Eunji looked like she was spacing out as she looked at Seungho through his office door, busying himself with reports on his laptop. It's been a week since the incident with Hyewon, but there were no clarifications about the incident until now. But Eunji didn't mind...He's probably trying to start a new life and didn't want to remember his past that's why he's like that... Oh well, it doesn't matter. What's important is the present Seungho...she thought. But at the back of her mind, it still bothers her that Seungho treated Hyewon harshly that day. She sighed and just let the natural course of things to manipulate its way through Hyewon and Seungho's relationship.

Then, with eyes still fixed at Seungho, thoughts of the events for the past months flashed in Eunji's mind. A smile slowly etched in her face as she recalled how the different events shared by Eunji and Seungho revealed different expressions of Seungho – his smiles, his giggles, his poker face, his painful expressions...She realized that she has been slowly becoming attached to this person...Their 'misadventures' surely brought them to obstacles that no ordinary friends would go through. And it made her happy that she was able to get to know the 'real' side of Seungho through these events.

Right then she knew that Seungho was one of the important men in her life...

A man who taught her to laugh every once in a while...

To have room for herself to breathe and keep her guard down a bit...

And most importantly, he helped her bring out the courageous person inside of her – to be dauntless in difficult times not only for herself but for others.

Just then, Seungho's eyes met hers, startling her and thus making her snap out of her daydreaming. To her surprise, Seungho gave her a bright smile accompanied by a soft chuckle. His eyes sparkled as he looked at her...This made Eunji look in awe at him, adoring his bright smile and his big brown eyes. This is just weird, she thought. She pretended to chuckle to clear up her tension a bit. After a good 5 seconds, their eyes skewed away as they busied themselves back to work.

________________________
 

It was lunchtime once again, but Eunji was busy with her computer. Suddenly, she felt someone tap her shoulder. When she looked back, she saw Seungho looking at her with his sparkling eyes and bright smile again; she smiled back and asked what he wanted. In a cheerful tone, he asked her to accompany him on lunch. But she had to finish her paperwork by 5 p.m., so she refused. But Seungho insisted, bugging her for the next 5 minutes until she finally accepted the invitation.

They went to Seungho's favorite restaurant, which was just a 10-minute drive from their office.

___________________

They were silently browsing through the menu when suddenly,

“Seungho?”

Eunji heard a man's voice behind him. She looked and saw a handsome guy with a wide smile and teary eyes looking at Seungho. Without a word, Seungho swiftly went to hug the man. Eunji had a startled yet confused look in her face as she watch the two men hugging each other tightly. She got more surprised seeing the teary-eyed Seungho tightening his hug around the man. After a good 5 seconds, the man pushed Seungho a bit as he spoke,

“How have you been man?It's been 3 years...”

“I'm good...I'm living a new life...How about you?” Seungho said as he gestured his friend to sit with them.

“I'm married now, have 2 kids. You remember Yae In?”

“Really? Yae In, your bestfriend?? Wow! What happened to Soo Yeun?” Seungho said as his eyes grew wider in excitement.

“Well, things just didn't work out for us...She had other plans for herself...You remember the last time you saw us? At that time she told me that she was planning to leave me already. So I let her leave, because I know there's nothing I can do to make her stay with me...Good thing Yae In was there to help me recover. From then on, Yae In and I became inseparable...” Seungho's friend ended his update with a bright smile.

Seungho tapped his friend's shoulder as he smiled back at him, “That's great man. You deserve a woman that'll make you happy for the rest of you life.”

“Speaking of which, how are you and Hyewon? I saw her the other day, and she was forcing me to talk you into getting her back. I told her I haven't seen you for 3 years and that I didn't know how to contact you. After that she left without a word...What was that all about Seung? She really looked whacked-up and desperate...” the man said with a worried look in his face.

Seungho chuckled a bit as he bowed his head down, avoiding his friend's eyes.

“She...”

He then looked up to catch his friend's eyes,

“I caught her cheating on me AGAIN Seunghyun...” he was almost whispering as he talked.

Eunji controlled her expressions as she listened to the two. She just watched as Seunghyun's eyes grew wider in shock, while Seungho looked down again, his lips trembling. Seunghyun patted his friends back as he tried to lock-eyes with him, “I'm sorry to hear that Seung...”

Seungho lifted his head and looked straight at his Seunghyun's eyes. “I'm not. I just felt bad that she took our relationship – me - lightly. I never thought she looked down on me like that...She didn't deem our relationship important.” Seungho smiled as he utter each word, trying to conceal the pain that was radiating from his eyes.

Seunghyun, seeing that his friend was still in agony over what happened to his 'great love', smiled and hugged his friend tight.

Eunji clasped her hand that was placed on her thighs. She was surprised herself when she finally heard Seungho's story. She kept silent as she watched the two men.

Trying to break the awkward situation, Seungho pushed out of Seunghyun's embrace and changed the topic. “Well, enough of her. Let's just eat, I'm starving!” Seungho said as he smiled. “Oh, I almost forgot. This is Eunji by the way, my friend.” Seungho pointed at Eunji. Eunji, embarassed by the sudden attention, made a 45-degree bow as she smiled back to Seunghyun. Seunghyun shook her hand to recognize her politeness.

________________________

Their lunch table was lighted up by Seungho and Seunghyun's laughter, as they reminisce through their mishaps and misadventures in the past. The two men laughed their hearts out, not minding Eunji's presence at all. Eunji smiled as she sighed, enjoying this rare moment when she get to see Seungho's heart-felt, full-blown laughter. Although she has seen Seungho laugh in a few gag or jokes every now and then, his laughter now was different...It's a type of laughter that radiates from genuine joy.

After a while, the two men were panting already as they wipe the tear on their eyes. “Oh man! I really miss our times together! I haven't had this much fun since we last saw each other!” Seungho said, his smile running from ear to ear. Seunghyun chuckled, then said, “Surely our 'Batman and Robbin' Adventures are truly epic! We should try doing that again sometime!” Seungho's eyes widen in excitement, “Yeah we should! I'll call you up sometimes for that!”

In the middle of their laughing fit, Seungho's phone rang. “Mmm, neh..” Seungho put down the phone for a while and looked at his companions, “I need to get this...Please excuse me for a moment.” Seungho smiled at them and left.

Seunghyun's eyes kept focused to Seungho until he walked out. Just then, his eyes met Eunji's.

“Oh! Hi...” Seunghyun got surprised by the presence of the woman behind him.

“Uhm, we're kinda dorky aren't we?” Seunghyun smiled shyly at Eunji.

Eunji chuckled at the man's words. “We all have our dorky sides. Your stories are quite amusing actually,” Eunji reassured the embarassed man.

Then, silence.

“So,...you guys seem pretty close, huh?” Eunji said, awkwardness was just too evident in her voice.

“Yeah, we are. We're practically brothers...” Seunghyun paused for a while, then, with a bit of hesitation, continued, “See, our mothers were admitted at the same Cancer Facility and had the same treatment schedules, that's why I met him. From there, we became friends and eventually partners in crime.” Suddenly, Seunghyun bowed down, then said, “We were each other's pillar of support as well. You see, both of us only had our mothers as our only family...When my mom died, he was the only one who helped me with the wake, the burial...He helped me financially, psychologically and emotionally to survive the first few months after my mother's death....” Again, Seunghyun paused, trying to control his tears from falling. Then, he smiled and lifted his head looking Eunji in the eye. ”He was one heck of a friend, I'd say!”

Eunji was surprised by Seunghyun's story. She didn't know that Seungho can be that kind of person...All she knows is that Seungho is quite a gentleman who transforms into a party animal in appropriate events.

Just then, Seungho came back, arms slung at another man's shoulder as he approached their table.

“Hey, you remember this guy? 'Mr. Van Wilder'” Seungho smiled widely as he winked at Seunghyn,

“Oh right! Your friend. Hi, nice to meet you again!” Seunghyun stood up and bowed as he shook the hand of Seungho's friend.

Meanwhile, Eunji's eyes widened at the sight of the man. opened a little seeing Seungho's arm around the man as they approached their table. She took in a deep breath as Seungho and the man turned to look at her.

“Eunji-ah, this is Joon, my party buddy.”

Joon was quiet as he stared at Eunji.

Eunji took a deep breath before she lifted her head and look at the man who made her put her guards up high to men.

“How's Aerin man? When's her due date?” Seungho asked Joon, unaware of the heaping tension between Joon and Eunji.

“U-uh...Sh-she's...Uhm...Hmmm...She's due in 3 months.” Joon struggled to get his words out.

Seungho lightly punched Joon in the shoulder, “Dude, what's wrong with you? You look pretty tense!”

Joon looked at Seungho, then shifted his eyes towards the woman who look tense herself. In a calm and soft voice, Joon spoke, “Hi Eunji. It's nice to see you.”

Seungho got surprised but what Joon did, “You know her?”

“Yeah...I'll explain later...” Joon said while looking intently at Eunji, who's still looking at the floor until now.

“Hi Joon. I'm happy for you and Aerin. Congratulations to your new baby.” Eunji looked in Joon's eyes deeply, eyes moist and lips crooked into a smile while trembling a bit. “Truly, I am.”

Seungho looked at Joon in a daze, with a shocked look in his face. Joon just kept his eyes fixed to the ground.

Eunji stood up and grabbed her bag. “I'll go ahead guys, if you don't mind.” She was about to speed off when Jon grabbed her arm.

“Eunji-ah, I'm sorry.”'

Eunji, with her back facing Joon, suddenly turned her head locking her teary eyes with Joon then said, “It's a thing of the past Joon...Besides, I forgave you already...” Eunji gave him a weak smile before speeding off.

Joon just let out a deep sigh as he watched her leave. Seungho, still confused about what happened, held Joons elbow to force him to face him before he asked, “What was that all about Joon”

Joon just loked deep into Seungho's eyes before he made his confession...

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Hey everyone! I would like to sincerely apologize for the extremely late update!
I was supposed to finish this fic in a month since I already have the whole concept of the story in mind;
but unfortunately, my acadamic requirements are not allowing me to (TT.TT)

Another thing dear readers, I would like to ASK FOR YOUR HELP regarding the ENDING of this story...

Do you have any ideas that you would like to share? 
Because honestly, I'm really struggling with coming up with a good ending for this story  (@.@)

Hope to hear from you! Please feel free to write down you suggestions in the comment below :)

And to my avid readers, especially @asdfghjkenia, I did not rush this chapter, believe me! Thank you for previous comment! (^o^) That sure helped my brain to work better! (~.~)