“Solbin, you have to introduce me to Mingyu after school!” begged Eunha with a sad-puppy look to Solbin, her classmate.

Solbin frowned in confusion with Eunha’s sudden request. “Why?”

“Because I want to know more about him,” Eunha replied with her reddened cheeks and she looked a bit shy after that. Solbin had never witnessed that kind of scene so she became dumbfoundly. “I… I have a crush on Mingyu…”

Eunha’s confession successfully made Solbin’s heart skip a beat. Eunha… has a crush on Mingyu?! She thought in surprise. She had never thought it would be happening. In her knowledge, Mingyu was just an ordinary boy. She could even say that he was a bit annoying one because he liked to play around with her. What makes she likes that boy? “You have a cruh on him?” Solbin repeated after she was being silent for a while because of her surprise.

Eunha nodded. “Yes! And I want to make him like me too. You have to help me! Please? Please?”

To tell the truth, Solbin wanted to refuse the request directly because she was never interested in being a matchmaker or being in someone’s love story but it was hard for her to say no to Eunha, who looked at her with a sad-puppy look again. Without knowing exactly what she was doing, Solbin nodded weakly as she forced herself to smile. A second later, she saw Eunha jumping and shouting in happiness because of her response.

***

Just like what she had promised, Solbin brought Eunha to her house and asked Mingyu to come along. Mingyu’s house was next to Solbin’s so he did not have to waste a lot of time to be in there.

After he arrived at Ahn family’s house, Mingyu looked surprised when he saw Solbin was not alone in the living room of her house but there was also a cute familiar-looking girl who sat next to his neighbor. “Hi!” greeted Mingyu to the cute girl.

“Hello!” the cute girl, Eunha, greeted him back excitedly.

Solbin wanted to laugh so badly to see Eunha’s response that showed she was falling in love with Mingyu obviously but of course she did not do that because it would make her classmate feel embarrassed. She cleared before she introduced Eunha to Mingyu eventually. “By the way, this is Jung Eunha, my classmate.”

“Ah! That’s why I felt like I’ve seen you before,” Mingyu commented at Eunha then he reached out his right hand to her for a handshake. “My name is Kim Mingyu. I’m from class 1-5,” he said.

Eunha enveloped her hand with Mingyu’s then they did the handshake for a few seconds. “Solbin said you’re great at Maths so she asked you to help us to do our Maths assignment because it’s so complicated and we aren’t that good at it. So, please, teach us well!” she said to the point.

Mingyu chuckled in response to her words before he nodded, willing to help them to do the assignment.

“You guys may start the study first! I want to get some drinks and snacks for us,” said Solbin as she got up from her seat.

“Want me to help you?” asked Mingyu.

“No. I can do it by myself!” Solbin replied. Then she rushed to the kitchen to get some drinks and snacks just like she had said before. Apparently, it was just a strategy to make Eunha have some alone times with Mingyu. The Maths assignment itself was also their strategy to make Mingyu come to her house. Solbin hopped her plan would be a success. She was happy to see Eunha’s happy face when she looked at Mingyu and she thought both looked good together. A tall boy like Mingyu would look perfect with a cute girl like Eunha! Solbin thought enthusiastically as she took a carton of orange juice out of fridge.

***

Their Maths lesson ended at six o’clock in the same time with when Solbin’s parents went home from their workplaces. After having dinner together, Eunha excused herself to go home and Solbin asked Mingyu to walk her classmate home.

“It’s not good for a girl to go home by herself. It’s night already. What if there would be something bad happens with her?” said Solbin.

Without second thoughts, Mingyu agreed it then the two of them left Ahn family’s house after saying goodbye. Solbin could see a thankful look from Eunha before she left and it made her happy. It seemed like her plan would be a success.

“Is that girl Mingyu’s girlfriend?” asked Solbin’s mother after her daughter’s friends left.

“Not yet, but she will soon,” Solbin replied with a chuckle. She helped he mother to wash the dishes at the time. “They look good together, don’t they, Mom?”

“You do think so?” her mother asked her back instead. “I prefer Mingyu to date you to that girl.”

Solbin automatically stopped what she was doing to look at her mother in surprise. She could not believe what she had heard. After the surpriseness she felt subsided, she let out a timid chuckle. “Mom, you’re weird! I don’t look good with him. We both are tall!”

“So, what? You’re still shorter than him,” said her mother. “That could be an advantage to date a tall girl for a tall boy like Mingyu. He doesn’t have to bend his body to kiss you.”

Solbin felt like she had a heart attack because of her mother’s words. Her face reddened. “W-what are you saying?” she said sulkily as she rinsed the plate in her hands.

“I really want you to be his girlfriend. I’ve talked about this with his mother and she has agreed it…”

“Come on, Mom! I don’t want to talk about this,” begged Solbin. She did not know since when her mother had an obsession over her relationship with Mingyu and it made her feel uneasy. Why should I be hooked up with the annoying boy like Mingyu?! There are lots of boys in the world so why him? she thought in annoyance.

***

Solbin was doing her English homework when her mother came into her room and said that Mingyu wanted to meet her. Without wasting time, she rushed out of her room to meet her boy-next-door who was waiting for her at the veranda of her house.

Mingyu smiled after Solbin was in front of him and before they even had their seats, he started saying something that surprised her. “You were trying to hook me up with Eunha, aren’t you?”

“H-how… could you…?” Solbin was speechless that she let her sentence incomplete.

“It was obvious! Your gestures told me so,” Mingyu chuckled as he took a seat on one of the chairs and then Solbin followed suit. “I could tell that Eunha has a crush on me by her face and honestly, I don’t have the same feeling with her.”

“Hey… you can’t say that!” Solbin protested. Of course, she felt down after she heard that confession. She could not imagine how sad Eunha be when she found out Mingyu did not like her back. “You can’t assume you don’t have the same feeling with her in a first meeting. At least, try to open your heart to know her well. She’s a nice girl! She’s smart, pretty, cute… what’s her flaw? She’s perfect!”

“Maybe she looks perfect in your eyes but not in mine,” said Mingyu in a very serious face that made Solbin a bit nervous. She was not used with that kind of face. “I… have… there is someone I really like right now,” suddenly he confessed his feeling. His face reddened after he said so.

“Oh…” that was a response Solbin could make. She was confused with the current situation. She could not insist Mingyu to like Eunha, not when he had someone he liked. Solbin then was silent, busy with her thoughts.

“Aren’t you curious about someone whom I like?” asked Mingyu, snapping Solbin out of her train of thoughts.

Solbin shook her head in reply. “Why should I?”

“Because… that person is… you, my girl-next-door.”

For the nth time Solbin almost got a heart attack on that day but then she could feel her heart beat softly grew louder. Pit-a-pat!

What kind of feeling is this? Solbin thought in confusion and without her consciousness, she touched her left chest with her right hand while her face getting redden. No way… there’s no way I…

“I won’t insist you to feel the same way with me,” Mingyu said after he saw Solbin’s reaction to his confession. “I’ve been honest with you and now it’s up to you.” Then he got up from his chair. “But… it’d be very nice if you want to be my girlfriend,” he added. Then he left Solbin alone after glancing at the suddenly muted girl for the last time.

Solbin really could not believe what had happened on that day. Everything felt like a dream. She hopped it was a dream but her hope was ruined when she felt hurt on her cheek after giving it a quite hard slap. This is real! She thought like a dumb person.

She was still plunged in thought even after she came back into her room to continue her homework. What should I do now? Solbin did not know a special feeling to Mingyu before but after she heard his confession, she started to like him a bit. But it did not mean she would accept his love or be his girlfriend because it would make Eunha’s heart broken and she did not want it to happen. She did not want her friendship ruined by a boy. But if she chose that way, she would make her mother and Mingyu disappointed.

Suddenly, her cellphone vibrated, signing that there was a one new message coming. Solbin quickly opened it up. It was from Eunha!

From: Eunha

I’m sooo happy today! Thanks a lot for your help, Sol! I did not make a wrong decission to like Mingyu. He’s a nice guy! I still need your help in the future :)

Solbin felt like to cry after she read the message. Even though she was not Eunha, but a little bit she could imagine if she was in her shoe. Then she felt an urge to send a text to Mingyu. She wanted rant what was on her mind to him and hopped he would understand it.

To: Mingyu

If you really don’t like Eunha, please, don’t give her a false hope. She’s my friend and I don’t want to see her down. And please, don’t ever talk about your feeling to me with her. Let it be our business. She doesn’t need to know that because it would hurt her even more.

Sent!

Solbin felt a bit relieve after that. A few minutes later, her cellphone vibrated again. It was a reply from Mingyu.

From: Mingyu

Okay, I can understand. I won’t give her a false hope but I don’t want you to give me a false hope either. You have to give me an answer whether you want or not to be my girlfriend.

Now Solbin felt confused again but then she typed a reply with a steady heart.

To: Mingyu

I want to focus with my study right now which means I don’t want to date anyone yet. So, sorry… I can’t be your girlfriend.

And the next reply from Mingyu made Solbin’s heart flutter.

From: Mingyu

It’s okay. I’ll be waiting :)

Solbin knew she did not have a right to feel happy with that reply but she could not help to feel that way. Maybe one day they could date each other but she was not dare to think about that because Eunha’s feeling was more important that hers right now.

***

A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading this crappy fic ^^” I’m sorry for gramatical error(s) and typo mistake(s) since english isn’t my native language. Feel free to comment and criticize this fic! I’d like to know what’s on your mind about it :D thanks for reading! :)