It had been a few days since Chaekyung met Eunyoung and Manseol along the corridor towards the library. Chaekyung had begun putting things behind her, and letting go of any bad feelings she felt towards the group. There were many misunderstandings, too many, that led to the changes in her position in the group being altered permanently. Despite that, Chaekyung tried willing herself to remember the good times she had with them, and to always cherish the memories and be thankful that it happened, regardless of how she ended with them today.

 

Jongdae had noticed the next day after he found her crying again at the same corner of school, she was back to her normal self again, but this time it was genuine. The last time she broke down, though she picked herself up the next day, Jongdae could tell that she was trying her best to put on a front. But this time, Jongdae could tell that she was being genuine with her emotions when she went around her day with smiles. He could tell that Chaekyung was more stable this time, and he was really thankful for that.

 

“I did contemplate doing that same thing again, but I remembered my promise to you.”

 

For the past few days, Jongdae always recalled Chaekyung’s words from that day. He was touched that she thought so highly of her promise with him, and goosebumps would always appear on his arms whenever he remembered that.

 

“I will put it behind me Jongdae, because I promised you.”

 

Jongdae constantly wondered whether she felt something more than just friends towards him. But, his thoughts always wavered between ‘yes’ and ‘no’. His heart told him yes, she does feel something more than just friends for him, but his mind always told him no, that she treats him as just a friend.

 

Jongdae tried to convince himself that she felt something more than a friend towards him, as his heart argued that the importance and emphasis she gave to their promise said it all, that she did not want to hurt him in any way should she have broken her promise. But, his mind always fought back, especially when he remembered her mentioning about Jaehyun.

 

Jang Jaehyun. Jongdae had always known about how important this person was to Chaekyung. Right from the start when he noticed her, he always saw Chaekyung spending time with the group, and she would especially show concern towards him. Although Chaekyung was rather obvious of her feelings, Jaehyun, a guy of little words, paid no heed to them at all. Yet, Chaekyung never stopped approaching him in the group. She thought she was being discreet about her feelings, but anyone from the sidelines, such as Jongdae, could tell that she was in love with him.

 

More than that, Jongdae had once overheard Chaekyung’s conversation with some of the others in the group. One of the days in the cafeteria, Jongdae was walking with his food tray to look for an empty table as he passed by their table. “Come on Chaekyung! It’s so obvious you have a thing for him. You have this soft spot for him that seems almost too soft, it’s like goo!” And everyone at the table burst out in laughter, leaving a beet-red Chaekyung sitting there awkwardly.

 

Jongdae experienced a mix of emotions. Of course, he did not feel good when he heard someone actually saying that Chaekyung likes Jaehyun. But on the other hand, he felt uncomfortable for Chaekyung. How could they be speaking about her personal matters so openly like that, when she’s obviously uncomfortable with it?

 

Jongdae sighed as he remembered these events from just a few months ago. He should have realized that constantly being in such a situation must have been stressful for Chaekyung, even more so since she was one who would rather keep things to herself than talk about it out of fear that she would burden someone. As she broke down again a few days ago, Jongdae concluded that Chaekyung was still not ready, and that she still harboured feelings towards Jaehyun. With that, Jongdae resolved to wait it out till after their examinations before he would confess to her. By then, she would have gotten over Jaehyun I suppose, hopefully.

 

He was lost in his thoughts thinking about Chaekyung when Baekhyun ran over and interrupted his thoughts. “HEY. HEY. HEY. JONGDAE, I FINALLY FOUND YOU HERE!”

 

Jongdae jumped in his seat as Baekhyun almost jumped on him, panting, evidently from running around school.

 

“Oh my god what is it this time, Baekhyun? Which girl did you see in school this time that you thought was hot and you want to go hit on her?”

 

“HEY! I’m not that kind of easy guy okay.”

 

“Yeah yeah sure, whatever you say Baek.”

 

“Hmph! No wait, this is not the main issue here!”

 

“Then what is it? You still haven’t said what you wanted to say.”

 

“Chaekyung’s in the infirmary!”

 

“EXCUSE ME WHAT? HOW COULD YOU TELL ME THIS ONLY NOW?!”

 

Jongdae grabbed his phone as he ran towards the infirmary at lightning speed, leaving a frustrated Baekhyun and a long rant. “Well excuse me, you’re the one who didn’t allow me to speak, and then you started insulting me. I haven’t gotten back at you for insulting me and now you’re blaming me for telling you only now? HOW COULD YOU JONGDAE? I RAN ALL OVER SCHOOL TO LOOK FOR YOU AFTER I HEARD THE NEWS! I- Wait, Jongdae? Where is that guy? HOW COULD HE HAVE RAN OFF WITHOUT ME? YAH KIM JONGDAE!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jongdae ran as fast as his legs could take him. One part of him really wanted to cuss Chaekyung out: seriously, how many more times are you going to make me run across the school for you? But the most part of him was filled with worry and dread: why exactly are you in the infirmary? What happened this time? Please, don’t let anything happen to you, please.

 

Finally, Jongdae arrived at the entrance of the infirmary. He hurriedly pushed open the door of the infirmary, stepping in as his eyes darted around the whole room looking for the familiar silhouette of the girl he watched over every day. His eyes rested on her figure on one of the beds in the infirmary, as he saw a two of her close classmates, Jiyeon and Seyoung stood over her bed, together with Chanyeol.

 

His instincts led him to run over the her bedside, shoving Chanyeol aside as he reached her. “What happened to you? Why are you in the infirmary? Are you okay? Is it hurting anywhere? Do you need to go to the hospital? Come, let me take you, can you walk?”

 

Chaekyung merely looked at Jongdae, and let out a small laugh. Her laughter stopped Jongdae in his tracks, as he stopped fussing over her and looked at her in the eye. When Chaekyung noticed he had focused all his attention on her face, she spoke, “Jongdae, I’m fine, you really didn’t need to run all the way here so fast. I merely sprained my ankle during physical education class just now.”

 

“Excuse me, this isn’t just a sprain okay, not when you sprained it only because some people played dirty and shoved you on purpose.” Seyoung spoke up about what really happened during class to let Jongdae fully gasp the situation.

 

Flashback:

 

Physical education class was scheduled to do basketball today, as a friendly match was arranged between two classes having the same period of class.

 

Chaekyung was dribbling the ball across the court towards the basket belonging to her team. Girls from the other class intercepted her as she tried to make her way across the court, just that they did not seem like their purpose was merely to block her from making the throw.

 

Focusing on the game, Chaekyung took no notice of their true intentions, not until one of the girls spoke up. It was Jihee, one of the girls who had a well-publicised crush on Jongdae. “Yah, how dare you stick around Jongdae?”

 

“What do you mean? Don’t be ridiculous and get on with the game!”

 

Chaekyung tried to get past the group of them to run towards the basket, but Jihee stopped her again.

 

“Don’t you have a thing with Jaehyun? Why are you still hanging around Jongdae? Jongdae is mine, you got that?”

 

Chaekyung merely rolled her eyes and ran across to the other side of the court in an attempt to run past the group of girls led by Jihee, only to be not-so-unintentionally tripped and shoved by Jihee as she was trying to run away from them. Chaekyung fell with a loud thud to the ground as she lost the ball, and her body came in contact with the rough surface of the court.

 

The large group of girls surrounding Chaekyung trying to intercept her caused her right foot to be caught between all their feet as Jihee tripped her left foot on purpose when she ran. As a result, the ligaments in her ankle were stretched beyond the usual all of a sudden, causing a surging pain throughout Chaekyung’s leg to the rest of her body, along with the numerous abrasions she got on her legs and elbows.. As she fell to the ground, she felt dizzy with the impact and the pain from her body, as she laid on the court while Jiyeong, Seyoung and the teacher rushed over to her.

 

“You call that a mere accident? I don’t think so. It was so obvious she was trying to injure you! I saw them all intercept you and Jihee shoving you!” Jiyeon followed Seyoung’s words and put in her own take on the situation. Chaekyung just laughed off the huge fuss that her friends were kicking up over this. Chaekyung told Jongdae, Jiyeon, Seyoung, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun who finally made it to the infirmary everything that Jihee said.

 

“She’s just unhappy about how I get to hang out with you and the rest of EXO, don’t mind her one bit, it doesn’t matter at all, not one bit.”

 

“Chaekyung, why didn’t you tell her that she misunderstood everything? You should have told her that there’s nothing between us, not at all. If you did that, you won’t have all those random girls picking on you every other day over us being close.”

 

“Jongdae do you really want me to say that?”

 

“What?” Jongdae looked up at Chaekyung in shock, not knowing what to make out of the situation.

 

“Jongdae, is there really only friendship between us? I’ve known over the past 2 months that you see me more than a friend, or maybe I’m wrong…”

 

“But- But- don’t you still like Jaehyun…?”

 

“Gosh Jongdae, take a hint already!” Baekhyun intercepted Jongdae’s question for Chaekyung. Jongdae merely turned around to glare at him and Baekhyun cowered in fear of Jongdae’s death stare.

 

Chanyeol instead took Jongdae’s hint, “Okay guys come on, let’s go to the cafeteria for a drink.” Chanyeol pushed a whiny Baekhyun out of the infirmary, with Jiyeon and Seyoung following after, giving Chaekyung their knowing smirks before they left.

 

Chaekyung merely chuckled as the four of them left the infirmary, leaving only Jongdae by her side, staring intently at her, still waiting for her answer.

 

“Do you really need me to answer that? Okay, I’ll answer it. I don’t like Jaehyun, not anymore. Maybe I did in the past, a lot, but not anymore. From the moment I left that group of friends, I had cleared up my lingering feelings for him.”

 

“But- But weren’t you crying that day because he knew you like him?”

 

“Gosh Jongdae no! I wasn’t upset because he knew, I was upset because those people I thought would keep a secret for me even though we aren’t friends anymore didn’t keep it a secret at all!”

 

“Ohh….”

 

Chaekyung laughed for the umpteenth time in the infirmary today as she ruffled Jongdae’s hair, as she continued speaking her mind.

 

“Jongdae, you really mean a lot to me. Without you, I may not have come this far, I may not be able to smile like I am right now ever again, but because of you, I can and I will. Of course initially, I only saw you as a friend, even though I had my suspicions about your feelings. I wasn’t ready then, Jongdae. But, I don’t know when you started living in my heart, more than just a friend. I didn’t know the reason why my heart flutters when I see you. But I think, now I do.”

 

Jongdae was speechless. He did not know how to react. He could not believe what he had just heard, and he struggled to stay with reality and not drift off into his own thoughts.

 

“So…now what?” Jongdae did not know what to say even though he pondered over Chaekyung’s words for a few moments.

 

Chaekyung took a deep breath, and continued, “So… Jongdae, I like you, not as just a friend, but as a girl towards a guy.”

 

Jongdae’s heart did somersaults as his heart started beating faster. He was over the moon that his feelings were being reciprocated after his long silence. He was overjoyed until he realized that this situation was awkward for his position.

 

“Hey! How could you say that first? I should have said it first! I have imagined me confessing to you so many times in my head, how could you take that moment away from me?!”

 

Chaekyung laughed louder and merely said, “Well Jongdae…it didn’t seem like you were going to say those words anytime soon and I was getting slightly impatient with the pace of this conversation so I just had to say-“

 

Jongdae pulled Chaekyung towards him as he planted his lips on hers. It was a surprise to Chaekyung, a pleasant one, that this was happening to her. She had figured out her feelings towards Jongdae since two weeks ago, and now that it came to this, she was glad she came clean about it. As Jongdae pulled away breathless from the kiss they shared, he hugged her close and whispered into her ear, “I like you too, Chaekyung, I always have. My embrace will always be yours, you can always come back to your place anytime, I promise you that.”