Romance is a concept that Youngjae felt no sympathy for. Girls were among one of those things that Youngjae cared less about. Sure, he hasn’t been with the opposite gender before (in lack of better words, he hasn’t been with anyone else besides Jaebum). Sure, he hasn’t been liked or liked anyone himself. Sure, he probably knows nothing about romantic relationships. But at the end of the day, those trivial things weren’t important to Youngjae at all. And it’s not like he’s an aromantic or aual. It’s just that person hasn’t stumbled upon the blind boy’s world yet. 

    Nonetheless, Youngjae found no interest in checking off that part of his bucket list. There’s too many things to deal with as of now. No extra room for a presence of a needy female whining for attention. It’s better to just focus on education and how to convince his overly protective parents that he can handle himself just fine (so please let him go to Belgium alone). 

    “Youngjae-ssi!” His classmate, Minji, came running down the corridors, waving her arms excitedly. She stopped a couple of feet in front of the blind boy, with a bright smile and flushed cheeks. 

    “Um… Who are you?” Youngjae asked, tilting his head a little to the side. The action had made the girl blushed even harder. 

    “Hello, I’m Minji. Lee Minji,” she replied while her hands busied themselves at the hem of her uniform jacket. “And I… I…” She looked up at the boy and immediately lowered her head as soon as her doe eyes met with Youngjae’s mysterious ones. 

    A thought suddenly clicked in Youngjae’s head. Letting out a knowing “ah,” the blind boy sighed afterwards and attempted a pity expression. “You must be one of Jaebum’s fan? If so, then I’m sorry but I-“

    “No! No, no, no,” Minji deflected quickly, because she’s not one of those girls. “You’re misunderstanding… I’m not… I don’t like Jaebum-ssi.” 

    “Oh, my God. This is the first time I hear someone say they don’t like Jaebum. Wow. You’re a strange one.” 

    Biting her lower lip, Minji stared at the ground, all confidence she had mustered earlier seemed to fly out the windows just like that. “Well, I…”

    “So what are you here for? Did you need me for something?” 

    “Well, yes, something like that.”

    From the tone of Minji’s voice, Youngjae couldn’t help but be a little suspicious. The girl seemed like a nice person. The way she quietly and slowly speaks is quite cute. It’s like she was too shy. 

    “What can I help you with?” Youngjae asked. 

    A silence passed by for a few seconds. The blind boy was patient. Minji touched her cheeks and fanned herself. She was getting ready to do something extremely embarrassing that she’ll probably regrets for the rest of her life. But it’s now or never. Just a while ago, Minji had thought she might as well could take chances. Maybe… Just maybe something else she hoped for would come after. 

    “Youngjae-ssi, you probably don’t really know me,” Minji started, “but I know you. I sit at the back of your class, right behind you. I’m usually very quiet, since I don’t talk to anyone, and maybe that’s why I don’t have any friends… But I… I… Youngjae-ssi, I really li-“

    “Yah! Choi Youngjae!” Of course, Doohwan would be around the corner somewhere with his little boys grinning creepily. 

    Minji was taken back as she watched the school’s group of bullies trudging towards Youngjae. The blind boy sighed. Doohwan is such a pain. 

    “Oops, sorry, did I interrupt something important?” The bully smirked, amused at the play set before his eyes. “Lee Minji, were you about to confess?” 

    Not knowing what to do since she had never encountered this type situation before, Minji panicked and turned bright red, unable to force any words out. Youngjae furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. “You’re bullying girls now? That’s a low move, Doohwan.”

    “Woah, easy there, buddy. I ain’t messing with your girlfriend.”

    “She’s not my girlfriend and she doesn’t like me that way. So why don’t you collect your pathetic self and have your dogs dump you off under the bridge somewhere,” Youngjae rolled his eyes. “I’m tired of you thinking you own the damn place, when in actuality, you don’t.”  

    Shoving the blind boy back against the wall, Doohwan’s wide smile sent shivers down Minji’s spine as she witnessed the scene. Doohwan’s breath ghosting over Youngjae’s face, calmly and steadily pronouncing dominance. “How cute. You think you’ve got Jaebum wrapped around your finger and so now you’re acting all mighty and tough in front of your girl?” 

    Youngjae tried to shove the bully off, but strength was not his strong point. “Get off of me.” 

    Pushing harder against the blind boy, Doohwan’s expression bled into anger. “No. You don’t own the place.” 

    Minji couldn’t just stand by. She rushed over and grabbed a hold of Doohwan’s arm and tried to pull him away. “Let him go! You sick bastard! Let him-“ 

    Rolling his eyes, Doohwan made a move and shoved Minji hard, causing the girl to fall to the ground. The group of boys burst out laughing. Doohwan smiled. “Don’t try to meddle in, little girl. You can’t help him.” 

    “Minji-ssi, are you okay?” Youngjae asked worriedly. He felt guilty for dragging an innocent person into this mess. “Get out of here, Minji-ssi, please.” 

    “Did y’all hear that? Our Youngjae is being such a gentleman. Learn from him y’all,” Doohwan crackled mockingly. 

    Minji got up to her feet and glared at Doohwan. “You’re just ignoring how ugly and pathetic you are. You think you’re cool by picking on students, but you’re not. You’re probably dealing with family issues at home, so you thought bringing your rage to school and throw fits at people would somehow fix your broken self. But you don’t know how cowardice it is to step on someone weaker than you. You just wanted to vent off your selfish frustrations on others. That’s not right-“

    “Shut up ! What the do you know?!” Doohwan was furious. 

    “See? I wasn’t at least wrong then. You’re mad because I’ve hit bull’s eye, right? My words are like knives stabbing you, right? Because I’m right,” Minji held her head high, determined to speak down onto the bully. If there’s anything she could do at this moment, then she could defend Youngjae. 

    “Someone slap this . She’s running too much.” Doohwan commanded. He looked over his shoulders and his followers were all quiet. Sighing, he pulled off of Youngjae and went over to Minji. “You all are useless. Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

    There were so many options opened for Minji. She could run away right now. She could. She knew she could. But she won’t. Balling her fists, Minji gets ready for the worse to come. Doohwan’s eyes pierced through her like a predator as he brought his hand up. Minji won’t blink. She won’t. She refused to. She’ll fight this. She can’t back away now. She wanted to help. She had seen Youngjae being bullied so many times. And each time, it didn’t fail to break her heart. So she’ll do this. If it meant for Doohwan to take his eyes off of Youngjae for a while, then she’ll do it. 

    “I don’t abuse woman, but you can be an exception,” Doohwan smirked.

    “Bring it on. I’m not scared of you,” Minji lied. She’s scared, of course. But the braver part of her didn’t allow her to leave the blind boy by himself. 

    Before the rough hand of a smoker and beater could strike down against the girl’s cheek, it was stopped abruptly by another hand whose fingers wrapped tightly and squeezing harshly around the bully’s wrist with intentions of crushing every bone. Doohwan’s eyes widened in surprise. Minji looked over next to her. 

    “I was just gone for half an hour and you’re already trying to accomplish so much, Doohwan.” 

    “Im Jaebum.” 

    Doohwan yanked his wrist away from Jaebum’s iron grasp, cursing under his breath and glaring up at his enemy. Jaebum looked at him through his dark fringe. “Are you okay, Minji-ssi?” He asked, eyes still strained on Doohwan’s face, but the question intended for the girl next to him.

    “Yes, I’m all right. Thank you,” Minji replied softly. Now that Jaebum is here, Minji rushed over to Youngjae’s side. 

    Watching Minji kindly and innocently helping his best friend by grabbing onto the latter’s arm and pulling up and leaning against her small body was ing with Jaebum’s mind in so many ways. But this wasn't the time and place, so Jaebum quickly gets it over with. “Walk away, Doohwan. Stop acting childish.” 

    Scoffing, Doohwan couldn’t believe this happened again. “I swear you always show up at the most fun part. What a party-pooper.” Turning back to his group of underlings, Doohwan laughed, “come on, boys. Let’s go before someone gets violent~” 

    “What a bunch of losers,” Jaebum said, shaking his head. He walked over to the ‘couple.’ Without any shame, Jaebum casually removed Minji’s hands off of Youngjae’s arm and lightly pulled the latter towards him. “Why is she holding onto you? Were you hurt?” 

    Minji looked away awkwardly, thinking she’s third-wheeling their moment or whatever the Hell it was. Because the way Jaebum’s eyes stared at her wasn’t very nice even though he saved her just a couple of minutes ago. But now it’s like he didn’t even want her here. 

    “I’m all right,” Youngjae said. “Minji, are you okay?”

    Blushing and biting her lower lip, Minji nodded shyly, “I-I’m okay…”

    Jaebum was so done. He knew it from the beginning. It’s hard not to know when he’s the one who always caught Minji staring at Youngjae with so much admiration in her eyes. All. The. Damn. Time. The girl was smittened with the blind boy. And the bad boy just wanted to roll his eyes. Which he did. Because he doesn’t approve it. Despite Lee Minji being the school’s nicest girl, Jaebum doesn’t approve. Because Youngjae is his. Not Minji’s. Or anyone else.  

    “Minji-ssi, weren’t you going to tell me something?” Youngjae asked, trying to struggle away from his best friend’s sudden grip on his waist. Turning and whispering to Jaebum, “what is wrong with you? Let go.” 

    The bad boy was indifferent. “Hell no.” 

    Minji glanced at Jaebum, only to widened her eyes and lowered her head. She doesn’t think she could continue with her confession. Not after what had happened. Not when Jaebum is radiating off possessiveness and something along the line of intense jealousy. The amount of charisma oozing out of the Ice Prince scared Minji. She doesn’t even have to look back up again to know that Jaebum was glaring daggers at her, challenging her to go on with whatever she was saying to Youngjae earlier. So with a small smile, Minji said. “It’s a bit inconvenient right now… I think… Oh! Youngjae-ssi, I wonder if we could meet up after school?”

    Wrong move. Now Jaebum is clenching his jaw. Wow. She got the nerves. 

    Oblivious Youngjae smiled and nodded, “sure! Where?” 

    Another wrong move. Jaebum is just staring at Youngjae in disbelief. Really? REALLY?? 

    “At the back of the school? I don’t know if you know where, but, um…” 

    “It’s okay, Jaebum can take me. Right, Jaebum?” 

    The said male rolled his eyes and scoffed, “whatever.”

    Youngjae said, “he means 'yes.' I’ll see you then.” 

    “You can’t see. What are you talking about,” Jaebum mocked. 

    Youngjae elbowed Jaebum’s ribs. “Shut up, Bum.” 

    Minji giggled and replied, “okay, I’ll see you then, Youngjae-ssi!” The enthusiastic smile on her face annoyed the out of Jaebum. 

    After Minji practically skipped out of sight, Jaebum turned to his best friend. “You’re not going. I’m not taking you.” 

    “What? Jaebum-“

    “No.” 

    “But she said she had to tell me something.” 

    “Don’t play dumb, Youngjae. You know exactly what she’s going to- You know what, never mind. Whatever. You’re not going and that’s final.”

    “What? I don’t- Come on, Jaebummie-ah~” 

    “No. We’re going home right after school.”

    “Jaebum-“ Youngjae whined. “Why are you like this? Are you mad?” 

    Mad is an understatement. Jaebum scoffed, “as if. Now hurry up and go to class. Break’s time over.” 

    Youngjae searched for his best friend’s hand and held it firmly, eyes sparkling with plead. “Please?”

    Gulping, Jaebum hates how he’s such a softie for his Youngjae. 

    “Jaebummie, please~” 

    “N-“ Before Jaebum could rejects it, Youngjae had already threw himself against Jaebum and wrapping his arms around the latter’s broad shoulders. Jaebum blushed, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden extreme skinship and affection. He wrapped his arms around Youngjae’s waist and hugged him back, hiding his ridiculously red face behind the blind boy’s shoulder. “Fine,” Jaebum mumbled bashfully. 

    Beaming, Youngjae squeezed Jaebum closer against himself, “thank you~ Im Jaebum, you’re the best~” 

    “Whatever…” 

    As soon as Jaebum brought Youngjae back to his class, the bad boy’s mind started turning gears on how to stop this upcoming ordeal from happening. He wasn’t anxious. No, not at all. More like he was nervous and worried. Worried that Youngjae might accept Minji’s shy confession. Worried that those two might become a couple. Worried that Minji might come between Jaebum and his only chance of being with his best friend. Why is this even happening in the first place? Jaebum didn’t even know anyone could have liked Youngjae (sounded harsh but that’s what it was). He was suspicious, yeah, when he went to pick up Youngjae at the blind boy’s class a couple of weeks ago, Jaebum had noticed how much Minji stared at the back of Youngjae’s head like it’s decorated with diamonds. And whenever Youngjae shifted a little in his seat, Minji would quickly looked away, embarrassed, like she was caught staring too long, like Youngjae could actually sees her. 

    Lee Minji is a nice girl. A good girl. And she’s pretty cute. But Jaebum could care less. It doesn’t matter what kind of person she is. She likes Youngjae. In Jaebum’s book, Lee Minji is a threat. A bad threat. He can’t bear to let that happen. He can’t. If he can’t have Youngjae, then no one else can. 

    “Aish,” Jaebum ran his hand through his hair in frustration, “no, I can’t think like that! As a best friend, I should be supportive. Right, supportive. Be supportive. Be supportive…” Those two words repeatedly spew out of Jaebum’s mouth like a sacred mantra, convincing his selfish and demonic self to let go. “Be supportive… Be…” 

    But this is Im Jaebum. 

    “No, no, no, no, no,” Jaebum stopped pacing around. "I can’t do it. Oh, my God, I can’t. I… But I have to be supportive. Okay, Im Jaebum, you’re going to be supportive. You’re not going to ruin this for Youngjae. You’re going to-“

    And Jaebum found himself taking Youngjae to someplace that’s not the back of the school. Well, technically it was, but it wasn’t the part where Minji stood waiting. Jaebum should feel guilty. He should. He’s currently taking advantage of the perfect fact that Youngjae is blind and doesn’t know his ways around the school; Jaebum purposely took Youngjae to a different place. 

    Im Jaebum! I thought I told you to be supportive?? What the are you doing?????  The angry voice in his head screaming at him to stop, but it’s a bit too late now. Jaebum realized he wasn’t feeling guilty. In fact, a bit satisfied. It’s wrong, he knew. But it’s worth it. 

    “Are you sure this is the right place?” Youngjae asked, whipping his head around as if he could tell where they are. 

    Jaebum got no shame. With a steady voice, Jaebum replied, “of course. I know my ways around school, Jae.” 

    “Okay then. I guess we wait?” 

    “Whatever.” She’s not going to be here anyways, Jaebum wanted to add. 

    They waited for a bit. For a good thirty minutes. Youngjae was starting to wonder if something’s wrong. The blind boy could feel that something doesn’t sit right. He just doesn’t know what it is. “Jaebum?”

    “Hmm?”

    “What time is it?”

    “It’s time for us to go home.”

    “But-“

    “Let’s go, Jae-ah. We’ve been waiting here for a long time already. She’s still nowhere to be seen.” 

    “But I thought she had something important to tell me?” Youngjae pouted, disappointed. 

    “Youngjae, are you joking or do you seriously don’t know?” Jaebum quirked an eyebrow. 

    “Know what, Jaebum? What’s going on?” Youngjae genuinely was concerned. 

    Jaebum sighed. “Nothing. Let’s just go. She can tell you another day.” 

    Grabbing a hold of Youngjae’s hand, Jaebum dragged the blind boy away. The faster the better, since he can’t predicted if Minji is going to pop out somewhere and ruins his plan. Except she did. 

    “Youngjae-ssi!” Minji called, running towards the two boys. 

    Jaebum wanted to hang himself. 

    “Minji-ssi?” Youngjae turned his head towards the girl’s cheerful voice. 

    “I was waiting over there for you. But you didn’t come, so I thought I'll just go around the area. I thought maybe Jaebum-ssi got the directions messed up,” she smiled cutely. 

    Youngjae chuckled. “Is that so? Sorry, he’s kind of out of it today for some reason I don’t know.” 

    Giggling, Minji shook her head, “it’s okay. At least you’re here. That’s all it matters.” Then she proceeded to look up at Youngjae with hearts in her eyes, completely disregarding the presence of Jaebum. 

    “Oh! Didn’t you needed to tell me something, Minji-ssi?” Youngjae reminded. 

    “Right! I do… Um… Well, it’s a bit… P-private…” Minji glanced at Jaebum timidly, silently asking the bad boy to get the out in the nicest way possible with her eyes. 

    Jaebum rolled his eyes as he reluctantly lets go Youngjae’s hand and walked off far away. From his standpoint, he could still see them, but isn’t close enough to actually hear what will be exchanged. It’s okay. He doesn’t need to anyways. It’ll only hurts him more. 

    “What is it, Minji-ssi?” Youngjae asked. 

    Minji didn’t answer right away. She stood there, fiddling with her fingers and occasionally reached up to scratch her head or tugged her hair. She’s nervous. Very nervous. “I-I kn-know you’re n-not perfect… But Youngjae-ssi, you are perfect in my e-eyes. A-and I just wa-want to let you know that I… I… Um… I…” 

    “Minji-ssi? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” The blind boy was worried that something had happened, oblivious to the fact that he’s being confessed to.

    Minji bit her bottom lip. Then she thought of something extremely embarrassing. But went with it anyways. “Maybe.. You’ll understand me better if I…” Moving closer to her crush, Minji tried to calm her wildly beating heart. “Youngjae-ssi, would you close your eyes for me?” 

    With a head nod, Youngjae innocently closed his eyes. Minji continued getting closer and closer until there’s a couple of inches between their faces. She closed her own eyes and leaned in, her heart fluttering like crazy. It was about to happen, but a strong hand softly patted Minji's shoulder. Snapping her eyes opened, she came face-to-face with a Jaebum, whose eyes were cold as ice. Jaebum puts a finger against his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. Minji nodded and didn’t make a sound. The bad boy waved for her to follow. They left Youngjae standing there and went to a corner somewhere. 

    “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Jaebum’s voice sounded bland and bored. “But Youngjae’s mom just called me and she’s very worried.”

    “But, I’m not-“

    “He needs to get home immediately. His grandma just collapsed.” 

    Gasping, Minji covered with her hands. “Th-that’s horrible. Is she okay?” 

    “That’s none of your concern. I have to take him home now.” 

    “I- O-okay… I guess I’ll just do it another day,” Minji looked down at her shoes. 

    Jaebum scoffed. “There won’t be another day.” 

    “W-wha-what? What do you mean?” 

    Because Jaebum is selfish and mean and nasty. Because Jaebum is beyond jealous. Because Jaebum hates it all. Because Jaebum wholeheartedly fell so hard for his best friend. Because Jaebum wants what he can’t have. Because Jaebum doesn’t share. Jaebum lies. And he’ll continue making up bull if it means he gets to keep Youngjae for himself. 

    “His parents are very strict. And they only want him to focus on his studies and nothing else. You know, he can’t see, so it’s already difficult for him. There are many things he wants to do but can’t. His parents are tying him down. I suggest you should give him some space. He’s going through a lot right now,” Jaebum said. Half-lies half-truths. 

    “But-“

    “I know you like him.”

    Minji’s face turned red as she ducked her head down, avoiding Jaebum’s scary gaze. “I… I….” 

    “Minji-ssi, I’m sorry. Not right now, please,” there was a tint of sincerity in the bad boy’s voice. A tint of somewhat insecurity. 

    Nodding slowly, Minji looked up at Jaebum with glassy eyes, “I understand. I’m sorry. I’ll leave now. Thank you for telling me, Jaebum-ssi.” 

    The girl was devastated, but what can she do? She can’t bother Youngjae like that. If she does it now, it’ll just make the blind boy uncomfortable. And Jaebum just told her that Youngjae has been dealing with a lot of problems lately. She didn’t want to pressure him any further. So with one last look at her crush, who’s patiently still standing there with his eyes closed, Minji turned away and walked off. 

    Again, Jaebum should be feeling guilty. He should. But was he, though? He wasn’t feeling that good about what he had done. But he wasn’t remotely felt guilty either. But Jaebum wasn’t really the one to blame. He was just shook to turned around and saw that girl pressing up against his best friend with her lips chasing Youngjae’s. And so Jaebum just acted without thinking. Because that. He was already nice enough to let them have some privacy to talk. But trying to steal a kiss from Youngjae was crossing the line. Thank God he had stopped her before anything could happen. 

    Walking back to Youngjae, Jaebum sighed quietly. The blind boy is a patient person. How can someone just stand there with their eyes closed without any questions? How can someone could be so nice and giving? Jaebum hates how oblivious Youngjae is. It’s driving Jaebum insane. How dense can his best friend be? Now standing right in front of Youngjae, the bad boy stayed quiet. 

    “Minji-ssi?” 

    Get yourself together, Im Jaebum. He told himself.

    “Hey? Are you still there?” 

    Jaebum, please, for the love of God, don’t do anything stupid. He told himself. 

    “Um… Can I open my eyes now? You know I can’t see, right?” 

    Jaebum. No. No. No. Don’t-

     it. Jaebum told himself. 

    Youngjae was going to open his eyes, but everything during those seconds came crashing down onto him like a hurricane. He didn’t expect to feel lips against his own. Shocked and a bit scared, Youngjae just stood still, unable to move a single muscle on his body to push away whoever is it that’s stealing his first kiss. He didn’t respond or do anything when those lips pressed harder against his. Youngjae didn’t know what was going on. The feeling was indescribable. So familiar yet different. Youngjae held his breath, thinking if he just don’t think about it, it’ll goes away. 

    And then Youngjae couldn’t feel them anymore. His eyes still closed. He listens. He couldn’t hear anything but the frantic drumming of his heart in his ears. What’s going on? What just happened? 

    Slowly reaching up to touch his lips, Youngjae was thrown in utter confusion. Who just kissed me? Was it Minji-ssi? Was it? I- Oh, my God. Why is this happening? I’m confused. I don’t get it. Who kissed me? Why does it feel so rough? My… My first kiss… I… I… 

    “Youngjae,” a voice all so familiar in Youngjae’s ears rang deeply against the cold fresh winter’s winds. 

    “J-Jaebum?” 

    “Youngjae-“

    “Jaebum! I-I-I-“ Youngjae panicked. What was he going to tell his best friend? He can’t just say it outright that someone kissed him and he doesn’t exactly know for sure who did it and now he’s scared for his life because everything felt so new and- Wait, did Jaebum saw it? Jaebum was just around the area somewhere, right? Could he have seen it? Would he know who it was? Was it really Minji? 

    “Let’s go, Jae-ah. It’s cold.” Was all Youngjae could hear Jaebum said before feeling the latter’s cold hand wrapping around his still shaking one. 

    “A-all-all right,” Youngjae let out the breath he’s been holding, suddenly feeling suffocated on nothing at all. “O-okay… Let’s just go home.” 

    Jaebum decided today would be the best day for him to hang himself. There’s no point in living when you’re carrying such a guilty heart.