Streaks of calming blue colors were starting to paint the sky. A variety of sounds could be heard everywhere: from alarm clocks to rooster's loud -a-doodle-doo to vehicles honking at pedestrians. Monday, the most hated day of the week, arrived and the fleeting weekends ended in a blink of an eye.

It was a chilly Monday morning in March. The tail-end of winter season was just around the corner. It was still fascinating to see the remnants of soft, white, crunchy snowflakes visible on the sidewalks from last night's snowfall. People who were still bundled-up with winter coats, thermal wear, ear mufflers, scarves, boots and gloves were scattered everywhere in the city: on the bus stops, on the train stations, on the pavements. There were a lot of students lining up at convenience stores anticipating that the heat packs sold there would be enough for all. The numerous cafés on every corner and on the ground floor of the buildings were crowded with caffeine addicted office workers who were rushing to their jobs.

It was a cold Monday morning and one person was still on his bed inside his dreamland, buried under his thick duvet with mouth slightly open and drooling on his pillow. His alarm already went off 15 minutes ago and yet his eyes never even opened a bit.

His door squeaked open. The smell of bacon and bread from the kitchen oozed into his bedroom, tickling his nose and enticing him to open his eyes. The smell along with a loud voice was starting to rouse him.

"Woohyun, get up now or you're going to be late on your first day of school." Woohyun slowly opened his eyes and saw his mother by his door with hands on her waist. "Get up before I bring you to your school in those bed clothes."

Early in the morning, his mother started nagging him. If only he could put on some earplugs to muffle his mother's loud voice, he would. "Mom, your voice is so annoying in the morning. Stop nagging."

The next thing he knew, slippers were flying towards him, hitting his still drowsy face. "Mom! You're too much! I'm about to get up. No need to throw your slippers at me."

When his mother was gone, he trudged towards his bathroom and began peeling his clothes off his body. He stepped into the shower with his half-lidded eyes. It was a cold Monday morning and he unknowingly turned the shower the wrong way. Cold water suddenly splashed on him making him jump and curse as it came in contact with his skin; waking him up fully. Note to self: don't take a bath while half asleep.

As he descended to the first floor, he heard the people in the dining hall chit-chatting over breakfast. As soon as he reached his chair, he sat down and began munching the bacon he had smelt earlier. His food was almost finished when he noticed something or rather, someone was missing.

Woohyun looked at his parents with furrowed brows. "Where is Zi?"

He heard his mother huff and muttered, "You only realized now. He wasn't even here when you came." There goes his mother again, starting to make a fuss with a single question. "He already left for school. He told us you talked about not coming to school together."

Woohyun heaved a sigh before standing up and strutting back to his room to brush his teeth and get his bag and car key. His mood became sour. He couldn't stop mumbling, "Stupid Zi, idiot Zi, moron Zi." inside his car while he was cruising his way to their school.

While being stuck in the horrendous morning traffic, Woohyun tried to reminisce the history between him and Zi.

He, Nam Woohyun was an 18 years old, senior high school student at Cheongdam Art High School. It was known that he was the school's playboy and delinquent. Handsome, rich, athletic, smart even for a delinquent, the constant student you would see in detention. Nevertheless, in his last year of high school, he made a promise to someone to turn a new leaf and become a good student.

Nam Woohyun, handsome, rich, athletic, smart, playboy, delinquent and... MARRIED. The famous Casanova was already tied-down after having dated more than a quarter of the school population. It wasn't an arranged marriage. He got married on his own free-will. The person who caught his playful and elusive heart and made him head-over-heels in love was none other than his best friend, Zi.

Zi was his best friend since they were in diapers. Their parents were best friends, which was the reason why they grew up together. They lived in the same neighborhood. More often than not, he spent most of his childhood days with Zi at their house playing toys and running around the spacious garden.

However, when he reached 12 years old and his best friend, 13 years old, Zi and his family had to move to China, and he ended up astray. Zi was his best friend and he always kept him grounded and sane. They were like brothers and he took care of him really well. Though they never ceased communicating even once, Woohyun started to change and became the school's famous heartbreaker. Of course, he never kept his adventures from his best friend and even bragged about them. He knew everything. And when he said everything, it meant everything in capital letters.

In Woohyun's playboy adventures, no gender or age group was excluded: boys, girls, older, younger. He cheated, he two-timed and three-timed if that was even a word. One day he was the sweetest boy you would want to spend your life with then BOOM! He would be dropping you like a hot potato. Woohyun was a jerk in general.

When his best friend and his family decided to come back to Korea to let him study and finish high school in their home country, he was already 16 years old and Zi was 17. His best friend stopped schooling for a year to study and become fluent in Chinese; thus, he started college at the same time as him.

They remained best friends behind the backs of everyone at school. Not that he didn't wish to be associated with Zi, the new student, or the other way around but, his best friend would be the main target of the people who he left heartbroken if not the Student Council and those people who were still dreamily pining for him despite the fact that he was the number one bastard in town. Everyone wanted a piece of him, not to brag. Anyhow, many of his school friends have already experienced being taunted by his fanboys and fangirls. They have been disturbed by those he broke up with or those he left hanging. Hence, he never wanted it to happen to Zi.

He continued with what he was doing on a regular basis: Changing girlfriends or boyfriends as frequently as he changed his underwear, which was very frequent, being late at school, not doing homework but acing the quizzes, getting home late because he was somewhere making out with someone who wasn't even in a relationship with him. Not until that one time that he and his best friend were hanging out at the beach and he accidentally tripped over him. That was the very first time he felt his heart race like something or someone was chasing it. This was the beginning of countless secret stares he had been giving Zi when the other wasn't looking. It started the numerous sleepless nights that resulted in excessive eyebags and tardiness at school. He began seeing his best friend in a different way and it was baffling.

Staring and wild heartbeats went on for two years, until one day, when they were hanging out at Jumunjin breakwater in Gangwon province, sitting at the stonewall, watching the crashing waves and talking about anything they could think of, something sparked inside him. He made him laugh and the sound of it became the sweetest melodious tune he heard. And he thought, he could listen to that laugh forever.

He remembered what happened that very fine summer afternoon.

Flashback

The hearty laugh he was hearing from his best friend made his heart so warm. As he stared at those eye smile that complemented his pretty face, his heart started beating in a muddled rhythm that he was so accustomed of. Something inside coerced him to touch and his best friend's face.

On the other hand, Zi was gaping at him with his sudden gesture and started wrinkling his forehead with eyes full of confusion, questioning him on what he was doing. There was one thing that he wanted to do for a long time. So instead of replying, he gazed at Zi's red inviting lips and despite his hammering heartbeats, he found the bravery to lean forward and kiss him.

Before he closed his eyes, he saw how Zi's eyes widened when his plump lips touched his. He nibbled the older's upper and lower lips until he felt him returning his kisses. Time stopped when their tongues started having a duel, battling for dominance. He didn't know how long had passed, but when they were out of breath, they broke the ardent kiss.

"Why?" It was the first word rather, question that he heard after long awkward minutes after the kiss.

He looked at his bestfriend's eyes and gently hold his hand to give him a kiss on it. "I love you." Woohyun could see the sudden blush that appeared on Zi's cheeks. "I love you." He repeated. "I love you Zi." Again, he re-echoed his confession.

Woohyun was having anxieties about the silence presented by his best friend. His heart that was thumping fast, thumped 2x faster. And it was loud. Even the sound of the waves crashing against the stone wall couldn't muffle the loud beating of his heart.

Zi turned his face away from him and looked at the gloomy horizon in front of them. "Woohyun, I'm not a game that you could play. If this is a joke, please stop it."

Game. Zi was absolutely not a game for him. It was the first time he felt something awakened inside him. All those years they were apart from each other, his heart was yearning for Zi's presence which he brushed off, thinking that he was only missing him. At those times, however, neither phone calls nor video calls were adequate enough to alleviate the sickening longing he had.

The moment Zi returned, he was so delighted that he couldn't sleep. And when he enrolled at the same high school he would be attending, he had a blast. He was happy. When Zi came back, it was the happiest he had ever been. Then the stumbling over incident happened.

When he realized that those longing, happiness and uncoordinated beats of his heart were telling him something, he listened. He accepted that what he was feeling for him wasn't anything near friendship or brotherly love. Woohyun was in love. He was hopelessly, madly and illogically in love with his own best friend.

Love was something profound to him for a long time and yet, it caught him. Finally, he understood what love is.

"You aren't a game Zi." He pulled the hand he was holding to his chest and let it rest there and it made Zi look at him again. "You are the only one who could make this heart beat like this... for two years. You would never ever be a game for me. What I feel is real."

Woohyun felt his best friend's hand moved away from his chest as it slipped from his grasp. "Woohyun, could you give me time for me to process this? I might have given you a wrong signal when I responded to your kiss. I want to be sure that I wasn't just caught in the moment and I want what you want."

He nodded. Zi needed time and he would give it to him. But he was selfish and he wanted him. He gave him a couple of weeks.

Woohyun never called nor crossed paths with him at school. They didn't have any classes together. He stopped playing with other people's heart. The only heart that he wanted was his best friend's. And he would stop all his escapades for him.

*****

After two weeks of apprehensions and restless nights, Woohyun picked up Zi at home late afternoon of Saturday and brought him to Nami Island. It was almost dusk when they arrived. Light purple color was crowning the brilliant fading light of autumn sunset.

Woohyun may not show it but, he was very nervous to hear Zi's answer. His hands were clammy and despite the cold gust of winds brought by the start of autumn season, he was sweating and having dizzy spells. An overwhelming sense of trepidation overtook him. This caused him to blather things that perplexed his best friend and for him to say things he was not even capable of understanding.

"Woohyun, are you ok? You seem not yourself. Maybe we should go back home." Woohyun could see the worry lines forming and appearing on Zi's face.

He shook his head too fast, and that made the dizziness he was feeling significantly worse. "I'm fine. Let's sit and rest for a while."

Woohyun grabbed his best friend's hand and hauled him to an area where there were fewer crowds. Because he was more focused on his restlessness, he never spotted the blushing face of the man he was dragging. He wasn't even aware of the tingling feeling spreading from their clasped hands.

They sat down at one of the picnic benches that was away from people's line of sight. Woohyun settled himself beside Zi and continued holding his hands. It was giving him comfort. Zi's hand was so warm, making his heart beat irregularly at the same time. He didn't know if he could still prolong his agony of waiting for his best friend's answer. He therefore tried to gather ample amount courage to ask him.

"Zi" Woohyun heard his best friend hum in response. "What now?"

"What, what now? Could you be more explicit Woohyunnie?"

Woohyun began stuttering. His words were too jumbled and incoherent for anyone to understand. "You.. an... what.. it?"

"What? Are you on drugs? I couldn't understand anything. Talk slowly please."

He heaved a long sigh and woke his catatonic brain cells up that were malfunctioning because of the jittery feeling he was obviously displaying.

Woohyun, meanwhile, couldn't see how amused Zi was looking at him all fidgety and uncool. It was the first time Zi witnessed him act that way. The usual Woohyun his best friend was so familiar with was confident and so full of himself. The sight of a sweet-talker playboy out of words was quite comical. Even Zi's inward chuckles went unnoticed by him.

"Zi, I was asking for your answer. You asked me to give you time." It seemed like the petrified brain cells were starting to function normally. Woohyun started forming cohesive sentences that wouldn't challenge anyone's comprehension.

Silence reigned between them. Only the muffled chatters of people far from them, the chirping of night birds and sounds coming from the rustling of leaves were heard. The quietness was insufferable for Woohyun. He felt like Zi was tormenting him with his muted state.

Woohyun lowered his head to his lap. The waiting was excruciating, juggling all his senses into swirling bits of disorganized thoughts. It was a good three minutes when he felt fingers holdi