Her

“Oppa-deul!” Hyorin poked her head into the room as she called for Donghae and Eunhyuk, yet not forgetting to miss me. “And you too shorty! You guys want to go karaoke since it’s a Friday afternoon?”

While Hyorin waited for our responses, the two boys exchanged some looks of guilt and at that point, her hopeful eyes and cheerful smile suddenly seemed feigned.

“Sorry Hyorin-ah,” Donghae spoke while scratching the back of his neck. “Not that we don’t want to go with you or anything, but we have to practice for the music video shoot and—“

“—oh right!” She laughed with a little blush fallen upon her face. “Y-You three are busy dancing so I have no reason to interfere.”

“Hyorin, you can watch—“

“—ah, it’s okay Eunhyuk oppa!” She waved her hands away. “I couldn’t possibly bother you guys. Well I should go now before I distract you guys even more! Haha!”

She had quickly shut the door and her speeded footsteps can be heard from outside. With no hesitation, Donghae had abandoned to what he had said before and left quickly, to which I assume that he was chasing after her.

Although I understood that she was definitely different from usual, I was unsure as to why. What made me notice this was because she would no longer yell at me. Rather, she’d ignore me but be extremely enthusiastic when she was with Donghae or Eunhyuk. When she saw me with Eunhyuk, she would simply smile and walk past.

“Yah ert!” I looked back at the Monkey-boy who was now leaning against the mirror, holding up a half-empty water bottle. “Drink?”

“Did something happen between you guys?” I asked while I took a seat beside him.

“Donghae likes Hyorin, right?”

“Wha — I — uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I coughed, hopefully loud enough to cover the lie. 

“Somehow once you’ve experienced it yourself, everyone else’s story becomes obvious to you.”

He stared back into my eyes again and cracked into a gummy smile. I instantly turned my head away and shifted thirty centimeters away from him. It was as if he the button within my body to heat up. Is he some sort of weather man or something?! Todays temperate is going to be calm with a sudden smile that will burn your face. 

“What is this?” He questioned as he slid next to me again but when I tried to move away from him like before, he grabbed my wrist to stop me. “What’re you doing?”

“Y-You smell.” I lied, still avoiding eye-contact.

“Tch, look at me in the eye and say that.”

“N-no!”

I tried to dodge all his head movements as he tried to lock a stare with my eyes but my swift actions were too ninja for him.

“It’s weird how you were so confident in hugging me the other day—“

“—I did not!” I immediately retorted, recalling the moment of back hugging him, and as I spoke back at him, my eyes were trapped in his gaze now.

It was probably noticeable, but my cheeks were flushing red and my heart was beating fast again. Just as it always does, whenever I’m with him. He released his clutch on my wrist and moved both his hands to cup it around my cheeks—WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? BURN MY FACE OFF?—and as he inched his face closer to mine, I felt like my heart was in a mess, wanting to jump out of my chest and although my eyes were widening from a predicting situation, it was unexpected that he would pinch both my cheeks hard and let go.

“You’re very cute, Kim Hyoyeon.” He chuckled as he stood up and dusted himself off. “Now, shall we dance?”

He offered his hand out for me to accept, but I slapped it away quickly and stood up on my own.

“Donghae would be jealous if he heard you say that.” I muttered and bit my lips to distract the redness from my face.

“I swear, if you don’t stop being cute, I might do something without your permission, got it?”

“And what’s that?”

He the loud music and ignored what I had asked.

I hate this stupid Monkey boy

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“Hyorin!” Donghae called for the fifth time while trying to catch up to the brunette. “Wait up!”

Fortunately, she had finally stopped in her tracks and stood in the middle of the school garden. The evening was already settling in. It wasn’t dark yet, nor was the day shining brightly and the patch of green grass was empty with only the two people standing alone.

Hyorin’s head dropped down and her shoulders were shaking as Donghae heard the sobs from her.

“It’s hard oppa,” She spoke, in between her sniffs and tears. “Why is it so hard to get over a broken heart?”

Donghae then slowly approached her and let her head rest on his shoulder as he gently patted her back.

“It just means that you truly liked him.”

“I always thought that maybe, maybe I could be seen differently by oppa,” She furrowed her head deeper into Donghae’s chest now, gripping tightly onto his shirt. “That I won’t just be his friend anymore, that I can mean more than that, but then it became unfair. He met Hyoyeon, and in a short time, he already liked her. I knew oppa for so long, and yet, in the end, what I was waiting for, never happened.”

Donghae simply nodded, understanding the exact same feelings that she was expressing.

“Why can’t it be me?”

“I guess we need to experience these kind of things in life,” He replied. “It determines our strength, whether we’re able to move on from these downfalls, and when we do get past it, we can enjoy even greater things in life afterward. Don’t let this heart-break ruin your friendship with Eunhyuk, rather, take it as an opportunity for your bond to grow stronger and especially for you yourself Hyorin, for you to be stronger and happier unlike before.”

He then pushed her out and bent his head to her eye-level, wiping the tears from her eyes with his thumbs.

“There are plenty of fish in the sea! I’m sure it’ll be easy for you to catch them!”

Donghae had succeeded in breaking a true smile from Hyorin. It was even better to hear her chuckle charmingly and he realized that even her crying made her look beautiful.  

“Thanks oppa.”

She gave him a final grin with a last hug and had her heels, exiting from the scene.

Donghae on the other hand, stood there feeling relieved that she’s back to normal now, but he felt disturbed. He was always acting as the nice guy in this situation, always pretending that everything was okay when it wasn’t. Always making her happy even though he wasn’t. Of course, he’s happy that he got rid of her worries, but his concern for her grows as his liking towards her grows, and that’s why he realized that it was time to stop that.

Now that Eunhyuk gave her his reply, maybe he should find out the answer for himself as well.

“Hyorin, wait!” Donghae huffed as he luckily caught up to her and now the two were located in front of the school gates.

She turned around and was surprised to see that her oppa had followed her.

“What’s wrong oppa?”

He then took slow steps towards her and when he had finally stood right in front of her, he held both her hands and kissed her left cheek. The action surprised Hyorin, but she didn’t move, only widening her eyes and looking up at her oppa, who suddenly glanced down at her with a serious facial expression.

“I like you Hyorin, not as a friend, but more than that,” He stated. “I’ve always really, really liked you, because you’re a great girl, an amazing singer, a beauty that I can’t help but to really like.”

He then released himself from her and stepped back while Hyorin froze, not believing the situation.

“I’m not asking for anything in return of course, and I’m sorry if it’s a bad timing and all … but what I’m saying now is not a joke, and if you give me a chance, then I will treat you a hundred – no, a billion times better than Hyukkie has!” He then let out a frustrated sigh and scratched the back of his neck. “A-Anyway, what I’m saying is that, give it some time to think and until then,” He rested his hand on Hyorin’s head and gently it while smiling. “We’re still friends, okay?”

When he rushed away from her, Hyorin was left standing there in both surprise and shock. She didn’t know how to respond to the sudden confession, from someone who she would expect the least, but she didn’t necessarily dislike the feeling.

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