I tried to write every day, even if it was only a phrase. Also, I did set today as my deadline for this chapter, because this one will serve as my personal graduation gift.

Yes, people. I am now officially unemployed. XD

And finally, I hope you liked this last chapter. I know it ended kind of in an unusual way, or maybe some of you might think that it’s quite hanging or something…but I feel like if I added more it would be kind of dragging already. Well at least for me. Tell me guys what you think! :D

Anyway, please leave comments! It will help me improve more. ^^