“Dongwoo, get up!” You had been yelling yourself hoarse outside Dongwoo’s house for the past hour, trying to wake your best friend up. He had promised you last night to help you move. You had sent him a bazillion texts as reminders and even personally set his alarm clock to the correct time. Unfortunately, Dongwoo sleeps like the dead.

You’re about to give up and do the moving yourself when you spot an open window to Dongwoo’s ground level apartment. You might be able to squeeze yourself in and physically wake up Dongwoo. You were starting to doubt even a hit to the head would wake him up.

You prop yourself up on the window sill with your elbows and crash into Dongwoo’s place. Not the most graceful of entrances but you got the job done. Luckily, something soft had broken your fall. You blow your hair out of your eyes and freeze when you come face to face with Dongwoo. His eyes were closed, thank god. You watched as his eyes fluttered and made his eyelashes dance. His mouth was slightly open as he breathed gently in and out.

You had only dreamed of being this close to Dongwoo. Dongwoo was your best friend and new you inside and out. You knew Dongwoo just as well. That was the problem. You loved his easy laugh, his big smile and his inability to lie to you. You knew Dongwoo would make the perfect transition from best friend to boyfriend. Now you just had to make the clueless guy realize it too.

“Pabo,” you mutter to him. Now, how were you to exact your revenge? Draw on his face? No, that would make him less inclined to leave his house. You sigh. Maybe you should just get him up so you could move faster.

“_______-ah,” Dongwoo says in his sleep. Did he just say your name? You smile to yourself. He was probably dreaming that he pranked you successfully.

You get off Dongwoo and stand over him. To get to business, you yank off his already messed-up sheets. How does he sleep like this, wound up like a child in swaddling? You kindly move your gaze elsewhere. You had manoeuvred Dongwoo into his front and his sleep pants were leaving nothing to the imagination in terms of his .

“Dongwoo! You’ve got to get up!” you yell.

Dongwoo smacks his lips and turns on his back, tangling himself in his sheets again.

“Dongwoo!” You go for a physical approach and slap his chest. You think you’re successful at waking him up when his eyes fly open but je just closes them again. False alarm.

“Dongwoo...” you whine, feeling helpless.

A hesitant rap on Dongwoo’s door startles you. “Dongwoo...do you have _____ in there with you? What’s ... going on in there?” came Hoya’s voice. , you forgot about Hoya. Hoya was Dongwoo’s roommate and other best friend.

You’re blushing like crazy at Hoya’s thoughts. You can only imagine what you trying to wake up Dongwoo had sounded like outside of this room. You rip the door open to Hoya’s surprised face.

“Why didn’t you wake Dongwoo up when his alarm clock went off? You knew he was helping me move today! I’ve been pounding on your guys’ apartment door for an hour straight. Where the hell were you?!”

“I was in the shower....” Hoya trails off, rubbing his hair with a towel.

“I had to come in through the window, like some common criminal! And now you think we were....” You’re not able to finish that sentence.

“Sorry. This is the best way to wake him up.” Hoya comes back with a cup of water and promptly splashes it in Dongwoo’s face.

Dongwoo wakes up sputtering, wiping his face to get the water off. “I’m up, I’m up. God, Hoya you can be such a—” Dongwoo cuts himself off when he sees you. “______, what are you doing here?”

You put your hands on your hips and Dongwoo looks uneasy. “What am I doing here? Oh, you know, I as in the neighbourhood and thought, didn’t my best friend promise to help me move today?”

Dongwoo sends you an apologetic smile. You decide to torture him. “But when you didn’t answer, my new extremely handsome neighbour carried all my stuff in for me. He even invited me to dinner tonight.”

Hoya hides his grin behind his hand and watches Dongwoo’s face darken. “What do you mean handsome neighbour?”

You flutter your eyelashes, “Oh, his name is Jonghyun. He’s really fit and super attractive. How lucky am I to live in an apartment with such a nice neighbour. He even complimented me on my arm muscles!”

“If he touched you, I’m going to kill him!” threatens Dongwoo.

“How am I supposed to get a boyfriend if you’re threatening to kill every guy that talks to me?” You roll your eyes at his absurdity.

Hoya can’t take it any longer. “There’s no good-looking neighbour, you gullible sleep-head! _______ is just angry at you for not waking up in time!”

“Oh,” Dongwoo grins in relief. “Good. I didn’t want to bruise my knuckles today,” he cracks his fingers to show he means business.

“I’ve got a much better use for those hands. Now get up and get dressed,” You eye Hoya. Two pairs of strong arms are better than one. “You’re enlisted too.”

You watch as the boys move your heavier items into your new apartment. You supervise, of course, making sure they don’t drop anything valuable. You command them to move all your furniture in the correct place. When the guys take a break, you had prepared a cooler full of ice-cold water bottles, predicting Dongwoo would begin to complain at some point.

“Why do you have so much stuff?” demands Dongwoo, after taking a long drink of his water.

“I don’t have a boyfriend, so I have to fill my place with objects, so I don’t feel as bad!” You lay the guilt heavily on Dongwoo. Every time you showed even any remote interest in a guy, Dongwoo dismissed him as “too pretty” or “a jerk”. You always took his advice, seeing as how he was a boy and probably knew their minds better. But it was starting to get on your nerves. How were you supposed to get over your unrequited love if he didn’t let you date?!

“You’ve got me...” Dongwoo mumbles.

“And that’s my cue to leave. I’ve got some... dances to practise. See you guys later.” Stupid Hoya, leaving you with Dongwoo. Like the two of you were ever going to figure out a compromise.

“Dongwoo...” you start, not sure how to commence this conversation. “You know you’re the best friend in the world,” Dongwoo smiles widely at the compliment. “But, a girl needs someone to hold her at night, not just a guy who punches her in the arm when she says a lame joke. Do you understand?

Dongwoo looks up at you, with those puppy-eyes of his, “I can do both of those things.”

“Ugh!” Clearly Dongwoo wasn’t getting it. “No Woo!” You drudge up your pet name for him, “I mean a guy who will love me and want to kiss me! You’ll always be my best friend but I need more! I’m tired of feeling lonely at the end of the day.”

Dongwoo kicks one of your boxes with hardly any force. He looks really uncomfortable. Oh, now you did it! Did he finally understand your hidden meaning? Had he guessed your true feelings and now he was about to tell you he did not feel the same way? This was exactly your reason for keeping quiet all those years. You were going to be devastated if you lost Dongwoo.

Suddenly, Dongwoo explodes. “Why can’t I be enough for you?” he bellows, “Every day I try to show you how I’d be a good boyfriend. I walk you home every night. I make sure you eat. I wipe your tears away when you’re crying. I cheer you up when you’re down. I love you silently, so that it doesn’t become awkward between us. And all you do is complain about how I scare all the good guys away. Of course I do! None of them are good enough for you!” Dongwoo finishes and his face crumples as he begins to cry.

 You stand in shock for a few minutes, Dongwoo’s words not sinking in yet. Dongwoo loved you back? Was this a dream? Were you still sleeping at your old apartment? Or maybe you had hit your head hard when you fell from climbing in Dongwoo’s window. You punch yourself and gasp at the pain it causes. Nope, this was real.

You rush to Dongwoo’s side to comfort him. He always was a big baby when it came to crying. Your heart brakes as his sobbing shudders through both your bodies. Dongwoo unsuccessfully tries to push you away, “I don't need your pity!” he says angrily.

You try to wipe away his tears “Woo...”

Dongwoo interrupts you. “I don’t want to hear it. You’re just going to break my heart. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.

You can’t believe the both of you have been this dense that neither of you could figure out you both loved each other. You found in ironic that you thought you everything about Dongwoo.

“Dongwoo. I listened to you. Now you better listen to me!” You instruct. Dongwoo barely nods in acceptance. He refuses to look at you so you grab his head in both of your hands. You want to him to get this the first time. “I have loved you since grade 2 when you stopped those boys from picking on me. You helped me up with that goofy grin on your face and I was done for. I fall in love with you a little bit more every time you laugh. I look forward to the times when you say something you think is funny and look at me expecting me to laugh with you. I always wear my hair down so that when you notice my hair is starting to annoy me, you take out the elastics you carry around for a very specific purpose: to put my hair in a ponytail for me. I cherish the moments when we’re in a crowd and you put your arm around me, even if it’s just to protect me. I love you too, you silly goof.” You feel tears well up at the corner of your eyes.

Dongwoo finally has the courage to meet your gaze. His eyes are still flowing with unshed tears but they are shining with his love for you. “She loves me!” He yells at the top of his lungs and throws you over his shoulder, laughing his maniacal laugh. You think he’s going to just take you around the yar, but he actually bursts though the gate and runs down the road with you still on his shoulder.

“Yah, Dongwoo, where are we going?” You try to yell over Dongwoo’s still excited whoops but he’s not able to hear you (or he’s deliberately ignoring you).

“Hoya!” Dongwoo shouts as he catches up to his roommate, who didn’t even make it home yet.

“What the—” Hoya isn’t even able to finish his question before Dongwoo screams “_______ loves me! ________ actually loves me!”

“Hi Hoya,” you say, Dongwoo still not putting you down. It was kind of weird to be talking to someone while they probably had full view of your . “Dongwoo, seriously, all the blood is rushing to my head!”

“No!” Dongwoo says stubbornly. “I’m not letting you go. Never!”

You feel a jolt go through Dongwoo’s body and you assume Hoya is smacking some reason into Dongwoo’s head. “She’s not going to run away! Let her go so I can congratulate you both!”

The moment Dongwoo sets you down, Hoya sweeps you both in a bear hug. “Finally! You guys are just so blind. I swore to myself, the next time the two of you fought, I was going to burst both your secrets. It was so obvious to me, I couldn’t understand why you guys weren’t getting each other’s hints.”

You and Dongwoo exchange sheepish but happy smiles. “I guess we’re just meant for each other,” Dongwoo says, planting a kiss on your forehead.

Hoya teases the two of you for Dongwoo’s public display of affection. “Good thing ______ has an apartment of her own. I don’t want to experience the real deal of what I thought was going on this morning.”

Dongwoo looks at you curiously, “That reminds me, how did you get in my room in the first place?”

You blush under both boys stares. Dongwoo drops his jaw in shock. “What were you doing to me in my sleep?!”

“N-n-nothing!” you start to stutter.

“Gotchya!” Dongwoo laughs. He had finally pranked you. You shake your head at his childishness.

You go to punch him in the shoulder, but Dongwoo catches your fist with his hand and kisses it tenderly.

“I’m getting out of here before you smother me in all the hearts floating around in the air,” says Hoya. You barely notice his departure. You’ve only got eyes for Dongwoo. Your Dongwoo.

“Let’s go back to your apartment,” suggests Dongwoo. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”

You ahem and create some space between the two of you. “Right, I’m moving...”

Dongwoo shakes his head, indicating you’re wrong. His eyes gleam mischievously with what he has in mind. “No, I was thinking more along the lines of this,” and kisses you until you forget all about the stress of moving.