Summer sun shines into the classroom.
Warm air wrapped around Vernon's classmates...which was no surprise when their History teacher starts facing a group of restless and distracted high schoolers.

Vernon could tell his teacher wasn't happy with the sun prickling right at her middle aged face. A few drops of sweat trickled down, but she kept her focus on teaching.

It takes effort to persevere under unfavorable conditions.

Was what Vernon thought.

If a person is willing to take that effort despite all his classmate's ratchet, even if he would be the only one listening to her class, he would sit upright and dilligently take notes. Afterall, it's a form of respect.

*Tik*

Something hit the back of his head.

It was light and abrupt so Vernon could feel it was a small crushed paper.
It was the first time in his 3 years in high school something like this came flying to him, regardless of the skillful headshot. 

The teacher's back was full on facing the class, so Vernon has to give credit to whoever threw this when he is sitting in the front row, near the teacher.

Vernon turns behind and quickly darted his eyes around. Some students looked back at him with wonder. Hardly any person sitting in front would turn their heads back, everyone in the back seats would look at you curiously, and that was exactly what Vernon was facing.

Unfortunately, none of them looked suspicious enough to be culprits. His friend, Kim Min Gyu seem to be asleep, while other possible culprits, were perhaps just acting like the class was actually interesting, or matter of fact, pretending it wasn't them. Maybe this crushed paper was meant to aim at someone else?

He turns back to the teacher who is still writing a long paragraph of notes on the board with her monotonic voice. 

Vernon takes the crushed paper that fell to his seat. His deskmate, one of the infamous gossip girls, notices his fumblings and slid her eyes for a glance but Vernon caught her, and the latter simply smiled gleefully and continued her kakao talk conversation under her table.

Ink traces were visible before he unwraps the paper to reveal a bunch of messages in messy handwriting that starts from:
 

I think Vernon likes me.

Why are you being so shameless? And what do you mean he likes you?
Kakaotalk me!

 

Just as his teacher turned around, Vernon swiftly slid it under his book, pretending he was listening.

What the...?
Since when did he like someone?

There isn't a single girl in school he even has any feelings of sorts?
His sharp younger sister never mentioned anything about him with romance?
Who is so confident about himself out of nowhere?

Class was suddenly not priority now.

He waits for another chance his teacher would turn around to take out the paper to read again, crouching his chest, almost hugging the table to look. He did not want his deskmate to see anything on it.

Gone was the supposed 'respect for the teacher'. But there are always exceptions in life.

He could feel his own back the joke of the culprits but he didn't want to misintepret the message he had only read a little and who knows, he might read out who the culprits are anyway.
 

The note continues:

I got a love letter!
​​​​I was late this morning and it got confiscated for this period.

I'm not trying to laugh, I'm just holding my pee.
Poor thing.

You can just let it out once I let you see it.

Go see a doctor, there's no way Vernon would write a love letter to you.

There's no way I'm believing the signature either.

Don't believe it. If it writes Vernon, it's definitely someone else's prank.

I seriously think Vernon likes me.

Were you late because you forgot to take your delusional pills? I'm throwing this to Vernon.

 

Vernon feels a shadow hovering beside him trying to look at what's written on the paper before he rushes to shove it under his book again. His deskmate frowned and Vernon shook his head. Nothing big here.

He is not risking this message 'I seriously think Vernon likes me' to be seen by this deskmate. It will be a troublesome misunderstanding and his existence as the quiet and boring guy in class who's always on headphones, now having a crush on someone, is going to make him reputably gain some unecessary attention.

The girl didn't pester longer but kept her gaze on the book the note is hidden under. Vernon breathed through the class in utter discontent that his curiosity could not be answered for the next 45minutes of History lesson and he has to deal with his deskmate's antics. 

Though, he is now sure it was a conversation between Jeon Won Woo and Boo Seung Kwan's handwriting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This joke isn't funny." Won Woo glared at Vernon among the clique at lunch.

5 students joined their tables with their lunchboxes encircled around.

Vernon frowns and casts a really disturbed look at him, his lunch untouched until he clears this up.

Vernon isn't that close to Won Woo, they have been in the same class for 2 years but it didn't generate a close friendship, though neither was it that distant.
If anything, they were more like relatives of your age you interact with because of festive reasons. While together, they had endless ideas for fun, while apart, they had endless reasons to forget the other person's existence.

So Won Woo and Vernon is just close classmates. Nothing to promote from 'classmate', nothing too far from each other.

"Why would you think I'd write a love letter to you as a prank?" Vernon clips the note slip between his fingers in disarray.

The rest of the 3: Seung Kwan, Jeong Han and Jun - a Chinese, looked at Vernon's defense speech, trying to judge if he was speaking the truth, or not.

"See, I told you it's not Vernon!" Seung Kwan bursted. "Look at this handsome face, and your...a little less handsome face. Don't you think he would like someone better?" He wrapped his arm across Vernon's shoulder and scolded Won Woo.

Won Woo shot Seung Kwan a very displeased look.

Jun held his laughter then reached for the slip of crushed paper in Vernon's fingers, opening up with Jeong Han to see the message.

"Where's the love letter?" Vernon asked.

Won Woo doesn't hesitates and immediately takes it out from under his book.

"You will understand why Won Woo keeps saying it's you." Jeong Han added, looking away from the handwritten conversation slip.

Jun bounced his eyes towards the love letter in Won Woo's hand, placed in a pink envelope, sealed with a red heart sticker. Won Woo flips the envelope up and takes out the pink colored paper. A name written just right below.

"Choi...Seung...?" Jun stopped, trying to process what the last word reads and after he got it in his head before looking up at Won Woo, then at Vernon.
A confused look gazed back at Won Woo. Clearly, the signature of the love letter is nothing related to 'Vernon'.

Seeing Jun's confused expression, Vernon takes the pink love letter from Won Woo to find out.

"My dearest Won Woo,

It took me 5 months, 10 days and 16 hours to finally gather my courage to pen this down on paper for you. The day I saw you for the first time, our eyes met in dazzling snow. The whites were perfectly clearing away for the pinks of Spring and the moment I set eyes on you, oh your beautiful hair rustled against the breeze as if telling me that my quiet and clear heart is painted with color again.

The mechanics of my heart has started to beat, knowing how it feels to be alive as I wake up thinking about you every day. My mind is full of you, the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you laugh, the way you run your fingers through your hair when you get complimented by your friends, I really love everything about you. I admire the girls you cast your gaze upon, they delight me with so much expectation to be just like them...

Ah, I'm sorry for bothering you with so much emotions, I'm very excited to pass this letter to you so I may have overwritten but please trust that my feelings for you will be as strong as a siccamore, sprouting ever so high, I wish I could bring you to heaven. But, believe me that I have so much more to tell you.

All I want to say is, my dearest dear Won Woo.

Can we be official?

Love,
Choi Seung Dae" Vernon read out. He understood Jun's expression now.

And he could agree with Seung Kwan's handwriting, that Won Woo is indeed delusional, but he understands why Won Woo pointed at him instead. He is experiencing denial.

"Don't tell me you guys weren't thinking what I initially thought." Jeong Han blurted. "You did too right?" He looked at Jun who nodded and takes a glance at the pink love letter.

"Our Choi Seung Cheol wouldn't write this kind of thing, he would use the pen and chop his fingers, bleed himself to death than write something like this." Seung Kwan busted his retaliation on the mere idea he actually experienced after seeing the signature in the note for the first time.

Jeong Han and Vernon chuckled at the imagination that Seung Cheol, the high and mighty school president would write letters set in this kind of tone. It was as good as disgusting and as far as horrifiying movies are.

"Still, he actually wrote a lovely poetry!'" Jeong Han added in amusement. "'His love for you is definitely worth the heaven's metaphors."

"Especially the way you run your fingers through your hair." Seung Kwan joked in a fake sweet tone, blinking at Won Woo, reaching for the love letter. "I want to see it again." 

The clique burst into an explosion of laughters by making fun of the letter that the rest of their classmates had to turn their eyes to find out what that group of fishes are flabbing their fins for. Every one of the fishes. Except one, with a straight face.

"If it's not you..." Won Woo, the only dead goldfish eyes, breaks the laughters into a cold and tense atmosphere forcing his voice deep.
He wasn't taking this one bit lightly ever since knowing it wasn't Vernon, his denial stage was broken.

Vernon pulls a dull face, why would he play pranks as far to write a fake love letter to Won Woo. It was a good idea but quite sickening to actually pen it down.
"It clearly says here, Choi Seung Dae." He loudly proclaims the fact. Still, he understands. Won Woo is the kind of person who doesn't believe in anything too far fetched, he is as far as Vernon knows, a realistic person, so something like a love letter written to him by someone he isn't even close to in school, it might have felt too much of a joke than a real situation happening to him.

The rest of the clique stopped their laughter that had ran into havoc hyena screeches. More distinct than the gossip queens in school.

"Then, it's really...him?" Won Woo turned to the classroom window facing the corridor.

The clique turns to face the said letter person, he met Won Woo's eyes.

A skinny and tall guy, with braces and his distinct hunchback stood still outside the classroom, smiling through the window panes at him.

Vernon wasn't one to judge a person's looks. This guy is just too thin, but with the right amount of carbohydrates and maybe after taking off his braces, truthfully, he might look decent. A cool man with a really strong demeneor kind of vibe. But if looks aside, and taking in how personality can change a person's appearance drastically, he deems Seung Dae out of calculations before concluding that it's sunk to as simple as a 'creep next door'.

The clique gulps, and Vernon really knows why Won Woo prefers to believe Vernon is the one playing a prank on him.

"Sorry, but who is Seung Dae?" Jun darts his eyes around the corridor, obviously looking at anyone but the correct person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It all seemed like a laughable joke at first. Who would've guessed that Won Woo would be popular to the point that one of the guys actually gave him a love letter.
Though Vernon was wrongly accused at first, at least it was properly cleared, for his part that is.

However, though creepy and worrisom. Vernon did not follow up with that clique thereafter.
To put in perspective, he didn't actually felt any sort of discontent towards Seung Dae, afterall, it was just appearance speaking to him, he shouldn't be too judgemental. But he started to notice how sometimes in the middle of lessons, Seung Dae would float around outside their classroom, ignoring his surroundings but Won Woo only. To which, the target is ignorant about, since he's also a hardworking guy in class. But it only planted a paranoia seed in Won Woo each time their teachers noticed Seung Dae outside their classroom and tells him off.

Needless to say, Seung Kwan, Jeong Han and Jun each had their fair share of stories about this guy and his serious feelings for Won Woo:

Like how Seung Kwan noted that a few times they walked home together, Seung Dae had been following them, but as soon as Seung Kwan turns to confront him, the guy runs and hide away, only to appear again after Seung Kwan gave up shouting at him to come out.

Jeong Han's side was when he had to pass books over to Seung Cheol, who is in the same class as that guy, stumbled upon the latter's desk and sees piles of Won Woo's photos tucked in between the pages of his books.

Jun, who had switched phone numbers with Won Woo because of some issues, gets text messages from Seung Dae, pestering for Won Woo's answer in streaks of every 1 to 2 hour intervals. They sounded anxious and desperate as each minute ticks.

But things started to go off hand when Jun received a message:

Meet me at the rooftop 4pm today alone. If you don't, I will jump.

 

This shrivelled up the group for immediate emergency discussion again for the case that had worn Jeon Won Woo down in distress. Seung Kwan reports it to Vernon since he was, technically a part of it.

"He's going to heaven alone." Jeong Han blurted. "You aren't going are you?" He darts a death glare at Won Woo.

"Can I not? He's using death threats now." Won Woo rubbed his head in irritation. "If he actually jumps, it will be my fault."

Jun pats Won Woo's back while Seung Kwan decides his choice. "He's weird and all, but you are a guy, he's also a guy, what could happen?"

"A homo bringing his crush to heaven through a siccamore tree ride." Vernon bluntly replied, earning Seung Kwan smashing his shoes underneath the table. Vernon frowned at him as he rubbed his legs, but Jeong Han gave him a thumbs up for his comment. He just had to remember that detail in the love letter because he could not understand how that kind of metaphor could have come out from his brain for Won Woo to think he wrote it...even though Won Woo was in denial.

By Vernon's remarks, Won Woo's face fell. "I don't want to see him."

"Someone's life is on the line, I don't want you to be scarred with anything if that gay guy decides to actually do it." Seung Kwan explained. "We'll hide somewhere in case he actually does anything."

"Sorry, I have piano lesson later." Jun exclaimed. His Chinese parents and 'their son should have a million skills' mindset.

"Finally just got scheduled after 2 months for my part-time job, cuz of our exams." Jeong Han raised his hands.

Come to think of it, Vernon himself isn't going to be free later. "My little sister has a dance recital this evening."

"Some friends you three are!" Seung Kwan shouted.

"That's why you shouldn't meet him." Jeong Han said. "He could paint his color with the snow angels for all he wants, but you shouldn't meet a creepy gay like him. You were never close to him so his death shouldn't affect you." He then turns to Seung Kwan, "And don't tell me your mom didn't specifically ask you to get the huge discounted salmon today."

"Ah! I forgot!" Seung Kwan smacked his head lightly. "But still! Don't listen to Jeong Han, you should go and see him. If anything happens, just give us a call. And Jeong Han, you shouldn't take a life so lightly."

Jeong Han shrugged. He isn't the target, it's easy to not feel what Won Woo is feeling, so he can only do the logical things. Nobody could accompany Won Woo and it's just not a great idea to meet Seung Dae at the rooftop alone.

Won Woo slams his head on the table. Weighing between what Seung Kwan and Jeong Han debated. To go, or not to go.
He turns to the last two person, Jun and Vernon, waiting for an opinion between them:

Jun gave the conventional answer, don't risk it without his friends by his side.
Afterall, when he finally knew who Seung Dae is, and receiving so much messages that disturbed him in the middle of the night, he's still recovering from that minor trauma. If he could send a suicide message to Won Woo, he seems capable of doing more horrible things. Especially when Won Woo's going to meet him alone.

Vernon, on the hand, throws in his vote in the same box as Seung Kwan.
Mainly for the sake of resolution between Won Woo and that gay guy next door. Instead of turning a blind eye like Won Woo had been doing now, things should finally conclude and end, otherwise Won Woo wouldn't go through school life as peaceful as he wants. It's better to resolute earlier than later, when everything might become complicated and harder to resolve.

In the end, Won Woo makes a decision that Vernon doesn't know, which costs no follow up for another 3 weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn't that Vernon did not check on him. Exam results deterred him from concentrating on anything else other than studying harder. He thought he did well, but most of his scores weren't up to his satisfaction. Emotionally, he wasn't happy.

"I don't know why you have the cheek to be unhappy about your results each time. You have European blood running in you, I thought you won't be the 'A' goaler." Min Gyu, Vernon's childhood friend commented. 

"If you know you could do better but did not, won't you feel disappointed?"

"As long as I pass, I'm more than happy."

"That's why you don't do well."

Min Gyu shrugged. "Life isn't about exams and scoring A's. I'm just embracing free time."

Vernon goes back to his History paper which did the best out of all the subjects, and apparently the whole class is amazed that anybody could score that high for History in their monotonic History teacher's class.

Talk about History, Vernon just remembered Won Woo and Seung Dae's case exists.

"Hey, Won Woo's in some trouble previously." Vernon uttered to Min Gyu. "Happened during the period when you ate lunch with your club members." He just wanted to share since Won Woo and Min Gyu are somehow close...since they often got paired up, by fate or something, thought he should know something about it.

Min Gyu is in the Music Composing club with some of the closest members like Woozi, Seok Min, and Lee Chan. Basically, they are a group of music enthusiasts who composes songs and sends them for national competition. It's one of the more reputable clubs in their school as achievement tropheys lined up their club room.

Min Gyu raised his eyebrows. "There's something I want to tell you about him too. But you can go on first."

Vernon studied Min Gyu, that's a surprise.
As much as Vernon himself isn't a permanent resident of Won Woo's clique with Seung Kwan, Jeong Han and Jun, Min Gyu isn't either, so one of those 4, inbcluding Won Woo, would not have told Min Gyu about it. There's a shared unspoken agreement what happens in the clique, stays in the clique, unless it involves others, for example, Vernon.

So what does Min Gyu actually even have to say about it? Does he also know about Won Woo and Seung Dae's case? Won Woo told him?

"Why don't you tell me your side's about Won Woo first?" Vernon decide to fill his curiosity as priority.

Because it was then, that he remembered the interactions between Min Gyu and Won Woo, seem to gave away something he never fully realised.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things in school was getting not so boring. He wore his headphones without music in secret desire to hear more rumors that might spark around.

What Min Gyu had told him about Won Woo made Vernon sees this whole saga in a comepletely new light. As if Won Woo being liked by a guy next door was not enough, it suddenly got fuelled an evolution to this whole case.

"A few more minutes."

But first, he managed to spend a pair time with Jun. At least the quieter and more honest person in Won Woo's clique. He needs to understand the updates first.

By fate or something, Won Woo gets paired with Min Gyu. Even if the latter is his longest knowing friend, Vernon dismisses the thoughts of even pairing with him. Ever since Min Gyu is in the same class as Won Woo, he had always wound up choosing to pair with Won Woo instead.

And this time Vernon is completely accepting of it, for a reason. Deep down, Vernon had always felt salty about not pairing with a friend he's supposed to be close to, but after hearing what Min Gyu said that day, salt had disintegrated into sand.

Jeong Han pairs with Seung Kwan for art class, so on such rare situations, did Vernon ends up with Jun, drawing him in portrait for their art assignment.

Vernon's just sitting down, physically still, mentally busy.

"Hey Jun." He started, looking at Jun opposite him after checking the distance their small area is away from the rest before speaking - good, a corner they are at.
He didn't want to spark some loud mouth's attention.

"Stay still awhile more." Jun replied, eyes fixed on his canvas.

Vernon freezes himself, but left his mouth open. "Does anyone else know about Seung Dae and Won Woo?"

There was a pause, Jun was busy choosing his colors on the palette before replying, "I don't think anyone else told the others about it."

He hasn't heard about this topic from other classmates so he assumes Jun is right, and judging by what Min Gyu told him last time, it does not seem like anything of this has spread out from the group.

"So, what happened that day? Did Won Woo went to see Seung Dae?"

"Last month's issue? Yea. He rejected him."

Vernon raised his eyes, Won Woo ended up seeing Seung Dae alone? For sure, Vernon thought, for sure, Won Woo was going to skip away and let the guy go to heaven himself, depsite Vernon's stand that he should go that day. Well, at least Won Woo is still here, on Earth.

"And...?"

"And Seung Dae seem to have stopped doing creepy things."

Come to think of it, Seung Dae did not appear outside their classroom lately too, so it was good to hear.

"He hasn't came to school since that day." Jun added.

...

Right, maybe it's not good to be positive about it yet.

Wait...The thought struck Vernon two chords in his mind instantly.

Firstly, Vernon didn't really notice lately, but Seung Dae had been absent for a month? 

Secondly, he turns to Won Woo and Min Gyu across the classroom.
Usually Vernon doesn't care, he's used to Min Gyu not pairing with him, but when he does notice how Min Gyu laughs more when he's with Won Woo, and the latter going according to his flow as gleefully as a rare four leaf clover found in the middle of the ocean, Vernon could only guess those two's underlying...relationship.

"I probably have feelings for Won Woo."

The words Min Gyu said that day, floated back to his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Morning Vernonie!"

An arm wrapped across Vernon's shoulder as Vernon paced to his classroom on a brand new morning.

He turns to see Kwon Hoshi, also Seung Dae's classmate, coming over to him.
Hoshi is more like Seung Cheol's right hand man. While he's not in the student council like Seung Cheol, he is his best buddy, who also happens to be a close friend of Vernon during first year, before they split class.

"Heard from Seung Cheol about that misunderstanding love letter between you and Won Woo."

How did Seung Cheol know about this?
Thinking back to Jeong Han's account of seeing Won Woo's photos tucked between Seung Dae's books, Vernon could only guess Seung Cheol probably confronted Won Woo's group about it. Knowing the group, they never spill easilu, but probably since it's Seung Cheol, they might have said something about the letter. Then again, it has passed a month, and Seung Dae's absence definitely will cause a stir among his classmates, much less the school president Seung Cheol's attention.

"It is indeed a misunderstanding."

"Alright then, tell Won Woo to go to the Principal's office now."

"Teacher's office? Sure." Vernon paused, then looked at Hoshi. "Principal or teacher's?"

"Principal. Seung Dae's mother is here." Hoshi said as he patted Vernon's back and enters his classroom.

 

Everyone wanted to know what happen. Was Seung Dae that sad when Won Woo rejected him that he didn't come to school for a month?
Why did it warrant his mother to come see the principal and their teachers?

These questions have to wait, and it didn't take long before the answers came running to him.

"You heard?! Seung Dae cut himself because of Won Woo, his mother couldn't take this sudden self harm behaviour and found out he's actually in love with him, stalking him and such. She was so disappointed and ashamed that she came down personally to apologise to Won Woo."

Wow, that was quick.

He got the answer...oh.

Hoshi.

There, he's just outside telling everyone what he dug out from their teacher.

He's even telling in an excited tone, look at his hands waving up and down in enthusiasm on this kind of topic. Sometimes Seung Cheol should be grateful that he has a free and efficient broadcaster to announce any school updates to the students. Hoshi should be hired into the student council for broadcast related jobs.

But suddenly, Vernon remembers something. He turned immediately to Min Gyu in front of him, who had overheard this.

"." Vernon mumbled, slowly, he felt something change on Min Gyu's face, and on himself. Or at least, his perspective on this entire case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the legendary art class again. Because that's when his classmates thinks is free time, except Jun, and some minority of the class.

But today, Won Woo is surrounded by people asking more details about it, until he could tell, Min Gyu looks like he's holding back his violent urges to punch the nosy classmates away. Seung Kwan and Jeong Han was trying to deflect the questions and helping to diffuse it all beside Won Woo.

He goes back and it's his turn to paint Jun. Vernon could tell Jun wanted to help but his social skills and honesty might not help at all so he just sits there, casting worried glances once in a while over to Won Woo.

Beside them today, is the school's calm pair prince, Joshua and Ming Hao.
The exceptional top students of the cohort, cool and sophisticated. The classic annoying title of ''you should learn from the kid next door', unalarmed by even a meterorite or zombie attacks, needless to say, not affected by the outside world's ding dongs while taking exams and excelling them all. But apparently, they do, this time. Which happens when there is a rainbow colored ecliptical moon.

Which proudly earns them the title of Ice Prince of the West - Joshua, who comes from United States (just like Vernon himself), and Ice Prince of the East - Ming Hao, (coincidentally, just like Jun, from China).

Ming Hao starts putting paint on canvas, at the same time he started asking Joshua. "Suspicious isn't it?"

Vernon caught Joshua taking a quick glance towards Won Woo and Min Gyu. "As usual."

And that was it.

It was a small correspondence but to Vernon, this meant Min Gyu, your feelings is in braod daylight! It must be so sickeningly obvious, even the cold duo princes in school is even mentioning it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Vernon."

Said person turned around and he sees Seok Min coming towards him as he was about to head home from their shoe locker area.
He's one of Min Gyu's Music Composing club members, and whom Vernon only knows the name and face of, nothing else.

Reflecting the issue with Won Woo and Seung Dae these few weeks plus what Vernon knew about Min Gyu, he guessed Seok Min's appearance had something to do with it, and Vernon had a feeling he might know what it was.

Not a good sign.

"Min Gyu hasn't been coming for club activities. Do you know why?" Seok Min asked.

Switched jobs to being Won Woo's body guard.

"No, did something happen?" Vernon replied.

Seok Min looked down, and Vernon slightly felt bad. "He says he's busy lately, but we have a competition coming up, he's missed practice for 2 weeks and he's always not in class when we look for him, or saying he's busy over kakao."

"I'll ask him." Vernon blurted without thinking, and wondered since when he's a saint.
Probably to cover his guilt of knowing why, but it's also for Min Gyu's sake.

Seok Min raised his eyes, waving his hands like no. "No no, I just came to ask if you might know. You don't have to trouble yourself!"

"It's fine." Vernon waved it off. "I want to know why he's skipping practice too."
How big is this guilt, he's even lying like its a natural thing to do.

"Oh! Hello Vernon." Vernon turned to the familiar voices, Woozi and Lee Chan came by.

"Do you know what Min Gyu's busy with lately?" Woo Zi asked.

Being Won Woo's full-time bodyguard.

"I just asked." Seok Min said. "He doesn't know."

"I can ask him for you guys." Vernon smiled.
He knew why, because he want to punch Min Gyu.

Seok Min looked like he wanted to say something, but Lee Chan entered the reply first.

"Really? That's great. Min Gyu hasn't picked up our calls, he just says he's busy."

Being Won Woo's full-time bodyguard, that is it actually.

It made Vernon felt bad since his club members were really worried yet Min Gyu's heart is elsewhere.

"We thought it's probably his girlfriend being difficult. But she has a part-time job lately, so she shouldn't be an issue for Min Gyu. I really wonder what happened." Woo Zi tried to analyse again.

Seok Min closed his reactions now, before retreating to his line of thoughts, as if he has not thought about what Woo Zi had said.

"." Vernon mumbled unconsciously, well Seok Min is now not the only one reflecting.

"Hmm?" The trio looked at him.

"Oh. Nothing. I'll try to talk to him. See you guys around!" Vernon said and sped off immediately, mind piecing another block of oh- information.

Initially, it could have just been a mistake and life goes on.

But no, apparently, even if Vernon wasn't the centre character, he's suddenly being drag into it, again. Quite deep, because he knows, just as the two Ice Prince had guessed, their suspicions were right about Min Gyu, towards Won Woo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lunch, rooftop, later, together." Vernon tells Min Gyu the first thing in the morning.

For the first time since third year in high school did these two actually tried to eat lunch together. Vernon lost count how bitter he was but the salt-turned-sand is a desert at this point right now.

"Won..."

"I told Seung Kwan and the rest to be his temporary bodyguard." Vernon, for the first time felt annoyed by Min Gyu. Seung Dae is somewhat a creep, but not to the extent he would hurt Won Woo every single day ever since his mother had came down to apologise. What's more, the guy seems to have gotten over it (after some cutting that is). It doesn't warrant Won Woo a free bodyguard now, it's not like Min Gyu has all the time in the world to do that either.

"Settle this properly with everyone." Vernon said as he munches on his packed food and Min Gyu on his bread.

The summer heat was getting little wind, traces of small heat brushed against their skin even under the shelter, but Vernon is fixed to ensure Min Gyu stands his own conclusion.

"What do you want me to do?"

Vernon side-eyed him, is he acting stupid now, or is he really lost?

"You told me that day you probably have feelings for Won Woo." Vernon started, trying to believe Min Gyu must have been lost.

"Yea."

"I forgot you already have So Hye."

There was a long pause before Min Gyu chewed on his bread with a sigh.

"And why didn't you go for practice?"

Min Gyu took his last bite and sat beside Vernon. He looked at the skies spanned outside the shelter and sighed.

"You know. Sometimes, I wish I could be like you. Carefree, quiet, lead a normal boring life." Min Gyu said, Vernon was not going to agree with him. "But I don't know why I suddenly like Won Woo, I got jealous when Seung Dae confessed to him, hatred and wanted to kill him for stalking Won Woo, pestering him. Worst of all, I didn't knew all of this until Seung Dae's mother came, I got irritated even more." He crushed the bread plastic in his hands, crunch noises echoed.

Vernon thinks back to the day he wanted to tell Min Gyu about it, but Min Gyu let out about his feelings for Won Woo first and Vernon decides to brush off about some small fact about Won Woo adopting a cute cat which Min Gyu already knew.

"I want to just look at him, more than So Hye."

Vernon scooped his last spoon of rice and gobbled it down, not minding a bit on Min Gyu's words.
The moment when Min Gyu confessed to Vernon about it, he could feel the awe and disbelief in his mind. The undenying feelings Min Gyu had felt, strucked Vernon down to the core of cringy, but at least, he will get used to it. 

Nevertheless, knowing Min Gyu, his feelings were definitely genuine. He must have liked So Hye to enter the relationship, and perhaps the same for Won Woo.

"If your feelings sway easily from So Hye to Won Woo, you are probably gonna sway if someone else comes along."

Min Gyu loosens his grip on his bread, casting his eyes at Vernon like the truth of the situation has just enlightened him. He turns back to his half eaten bread and exhaled lightly.

"I'm a jerk right? That's why I won't even try to commit." His voice trailed into a soft reply.

How about dropping your unecessary part-time bodyguard duty for a start?

"Ssettle your relationship with So Hye first. If you don't have any feelings for her anymore, don't waste her time."

There was a sudden chuckle. "That's why we don't hang out often. We have too different mindsets."

Vernon face palmed, it has nothing to do with their different mindsets now. But he understands why he said that.
It does good for both So Hye and Min Gyu to breakup, at least that's what Vernon thought, but Min Gyu is the kind of person that likes to stubbornly try and make existing relationships work for the better, based on his past 2 exes experience...which never ended well anyway.

"Some advice here." Vernon sighed, stood up and packed his lunch box to throw away. "First of all, settle your feelings. So Hye, or Won Woo or none. Don't fix it anymore, just deal with each and every one of them. And go back to your club. You love music too and your bandmates are waiting for you."

"I'll think about it." Min Gyu said, still sitting on the floor. "Thanks."

Vernon looks at this pitiful guy, but decides to pat Min Gyu's back. "Won Woo..." Vernon stopped, a brief moment in his mind trying to hold his words back, but it came out still. "He, probably feels the same." Vernon regrets that, though in that spur of moment, he remembers what he didnt want to say. "But, you are both guys."

And that was the last conversation Vernon had with Min Gyu about this topic before final exams came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vernon wondered accusingly.

Why he had to witness the sight before him.
Just when he thought Graduation Day was supposed to be a happy and congratulatory occasion, apparently, no. 

His side character dilemma placed him conveniently at the school's backyard, watching Min Gyu, turning down a sobbing Won Woo.

How to put it?

It was the first time he saw Won Woo covering his face, asking for Min Gyu to leave his sight.
And Vernon had heard the entire conversation from the first word, to the last.

Min Gyu's face seemed hurt, but he looked hopeless too. He reached out his hand to Won Woo, but retreated halfway and turned away.

Vernon ducked behind the wall, and prays Min Gyu doesn't head to his direction, which thankfully so.

He peeks out after hearing the footstep trail away.

So...what should he do?
Go over and ask ignorantly why Won Woo's crying?
Or go over to Min Gyu and congratulate him for doing the right thing?

Still, Vernon ultimately decides to turn away, pretending he saw nothing.
Afterall, as much as he was involved in the first place, it has nothing to do with him afterwards.
Ever since the rooftop talk, Min Gyu broke up with So Hye, got a real tight slap thereafter, stopped being Won Woo's bodyguard and completely distant himself from him. His bandmates were happy he's back but Won Woo seem to be stressed out after Min Gyu started ignoring him...

Vernon could only guess Min Gyu truly doesn't want to advance any further to avoid hurting Won Woo, after breaking up with So Hye.

Won Woo will get over it, one day. And he should, because, it's just not right, for two guys to be together.

But it's Graduation Day, it should be a happy day right for everyone...right?
Vernon scratched his head in frustration and turned back, but dropped his congratulatory graduation notebook when he sees Won Woo again.

---------------------------------------------------

Jeong Han had an ominous feeling. And it seems like Seung Kwan and Jun too.

Where did Won Woo go? They should be happy, taking photos together, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"He's at the school's backyard." Vernon said as he ran back to find them.

But no one said, that his body would be lying motionless at the backyard.

----------------

"No way! He attempted suicide?" Sofia asked, wide eyed as she dined with her older brother, Vernon at a fine dining restaurant.

Vernon looked at his sister, Sofia, sitting across from him. A waiter refills her wine glass.

It's been a long time since, now that he reminisced what happened 8 years ago, so much have changed, so many things could have been different.

"He fainted." Vernon recalled when they scrambled to report to the nurse office.

"Fainted?" Sofia tilted her head.

Vernon sighed. "He actually scored very well, so it could be not having enough sleep, adding up with the mental energy to consider his confession to Min Gyu on Graduation Day."

"I didn't know Manager Jeon had this history. He always seem so bright and friendly." Sofia replied. "It's hard to imagine him like that."

Vernon puts his elbow on the table, holding his face before giving a tired sigh as he rubbed his temples. "It's better if you don't attempt to imagine it. He's someone you report to, don't give yourself a hard time facing him."

"Don't worry oppa. I know the line between work and personal matters."

Vernon nods, before he finished his last sip of wine. He contemplates if he should tell his sister the after story. Then again, it is not wrong to say it.

He puts down the empty wine glass and cotinued. "That faint, caused Min Gyu to do the stupidest thing of mankind." He emphasized a lot on 'stupid', as if it was meant to sound hoarse and insulting to the core when referring to Min Gyu.

Sofia raised her eyes, surprise there was a continuation. "What did Min Gyu oppa do?"

Vernon rubbed his temples. "Ahh, he...nevermind, let's just say Manager Jeon is not interested in girls, and he is not available."

"Gyeeeeeeeehhhh!" Sofia dropped open.

"Well, I'm flying back tomorrow, if you ever find yourself knowing more things than you should, and getting involved, just make sure to ignore. So that things can run stupidly well, by fate or something, for the both of them." Vernon said as his eyes looked at the night cityscape at the window.

The lights from the building looked like stars on Earth, at the heart of this story, Vernon feels both relief, that Won Woo was fine, and grim, that Won Woo and Min Gyu, had defied society, and somehow becoming his sister's Manager, in US.

- End -

 

A/N: Hellooo everybody. I'm back, with Seventeen fanfics now. Gosh, different groups gives you different vibes for writing.
Thanks for reading to the end! :D

In fact, this story was based on my friend's real experience (please allow the adpatations to fiction). 

The real world does wonders than fiction sometimes.

From fic Vernon's POV, he's just someone who isn't very approving of gays, but not at the same time completely disapproving in a realistic way.
So this is a POV from this kind of stance towards BLs (also, fic Vernon is my friend so I'm writing from my friend's perspective). Thanks for reading! :D