Baro hasn't spoken to me in two weeks.

It's obvious that he's been trying to avoiding me as well. He wouldn't hang out in the library with us anymore, using the excuse of catching up on his schoolwork to stay in the classroom instead.

He hasn't tried texting or calling, and whenever I see him in the school hallways, he wouldn't make eye contact but would try to walk the opposite direction from me.

I didn't know how to feel, knowing that Baro was purposely trying to avoid me. I was so used to him always clinging to my side and now that he was wasn't annoying the crap out of me anymore, everything felt too strange.

I still had Jaehyun grabbing onto me every chance he could get, and he couldn't be more thrilled that Baro was no longer around to steal my attention from him, but it still didn't feel the same.

"Say ah~" Jaehyun held up a breadstick to my lips, a bright smile on his face.

I stared at the breadstick for a couple of seconds before softly pushing it away from me and sighed.

Jaehyun frowned and put the breadstick back in its box.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the two of us were sitting at our usual old staircase. I hadn't plan on coming out today. I wanted to spend the day in bed, but Jaehyun insisted on coming out, claiming that we haven't hung out 1-on-1 in such a long time that he missed me.

But it wasn't in the mood to be out. Especially knowing that it'll soon be three weeks since Baro last tried talking to me.

"Is everything alright?"

Jaehyun had a genuinely concern look at his face as he handed me the box of breadsticks that he brought at the convenience store just a few blocks away.

"Is this because of Baro? You should be glad that he doesn't go around you anymore. He was always so annoying-"

"Can you not talk about him like that?" I muttered, "I'm not really in the mood."

Jaehyun frowned and grabbed back the breadsticks. "Why are you so upset?" I could hear his annoyance through his voice and it made me a little annoyed as well.

"I don't know," I honestly answered, "I think I got too used to him always being around. It feels weird now that he isn't."

"You still have me."

I looked over at Jaehyun and opened my mouth, ready to give him a sarcastic response but before I could he stuffed a breadstick into my mouth. "Don't kill the moment," he said as if he already knew what I was going to say.

I chuckled as I chewed on the stick. I wasn't really a big fan of breadsticks, but whatever.

"I'm being serious though," he mumbled, his eyes now downcast to the concrete sidewalk. “You don’t need Baro. You have me.”

“That’s the gayest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” I joked. But I stopped chuckling when Jaehyun shot me a serious look.

Jaehyun eventually stood up and sighed. "Let's just go."

He didn't wait for any response as he just began walking down the block without waiting for me.

"So what are going to do now?" I asked once I caught up.

"Well, since you're not much in the mood, there's not much to do. But I'm sure if Baro was here, everything would be different." Jaehyun bitterly muttered the last part to himself, but I heard him loud and clear.

"Look-"

"What's so special about him anyways?" Jaehyun suddenly halted in the middle of the sidewalk, which caused me to stop as well. "You act like you'll die if he doesn't talk to you soon."

"Excuse me?" I said defensively, "You don't see me crying on my knees and begging him to talk to me again, do you? Sure, I might be a little bumed out, but don't exaggerate."

"You shouldn't be bumed out at all," Jaehyun snapped back, his voice slowly raising which each word. "So what that he's avoiding you? You don't even need him. He's stupid and useless."

"Can you stop acting like some jealous boyfriend for once? You know how annoying it is when all you do is talk crap about Baro?"

"And you know how annoying it is to see him all over you all the time? It pisses me off and I hate it. I don't want him near you."

I rolled my eyes. I was tired of this stupid coversation. It seems as though all me and Jaehyun ever talk about lately is Baro. We always end up bickering about him and it's nothing but down straight annoying.

"If we're just going to spend the rest of the time having this stupid argument, then I'm going home." I turn and began walking the direction towards my apartment building.

To be honest, I was expecting Jaehyun to come after me and apologize. But he didn't and I was beginning to think I was putting too much dependence on him. I shouldn't be expecting to run after me like some loyal puppy or something all the time. He was his own person after all. He can do whatever he wants.

-

Now that I was up and out, I didn't want to go back home.

My father called a few days ago, the first time in almost a month. We spoke together but the conversation only lasted about 5 minutes. We mainly talked about school and it was then that I realized that my father and I have nothing in common. It made me wonder what the hell we would talk about before he left.

My mother was gradually getting out of her depression. She had stopped her obsessive cooking and had gone down to cleaning the apartment only twice a day

But after the call from my father, she fell back down to the start. Once again she was dishing up different recipes and cleaning as if the queen was coming to visit. She even began working extra hours, as a way of distraction I assume. This meant that I didn't see her as much anymore, and it made the apartment a lot lonelier.

I didn't know how it happened, but I somehow found myself ringing Baro's doorbell.

I figured there was no point of continuing to have Baro ignore me any longer. Having Baro ignore me was oddly a lot more annoying than having him talk to me nonstop.

Also, the sooner I get this whole thing straightened out, the soon Jaehyun can stop acting like such a . I'd rather have him and Baro bickering all the time than have him always up my for something that shouldn't matter to him.

The door wasn't answered even after the fourth ring and I was worried that I came all the way here for nothing. Besides, there was nowhere else for me to go.

I took my phone out and was about to call Baro, but the door finally opened and I was not at all prepared for what I saw next.

Baro stood at the door. His hair was the first thing that grabbed my attention. Okay, that was a lie, but it did manage to catch my eyes. It was no longer blonde, but instead it was now a jet black and was in a complete bed hair mess.

What actually grabbed my attention was what he had on; or lack of. He was wearing a pair of red pajamas bottoms and nothing on top.

Yes, he was completely shirtless.

The first thing thing that ran through my head was, ‘Who the hell answers the door shirtless?’ and my second thing was, ‘Since when did Baro have muscles?’

I admit that I was openly staring straight at Baro’s abs and chest and it was safe to say that he must have worked pretty hard to get them to look as good as they did. I’m not one to stare whenever an attractive person walks by, in fact I tend to ignore them just as I would with anybody else, but I couldn’t look away from Baro. I could feel my face immediately heat up, but before I had the chance to look away, Baro pulled over the black tanktop that I was unaware he had in his hands.

“W-what are you doing here?”

I finally looked back up at Baro. His own face had a tint of pink on his cheeks and I figured he must’ve been embarrassed that I saw him shirtless, even if it was just for a few seconds. It felt longer though.

“I came here to talk.”

It took some time, but Baro eventually stepped aside and let me through the front door. I sat down on his couch and Baro sat down beside me, leaving a large gap between us. It was obvious that he felt awkward and it pissed me off knowing that the only reason was because he was the one ignoring me for the past two weeks.

“So, what’s up?” Baro mumbled after a long silence between us. The house was empty, which was not a surprise at all. Baro’s place always seems to be empty.

“What's up?” I repeated him, “Are you seriously asking me that? You know what’s up. Why are you ignoring me?”

“I’m not ignoring you,” Baro said. He wouldn’t even look at me.

“Then why haven’t you tried talking to me in almost three weeks?”

Baro didn’t answer, instead he reached up and ran a hand through his already messy hair while letting out a long yawn.

“Did I do something to get you angry? Are you mad at me?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Aren’t you happy?” Baro finally said, “You’re always saying that I annoy you and stuff. Now I’m not annoying you anymore.”

"Don't be an idiot-"

"You're the idiot!."

I shut my mouth and gave Baro a questioning look from his sudden outburst. But Baro didn't notice my look because he just began to rant on, not once even looking at me.

"And your chubby cheeks make you look stupid. And your skin is too pale for a guy. And you smell all the time. And you talk like your some weird middle-age man. And you have a dumb voice and...and... and you at singing!"

"What?" I asked, this time defensively. Okay, you can make fun of anything you want about me and I wouldn't care. But you're life is done the moment you say something about my singing.

"You heard you me," Baro said, now turning to look at me. The red rink was still covering his cheeks and I couldn't tell if he really meant what he was saying right now or not. Either way, it still pissed me off.

"What the hell does any of those things have to do with anything?"

"Because it's those things that gets me frustrated all the time."

"Are you saying you don't like me anymore?" I asked. Our voices were getting louder each time and sooner or later we'll even might start yelling.

But Baro suddenly slumped into the couch and in the quietest voice responded with, "That's the last thing I'm saying."

I stared at Baro for a while as he just kept his eyes on the coffee table sitting in front of us. It was then that I noticed the completely dark bags under Baro's eyes. He let out a long, tired sigh followed by another yawn.

The last time I saw bags like those on him was a while ago. I remember during that time Baro wasn't acting like his normal self. He wasn't being the hyperactive brat he usually was, and I noticed it was happening all over again.

Something was troubling Baro and he was trying to hide it.

"Baro," I softly called out to catch his attention again. It took him a moment but Baro turned his head to look at me.

"What's really going on?" I asked.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't even know what's going on."

"Look," I said, while letting out a frustrated sigh. "Either you tell me what's messing with your head or else. Because you're acting weird and it's pissing me off."

Baro didn't speak for a whole minute. And when he finally did, he closed his eyes, let out a short breath and said, "I think I might possibly kinda sort-of like you."

--

Alright. I've never been confessed to. But I've seen a lot of confessions on TV and in the movies, and I found them the stupidest thing ever. They were always so cheesy and cliche and I always cringed watching through it. It was the typical thing every time; the main character stutters throughout the while thing and the person receiving the confession remains speechless in shock or confusion.

The only thing I could think while watching those scenes were how pathetic the main characters looked.

Now, I understand.

Maybe it was the fact that it was my first confession. Or maybe it was because it was coming from a guy. Or the fact that it was coming from Baro out of all people, but I didn't know how to respond.

I sat there, staring straight at a blushing Baro as he stared back.

"What?" I finally said after minutes if complete silence.

"I think I might like you. I'm not exactly sure."

"What makes you think that?"

Baro stared off to the distance for a moment and I was afraid that he wasn't going to say anything.

"Remember the first time you came over? And how I told you that Hyejung asked me to her boyfriend?"

I nodded my head.

"I already knew I was going to say no. I liked her, but I didn't like her that much. But for some reason, I ready wanted to see your reaction about it. And when I told you and you didn't seem to care, I sort of got annoyed. And then when we- you know, kissed, I liked it. A lot more than I should have."

"So when you to told Haejung you were confused, it was because of me?" I asked.

"Sort of. I mean, even before we did it, I wondered how it would be to kiss you and stuff. And so that night I saw the opportunity and decided to go for it."

I covered my mouth and shot Baro a dirty look. "So you used me?" I said, though it was muffled out due to my hands.

"No!" Baro quickly defends himself, "I mean, I did do it to see you flustered but that wasn't the only reason. And then I wanted to do it again. But I started thinking, 'Why do I want to kiss him again?' and then I thought maybe it was because I was a guy and I had all these hormones and crap, but normally guys think about girls so why was I thinking about you?"

I wasn't sure if that was a rhetorical question or not, but I didn't answer either way. He had a point and I was slightly scared to hear what else he had to say.

"And then Jaehyun suddenly came into the picture. And just seeing you around him got me so annoyed and I got even more annoyed every time you defended him. When I saw you guys eating out that one time, I snapped. Hyejung wanted to hang out and it was just my luck running into you two. And you looked happy talking to him.

"So I started going through this phase where I couldn't sleep or eat because of you and I didn't know why. Eventually I tried pushing those thoughts out and everything started going back to normal. But then you ruined everything all over again."

"What do you mean I ruined everything again?" I asked.

Baro sat up and frowned at me. "I mean," he began, "everything went back to normal bro you started asking me about the whole Hyejung thing. At that same moment, all those thoughts came rushing back in and all I wanted to do was kiss you again."

I was once again speechless. I never thought that these things could ever go through Baro's head, especially when they were about me. All this time I thought he had a thing for Haejung, but apparently she was the last thing on his mind.

"And now I just realized I screwed everything up," Baro muttered. He threw himself back into the couch and sighed. "I shouldn't have told you anything. I should have just kept my mouth shut."

"No, no. Actually, I'm glad you told me."

Baro sat up again with hope in his eyes. "Really?"

"Well, no." I admitted honestly, "But I think it's better that you did. At least now I know the reason whenever you start acting weird."

Baro let out a slight chuckle. "I'll try not to let that happen again."

I nodded my head and chuckled a bit as well. After a while, a silence fell and the two of us sat on Baro's couch looking at different directions. I didn't know what to do. This was the first confession I ever recieved, and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to give an answer or not. But Baro must have known what I was thinking because he spoke again.

"I know you don't like me like that. I don't like you either. I might like you but I don't, you know?"

"I don't. But let's just pretend what you said made sense."

This time Baro finally did laugh. And it quickly made the tense atmosphere disappear.

"So, this isn't going to make anything weird between us, right?" Baro looked at me nervously and scooted over so that we were sitting closer to each other.

I shook my head. "Not at all. Except, I'll be expecting chocolates on valentines day."

"Does that mean you'll be my valentine?" Baro teased.

"Only if it's the most expensive box you can find," I teased back.

"Deal," Baro said with a laugh, and with that we were back to our idiotic friendship.

Okay. So, Baro might possibly kinda sort-of like me. That doesn't mean anything needs to change. I've always heard of friendships getting destroyed because one decides to confess their feelings and things just couldn't go back to normal. But that shouldn't, and wouldn't, happen between me and Baro.

Even though it may be a little weird at first, everything should be alright.

As long as Jaehyun doesn't find out.