Baekhyun never hid anything from Hyun-Seok. He did not hide his love for Shinsoo, neither did he hide his new friendship with Jongin.

Hyun-Seok didn't make any comment about that new friendship, at the beginning.

Baekhyun talked about Jongin a lot. He wasn't aware of it. He really liked Jongin. They didn't have much in common, to be honest. But they had fun, and Baekhyun could talk to him about anything.

Jongdae would tell him, years later, that he was constantly talking about Jongin at the time. 

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Hyun-Seok wasn't one to let people say something about him without doing anything. He was impulsive, and he knew how to use his fists. They were already in their second year of high school, and most people stopped talking about him. Jongdae's new friend transfered, and Jongdae was back at Baekhyun's side. Their first year nightmare was over, for the most part. Still, a guy from another class wouldn't stop making fun of Hyun-Seok.

It wasn't even surprising, Baekhyun thought, when, in the middle of the line to the cafeteria, Hyun-Seok grabbed his collar and try to punch him. Jongdae wasn't a big guy, so the only thing he could do was hitting Hyun-Seok with his tray to make him stop. Baekhyun, him, was pulling on his shirt, trying to grab his arms and to free the other guy. Sure, he couldn't stand the guy, but still, he wasn't going to let Hyun-Seok beat someone up. 

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Hyun-Seok wasn't one to let people say something about him. He wasn't one to let people walk on him. And he certainly wasn't one to keep his feelings, or anything else, for himself.

If Baekhyun had one thing to say about Hyun-seok, he knew exactly what it would be. 

Don't get him wrong, he loved Hyun-Seok, but sometimes his best friend was just too much. 

In his words. In his acts. 

Sometimes, during PE, Jongdae, Hyun-Seok and Baekhyun would hide somewhere behind the gym, and Hyun-Seok would talk about his life for the entire hour. It was awkward for Baekhyun, as much as it was awkward for Jongdae. They didn't exactly want to know what their friend did in the shower to please himself. Nor did they wanna know what he did with his girlfriend. Baekhyun didn't feel comfortable enough to hear about it, but he never said anything to Hyun-Seok, because he knew best friend were supposed to talk about this kind of things, and he wanted to be a good best friend. 

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Hyun-Seok wasn't one to hide his feelings, so it came as a shock for Baehyun when his best friend sent him a message on Facebook, to talk about Jongin. 

It wasn't a short message either. It honestly felt like an almost-break-up letter to Baekhyun. Some lines made him feel like they actually were in a romantic relationship, and Hyun-Seok was jealous. He could understand, that Hyun-Seok would feel jealous over him having friends that close, but he didn't understand why Hyun-Seok would act like that. Because the line " Now, you have to choose. It's either Jongin, or I. " didn't feel like a proper reaction to the situation at hands. 

He didn't really know how to react. Hyun-Seok never once told anything about his feelings towards Jongin. Baekhyun had no idea. But he answered anyway. Trying to comfort him, and assured him Jongin was a friend, but no one was ever gonna replace Hyun-Seok. 

It seemed to do the trick, for a few months.

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Their friendship was really important to Baekhyun, so he never once said or did anything that could hurt Hyun-Seok. 

Hyun-seok, on the other hand, did laugh at one of the insult that a guy from their class threw towards Baekhyun. 

That " Move your fat , cow " hit Baekhyun straight in his chest, even though he acted like it didn't affect him. 

He also thought that, maybe, Hyun-Seok wasn't laughing at him. Maybe it was something else. Maybe Baekhyun had missed a joke from Jongdae. 

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Baekhyun was used to being alone on Valentine's Day. It never really affected him because he thought it was a day like any other. He didn't know what his girlfriend thought about that day, and he didn't ask. They were together for less than a week, he didn't want to seem clingy. He realized he was more cliché than he thought when, 3 days into his relationship with Shinsoo, upon seeing the " Happy Valentine's Day " she sent him, his heart started to beat faster. 

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Shinsoo had a lot of friends. A lot of guy friends. It wasn't new to Baekhyun. He was aware of it since the very beginning of their friendship. Still, it didn't change the fact that one of those guys, Jisung, was really, really too present in Shinsoo's life in Baekhyun's opinion. Posting on her Facebook wall almost every two hours, and tagging her in pictures that were supposed to be funny (maybe Baekhyun would have thought they were funny if he wasn't so jealous). 

Baekhyun kind of hated the guy. He did. Really. Badly. But he wasn't going to say anything to Shinsoo. He wasn't going to let the jealousy win, and tell her about the way he felt. They were together for a week. Baekhyun wasn't stupid. He knew what he would look like. He could handle it. He did it for months before that. 

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Baekhyun loved Shinsoo. He really did. And everyone around him seemed to be happy for him as well.

Baekhyun had a hard time telling Mama that he had a girlfriend, but she smiled and told him that she kind of knew something was up because he had changed. He was taking care of his skin, cleaning up his room, brushing his hair properly on his days off. She had a positive effect on him.

Baekhyun never told Baekbeom because, really, how awkward would that be ?

One day, in the middle of a lesson, Mee Na tapped him on the arm. Baekhyun wouldn't sit behind her to play with her hair anymore. It's not that it bothered him, but he didn't think Shinsoo would like to know that he was doing that with another girl, when they couldn't even see each other for real, and only through low quality cameras. He turned around to look at her and before he could ask anything, she started.

" Who's the girl on Facebook who tagged you on one of her picture ? "

Baekhyun supposed Mee Na was curious. It was normal between friends.

" You mean Shinsoo ? "

Mee Na nodded.

" Is it true she's your girlfriend ? "

Baekhyun smiled with all his teeth. He liked hearing the word. He wasn't use to it, but it made him happy.

" Yes, she is. "

" I see. "

Mee Na didn't say more than that. Just looked at him for a few more seconds before looking down at her notebook.

Baekhyun never talked about Shinsoo with Mee Na again, because it seemed like Mee Na always changed the subject when it came to her.

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Baekhyun loved Shinsoo, and he never thought the downfall would be that hard. 

He never thought it would so painful, when a day before their first month anniversary, she told him she didn't actually love him like that. He didn't thought she could break his heart so easily, without any notice, any sign, anything. He never thought the words " I'm sorry " could be that hurtful. 

Honestly, Baekhyun felt like the past month was just a dream. Now he was back in the nightmare that was his life. 

Baekhyun never thought he could feel so numb again. So empty again.

Baekhyun just said okay.

Baekhyun lost his girlfriend.

But Shinsoo was his best friend, and he didn't lose her. 

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Baekhyun felt like his entire world was crumbling down, but it was only Shinsoo, dragging him at the bottom of the pit everyday a little bit more. Maybe being friends wasn't a good idea. Maybe the pain Baekhyun felt was the reason people did not stay friend with their exes. Because seeing her going on with her life like nothing happened was actually killing Baekhyun. Just not as much as when, two days after their break up, she told him she was dating Jisung. Baekhyun felt stupid. He felt like an idiot, because he knew. From the very beginning. He knew he couldn't trust Jisung, and he knew he should have said something. But he never did.

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It took a long time for Baekhyun to fully understand that even though Shinsoo never really loved him like he did, it didn't mean she did not love him at all. Things weren't all black or all white. Truth was, Shinsoo probably never saw him as boyfriend material. Not that Baekhyun would know, because she never explained to him. 

She didn't explain either, why suddenly, 3 months after they broke up, she deleted her Facebook account. Nor why she deleted her blog, her MSN Messenger account, and never answered any of Baekhyun's message, ever again.

And just like that, Baekhyun had lost his best friend.