“Wake up, Sleepy Head!” Jinyoung throws a dirty cloth, which was lying on the floor, to Alya, who's still fast asleep on her bed. “Hey! It's almost lunch time.”

The lady groans and moves her head, dipping it deeper on the pillow. She waves a hand, telling her childhood best friend to go away.

Jinyoung's ivory-colored hair falls down as he drops his shoulders. He puffs his cheeks to blow them away from his eyes.

Alya clenches her hand when the bed shifts because of Jinyoung's weight. She shuts her eyes tighter when the young man puts a hand over her shoulder.

“Get up,” Jinyoung demands in a low voice as he shakes his best friend, urging her to start her day, but the latter won't budge.

He calls out her name again and there's no answer. Not even a groan nor a hum. Jinyoung knows there's something wrong.

Did she cry again? He confirms it when he's about to move the wavy hair away from Alya's face but she stuffs her head more to hide her puffy eyes.

It's been three months but she's still hurting so bad. It's been three months since they found out she was being played by the ‘campus prince'.

“What did you say?!” Jinyoung asked, grabbing the girl on the shoulder and made her turn around. He heard her talking about his best friend being so pitiful when they were walking toward the lockers that he immediately gripped the girl before he could lose her.

The lady winced in pain but Jinyoung didn't let go.

“I asked you, what did you say?!” he asked, gritting his teeth. His eyes were widening and Jackson behind him wanted to stop him but the former held the girl's other shoulder, shaking her with both hands, demanding an answer. “What did you say that Arthur did?”

“H-he--” she grimaced “he was just playing with Alya.” She take a gulp and eyed Jackson when Jinyoung still didn't let go. “Ra Hee lost her phone this morning and suddenly a video spread out revealing that Arthur befriended Alya on purpose. To get her heart.”

If Jackson didn't pull Jinyoung, the girl's bones must have been crushed already. She almost fell, knees were wobbling, but her friends caught her.

Jackson mouthed ‘sorry’ to the girl before he dragged Jinyoung out of the building. The latter was mad, fuming, furious. He couldn't think straight. He wanted to introduce his fist to Arthur.

“Jinyoung!” Jackson snapped him back to his senses. “Don't you dare do anything reckless. You're not the type of guy who'd do that.”

“I'm not gonna do anything.”

Jackson stepped in front of him, held both of his shoulders, and looked straight on his eyes. “I know what you're thinking. It's Alya we're talking about so I know how furious you are.” Jinyoung landed him a weary look which made him let out a sigh. “If I was in your position, I'd probably have the urge to kill the guy, too, but there's something more important than landing your fist on his face--someone who's more important. That guy is not worth even a single second.”

The black haired's eyes softened. Alya! Where's Alya?! He dashed to his best friend's classroom but she wasn't there. He went to the library, the cafeteria, the field, the clinic, he ran around all over the campus but not even a shadow of Alya could be found.

It was already starting to get dark. The clouds began to shed tears. He was panting, the side of his abdomen was already hurting, he was almost out of breath, but he continued running, not minding the drizzle.

He went on and on until he finally saw a familiar figure under a clear umbrella, the brown wavy hair, and the white bag with strawberry prints.

He heaved a sigh of relief and finally took an umbrella out--the cry of the sky is starting to get heavier. He marched towards the park as he opened it only to stop on his tracks after three steps.

Someone's in front of Alya. He didn't realize it at first because he only saw his best friend's back. But it wasn't Alya who's holding an umbrella but the Campus Prince before her.

Jinyoung's grip on his umbrella tightened as he saw the brunette stretch her arm to reach Arthur's hand but the guy moved it closer to his chest, resulting Alya's hand to drop. He saw the young man's lips move before he turned his back and left Alya be drenched in the rain.

The first thing that one must do is, obviously, go to your best friend, take her under your umbrella and console her. Or run towards the guy who broke your friend's heart and break his face in exchange. But Jinyoung did neither. He didn't know why. He was just standing on the sidewalk, frozen in place as he watched his best friend letting her tears camouflage with the raindrops.

He didn't know how many more minutes he stood there, watching her from the distance. She was already sitting on one of the swings. Her head cast down.

Jinyoung blinked slowly as his lips parted. Thousand of needles seemed to be pricking his chest and he felt like a bowling ball was thrown at his stomach that it hurt so bad, he wanted to throw up.

He's so used to seeing Alya cry. 79% of the time, he's the reason why. He'd usually do anything just to see tears stream down her face. But seeing her in this moment--heart breaking, tears rolling, alone while it's raining--made him want to protect her. He realized it's not fun seeing her cry at all. And he realized he wants to do anything to see her lips curve to form a smile instead.

It dawned into him that the only reason why he loved teasing her is because he's also the one who'd always restore her smile--make it bigger.

He's not dumb. Even though he just became aware of it, he's not a fool to not know what it is. He's in love with her. He didn't know how or when it started. Or maybe it was always there since the first time he hear her utter his name when she was one and he was two. Or maybe even when they first laid eyes on each other when they still didn't learn how to walk. Maybe she already found the way to his heart since the beginning that he didn't think it was something because it's no different. His feelings for her doesn't seem to change. It doesn't because he's always loved her. 

He took a gulp as he also took in the reality that hit him. He let out a shaky breath as his frozen feet finally moved and sauntered towards the brunette.

Alya looked up when she saw Jinyoung's shoes enter her area of vision. She didn't wipe her tears so Jinyoung wouldn't know she's been crying. She's already drenched anyway. But Jinyoung could distinguish her tears from the rain on her face. She beamed at him but her eyes were empty.

“Are you a fool?” He ruffled her doused hair. “Why are you here getting drenched? Do you wanna get sick?!”

She knew from the moment she met his eyes that he already knew what happened. But him acting like he didn't, for her sake, made her tears roll again. She blinked them away. Her head dropped.

Jinyoung pulled her up by her wrist and wrapped her in his arms. Alya sobbed for almost a minute on his shoulder before pushing him.

“You're getting wet,” she sniffed.

He arched his brows and closed the umbrella. “Then let's just bathe in the rain together.” He took her hand. “Like the old days?”

Alya laughed and hit Jinyoung's chest playfully with her free hand. She was just bawling but she couldn't contain her smile. She nodded and he raised a brow as if challenging her before they ran together, hand in hand, cackling for no particular reason.

The old lady, who's the owner of the shop at the corner of their street, gave them an earful--telling them they're not kids anymore to be playing in the rain like they used to.

“The old days are good,” Alya remarked with a smile as she took her ice cream from the old lady.

She forgot about her heartbreak for a moment and her heart was enveloped with warmth from nostalgia. She smiled to herself as she reminisced those younger days where they would always race to this shop when it's raining and have an ice cream eating contest.

“We can make the new ones better,” Jinyoung tossed his ice cream to his best friend's. 

It's just like the old days but instead, they didn't race. They ran while holding each other's hand. They're not eating their ice cream in a hurry to win either but they're taking their time, grinning at each other.

Jinyoung brushes the back of the brunette before her hair. He's wondering what made her cry again. He his hair up before leaning forward to plant a kiss on Alya's head.

“It will be okay. I promise.”

Jinyoung calls Youngjae--everyone's happy pill--and Mark--the one whom they call a wall for being quiet but Jinyoung finds solace in him. 

He huffs as he slides down his phone in his pocket. No one's answering or replying to his text messages.

He narrows his eyes as his palm hugs the knob of his bedroom door. It's quiet but he knows it's not empty. He now knows why his friends didn't respond. He's pretty sure that Youngjae is already busy playing game on his computer while Mark is fast asleep on his bed. His intuition does not betray him when he opens the door.

“How many times should I tell guys that no pets allowed in my room?” He hisses as he sees Coco, Mark and Youngjae's dog, sleeping on his bed, near Mark's feet.

He lazily drags his feet and slumps on his bed, causing Mark to wake up.

“Where's Alya?” Mark quizzes because Jinyoung was supposed to get Alya and meet up with them for lunch. “I'm hungry.”

He rests the back of his palm on his forehead as he raises a leg. “Let's just order. She's still sleeping.”

From the corner of his eyes, he sees Youngjae lands him a glance. He senses his hesitation.

“What is it, Jae?”

The younger crinkles his nose before pausing his game. He leans on the swivel chair and faces the older.

“Dahyun said they saw Arthur last night.” Jinyoung listens. He doesn't budge. “She said Alya acted fine but was worried that she'd cry if left alone.”

And she was right. When they saw Arthur last night, Alya put up a front--as if what happened three months ago doesn't concern her anymore; as if three months were already enough or even more than enough for her to forget how the so-called prince and most of the students made her feel.

She felt like a trash. Not just the one lying on the ground but the one that's been already thrown away to be broken and then trampled on.

She didn't cry because she still can't move on. She cried because the awful feeling came back. She doesn't have any special feelings left for her ex, not even hate. She just feels terrible for herself.

Alya didn't get enough love when she was young. Her father left them. To be able to fill the void in her heart, she gave love. It's somehow contradicting.

“If I give love, i will be so busy loving people that I won’t have time to hate anyone,” was her defense.

“You can't give something you don't have, though.” Jinyoung retorts. “I mean, people leave and hurt you. They don't give you enough love. How can you give so much?”

“But I have it. I have love. If they don't give enough, so what?” She smiled sweetly. “I feel so overwhelmed with my love for them that I don't feel there's something lacking in my heart.”

Until now, Jinyoung still doesn't understand what she meant fully. But she admires her for that.

Alya is probably one of the most optimistic people Jinyoung has ever known. And except from Mark, she's also the person, among his friends, who doesn't care about what people think.

But seeing how the issue from few months ago affected his best friend, he thinks she must have loved the bastard so much.

“Do something about it already, Nyoung,” Mark mutters sleepily as he takes a pillow to hug and shifts to find a more comfortable position. “You're dragging. You're 17 years late already, that's enough."

Jinyoung doesn't respond. Mark doesn't need to tell him twice. He didn't even need to tell him, he thinks. But deep down, he knows that it's Mark's voice that he needs.

Mark’s words have this kind of power that always make Jinyoung do things he must do. The younger knows what to do most of the time, but like Mark said, he's always dragging. And it's always the older's voice that pushes him to get out of the box and move.

That's why the next morning, Alya is greeted by the aroma of her favorite cocoa a good morning when she walks to their kitchen and finds Jinyoung behind the sink.

Her hair is disheveled. She's still wearing the loose shirt she wore to sleep. She hasn't pulled the neckline up yet, her left shoulder is revealing, that her collarbones greeted Jinyoung ‘good morning’ back in exchange.