In his next class, Wonpil took his usual place beside Sungjin. He was still a little bit bothered about what had happened in the library earlier. Actually, he was very bothered by it. He was so bothered that he couldn’t even bring himself to look at Sungjin at that moment.

‘Hey, Wonpil,’ Sungjin suddenly spoke, nudging Wonpil.

Wonpil screwed his face into a frown, not responding to Sungjin.

‘Pil, I really wanna show you something funny before the teacher gets here,’ Sungjin continued, disregarding Wonpil’s sour mood.

‘I don’t want to see it,’ Wonpil said, taking out his notebook and looking for his pencil case.

‘You didn’t bring your pencil case today,’ Sungjin reminded, shaking his head before handing Wonpil one of his own.

‘Thanks,’ Wonpil mumbled as he took it.

‘I don’t know why you’re feeling so down, but if you watch this you’ll be happy again,’ Sungjin encouraged with a goofy smile, pulling a video up on his phone.

Wonpil let a small smile appear on his face subconsciously. He couldn’t help it; when Sungjin smiled, he smiled.

‘Okay, I’ll watch,’ he said.

Sungjin played the video of a cat getting scared of a cucumber and jumping really high into the air in fright.

Wonpil couldn’t contain his laughter, throwing his head back and letting it all out.

‘I knew you would like it.’

‘Why was it so scared of a cucumber?’ Wonpil laughed. ‘Is it that scary? Oh my gosh, it’s so cute! I want a cat so I can scare it with cucumbers.’

‘Why don’t I get you one for your birthday?’ Sungjin suggested. ‘We could film cat cucumber videos of it together.’

Wonpil looked at Sungjin in awe.

‘You’d really do that for me?’ he asked. ‘I’m so excited!’

Sungjin was glad Wonpil was back to normal.

‘I wonder what I should name it,’ Wonpil thought out-loud. ‘How about cute-cumber?’

Sungjin shook his head at Wonpil’s name suggestion, seeming to be distracted by something all of a sudden. Wonpil stopped rambling once he realised Sungjin’s distracted staring off into the distance. He automatically knew what was going on; he had seen the same look on Sungjin’s face just a couple of hours before.

Wonpil followed Sungjin’s line of vision, only to see the new student enter the classroom and take a seat beside Jaehyung. Much like before in the library, she looked beautiful. How did she manage to maintain her looks until the last period of the day?

Wonpil looked back to Sungjin, who still had not taken his eyes off of her; he probably hasn’t blinked yet either. A pout formed on Wonpil’s lips as he slumped back into his chair.

Sowon, noticing Sungjin’s staring, gave him an awkward smile and wave. Sungjin waved back, his facial expression unchanged.

Wonpil cleared his throat in a desperate attempt for Sungjin’s attention. However, he went unnoticed. He even tried the oldest trick in the book: dropping his pencil in hopes Sungjin would pick it up for him. Sungjin didn’t even notice.

‘Sungjin, are you a bear?’ he asked, in hopes he would gain the other boy’s attention this time.

Sungjin suddenly snapped out of his trance, looking over to Wonpil with a perplexed facial expression.

‘What am I even supposed to say to that?’ Sungjin said, shaking his head with a small smile on his face. ‘Yeah I’m a bear. Are you happy now?’

Wonpil beamed with happiness. He never realised how much Sungjin’s attention had an effect on him.

‘It makes me more happy than you’d think,’ he said.

Once the bell rang, signalling the end of school, Wonpil hurriedly shoved his notebook into his bag.

‘Let’s go do Karaoke,’ he said to his friend. ‘That’s your favourite.’

Before Sungjin could reply, Jaehyung stopped at their desk on his way out.

‘Hey, bro. My friend Sowon told me you play basketball?’ he asked. ‘I never knew you could shoot hoops.’

‘Well, uh yeah. I used to play basketball in Busan.’

Wonpil bit his lip as he observed the interaction.

‘Uh, aren’t we going to do Karaoke? We should leave now so we can get a good room before it gets too busy.’

‘No way,’ Jaehyung said. ‘You should come to our basketball practice instead. I needa see your skills.’

‘Yeah, of course I would love to come,’ Sungjin said enthusiastically, glancing to his side at Wonpil. ‘Can Wonpil come play too?’

Wonpil didn’t know whether to be annoyed or just thankful that Sungjin hadn’t forgotten about him. He was mostly disappointed.

‘Yeah, for sure! I’ll see you guys on the court.’

Once Jaehyung had left, Sungjin turned to Wonpil.

‘I’m sorry we can’t go to Karaoke,’ he said. ‘But basketball sounds fun, right?’

Wonpil bit his lip, avoiding looking into Sungjin’s eyes.

‘But, you don’t like to play basketball,’ Wonpil said softly.

‘But I haven’t tried basketball; you should always try doing things for the person you have feelings for.’

Wonpil’s heart sank. Wonpil knew Sungjin had instant feelings for Lee Sowon, but hearing him say it out loud made him feel hopeless.

‘I – you should go without me,’ Wonpil uttered. ‘I don’t know how to play basketball anyway.’

‘Are you sure you don’t wanna come? You don’t know whether you’re good or not if you don’t try.’

‘I don’t want to,’ Wonpil confirmed, letting out a sigh.

He couldn’t help feeling this way anymore.

‘How about we go out for ice-cream afterwards? Would you think about coming then?’ Sungjin asked, hoping his best friend would come.

‘Why don’t you go with your girlfriend,’ Wonpil mumbled without thinking.

‘W-Wonpil, what are you talking about?’ Sungjin asked, not understanding why Wonpil had become like this.

Sungjin was growing worried. He hated to see Wonpil upset.

‘N-Nothing,’ Wonpil said, his lip quivering. ‘I think I need to go.’

Wonpil left a confused and worried Sungjin in the hallway.

‘Wonpil, come back!’ Sungjin called out after him.

But it was too late, as Wonpil had already left the building.

As Wonpil stood by the school gate, rubbing his watery eyes, he was considering going back and apologising to Sungjin. He realised how selfish he was being. He should be happy for Sungjin; he should be a good friend, rather than letting jealousy get the better of him.

Once he had wiped away his tears and calmed down a little bit, he headed back into school in the direction of the gymnasium. As he poked his head in through the door, he noticed Sungjin on the basketball caught gazing at Lee Sowon again. This time it seemed like she was gazing back. However, for some reason, Sungjin’s gaze wasn’t the same as before. There was a hint of sadness in it.

Wonpil entered the gymnasium, shifting his gaze from Sungjin to Sowon. It was then that Wonpil realised she wasn’t staring back at Sungjin; she was staring at Brian Kang with a twinkle in her eyes. Wonpil’s heart ached to see Sungjin in pain. He would rather see Sungjin in love with somebody else than to see him upset.