Gongchan scanned his eyes at all of us as we all stood in front of the front door. We were already dressed to go out on our last day of our trip, but Gongchan had stopped us from leaving the vacation house.

Baro was standing beside me and he subconsciously reached over to fix the hood of my sweater. I felt my cheeks heat up and so I swatted his hands away saying that I can do it myself, but that only made Baro laugh.

“This is the last day and then we’re going home tomorrow,” Gongchan said. He stood there with his hands on his hips and determination on his face. It made me worry about what he had in store for us. “But because of some people,” Gongchan muttered as he shot me and Baro a hard look, and then even one at Jaehyun, “We never actually had a full day where all of us were together. So today I am determined to make sure none of you guys sneak away or whatever. We are going to be together whether you like it or not.”

We nodded our heads, but I secretly rolled my eyes as well.

“Today is souvenir day!” Gongchan said proudly. He flashed us a credit card and grinned widely at us, “Or also known as, ‘If-I-Want-It-I’m-Buying-It’ Day. Price doesn't matter. If you want it, I’ll buy it for you.”

“If that’s the case,” I muttered, “Then I want a boat.”

“Oh, then can I have a mansion?” Namsoo said with a teasing grin.

“I want Hawaii!”

We all shot Baro a weird look before Gongchan waved his hands at us to stop talking. “Stop joking, guys.” He said with a slight blush on his cheeks. “You know I can’t get you guys that kind of stuff. I just meant, like, a sweater or something. Besides, what the hell are you going to do with Hawaii?”

“I just think the volcanos there are pretty cool.”

I face palmed myself and quietly mumbled to Baro to just shut up and spare himself the embarrassment.

“I don’t know,” Jinyoung said, after we were all done judging Baro, “You already spent so much money on us. I don’t think we should be wasting anymore.”

“How many times do I have to say it?” Gongchan exasperated, “It’s totally fine.”

I can tell Jinyoung still wasn’t okay with it but, but Gongchan was soon pushing us out of doors and towards the van so we could head to the mall before he could protest again. I wasn’t all okay with it myself, but I knew at this point there was no point in arguing with the little brat and just let him do whatever he wants. It was the last day anyways, so why not just give this day to him.

I just so happened to begin walking along side with Baro, completely ignoring the look Jinyoung sent us before he was dragged away from an excited Gongchan.

Baro and I haven't mentioned anything about the confession since last night. The only thing that showed me ever confessing is the way Baro would blush a little more than usual, subconsciously reach over to fix any of my articles of clothing as if he was looking for an excuse to touch me at all, and would stare at me for a little longer.

I didn't know how to feel about any of those stuff, but I didn't hate it. I just wished he was so obvious around the guys.

"Do you have anything you want to buy?" Baro asked as we made our way to the van. We were the only ones walking completely behind, close enough that our shoulders would occasionally bump together.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I'm not an idiot. I know Gongchan has something up his sleeves about this whole thing and I'm not going to put myself more into debt by buying a stupid souvenir."

"But what if he isn't planning anything? Then you just wasted a perfect opportunity to get whatever you want for free."

"I'll take my chances," I mumbled. I thought for a moment before sighing. “I guess I can get my mom a hat or something. She’s been texting me non-stop to bring her something. Besides, she needs a new hat anyways.”

“You’re a huge mama’s boy, huh?”

“Shut up,” I muttered, but Baro only laughed before bumping his shoulder against mine.

“I’m joking. I think it’s cute how completely attached you are to your mom.”

“I’m not attached,” I tried to defend, but Jinyoung suddenly popped out of nowhere, placing a hand on my shoulder and sending Baro a sweet smile.

“Mind if I borrow Sandeul for a moment?”

I furrowed my eyebrows together and was about to complain about how I wasn’t an object that needed permission before doing anything, but Jinyoung dragged me away from the group before I had the chance to say anything.

While the other guys made their way into the van, Jinyoung excused us, claiming that he left something back inside and he needed me to help.

“What is it now?” I asked in utter annoyance, once we stepped inside.

Jinyoung eyed me for a moment before looking out the window to see the car waiting for us. Baro was the only one still standing outside while the other guys were already seated in the van.

“Care to explain?” he asked when he looked back at me. I took a glance at Baro and frowned.

“What? Baro always waits for me. I didn’t ask him to do it.” I heard my own voice crack and I mentally cursed myself. I’m normally able to keep myself when it comes to lying, but once Baro is involved, I become a mess. Jinyoung must have caught it as well as he raised an eyebrow.

“I can sense something between you and Baro, and I don’t know how to feel about it.”

“There’s always been something between the two of us. I thought we already past that stage.”

“No,” Jinyoung said a little annoyed, “There’s something new there. Something like-”

“Okay look,” I said interrupting him, “Before you go all ‘detective’ on me and tell me things I already know, I’ll just get it out. I confessed to Baro yesterday, there was an… awkward misunderstanding, but everything is settled now. Oh and we’re not dating.” I didn’t like the look Jinyoung was shooting at me, but it was difficult to find somewhere else to look at when you can feel his stare burning into you.

“Why do I even bother to give you advice when you’re just going to ignore what I have to say anyways,” Jinyoung grumbled in his belief. “I don’t believe you,” he said. “You couldn’t have possibly admitted anything to Baro when just yesterday you said you didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess I’m not as simple as I thought I was?" That was a big disappointment. "It kind of came out without me even realizing it, to be quite honest. But it’s out now and it’s not like I can go up to Baro and take it all back. That would be a move.”

“No. A move would be telling Baro you like him even after I told you that should be the last thing you should do. You’re not ready to jump into any relationships.”

“Which is why we’re not dating,” I sighed, “He agreed that it wasn’t a good time either.”

Jinyoung groaned out of frustration and suddenly reached up to ruffle up his hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said in annoyance, “So you’re telling me you finally confessed, but you two still aren’t dating? That’s only going to cause more trouble for you, you know. Now that Baro is completely aware about your feelings, who know how he’ll act around you now?”

“He’s been pretty okay this morning,” I mumbled. I woke up with Baro already dressed and heading downstairs to breakfast. The whole morning, neither one of us mentioned anything about the confession. Baro didn’t act any different than he normally would, expect for those subtle touches, and as far as I’m concerned, he was acting as though the whole thing wasn’t a big deal. I mean, how are you supposed to act after a confession? It would be one thing if Baro and I were actually dating, but since we’re not, I wasn’t really sure what to do.

“So how is Baro really taking this whole thing?”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you finally confessed but the two of you haven’t taken another step. Don’t you think that’s going to affect Baro in some ways?”

I reached up and began rubbing the temples on my head while letting out a long sigh. “Can you not?” I muttered, “I’m already having headaches from all the over thinking I’ve been doing these past few days. You’re just adding more pressure.”

“I’m sorry,” Jinyoung really did look apologetic so I figured there was no reason to hold a grudge against him. “But these are some things you should keep in mind, though. Don’t just think about yourself.”

“I’m not. Besides, I asked Baro for some more time to think about this. He’s okay with it all.”

Jinyoung looked skeptical, but it wasn't like we could stand here any longer to talk about this. The guys were waiting in the van and Gongchan will probably get impatient if we didn't go back soon.

"You know that once we go back home, I won't be able to really help you about this," Jinyoung said as we made our way back to the van.

"I know," I sighed. Of course. After today, we'll all be busy preparing for Christmas and New Year’s, there wouldn't be any time for us to meet up again until school starts.

“But you can text me,” Jinyoung reassured me with that typical mother smile of his and I nodded my head. “I’m just watching out for you, alright? I know I’m being annoying about this whole thing, but you never know if these small decisions you make might affect you in the future.”

As much as I complained about it, I really did appreciate the help Jinyoung would offer me. He did it with good intentions and I was honestly a bit glad that I had someone I could turn to, even if he did just nag me the whole time.

We finally reached the van and Baro was still standing outside, waiting for us. He smiled widely when he saw us approaching. "Did you find what you needed?"

"No, but I'll look for it before we go home later tonight," Jinyoung said. He patted Baro on the shoulder before jumping into the van and leaving the two of us alone.

"What was he looking for anyways?" Baro asked as the two of us began making our way into the van.

"I don't even know."

The ride towards the downtown shopping area was the same as always. With Namsoo and Gongchan bittering for Jinyoung's attention, Baro was rambling about whatever pops into his head, me ignoring everyone as much as I can, and Jaehyun was blocking us all out with his headphones. At this point it doesn't even seem like Jaehyun was apart from the group. It was little upsetting.

When we finally got downtown, Gongchan basically chained us together as he threatened to hurt any of us if we stepped away for any reason whatsoever.

It was a little funny because I knew Gongchan wouldn't even be able to hurt a fly, let alone any of us, but I still wasn't going to go against his wishes, just in case he suddenly decides to charge all the money he wasted on me these past couple of weeks. I’m going to need to stay on Gongchan's good side for a while.

We went inside the biggest building in the shopping area, which happened to be a normal department store. It wasn't anything fancy and it didn't seem expensive either, so I wasn't having any second thoughts about buying that new hat for my mom.

But I didn't understand why Gongchan was so determined to have us all together when he literally only had his attention on Jinyoung. The rest of us decided to wander off, but still kept close enough for Gongchan to be content. Of course, Baro immediately glued to my side. Namsoo and Jaehyun seemed to be in their own little world as well. It seemed that those two got along pretty well, and for once Namsoo wasn’t concerned to bother Jinyoung.  

"What kind of hat do you want to get your mom?" Baro asked as we scanned the hat section of the store.

I shrugged my shoulders and pouted. "I don't know. What kind of hats do middle age women like?"

"Do I look like I would know the answer to that?"

"... Yes."

Baro shoved me and I tried not to laugh at his annoyed face. "Your jokes are so bland," he complained, but I could see the tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I mumbled as I went back to scanning the shelves, "I'm a golden comedian."

That really did make Baro laugh this time. "The only thing funny is how emotionless you look when you say thing like that."

"Maybe that's part of the joke."

"Then never change."

We continued to joke back and forth to each other until my eyes landed on a light blue flat hat that seemed decent enough. I picked it up and observed it for a while and then turned to Baro. "Do you think she'll like this?"

"I don't know," Baro said, taking a look at the hat, "What kind of style does your mom have?”

I thought for a second before answering. “Maybe I should start paying attention to my mother’s taste in clothing.”

Baro chuckled. He grabbed the hat out of my hand and looked around until he noticed a female working not too far away. “Ma’am,” he said as he waved her over. I felt my face heating up, due to the fact that I normally don’t like to ask workers for help, and I tried to get Baro to forget about it, but the worker came over with a bright smile.

“What’s your opinion on this?” Baro asked as he held out the hat for her to check out.

She nervously chuckled and answered by saying, “Sir, this is a women’s hat.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Baro’s flustered face. “I know that,” he said, “I meant, I wanted to buy this for my mom but I didn’t know if it was nice or not.”

“Oh,” the worker looked embarrassed herself and I didn’t blame her, “I’m sorry. If thats the case, then yeah, this hat is lovely. It’s really popular lately. It’ll be perfect for your mother.”

Baro thanked the worker, but instead of leaving, she only stood there and stared at us for a while. It annoyed me, the way she constantly looked back and forth at us so I gave out a deep sigh. “That’s it. We don’t need any more help. Thank you.”

“Oh gosh,” the worker said in a flustered manner, “I know, I’m sorry. It’s just, I think I recognize you guy. You guys look so familiar.”

“We’re from out of town,” I said flatly, “You don’t know us.”

Baro elbowed me on the side, probably his way to telling me to talk a little less coldly, and smiled at the worker. “He’s right. We’re from out of town. You’re probably mistaken us for somebody else.”

The worker didn’t seem convinced as she eyed us for a moment and squinted her eyes as if she was trying really hard to remember. “Were you guys at the street fair a couple of days ago?”

I blinked at her before frowning. “Yeah. So?”

“Oh, now I remember!” she said excitedly. She pointed at us with wide eyes and said, “You two were the gay couple me and my boyfriend saw.”

Baro and I were both taken back. “Excuse me?”

“You guys were sharing mittens and holding hands. It was so cute,” she actually squealed a bit and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her. “I tried to get my boyfriend to do it too, but he was too embarrassed.”

I was ready to jump in and tell her she was completely mistaken about us being a ‘couple.’ But Baro beat me to it, and instead, said something I wasn’t expecting.

“You can’t even imagine how embarrassed he was at first, too,” Baro said with an exaggerated sigh, “He’s always complaining about things like that, but at the end he loves it.”

“W-what?” I said, hoping my face wasn’t as red as it felt. “What are you talking about?”

“My boyfriend is always complaining too. I mean, it wouldn’t kill him just to hold my hand once in a while. He’s so shy when it comes to that stuff. I guess since we’ve only been dating for a few weeks…” she trailed off and frowned.

But Baro put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and I couldn’t but squint at that. “Don’t worry; it took Deullie here a while to open up too.”

The worker looked like her heart literally swelled at the nickname Baro called me. “It’s so upsetting because he’s always so cute and clingy whenever we’re alone. But once we go out, he’s so embarrassed about it all.”

Baro nodded his head as if he actually understood how she felt. I just wanted to smack him on the back of his head. “This guy is too,” Baro said as he pointed at me and then chuckled when I swatted his finger away. “He’s a huge baby whenever we’re alone. Always asking me to his hair and feed him and stuff. It’s a little gross actually.”

“Stop telling lies,” I muttered, but Baro patted the top of my head and flashed me a smile.

“It’s so nice to know how open you are about your relationship,” the worker said, “I mean, not even many straight couples are as open as you guys. I think it’s great.”

Baro wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. I made an obvious attempt to get away, but he held onto me tight. “Thank you,” Baro said, “We’re just two teens in love. You know how that goes. Anyways, I’m sure it won’t be long before you and your boyfriend start to become like us.”

The worker said her thanks, then something about having to get back to work before her boss finds her slacking off, and soon she was gone and finally out of our hair. It wasn’t a second after her exit that I pushed Baro off and punched him on the shoulder. But maybe I didn’t do it hard enough because Baro just laughed.

“What’s wrong with you?” I said as I snatched the hat for my mom out of his hand. “Why did you tell her we were dating?”

Baro shrugged his shoulders and followed me as I made my way to looking for Gongchan. Now that I had what I wanted to buy, there was no reason for me to wander around the store anymore. “I wanted to see you look flustered.”

“You really need to stop doing that.”

“Also,” Baro continued, “What excuse would you give her if she asked why we were holding hands if we weren’t dating? And it’d just be really awkward if we told her the truth. She was already embarrassed enough. That would’ve made it worst.”

“If she was so embarrassed,” I muttered, “She shouldn’t have asked in the first place.” From the distance I could see Gongchan helping Jinyoung into a coat. Jinyoung obviously was trying to refuse, probably claiming how expensive it was, but Gongchan wouldn’t listen and kept pushing forward.

“Why are you so mad about it?” Baro suddenly asked. The tone in his voice made me stop walking and turned to face him. “It’s not like we’ll ever see her again. Is being my boyfriend that bad?”

I stared at Baro for a moment, trying to think of the right words, before I sighed. “I’m not mad about that.”

“Then what are you mad about?”

I felt my lip pout as I crossed my arms against my chest and looked down to the floor. “If anything, you’d be the clingy one. Not me.”

It took Baro a second before he started laughing again. “Is that what you’re mad about? Because I said you were the clingy one?”

I didn’t say anything and kept the pout on my face. There was more laughing from Baro, but after a while the noise came to a stop. I suddenly felt Baro’s hand grabbed my shoulder and he pulled me towards the back of the store, where none of the guys were around or could see us.

“Don’t be mad at me,” Baro said in a low voice. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to wrap his arms around me and gently rest his head on my shoulder. “I was only joking. We both know I’m the clingy one.”

I continued to stay silent and so Baro began swaying us side to side and I eventually sighed. “I wasn’t mad. Just annoyed. And you shouldn’t be doing this.”

“I know,” Baro mumbled and I could feel his breath hitting the side of my neck, “But there are a lot of things I shouldn’t do that I do.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” Baro thought for a while before answering, “Like pulling out the usb without properly ejecting it.”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “That’s not even bad. We all do that.”

“I also eat ice cream during the winter, even though my maid always nags me about that. And sometimes I fake a doctor's note so I can out of school. Minjung nags me about that too. I watch rated r movies. I don’t floss. And I don’t-”

“Okay, I get it. You’re a badass.”

Baro chuckled and lifted his head so that he was now resting his chin on my shoulder.

“I just don’t think we should do this…”

“Why not?” Baro mumbled, “We both like each other. Alright, so maybe we’re not dating,” Baro shrugged his shoulders and tighten his arms, “but it still feels nice.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“This isn’t helping at all. You said you’d give me a couple of more days.”

“I said I’d give you a few more days, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you along the way.”

I didn’t say anything so instead I let Baro to continue to hug me for a while. We stood there in silence, with Baro’s head back to resting on my shoulder, and it didn’t feel bad at all. I didn’t get any of those butterflies you’d read in books or see in movies. My palms didn’t get sweaty and I didn’t feel nervous at all.

But it still felt good.

Baro pulled away and let go, and suddenly everything felt empty and I didn’t like it one but. “There’s also something else I do that I shouldn’t.”

“What’s that?”

Baro placed a quick kiss on my lips and pulled back again with that stupid grin of his that I like much more than I’ll ever admit. “But that’s my favorite thing to do, so I probably won’t stop anytime soon.”

I ignored the heat on my face as I shoved Baro. He just laughed.

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

I handed Gongchan the blue hat and he stared at it as if he’s never seen a hat before. “You do know this is for girls, right?”

I rolled my eyes while Baro snickered beside me. I just hoped Jinyoung didn’t noticed how Baro’s lips were slightly bigger than normal.

“I know that,” I muttered as I snatched the hat out of his hands. “It’s for my mom. Either way, what I wear is none of your business.”

“You got that right,” Gongchan mumbled. But he then smiled and took the hat back. “Alright. I’ll buy it for you. But is that all you want? You can get something for yourself, you know.”

Baro held up a sweater that had caught his eyes on our way back to Gongchan and Jinyoung. It was a dark blue and pretty plain looking if you asked me. “I want this. But it’s pretty pricey.”

“How much?”

“A little over $30,” Baro answered with a bit of concern in his voice, “I can pay you back. I would’ve paid for myself but I didn’t bring any money. But now thinking about it, that’s a lot of money for a stupid sweater…”

Gongchan grabbed the sweater and smiled at Baro. “Bro, it’s okay. I got you. At least it’s not Hawaii.”

I noticed the new jacket that was in Jinyoung’s hand and ignored the look Jinyoung gave me when he saw my swollen lips. At this point, he probably just gave up on nagging me about this.

"Where is Jaehyun and Namsoo?"

It wasn't until then that I noticed the two males were missing at the moment. They probably wandered further than we were originally supposed to. And Gongchan didn't seem happy at all that they weren't around.

"Just text them," I said before Gongchan could go on about and complain about how they went against his wishes and crap. "They probably got distracted or something."

Gongchan actually listened for once and decided to call Namsoo. I was surprised that he even had Namsoo's phone number saved, seeing how he hated the guy.

We all stood there watching Gongchan as he waited for his called to be answered, so I wasn't prepared at all when I felt a sudden hand land on my shoulder. I literally jumped at the sudden contact and subconsciously found myself grabbing onto Baro's sleeve.

I turned to see a confused Namsoo and frowned at him. "Warn a person next time before you try giving them a heart attack."

The other guys finally noticed Namsoo too, but I also noticed Jaehyun wasn't with him either.

“What’s going on?” Namsoo asked, confused.

Gongchan hung up the call and frowned at him, which he’s been doing a lot lately. I couldn’t wait until this day was over so that I can go back home tomorrow and not have to deal with Gongchan’s annoying any longer. Like I said plenty of time before, I didn’t hate the kid, he’s just really a bothersome. “I was just calling you. Where did you go?”

“Hyun kept getting distracted as these pair of shoes we saw over there. But they were pretty lame if you asked me.”

“Hyun?” I couldn’t help but question.

“Yeah. Jaehyun. Why, is that weird?"

"A little," Baro said while the rest of us nodded our heads.

Namsoo just frowned. "Well, anyways," he said, trying to steer our thoughts away. "I'm getting a little hungry. When's lunch?"

I took a look around, just to make sure I was actually right about Jaehyun not being around. "Before that, where's Jaehyun?"

"What do you mean? He's right-" Namsoo stopped when he looked over his shoulder and realized that Jaehyun was nowhere to be found. He did a 360 turn before looking at us again. "He was right behind me. Maybe he got lost again..."

"That's why I told you guys not to wander too far," Gongchan whined. "Let's just go to the cafeteria they have on the basement floor and text Jaehyun to meet us there."

Everybody else seemed to agree with that idea, but I thought of something that made me request for an alternative option. "Knowing Jaehyun, he's probably just going to get distracted again. You guys go ahead and I'll go get him. That way he won't wander off again."

The look everybody gave me didn't make me feel comfortable at all. It was probably because it was the first time I had offered to actually do something nice without having somebody forcing me into it.

"Go before I change my mind."

That was enough for the guys to happily say their goodbyes as they dashed out of the area towards the elevator. They probably have noticed the bad atmosphere between me and Jaehyun lately and nobody wanted to deal with that.

I frowned as I watched them leave and then turned to go look for Jaehyun.

It took me longer than I expected, especially since I refused to text him. But I eventually found him in the jewelry section of the store, piercing inside the glass case with so much concentration; it was no wonder that he didn't notice me standing there until I had to clear my throat to catch his attention.

He only glanced up, but didn't seem at all interested at the fact that I was standing in front of him.

"Oh. Hey."

"Hey," I said. I watched as Jaehyun put his attention back to the case. "I'm not judging, but I never expected you to be someone into earrings." I looked especially close at the heart shaped ones behind the glass.

"I'm not," Jaehyun muttered, "but since Christmas is coming up, I thought I should probably get my mom something now instead of last minute like I did last year. But it doesn’t seem right to buy something for her with Gongchan's money."

"I brought my mom a hat."

Jaehyun simply remained silent as he continued to stare at the case. A few moments passed by before the silence was cut. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh? Oh. The guys are getting lunch so I came to get you."

"No, I mean what are you doing here? Why didn't Namsoo or Jinyoung come instead?"

"Well, I’m here instead. I don't think Namsoo is the best person to get you when he was the one who lost you in the first place."

Jaehyun still wasn't looking at me. "Nam didn't lose me. I wandered on my own."

"Nam?" I mumbled, "Since when were you and Namsoo on nickname bases?"

"What?" Jaehyun said a bit defensively, "We've been calling each other that for a while. Maybe if you didn't have your head up Baro's all the time, you would've noticed."

He had mumbled the last part, most likely expecting me not to hear it. And although I would have loved to snap out at him for that, I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"Hyun is a bit weird, though" I said while trying to keep my composer. "It's a bit too affectionate."

"Why does it matter to you? Baro calls you Deullie all the time. You don't see me complaining."

"You complained a lot before," I muttered to myself. But the "tch" that came out of Jaehyun's lips told me he heard.

"Can you leave?" Jaehyun snapped, his annoyance quickly rising, "There's no point for you to be here."

"I forgot how much of a you can be when you don't get what you want."

This time Jaehyun finally did look over at me. "? Deul, in case you haven't noticed, you're the biggest out of all us here."

I ignored that comment because it was slightly true and so I couldn't exactly deny it. But that doesn't mean I still wasn't offended about it.

"You should be glad I even talked to you when we were a kid," Jaehyun continued to mutter bitterly; "Everybody thought you were such a freak. If it wasn't for me talking to you, you would've been a loner your whole life. You wouldn't even know how to talk to people."

I blinked with that stoic look on my face, as always. "What are you talking about? Even after you started clinging to me, I never talked to people."

"And now you have a whole group of guys practically kissing the damn ground you walk on."

What the hell was this bastard talking about? Since when did I become the 'King’ of this group? If anything, Jinyoung was probably at a higher status than I was, seeing that he had both Namsoo and Gongchan following him like his loyal servant. I wasn’t even close to the top of the food-chain and I wasn’t trying to climb my way up either.

"You and I both know how I am. You don't have to be around me if you don't want to. That'll make my life a lot easier."

"Why do you think I've been ignoring you these past couple of days? It's not like we're friends anymore anyways."

"Wait. What?" I was a bit confused for a moment and only stood there, trying to understand what he just said. "Who said we weren't friends?"

"I mean, you were the one who said you didn't want to deal with me anymore."

I rolled my eyes and reached up to pinch the bridge of my nose. "When I said I didn't want to deal with you, I meant your stupid obsession with hating Baro. Not our friendship. Idiot."

Jaehyun hand wandered up to touch the glass case. He let his fingers linger for a while before dropping his hand back to his side.

"I know about you and Baro.”

I felt myself stop breathing for a quick second. I kept my face stoic and instead moved so that I was leaning my body onto the glass case, hoping that I didn’t seem interested at all about what Jaehyun just said. “Haven’t we had this conversation already? I thought we settled the fact that there’s nothing going on between Baro and me.”

Jaehyun scowled at me. He copied my position so that he was also leaning onto the glass, completely ignoring the “Do Not Lean on Glass” sign hanging not too far away from us. The two of us stayed there, staring hard at each other.

“I’m not talking about what happened at the street fair. Holding hands wasn’t even as bad as what I saw yesterday.”

“And what exactly did you see yesterday?” I heard my own voice crack.

Jaehyun continued to stare at me for a moment before sighing. “I’m surprised how normal you two can act right after kissing. If it was me, I would have been freaking out.”

I could feel my eyes widening, but I tried my hardest to keep calm. I my dry lips. “What are you talking about?”

“If you guys didn’t want to get caught, you shouldn’t have been kissing on a bench out in public.”

The quick memory of me placing that peck on Baro’s lips flashed in my mind and I immediately regret ever doing it. I could feel myself heating up, but I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I just happened to come back from the bathroom at the wrong moment.” Jaehyun chuckled bitterly and turned so that he was looking back down at the glass case. “God damn it.”

“About that,” I finally spoke when I finally remembered how to talk again, “Look, I-”

“I told you not to go near him anymore, but you never listen, huh.” Jaehyun snapped. “What’s wrong with you? I told you he was a bad kid. I told you not to get close to him. And now you guys are doing things like that?”

I paused. “Excuse me?”

“So what, are you guys dating? What the hell is exactly going on between you two? And don’t pull any more of that ‘there’s nothing going on’ crap anymore. Are you gay? Why didn’t you tell me anything? Do you really hate me that much?”

All these questions were beginning to give me a headache, but I really did not appreciate the way this kid was lecturing me as if I was a little kid.

I was an idiot for not being completely aware of my surroundings at that moment when I kissed Baro. I sound have looked around before trying anything. I shouldn’t have even done it in public.

Jaehyun was the last person I wanted to know about us. I would rather die than have Jaehyun know.

“I told you to stay away from him,” Jaehyun continued, “I told you that he was going to screw you over. Why don’t you ever listen to me?”

“Can you shut up?” I finally snapped. I was completely done with listening to all these stupid questions. “Can you just shut up for once? Who the hell do you think you are? You said it yourself; we’re not friends anymore, so why the hell do you still think you can tell me what to do? Scratch that; even if we were friends, you still can’t tell me what to do. You don’t own me.”

I could tell Jaehyun was going to attack me back, but I didn’t give him the chance.

“Baro and I aren’t dating. And even if we were, it’s none of your concern. You’ve pissed me off enough constantly complaining about how Baro ‘stole your best friend,’ but the truth is that you screwed yourself up. If you weren’t so damn jealous all the time about Baro, then we would’ve still been friends. At least Baro doesn’t bother me anymore about staying away from you. At least Baro isn’t an annoying, spoiled brat like you. You were the reason why our friendship got ed up the first time. And now you screwed us up again.”

I could see the anger in Jaehyun’s eyes. And frankly, I was really mad myself. This whole thing was bull and I was completely done with it. I was tired of Jaehyun talking to me like he had authority over me. I was especially tired of all this fighting. Everything seemed fine just a month ago, but that was when Baro and I were avoiding each other and Jaehyun didn’t have to worry about sharing me. But the moment we became friends ago, my relationship with Jaehyun completely went downhill.

“You know what,” I said, letting out a tired sigh, “You can find the cafeteria on your own. I’m done with you.”

I turned and began walking away, but stopped after a few steps to turn back to Jaehyun. “Oh, by the way,” I said, “Baro and I made out. On more than one occasion. We might not exactly be dating, but I’ve done everything you didn’t want me to and it felt ing great. Oh, and Baro is a great kisser.”

I raised an eyebrow and smirked at the shock looked on Jaehyun’s face before turning around again and walking away.