“You’re gawking at him again, Guan Lin. It’s not nice to stare at other people like that.”

“What?” Guan Lin asked and turned his head. He and his friends were at the school’s cafeteria, eating lunch. The other three boys were in the middle of a dialogue, retelling a weird story about what happened to Jihoon the day before, and somehow Guan Lin zoned out at the middle of Jihoon’s assertions. He was staring at nothing in particular, but something suddenly caught his eye and it lingered there for a few seconds more than necessary. It was Seonho. He was with his classmates, eating at a table just across Guan Lin’s. He was smiling, laughing, probably at some funny joke his friends were telling. Guan Lin couldn’t help but stare, at Seonho, and before he knew it, he was lost. Only the sound of his Jinyoung’s familiar voice and Samuel’s audible cough had managed to reel him back into reality and snapped him out of his own trance. “What do you mean?”

His friends had stopped talking and focused their attention on an awe-struck Guan Lin. “Your eyes sparkle when you look at him, it’s cute,” Jihoon said.

“You look at him like you haven’t seen him for so long,” Jinyoung added nonchalantly.

“When in fact you just talked to him a while ago,” Samuel chimed in, wanted to be part of the conversation. “You’ve got it bad, man. Seonho literally has you wrapped around his fingers.”

Guan Lin barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the underlying meaning behind his companions’ statements before he turned his focus back to his neglected lunch in front of him. “Shut up.”

The three other boys chuckled in unison at Guan Lin’s reaction.

“C’mon dude, you’ve been pining on little Seonho for quite some time now, don’t you have plans to confess at all?” Samuel asked but not forgetting to lower his voice in case someone was eavesdropping on them. “You’re so whipped and you know it.”

Guan Lin did not answer, he did not need to, so he continued eating his food quietly. The latter saw no significance in defending himself if it was simply just to satisfy his friends— Guan Lin did not care. In fact, it was never a mystery to any of them that Guan Lin had certain non-platonic feelings for Seonho, despite Seonho being younger than Guan Lin and their evident personality differences.

“Okay, you might be close friends and whatnot, but if you’re gonna keep this up, others are gonna snatch him away from you before you even noticed,” Jihoon added, rather serious.  “You know how famous Seonho is, right?”

Guan Lin could not come up with a retort so he remained silent. The young lad then pondered on his friend’s words for a bit and Guan Lin frowned at the thought. Jihoon was right.

Ah, Guan Lin hated Jihoon for always being right at everything.

Although he had not voiced out his insecurities before, that was what Guan Lin was afraid of lately; someone taking Seonho away, away from him most especially. Amidst his efforts on choosing not to care, keeping up with his usual deadpan facade, Guan Lin was well aware of Seonho’s social status at school; about a few rumors, about few people setting their eyes on him even before Guan Lin came to Korea

Everyone liked Seonho, but well, who wouldn’t like him?

“Dude, you really have to do something,” Samuel urged. “Man up.”

His friends made it sound so easy, but what was he supposed to do anyway? Guan Lin was so confused.

“Guan Lin, dude,” Samuel called, tapped the other by his shoulder. “Are you gonna head on home?” Classes had already ended that day, sooner than Guan Lin had expected.

Guan Lin nodded his head, fixed his things and stuffed them inside his backpack. Jinyoung and Jihoon already went on ahead, asked their permission before they left since they had something urgent to do (will probably go on a date, as usual).

“With Seonho?” Samuel added.

Guan Lin wasn’t sure why Samuel had to ask when he already knew the answer to his own question, but Guan Lin still nodded again nonetheless. There was a glint in Samuel’s eyes, both teasing and mischievous but Guan Lin was already used to it. Ever since his friends found out that he liked Seonho, the teasing just wouldn’t stop. How they found out, Guan Lin never knew. But the weird thing was, Guan Lin never told anyone— not a single soul— that he liked Seonho, and yet they still managed to find out, even his Dad did.

Was he that obvious?

“Good luck with that, man,” Samuel said after him as Guan Lin grabbed his own bag and made his way out of the room, not bothering to spare the other a second glance more. He easily went straight to the gym rather than to Seonho’s classroom at the next building. Seonho had basketball practice that day, like every other day of the week, and stayed at the gym frequently.

When Guan Lin arrived at the area, a lot of Seonho’s fangirls already were there; it was unnecessarily noisy, even when he was just by the door. But he wasn’t surprised, it happened almost every day. Though it was a big contrast to how much of a nerd Seonho could be when he was with Guan Lin, Seonho was very well known in their school, probably in other schools all across Seoul as well. Since Guan Lin was still new then, he had no clue but as days passed by, he came to understand the reason why. Despite being the youngest regular ever to be included in the team, Seonho was the best player their school had; he was an asset that they could not afford to lose.

The team was doing drills, the usual regime that they go through every single day. Rubber soles would squeak loudly against the polished floor as they ran back and forth across the court in concentration. Seonho’s fans would squeal and holler piercingly whenever the younger made the basket, while Guan Lin would only stare quietly from his seat.

Seonho was really good at basketball; he got his prowess from his Dad who played the sport blissfully during his younger days. That’s how Guan Lin got close to Hongseok, Seonho’s dad, in the first place. Since they lived right next to each other, Seonho would ask Guan Lin to join them and they’d usually play a few games on the weekends. Guan Lin wasn’t as good as Seonho but he could definitely keep up and not lag behind. Hongseok would praise his skills if given the chance, would ask him why he hadn’t joined Seonho’s team with his abilities. Well, he had been considering it for quite some time. Ever since Seonho found out he was good at the sport, the younger kept bugging him to join the team but Guan Lin would turn down his offer every single time. Playing him Seonho was fine, but playing with a whole bunch of other dudes ….. Guan Lin wouldn’t know how team play worked even if it bit him in the . Besides Seonho and his friends, Guan Lin wasn’t good with people.

Another surge of incoherent squeals and very unintelligible babble erupted in the vicinity when Seonho made a rather impressive shot from the 3 point line. The younger smiled in triumph when the ball with in easily, his team mates gave him congratulatory high fives as they went back to their marks. No wonder people adored Seonho. Not only was he a talented player, he was also tall, handsome and had outstanding grades; he was the best in their year. He was perfect, in every sense of the word.

Seonho’s melodious laugh echoed through the air as he joined his team mates and their practice continued on. Then after some time, the coach gathered them up for one more round of instructions before they were dismissed. When Seonho took a step back from their group huddle, he saw Guan Lin’s familiar figure sitting at the nearby bleachers and his face brightened at the sight (or maybe Guan Lin’s eyes were playing tricks on him again).

“Hyung,” Seonho greeted as he jogged towards Guan Lin.

“Took you long enough.” Guan Lin swore he heard the girls beside him holding their breaths as Seonho came near.

“Sorry.” Seonho rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Wanna head on home after this?”

“Why else would I wait for you?”

“Okay … I’ll just head onto the showers and get my stuff.” Seonho smiled. Guan Lin couldn’t help but stare slightly agape. Samuel’s right. I am whipped.

“Hurry up, slow poke.”

“Ya, Seonho-ah! Your lover boy won’t disappear if you leave him there for a second,” Hyunbin, one of their seniors called for him from across the court. “C’mon, we have to hit the showers!”

“Be right back, hyung,” Seonho turned and left but not forgetting to wave his hand.

When Seonho was gone, the girls on his right were giving him weird, creepy and lethal looks. They were mumbling enviously about how lucky he was to be friends with a guy like Seonho.

Yeah right. Guan Lin rolled his eyes in exasperation, took his bag and stood up, then marched to the boys’ locker room to wait for the younger so they could go home.

They headed home in silence, but not until Seonho brought up a small topic they could mutually discuss about. It was mostly Seonho who did the talking though, Guan Lin would just listen. Seonho’s voice was nice; it appeased Guan Lin in some odd way.

Seonho was talking about something, byeongari, Guan Lin did not know what the word meant but Seonho was smiling happily like a child as he talked, his eyes lit up in interest and his body exerted exaggerating and unnecessary hand gestures. The word beautiful crossed his mind as he looked at Seonho.

“Seonho-ah,” Guan Lin suddenly interrupted. “I wanna tell you something.”

“You sound so serious, hyung. You’re making me scared all of a sudden.” Seonho laughed, but it was a nervous chortle, not his usual kind.

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