“Man, I still can’t get over your hair.”

The gang and I were sitting at our regular table in the library. All eyes were glued to Baro’s new hair, and even I have to admit that I still haven’t gotten used to it.

“Come on, guys,” Baro said with a pout, “It’s not that bad, right?”

Now that it was black and no longer blonde, Baro’s hair no longer made him stand out in the crowd like it used to. It was weird because Baro was usually never the kind of person to blend in.

“It was about time the teachers began scolding you on your looks though.” Gongchan said as he leaned over to ruffle Baro’s hair.

“It’s against the school code to have bleached hair,” Jinyoung added, “I’m surprised they didn’t make you change it before they even considered transferring you here.”

“They told me,” Baro admitted, “But I didn’t listen.” He shifted himself into his seat so that his chair was leaning a little closer to me.

I glanced over at Baro, who turned to look at me back, and when we made eye contact I subconsciously looked away. I could see Baro frown from the corner of my eye.

As much as I tried acting as normal as possible, the thought of Baro possibly liking me still made me act a bit off. It has only been two days since his sudden confession and I still wasn’t fully adjusted to the idea.

I knew Baro was aware of my strange acts, but I’m pretty sure that the rest of the guys haven’t noticed anything yet.

“I think it looks good on you,” Namsoo said, grabbing Baro’s attention and taking it away from me.

“Really?” Baro grinned. He ran his hair through his hair and turned back to me. “What do you think Deullie? Do I look handsome?”

I glanced at Baro, but I couldn’t even look at him properly before quickly looking away. “Sure,” I muttered, my eyes locked onto the table. I could feel myself heating up and I hated it.

I wasn’t even sure why I was acting this way. It wasn’t like I really cared if Baro liked me or not. It wasn’t something I could control, or even wanted to control. Baro can like whoever he wants. But maybe it was because Baro was the first person ever to actually admit having any sort of romantic feelings towards me and I probably just wasn’t used to the idea yet. I’m not good with relationships stuff.

But still, I’m acting a bit too flustered.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Jaehyun muttered from the other side to me.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, was obviously upset that Baro and I have gone back to speaking terms. The moment he saw us sitting beside each other once he walked into the library, he turned into a grumpy mood. He wouldn’t even look at me or Baro.

“I think I should dye my hair,” Gongchan said. “I was thinking a dark brown or something similar. It’ll make me look hot.”

“But that’s going against school code.”

“As long as it’s not an extreme color, it should be fine.”

The conversation then went on about hair color and school codes and I stopped paying attention to it after a while. I had no interest in any of this stuff so I didn’t see why I needed to continue to listen to it.

“I’m going to take out a book,” I quietly announced, though I was pretty sure nobody heard, before I stood up and went towards the book shelves.

I was looking for a book that I could use for an English assignment that was due in two days but I haven’t even started yet. I was just going to bull the assignment and hope to pass with a C. I didn’t care much for English.

I was too concentrated on searching for a book that I didn’t notice Jaehyun walking up beside me.

“So when did you and Baro make up?”

I looked over at him and frowned. “Saturday.”

Jaehyun turned towards the bookshelf and frowned. “I see.”

I continued to stare at Jaehyun for a bit before letting out a sigh. “Jaehun, you need to stop this.”

“Stop what?” He muttered, though I knew he knew what I was talking about.

“You can’t keep holding this stupid grudge towards Baro. It’s tiring to deal with. I don’t even get why you don’t like him.”

“Because he’s annoying. He talks too much. He thinks he’s better than everybody else. And his jokes are terrible.”

“Jaehyun,” I said sternly and shot him a look to shut him up. “Tell me the real reason.”

Jaehyun looked towards me. We stared at each other for a while and I was beginning to get annoyed at his silence.

Eventually he spoke. “Because he’s your best friend.”

I froze for a second, not exactly sure what I heard was right. “What?”

“He took my spot. I was your best friend before you even knew the kid. I hate him for replacing me,” Jaehyun mumbled quietly.

“You’re not serious, right?”

“I am,” Jaehyun snapped. He then snarled at me and crossed his arms against his chest. “You know what, I shouldn’t even have to explain myself.”

“You do have to explain yourself,” I snapped back, but I tried to keep my voice down so we wouldn’t get in trouble by the librarian for making too much noise. Also, I didn’t want the other guys to hear us. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. I’m not a mind reader. You need to tell me what’s going on for my to actually get it.”

“But Baro doesn’t.”

“Huh?”

“Baro doesn’t need to tell you anything and you already understand him so well. You haven’t even known the kid for so long, but you’ve gotten closer to him than you ever were with me. You know how long it took to get you to open up?”

“Jae-”

“It took me years, Deul. But Baro, some kid you met only a few months ago, already has you wrapped around his finger within the first couple of weeks since you’ve met. What’s so special about him, huh? What about him makes you able to open up easily and why not me?”

I stared at Jaehyun for a long time after that. I wasn’t sure if I was understanding him right, but I did know that I wanted to seriously punch him in the face. Is this what has Jaehyun so mad all this time? Because I’m closer to Baro than I am to him?

I don’t blame myself for not trusting Jaehyun as much as I do with Baro. He was the one who stabbed me in the back before and sure, I did say I was going to forget about it, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to keep my guard up.

And it wasn’t like I wanted to get close to Baro either. I hate getting close to people. But there was something about Baro that made me open up so easily. Since the first time I met him, I’ve tried keeping my distance from him. But Baro was persistent and someone I eventually fell into this friendship with him.

“I’m not sorry about being close with Baro,” I started slowly. Jaehyun wasn’t looking at me anymore, his attention on the books on the shelves, and I could tell he didn’t even want to hear what I had to say. Doesn’t mean that he wasn’t going to. “But that doesn’t mean you need to act like a spoiled little brat that had his favorite toy taken away. I don’t appreciate you treating me like some kind of object that only you’re allowed to touch. I do have the rights to have other friends.”

“I’m not saying you can’t have other friends. I’m perfectly fine that you’re friends with Jinyoung and the others.”

“But not with Baro.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

“Baro,” Jaehyun sighed, “It’s different with Baro. I just don’t want to lose my best friend again.”

“The first time you lost your best friend was because of a fault you made. Keep that in mind.”

I turned around and headed back towards the table, leaving Jaehyun by himself. I sat back down beside Baro and Baro gave me a look that I could tell meant he knew something happened. And he wanted me to tell him.

The rest of the gang were still on their hair rant and seemed to have not noticed I was even gone in the first place. It wasn’t a surprise. I hardly ever participate in our conversations, only when they directly ask me on my opinion.

“Is everything okay?” Baro whispered as he leaned into my ear to make sure that nobody else would hear.

I felt my face heating up again and I wanted to punch myself in the face. I shouldn’t be acting like this. Especially after that conversation with Jaehyun.

I nodded my head and tried leaning away, but that only made Baro scoot closer to me, concern written all over his face. “Are you sure?”

I turned my head away from him. “Yeah,” I mumbled.

Suddenly Baro grabbed me by my chin and gently turned my head so that we were face to face again. None of the guys noticed, they were all too absorbed into their conversation. “It’s not because of what I said to you the other day, is it?”

I quickly shook my head and pushed Baro’s hand away from me.

Baro blinked at me before smiling. But I could tell the smile wasn’t genuine at all. “Okay. Good.”

Jaehyun returned to the table a minute later, but didn’t spare me or Baro a glance for the rest of the period.

--

I closed my locker and sighed.

I wasn’t sure what I’m supposed to do about Jaehyun. What he said about Baro might be true, but he was being completely unreasonable. He can’t possibly expect me to be all close with him again after what he did to me. And it wasn’t like I knew myself why I become so close to Baro so quickly. It sort of just happened.

And speaking of Baro, I seriously need to stop acting strange around him. Maybe I’m not even acting strange because of the possibility that he might like me. Maybe there’s just there I’m not realizing yet. I need to figure it out soon though. I’m obviously hurting Baro with the distant act and I don’t want that.

“Oh, you’re still here?”

I glanced over at the sudden voice and standing a few feet away from me was Baro. Speak of the devil.

My eyes immediately wandered up to his hair and I resisted the urge to cut it all off. It wasn’t that his new hair color was bad or anything. It just didn’t fit him. But I can’t lie, he did look a little hot with it.

“What? Is is really that weird?” Baro touched the top of his head and frowned. “Should I just go back to blonde?”

“No,” I mumbled. “I’m still trying to get accustomed to it.” I looked around the hallway and realized we were the only ones here. School already ended 20 minutes ago and everybody but us seemed to have gone home already.

“Are you walking home? Lets go together.” Baro flashed me a smile and before I could answer, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out of the school building.

The walk home was quiet. And completely awkward. Well, it was awkward for me. I wasn’t sure how Baro was feeling at the moment and his facial expression was unreadable.

“Say, Deullie.”

I glanced at his way before looking straight ahead again. “Yeah?”

“I screwed us up, didn’t I?”

I swallowed a nervous I wasn’t even aware was there. Baro wasn’t the one who screwed us up. It was me. I was acting too weird about this whole thing, even after I promised him that nothing was going to change after his confession. I just need to act like I did before he told me anything, and then everything will be normal again. If I keep acting like this then Baro will beat himself, thinking that he’s the one in fault.

I just need to pretend the confession never happened. That should be simple.

It wasn’t until we were almost of Baro’s house that he spoke again. “Do you,” Baro said slowly as he turned to face me, “Do you want to come over? Or would you rather just go home?”

I still had that English project to do, but to walk to my apartment would take another 20 minutes and I was already tired enough just from walking this far. I should’ve just taken the school bus.

“Alright.”

--

Baro and I were in his room, he was sitting at his desk and I was resting on his bed. The two of us were supposed to be doing our homeworks, but we were in a 5 minute break that started an hour ago.

“Guess what,” Baro said as he stood up and walked over to sit beside me. “My mom is coming home tonight.”

I didn’t flinch when he sat closely beside me and the smile that formed on Baro’s face when he saw me not running away was enough for me to realize how stupid I was to be all weird before.

“Your mom?”

Baro nodded his head. “She called yesterday and said she had time to come home for a bit. The maid is coming later tonight to make us dinner.”

“I didn’t know maids cook. I thought their only jobs were to clean.”

“Minjung does,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s been with us since I was small.”

I remembered the last time I’ve seen the maid and the conversation the two of us had. She mentioned to me about how Baro never brought friends over, which I found completely odd. I had assumed that Baro was popular in his old school because of his carefree and bright personality. I mean, his whole demeanor just screams “class clown” and everybody loves a good class clown. But maybe he just didn’t want to show any of his friends where he lived. His house is huge and it could make people think he was trying to show off or something. Even I would want to brag about living in a place like this at least once or twice.

“I was wondering if you wanted to say for dinner too?”

I thought for a moment before answering. “I guess I could stay.”

Baro smiled widely. “I’m glad.” He stood up again and went back to his desk. I watched as Baro picked up his pencil and finally began looking over his schoolwork, his lips quietly mouthing the words he was reading to himself.

“Hey,” I called out after a while.

Baro turned his head to look at me. “Yeah?”

I motioned my hand for him to come back to the bed. He was reluctant at first, but eventually Baro stood up and sat back beside me.

“I was wondering,” I said, once Baro settled down, “Why did you lie to me about the whole Haejung thing? Tell me the truth. Don’t just say because you felt like it or something lame like that.”

Baro chuckled to himself and went to lay his back down on the bed. “Honestly,” he said as he stared up at the ceiling, “I thought it would get you jealous. But you didn’t seem to care at all so it was really just a complete fail.”

I mean, I was a little annoyed about the whole thing, but I wasn’t jealous. “But you still kept lying about it for so long. Why didn’t you give up the first time you realized I wasn’t going to care?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “I thought that you might find out about me possibly liking you. I mean, I still don’t know about my feelings exactly, but I didn’t want you to suspect anything until I did figure them out. I thought if I lied about dating Haejung, you wouldn’t notice anything.”

Even though it was a dumb idea and I don’t like the fact that I was lied to, it did make a little sense. But even so, the thought of Baro ever liking me would have never crossed my mind even if Baro didn’t do the whole Haejung scheme. I never thought he’d possibly played on the same team. He always seemed like a skirt chaser to me, so for him to even see me in that way, even just a little, was kind of flattering. That meant Baro actually noticed me.

Unless, I was the first guy he ever had any interest for. Then that puts even more pressure on me.

“I think my cousin is trying to get with Haejung.”

Baro sat up, a little surprised and that made me a little annoyed. “Shinwoo?”

“Yeah,” I slightly muttered, “He was having a study date with her the other day. That’s when she told me about everything.”

“Are you mad at me?”

I thought for a second and then shook my head. “I guess your reason makes it forgivable. I do, on the other hand, want all those time I wasted listening to you ramble about her back. I lost a lot of sleep because of that.”

“Sorry about that,” Baro said with a chuckle. “I’ll make it up for you.”

“How so?”

Baro grinned. “I’ll tell you a secret.”

I shot him a skeptical look. “That’s how you’re going to make it up to me? A secret isn’t going to make up for the lack of sleep I got.”

Even so, he nodded his head and kept that smile on his face. “Okay, so when I was younger, my older cousin made me watch a scary movie with him one time. I got so scared that I made an accident in my pants.”

I rolled my eyes and slightly frowned. “Big deal. Everybody peed in their pants at least once in their life when they were a kid.”

“I was 11 and I didn’t pee.”

I didn’t think I was going to laugh as long as I actually did. But the thought of an 11-year-old Baro sitting in his own and scared out of his mind was too funny for me not to laugh. I eventually had to hold onto my stomach because the pain on my side became too much from all the laughing.

“You can’t be serious,” I said in between all the laughter.

Baro nodded his head again. He was chuckling along with me, probably amused at how much I was laughing at his stupid story. “I never told anyone. Not even my cousin knows about it. I had to run to the bathroom before he caught on and I even stole a pair of his underwear to change into.”

After a few more minutes of laughing, I finally calmed down a bit. “I really can’t believe you.”

“Well, you should because it’s true. You can’t make something like this up.”

I stayed quiet for a moment before flashing Baro a sly smirk. “I’ll tell you a secret too then.”

This got Baro excited, probably because this would be the first secret I ever told him.

I leaned a little closer to him, making the suspense grow a little bigger by bringing my lips closer to Baro’s ear. With a hushed voice, I said, “Shinwoo’s real name is Dongwoo.”

Baro blinked. “What?”

I leaned back and chuckled. “He was always teased about it because there’s supposedly a boy band member with the same name. He got so annoyed that he eventually tried convincing his parents to change his name. They didn’t agree so he self-changed it instead to Shinwoo because he thought it sounded cooler. He got it based off of that nickname my uncle gave him, CNU.”

Baro laughed a little louder than I expected, even pushing me slightly on the shoulder. “That’s not a secret about you.”

“I didn’t say it was going to be about me,” I said, pushing him back.

“Whatever. But he really did that?”

“And he will kill you if you call him by his real name. Trust me. I’ve almost died a couple of times.”

Baro laughed again and shook his head in disbelief. “You must really hate your cousin if you can easily give his secret away like that. That, or you must really like me enough to trust me.”

“He just pisses me off all the time,” I mumbled. I then lowered my gaze to the ground and whispered, “And well, it’s not like I hate you or anything so…”

Baro blinked at me for while until I looked back up to make eye contact with him. I noticed his cheeks were a bit tinted with a pink color and his eyes scanned my face like he was searching for something.

He then covered his mouth with his hand and turned his head away from me. “Damn it,” I heard him mutter through his hand.

After a few seconds, he turned back to me. “You shouldn’t say things like that,” he mumbled as he removed his hand from his mouth.

“Like what?”

Baro didn’t answer my question and just ruffled my hair instead. I pushed his hand away and shot him an annoyed look, but all I got was a soft smile in return.

There was a sudden knock on Baro's bedroom door and the two of us turned our heads as Baro's maid opened the door and stood at the door frame.

"Good evening, Sunwoo," She said with a bow. But then she quickly stood up straight again and slightly bowed a few more times. "I mean, Baro. Good evening, Baro."

"Oh, Minjung," Baro said. He stood up with a bright expression. "You're here earlier than you should be. Dinner isn't for another couple of hours."

"Since your mother is coming home tonight, I wanted to cook you guys a nice dinner." She smiled, "She must be exhausted from her work. I wanted to make something special. But it will take a while."

"You don't have to go through all that trouble."

Minjung shook her head. "Your mother hasn't been home for quite some time. I think a nice dinner is deserved."

Baro smiled back. "Okay. Well, thanks."

Minjung bowed again before turning her attention to me. "Will you be staying for dinner as well?"

"I guess," I said, a bit unsurely now. It seemed like this return of Baro's mother was a big deal, and I didn't want to be that one guy to awkwardly joined this special moment when I obviously don't belong.

"Of course you're staying," Baro said as he jokingly shoved my shoulder.

Minjung bowed once more, and I realized I'll never get used to her constant bowing. "It's nice to see you here again, by the way. If the two of you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen."

She nodded her had head and then left the room, leaving me and Baro alone once again.

Baro turned to me and sat back on the bed, our shoulders slightly brushing against each other. "I can't wait until you meet my mom. You're going to love her."

"I can't wait either," I lied.

"Let's finish our homework and then maybe watch a couple of movies until my mom gets here."

"Fine. But no romance comedies. I don't need you attacking my lips again."

--

We ended up watching romance comedies either way. It was the only thing in his mother's DVD collection, so we really didn't have a choice.

After our third movie, which was another romance comedy by the way, the house phone suddenly rang.

"Minjung will pick up," Baro said as he didn't bother moving from the living room couch. Despite how spacious the couch was, baro still sat right next to me with barely any space between us. He was practically leaning into me. I've gotten so used to this that I was no longer affected by how uncomfortable it might look from someone else's point of view.

I didn't respond and just kept my eyes on the screen.

It was another kissing scene and I could only think about the first time Baro and I were in this situation.

Back when I was completely unaware of Baro's feelings towards me and when he stole my first kiss. My actual first kiss. I mean, first kisses are no big deal to me. I find it completely pointless when one tries to save their first kiss for their first love. Odds are, they give it away to some douche bag anyways. I just didn't think my first kiss was going to be with a guy.

There was a bowl of popcorn sitting on my lap and Baro reached over to grab some. "Their acting is a little weird, don't ya'think?"

"The male seems to be trying too hard," I answered, "If he relaxed then it would look much more believable."

"Why are all the movies we watch have such bad actors?" Baro asked with an amused chuckle.

"Beats me," I mumbled, "You're the one who always chooses the movies, not me."

Baro chuckled again and sat up. He grabbed the bowl off from my lap and placed it on the lamp side table beside the couch. He turned to me and I blinked at him, wondering what was up. There was still half an hour left of the movie and we weren't completely done with the popcorn, at least not enough for Baro to take the bowl away from me.

"Would you do if I asked to kiss you again?"

I frowned, pulled my head back a bit and shot Baro a suspicious look. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," Baro said nervously, "It's just, seeing all these couple kissing makes me want to do it too. Is that weird?"

"Yes, completely. Besides, you didn't even ask me the first time. You just did it."

"I'm sorry."

The small pout on Baro's lips made me feel guilty for something I shouldn't even be feeling guilty about. But it was enough to make me say the words I never thought I'd ever hear. "Just a peck, alright."

Baro shot me a surprised, but hopefull, look. "For real?"

"Only a peck, okay? I can't stand seeing that disgusting, depressed look on your face. But I don't even know why you'd want to. I mean, you even said yourself that you only 'might' like me, and stuff-"

It was quick and sudden and made me completely shut up.

Baro slightly pulled back, his face still a close proximity with mine. He slightly his lips, with his eyes still locked on mine.

"I was only kidding," he slowly whispered. "But I'm glad you said yes."

We both stayed quiet, our eyes locked on each other lips. I didn't know what happened, what I was thinking, or why I even let it happen, but the sudden moment when we both leaned in again and Baro and I were now in a deep kiss, my arms wrapped around his neck and his hands were placed gently on my waist.

And the only excuse I have is; I'm a guy. And maybe my heart was racing a little too fast and maybe I was enjoying this a little too much. I'm not stupid, I know what this feeling is.

I just won't admit it.

But when Baro gently rested a hand on my cheek, his thumb slowly it in a calming manner, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him much more deeper into the kiss, as if it was even possibly.

I found myself falling slowly onto my back, felt the couch moving from Baro climbing up to hover over me, and our lips not pulling apart even once. I didn't even realized I had closed my eyes.

I wasn't sure what to feel. I just knew that I kinda didn't want to stop at all. Not yet, at least.

The only time we pulled away was for a quick breath but we quickly reconnected again before any sense could come to us.

It wasn't until the sound of a gasp and a stumble of heels that we finally pulled away as fast as we could. Baro practically jumped off of me and I sat up to look at Minjung, who was standing at the living room entrance. She had the house phone in her hand and her face was completely red.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said slowly, "But your mother just called." She lifted up the device in her hand. "She called to say she can't make it today."

My eyes moved from the maid to Baro and I was a bit shocked to see the disappointment in his face. He looked as if he was just told that the world was ending soon and he didn't have time to say goodbye to everybody. He didn't say anything as he stood up and slowly nodded his head. "Oh. Okay."

"I'm sorry, Sunwoo-"

"I think I'll go to bed."

He didn't look at either one of us as he walked past and headed towards the staircase. Minjung tried to go after him but he quickly dash up the stairs without looking back.

Minjung turned to me and bowed. "I apologize. It seems like Sin- Baro isn't up for company anymore. I finished dinner, so if you'll like, you can stay and have some before going home."

I subconsciously my lips. I slowly stood up and shook my head. "I'll just go home."

"Please, let me pack you some food for you at least. We invited you for dinner, we should at least send you home with something."

She was avoiding eye contact and my face was still heating up. But it wasn't like I could deny her offer.

"Okay. Sure."

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