You will find love soon.

 

You blink at the small slip of paper in your hands, thinking that out of all the fortune cookie messages you could have received, this had to be the most ironic one.

 

There was no way you’d be finding love anytime soon.

 

Not after boyfriend having just recently mysteriously dumped you with no explanation through a crummy text, no less.

 

Snorting, you crush the paper into your pocket.

 

“What did you get?” Your long-suffering best friend, Seungmin, asks.

 

“Absolute bull,” you reply, grabbing the bucket of popcorn from him and stuffing a large fistful into your mouth.

 

He screeches. “Give that back! I made it myself—,”

 

“Fortune cookies are so stupid. They’re literally never accurate,” you continue ranting, and Seungmin knows that deep down you’re just bitter about the unfortunate chain of events that led to you lying on his couch, sobbing over sappy romcoms and stealing homemade popcorn from him. He’d bought the packet of darned cookies from a bakery, hoping to cheer you up with a good prediction about your fortune, but it seems like it’s got you even more sulky.

 

“It’s been a week of lying around and doing literally nothing. It’s time to get back on your feet, find a new boyfriend. Or just stay single. Simple as that.”

 

You glare at him and he raises his hands in defeat. “Fine. Continue to wallow in self-pity. Rot on my couch. Waste away into oblivion.” Seungmin had never been a very comforting friend—  he was more of the kind who just forced you to get on with life. When you first showed up crying on his doorstep after your breakup, he unsympathetically responded with a “Hmm. Okay. And?”, completely unimpressed. But he did proceed to let you snuggle with him on his couch, hugging you close to him and rewatching Frozen with you, occasionally telling you to just ‘let it go’. You were grateful, since on a normal day Seungmin would literally kick you if you tried to hug him. Definitely not one for skinship, he wasn’t. Though he looked all cute and cuddly on the outside, which was the reason why you wanted to befriend him in the first place when you two first met, he was nothing like it once you got to know him. He was more like the spawn of satan. You felt cheated for sure.

 

But apart from him continually refusing to respond to your constant advances of affection and mocking your inability to function without at least two coffees a day, he’s been a steadfast, reliable friend who hauls your drunk home after parties, tucks you in bed and even comes early the next morning to make hangover soup for you.

 

If you were being completely honest with yourself, you did wonder, more than once, whether Seungmin had feelings for you. But then he makes some stupid remark about your hair looking like a bird’s nest and you brush aside any possibility of him having more-than-platonic feelings for you. Anyway, he often declared that his ideal type was someone who ‘had their together and ain’t a hot mess like you’, so you could confirm that he definitely didn’t see you in a romantic light.

 

“Anyway, you’re gonna need to clear off tonight,” Seungmin says while clearing his throat awkwardly, looking away from you, as though he was hoping you wouldn’t hear him.

 

“Why? The guys coming over?”

 

“Um, no, actually. My chem lab partner Eunji’s coming over tonight to work on a project.”

 

“Shin Eunji?” Your eyebrows furrow slightly. You had never really interacted with her, but you did catch her glaring at you on more than one occasion when she thought you weren’t looking. What you ever did to offend her, you had no idea.

 

“Um. Yeah. That’s her,” Seungmin confirms, disposition reeking with discomfort, and that’s when you notice the tips of his ears glowing bright red.

 

“Why do you look like a five-year-old with a kindergarten crush? Do you like her or something?”

 

Seungmin doesn’t reply with his usual snarky retort, which simply confirms your suspicions.

 

“No way, my little Seungminie has a crush on someone! You haven’t had a crush on someone for like, ever. Now I can tell Minho that you’re taken so he’ll stop asking me to set you up with him.”

 

“I’m not taken. I don’t even know if she likes me,” Seungmin murmurs unconfidently, staring down at his palms.

 

You roll your eyes, grab his face and squish his cheeks in your palms. “Kim Seungmin, you’re smart, you get good grades, you’re not a thirsty hormonal wreck like most of the other guys on campus, and when you’re not being a rude annoying jackass to me, you can be what some girls like to call ‘cute’. What girl wouldn’t want to date you? If she doesn’t like you she must be blind.”

 

“Would you want to date me then?” He asks suddenly, countenance serious.

 

You almost choke on a popcorn kernel. “The heck dude?”

 

“You said that all girls would want to date me. That includes you.”

 

You blink at him, taken aback by how forward he’s being. “T-That’s different. I’m not… well, the day I decide to date you would be the day I’ve gone off my rocker for real. I mean, can you imagine us dating? Absolutely ridiculous,” you say, finishing off with an awkward chuckle, wondering why Seungmin’s being so serious. He’s staring straight at you intensely, clearly not joking.

 

“Okay, then get off my couch,” he says, and you feel relieved that he’s back to being his savage self, but at the same time a teeny bit peeved that he dropped the subject so quickly.  “And get your sports bra off my floor before you leave. I don’t want Eunji to get any ideas.”

 

 

---

 

 

Back at home, you wonder if Seungmin really likes Eunji.

 

Seungmin wasn’t the type to have crushes easily. In fact, it had been so long since he’d last liked someone that you were beginning to think perhaps he was aual.

 

You wonder what’s so special about her. Sure, she was pretty, but so were a ton of other girls on campus. As Seungmin likes to say, “Not everyone had bad luck on the genetic lottery like you.” He was affectionate like that.

 

Though you hated to admit it, you wanted only the best for Seungmin.

 

And though you hated to admit it, you were scared.

 

It’d been so long since he’d expressed interest in someone that you were so used to having him around all the time. You were so used to having him all to yourself, as he didn’t have a girlfriend to commit to, and his friends liked you just as much as they liked him (perhaps even more so) so they didn’t mind you joining their hangouts.

 

But now, perhaps you’d have to start sharing him with someone else who didn’t seem to like you at all.

 

 

---

 

 

Your fears come true.

 

Seungmin starts hanging out with you less and less, and even cancels plans with you. When you ask him if he’s really dating Eunji, he won’t give you a straight answer.

 

It gets so bad to the point that he takes several hours to reply to your texts, and sometimes he doesn’t even reply.

 

At school when you gravitate towards him for your usual lunch dates he says that he’s busy working on some lab project and won’t be able to eat lunch with you anymore. You know it’s bull. Seungmin can’t lie to save his life.

 

He’s surprisingly good at avoiding you. You tried several times to confront him and ask him what the hell is going on but you either can’t find him or he slips away before you can even approach him. A game of chase would seem rather unsightly and inappropriate in the school compound full of watchful, judgemental teenage eyes, and would do nothing for your dignity. So you give up.

 

His friends aren’t any help either. When you ask Felix what is up with Seungmin, he has the audacity to say that Seungmin’s hamster died. Like Seungmin had a hamster. Jeongin bolts every time you try to approach him, and Hyunjin makes up some slippery excuse about Seungmin maybe being a wolf who’s going into heat. You wonder why you bothered asking them in the first place. Though they’ve nothing but nice to you, they were still Seungmin’s friends and ultimately loyal to him.

 

Sighing, you walk back home in darkness of the night. Usually Seungmin would be there to accompany you, chiding you all the way for staying out so late, and warning you never to walk back home alone without him. You’d thought him annoying then, but the sweetness of the gesture begins to sink in and you realize just how much you miss your best friend.

 

“Hey!”

 

You turn around, hoping that it’s Seungmin. Maybe he had come to walk you home after all.

 

But then you catch sight of the person’s face in the darkness.

 

“Wooyoung?”

 

You stand frozen as your ex-boyfriend makes his way towards you, a sheepish yet slightly hopeful smile on his face. You hadn’t forgotten the ruthless way in which he broke up with you, and you give him the most piercing look you can muster. “What. Do. You. Want.”

 

He runs a hand through his hair. “I’ve been thinking about it, and… I realized it’s not fair to you to just suddenly end things with no explanation. I need to tell you why I broke up with you.”

 

“Go on,” you say, trying not to let your curiosity show.

 

“I was cheating on you.”

 

A week ago, this sentence would have turned you into a sobbing wreck. But now it comes more of a surprise than a nasty shock, and you simply lift your eyebrows. “Well, isn’t that nice to hear.”

 

“I-I… I’m really sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was so stupid-- I wasn’t thinking straight. It was only after your friend Seungmin gave me a piece of his mind that I came to my senses--,”
 

You cut him off. “Wait, Seungmin? What does Seungmin have to do with this?”

 

“He told me— well, more like demanded me— to give you a proper explanation as to why I broke up with you. No offence, but I never expected a guy as… scrawny as him to be able to pack such a punch.”

 

Your eyes widen. “He punched you?”

 

“Yeah. Right smack in the jaw, no less.”

 

You can’t believe this new tidbit of information. Seungmin was never the violent type, preferring to solve conflicts through calm reasoning and logical argumentation. He certainly isn’t the type to act on impulse either. You tried to imagine level-headed, mild-mannered Seungmin punching Wooyoung. It just doesn’t click.

 

A new question pops up in your head. “Who were you cheating on me with?”

 

Wooyoung takes a deep breath and averts his gaze from yours. “Again, I’m really sorry, it was a mistake, does it really matter who she was?”

 

“Yes, it does. The least you can do is tell me who the lucky girl was,” you fire back, rolling your eyes.

 

“Fine, fine. It’s Shin Eunji.”
 

Right at that moment you catch sight of a couple coming to sit on a nearby park bench. The boy’s arm is slung over the girl’s shoulder, and she leans in to peck him on the cheek. Wooyoung suddenly gasps and grabs you by the hand to duck behind a nearby branch.

 

“What are you doing?” You angrily demand.

 

“It’s Eunji! Who is she with?” Wooyoung urgently asks.

 

“Wow, it seems like you care about her a lot—,”

 

“No, I don’t care about her, but look. Isn’t that Seungmin?” His voice has dropped to a low whisper.

 

You squint, cursing your myopia. Yet his silhouette is unmistakable.

 

A jolt shocks through your heart. It is Seungmin. That familiar crown of chocolate brown hair, the watch on his wrist that you gave him for his seventeenth birthday. He never went anywhere without it.

 

Feeling your vision go blurry with tears, you stand up and Wooyoung grabs your hand roughly, jerking you back down. The rustle of the bushes causes Seungmin to turn his head to check what all the commotion is about.

 

He sees you standing right there, Wooyoung next to you. He sees your cloudy eyes, the way your shoulders begin to shake every time you’re about to cry.

 

He sees you run off into the night, Wooyoung calling after you.

 

He sees it all, and it crushes him.

 

 

---

 

 

Unfortunately, you do turn into a sobbing wreck after all.

 

You can’t figure out which is worse; discovering that your ex cheated on you with the girl your best friend is currently dating, or your best friend acting all heroic by punching your ex and then proceeding to hit it up with the very girl your ex cheated with. Maybe it’s a little bit of everything.

 

If Seungmin saw the mess you were in now, he would shake his head, call you a lazy slob, and set to work cooking you a decent meal.

 

Except that Seungmin isn’t here anymore. He’s not here to nag you, chide you, force you back on your feet. He has someone else to do all that for now.

 

As if the universe thinks that these blows aren’t enough, the doorbell rings, the harsh, jarring sound startling you from your hazy daze of confusion and self-pity. You curse whoever’s at the door, grab a baseball bat just in case it’s Wooyoung, and drag yourself out of bed.

 

You open the door, revealing a distressed-looking Hyunjin. But he isn’t alone.

 

Your heart contracts when you see Seungmin under his arm, eyes half-lidded, clearly unable to stand, reeking badly of alcohol.

 

“What the— is he drunk?” You almost laugh at the sight of an inebriated Seungmin— studious, diligent Seungmin who prided himself on the fact that he doesn’t drink at gatherings and goes to bed at exactly 10pm— drunk. Knocked out completely.

 

“Yeah,” Hyunjin says. “Sorry about this. We would have dropped him off at home but he wouldn’t stop calling for you. He threatened to throw up in Chan’s car if we drove him home. Naturally, Chan had a fit and detoured right back here. Says that if you’ll be a dear and take him in for the night he’ll do whatever you ask. Sorry. You know how Chan gets about his car.” Then Hyunjin lifts his eyebrows, shrugs and looks at Seungmin in a way that seems to say, And anyway Seungmin’s your best friend. So you get full responsibility of taking care of his drunk .

 

You sigh in resignation and Hyunjin takes that a his cue to hand Seungmin over to you. You grab Seungmin by the arms and gently sit him down on the ground while saying goodbye to Hyunjin.

 

After all, Seungmin did take care of you while you were drunk, when you two were still best friends. You owe it to him to do the same for him at least once, even if he hasn’t been a good best friend lately.

 

You drag him to the couch, taking off his socks and helping him lie down. There’s no way you’d help him wash up or whatever, so you just grab a nearby blanket and place it over him. Then you get up, ready to retire to your room.

 

But then you hear a sleepy voice calling your name.

 

“Don’t go,” Seungmin says with a drunken slur, his hand creeping up to tug at the bottom of your shirt. He looks like he’s having a lot of trouble staying awake.

 

“You should sleep,” you say flatly, yet making no move to leave. This was the first time Seungmin had called for you in weeks. Not to mention that the way he’s clinging onto you, lips pouty and eyes half-opened like a downcast puppy, makes you want to gather him up in your arms and shower him with cuddles.

 

“Sleep with me,” he says, holding out his arms like a child begging for a hug. Your heart melts, relishing the sight of a drunk, clingy Seungmin. If you weren’t aching with the prospect of his betrayal, you would have given in immediately.

 

“No. Go to sleep, Seungmin,” you say firmly.

 

He pouts. “Are you angry with me?”

 

You sigh, having neither the mood nor the energy for confrontation now. “We can talk tomorrow morning, Seungmin. Just go to sleep.”

 

Suddenly, Seungmin grabs your wrist and yanks you down so that you’re lying on top of him on the sofa. He then moves so that you’re nestled by his side, before proceeding to wrap his arms around your waist and bury his face in your hair.

 

“Hmm… I missed you so much,” Seungmin says, and you can’t help but note that the lazy slur is gone from his voice. You mumble into his chest, “Are you really drunk?”

 

He simply pulls you closer in response, as if afraid that you’ll leave if he says that he isn’t drunk. “I don’t know, am I?”

 

“Well, I mean, you’re hugging me right now. I’d say that’s a definite sign of intoxication, considering how you always threaten to kick me if I hug you. But you’re not slurring anymore, which is weird—,”

 

“Stop rambling. It’s cute, but stop.”

 

“If it’s cute, then why should I stop? And who are you tell me what—,”

 

“If you keep on being so cute I might kiss you.”
 

You stop talking then, as the weight of his words dawn on you.

 

Kim Seungmin just threatened to kiss you.

 

“Do you not want me to kiss you that badly?” Seungmin asks quietly.

 

You look up at him then, only to see him staring down at you with a ferocity that wouldn’t have been possible with inebriation. Kim Seungmin, the cunning trickster. He never was drunk.

 

“Seungmin… what is going on?”

 

Seungmin sighs and runs a hand through your hair, his other hand caressing your cheek softly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

 

“Done what?”

 

“Fallen in love with you.”

 

You don’t know what to say. You don’t know how to feel. His confession doesn’t fill you with the heart-fluttering excitement you’d anticipated, but instead dark moths of confusion flit around in the pit of your stomach.

 

“But you’re dating Shin Eunji. The same girl my ex cheated on me with. You can’t just betray me like that and then say you’ve fallen in love with me, Kim Seungmin. It’s not fair. It doesn’t make sense.”

 

“I broke up with her. I never liked her,” Seungmin says softly, “I only dated her to try and get her off Wooyoung’s back. Then maybe… maybe he’d go back to you and you’d be happy again,” Seungmin says uncertainly, as if finally realizing the stupidity of his actions.

 

You can’t believe your ears. You don’t know whether you should chastise Seungmin for his idiocy or feel touched that he’d sacrificed his happiness for yours. You sit up on the couch and he does the same.

 

“I know you wouldn’t be happy with me. So what if I liked you? You’d never like me back.”
 

“How would you know?”

 

“Would you want to date me then?” He asks suddenly, countenance serious.

 

You almost choke on a popcorn kernel. “The heck dude?”

 

“You said that all girls would want to date me. That includes you.”

 

You blink at him, taken aback by how forward he’s being. “T-That’s different. I’m not… well, the day I decide to date you would be the day I’ve gone off my rocker for real. I mean, can you imagine us dating? Absolutely ridiculous,” you say, finishing off with an awkward chuckle, wondering why Seungmin’s being so serious. He’s staring straight at you intensely, clearly not joking.

 

“God, Seungmin, how was I supposed to know that you liked me? You kept saying I was miles away from your ideal type!”

 

“So you like me then?”

 

“I don’t know, all I know is that I never thought you could be so incredibly stupid— for god’s sake, Seungmin, if you liked me you could have just said it and saved us all of this bull—,”

 

That is when Seungmin kisses you, and he tastes of beer and hesitance, he tastes bittersweet. He pulls away quickly, and it shuts you up completely.

 

“I said I’d kiss you if you continued rambling.”

 

But when he sees how stunned you are, the flush in your cheeks and the shock in your eyes, guilt settles within him. “, that was a mistake, I’m so sorry—,”

 

“K-Kiss me again.”

 

“What?”

 

“It wasn’t a mistake. Kiss me again.”

 

Something changes in Seungmin’s eyes. Swallowing the rest of his inhibitions down his throat, he places a careful hand on the back of your neck, drawing you closer to him. Angling his head slightly, he gently presses his lips to yours for only a few seconds, yet those few seconds stretch out into what feels like an eternity to you. This time, the only thing you notice are that his lips are soft and warm, and you feel a certain sweetness erupting within your taste buds.

 

Then he pulls away, his hot breath hitting your lips.

 

“So I heard you punched Wooyoung.”

Seungmin groans. “Why did you have to ruin the moment?”

 

“Thank you. For standing up for me,” you say sincerely, leaning forward to give him a peck on the lips, before continuing, “Maybe fortune cookies aren’t absolute bull after all.”

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing. I said you’re an idiot. And I’ve finally gone off my rocker. Now go to sleep.”

 

Seungmin happily hugs you close to him, his eyes fluttering shut, relishing the feeling of having you by his side. He’d tried to reject skinship from you for the longest time, thinking that maybe it would help him forget his feelings for you, but it merely fuelled his longing to hold you in his arms. You snuggle closer to him, burying your face in his chest as you bask in his tender warmth.

It’s the fortune cookie, he thinks to himself, drifting off to sleep as he holds you tightly in his arms, heart full with the knowledge that his feelings are finally being reciprocated.