Chapter 32: Lovesick.

The sun broke through the clouds and there was no sign of Daehyun. Natalie had returned to the apartment and waited impatiently for him, however, after so many hours with no news, she regretted she didn't follow Youngjae to the hospital. She was worried sick about her friend.

    Friend.

    The things Youngjae said got her thinking. She didn't understand, but deep down she did...

    Suddenly the door opened and Natalie turned around to see Daehyun entering with a couple of folders and a small plastic bag. Daehyun was surprised to see her walking around the living, since Youngjae said she was tired, he thought she'd be sleeping, but she was right in front of him and ran to him like a bat out of hell and held his hands tightly in hers.

    “Where were you?!!! I was dying of concern!!! I thought that jerk kidnapped you!!!”

    “I guess that jerk is Youngjae” Daehyun raised his eyebrow “He took me to the hospital”

    “Did he?” she said with suspicion. The chief editor didn’t like her and she wasn't into him either.

    “Yeah, the doctor said I'm fine, my ribs are just swollen, that’s why the pain. But he (Youngjae) insisted I had to do X-rays and blood tests and tons more of stuff to make sure I'm not dying” Daehyun said, purple-faced with embarrassment “He was very dramatic, I never felt so ashamed in my life. The doctors and nurses thought he was the one with a problem”

    “That sounds like he cares for you a lot” she said, surprised. Maybe Youngjae wasn't so jerk after all.

    Daehyun shrugged. He himself was surprised too. Youngjae showed up late to bail his out, but he went with him to the hospital. He stayed with him in the waiting room full of sick people, he stayed with him while the radiologist did the chest x-ray, he never left his side, not even when the nurse drew his blood; Youngjae was scared to see blood and screamed like a little , but never left. And Daehyun was both taken aback and thankful, he never had a friend like that, not even Natalie, that was weird. Of course Natalie visited him whenever he got sick, but she never stayed more than a half hour.

    “Daehyun, I'm really happy you're fine”

    The black-haired man snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Natalie's shaking voice, her hands still in his were also shaking and then he realized she was crying.

    “I'm so sorry you're like this, it's all my fault” she leaned on and buried her face in his chest “Why did you do that?”

    “We're friends” he said with broken voice, the word friends killed him.

    “You really believe that?”

    “Of course, we're friends since forever”

    She straightened up and looked into his eyes.

    “Youngjae told me that you love me”

    “He said what?” Daehyun turned pale and stopped breathing.

    “He didn't say it in those exact words, but he implied it. I'm not stupid as he thinks, I understood perfectly every word...” she said “So do you love me? That’s why you got into a fight with your cousin? Since when you feel like this? All this time you've had feelings for me while I was with somebody else... I've hurt you so much” she said in tears.

    It was the perfect time to be honest, Daehyun thought, he had waited for years to confess his feelings for her, he never imagined he'd confess his love like that, but it was now or never, he finally was going to be free, he finally could tell her how much he loved her... and then he said:

    “I don't know what Youngjae told you, but I don't love you, I mean, I love you as a friend... I don't have feelings for you...”

    “What?” Natalie raised her voice, incredulous. She thought Daehyun was going to confirm her suspicions, she thought Daehyun was going to say I love you as a man, that’d explain a lot about why he started distancing himself from her, why he disliked his cousin so much, why he hated to see her with a boyfriend, why he was so beaten up right now, but he said I love you as a friend, that meant Daehyun only saw her as a friend...

    Really, Natalie wasn't stupid, she knew Daehyun lied, but she didn’t pushed for the truth, because the harsh reality, she didn’t love him back and didn’t want to ruin their friendship because of that. It was selfish, but she didn’t want to lose her friend.

    So she pretended Daehyun was honest.

    “I see. It’s been a long night, I got carried away” she forced a smile “I'll delay my flight and stay with you”

    “You don't have to” Daehyun didn’t want her pity, besides, the atmosphere between them had become awkward after Natalie confronted him about his feelings for her and he denied it.

Natalie went to the airport while Daehyun tried to get some sleep, however it was impossible to do that, he couldn't stop thinking about Youngjae, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he wanted to kill him for sticking his nose in his business. He didn't know what Youngjae said to Natalie but whatever he said to her, he had no right. It was his life, not the editor’s. Who gave Yoo Youngjae the right to say anything?

    Daehyun climbed out the bed, he needed to see Youngjae, he needed to kill him. He was mad at his cousin for cheating on Natalie, but he was madder at Youngjae for confessing on his behalf.

“Yoo Youngjae, open the door!!” Daehyun yelled at the door as he kicked it and knocked it with all his might “I'm going to kill you!!! I'll kill you!!!” he shrieked at the top of his lungs. He didn't care if the neighbors eavesdropped.

    “What are you making a fuss?” Youngjae asked as he opened the door and checked out Daehyun who wore a gray sweatshirt while he himself wore red sleep bottoms and white t-shirt.

    “I'll kill you!!!” Daehyun reached out his hands to grab Youngjae's neck, but the younger reacted quickly and hid behind the door.

    “What did I do?!” Youngjae asked, shocked and freaked out.

    “You told Natalie that I love her!!!”

    “She’s a liar!!! I never said such a thing!!!”

    “Not in those words, I don’t know what you said, but she got the idea and confronted me!!! She asked me if I love her!!!”

    “It's good, isn’t? I guess you took the chance and said yes, I love you”

    “No!!!”

    “Hold on” Youngjae frowned “She asked you if you love her and you said no instead of confessing once and for all? What’s wrong with you?!!!”

    “I wasn’t ready!!!”

    “So many years and you’re not ready? I mean, you need more years or what?”

    “It wasn’t the right time!!! She's still hurt from what my cousin did and I'm like crap, so she’s sorry for me!!! I didn't want to confess to her in this way!!! I don’t want her to love me out of pity or…”

    “It's never the right time” Youngjae rolled his eyes “Why don't you admit you're a coward?”

    “Fine, call me a coward” Daehyun said “My love life isn’t none of your business, you had no right to say anything to her”

    “I just wanted to help”

    “I don't need your help”

    “That's not what happened when you called me” Youngjae said “Remember when you called me from the police station asking me for help?”

    “Thank you very much” Daehyun said, infuriated “But next time I call you, don’t answer, I don’t need you. I was fine before I met you!!!” It was a dirty lie, the elder was better after meeting Youngjae, but he was so mad he wasn’t going to boost his ego.

    “I’ll save you the trouble and I’ll change my number!!!” Youngjae yelled and slammed the door in Daehyun’s face.

    Daehyun opened his eyes wide and dropped his jaw. Why was Youngjae mad at him? The photographer was the one who was supposed to be mad, not the way around!!!