Somehow the light illuminating from Lay’s phone screen wasn’t so bright anymore, it was as if the whole world turned dark, a sour taste made its way into my tongue

No words came out of my mouth, nothing will at this rate. Did he just say that—

He liked me?

I don’t.

To be honest, the first time I met Lay, I really did see him as a guy that I would want to be with, he was nice— he is nice. He’s the epitome of a gentleman. He’s always there when I need him, he’s there to fill in the gaps of friendship I never had in the beginning.

Lay would always make me laugh when I’m sad.

But, those things happened before I started falling for Lu Han.

Though in the past, I saw Lay in that kind of way, I don’t anymore. I do love Lay, but as a brother. As a friend, nothing more, nothing less.

If it was the past me, I probably would’ve said yes but I already have someone and I won’t ever let go of that person.

“I-I’m sorry, Lay but I’m afraid—“ he doesn’t let me finish and instead cuts me off with a heavy sigh, did he anticipate this kind of reply? I already felt bad, because I didn’t realize that Lay would actually develop those kind of feelings for me, I thought he did those things out of friendship.

I’m sorry. I even kissed him, and I treated it as a game. Wow, Heejin is the biggest in the world, isn’t she? Let me just—

“It’s okay, you know— just forget…I even said that,” he trails off his sentence, and just stares at the ground as if he could even see anything in the first place.

I don’t say anything, it’s because I can’t find the right words to say, if there’s anything even appropriate to say right now.

“I’m really sorry, Lay,” I apologize once more, these are the only things that I could mutter out.

“It’s not like I can control your feelings, it’s not your fault,” he says, I could hear his voice faltering. Uh-Oh.

Good thing it’s dark, I don’t think he wants me to see his face right now and I wouldn’t be able to face him eitherway, how am I suppose to act towards him from now on?

Act normal like how I did before? But wouldn’t that hurt him? Or would he prefer it that way?

What will Lu Han say if he finds out what happened tonight?

I let go of Lay’s hand and slowly pulled him closer to me, wrapping him in a tight embrace. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to—

I just want him to know that what he told me just now, won’t affect our friendship. He’ll never lose me. That’s the only thing I can give him.

“I’m really sorry,” I apologize again and again, as Lay returns my hug tightly, his head leaning on my shoulder, “I hope you’re happy with hyung,” he says softly,

“If he ever makes you cry, I will go and punch him for you,” he continues— at this rate, it didn’t even look like he could stop.

“If you’re ever sad, always remember that I’m here, Lay is here,”

“always waiting—“

The last thing he said, it was the saddest thing I ever heard in my life. Waiting.

Waiting for what?

Waiting for something that will never come by is the hardest thing.

I wanted to burst in tears but no tears started dripping, it’s not like I had the right to cry, it’s not my feelings that have been toyed with.

All this time, I only went to Lay when I was mad at Lu Han, it’s like he was a second choice, but he just welcomed me into his arms and comforted me.

I just feel really bad right now.

I don’t say anything and just nod and stay in his tight embrace, I didn’t want to let go of him because I knew he needed me at the moment.

Such irony—

Wanting someone who just rejected you.

I won’t get into details of what happened after that, we just came out of the forest safely and saw the others telling each other lame jokes,

Lay and I decided to act as if nothing ever happened, but I wasn’t sure if I played that off nicely.

Lu Han’s POV

My world suddenly turned bright again when I saw Heejin walking out of the forest, until I found her hands intertwined with Lay’s,

But then before I could say anything a stupid jealous boyfriend would say, I realized that Heejin probably held his hand because of her fear of the darkness.

That’s right, don’t get too ahead of yourself Lu Han. I don’t want to start meaningless fights with her anymore;

She let go of Lay’s hands hesitantly, but I notice Lay just shrugging it off, I frown at this weird interaction.

Did something happen?

She made her way towards me, her usual emotion-free face on. This is the hard thing about her, I can never tell what’s going through her head—

“I heard your flashlight wasn’t working, are you okay?” I take her hand, soothingly, then slowly looking at her in the eyes, waiting for a reply,

“I’m okay. Thankfully, Lay was there to guide me,” she says, slowly grasping my hand, and I just tuck the small strand of hair covering her eye, behind her ear.

“You look tired, do you want to go back and get some rest?” I ask, worried. She looks really exhausted for some reason; her expression even seemed strained; which was weird.

She’s usually mean and sarcastic 24/7, I’m just not used to her giving “humanly” replies. When I say humanly, I mean normal. Heejin and normal don’t even go together.

She nods in reply, then I take her hand and we start walking slowly back to the hotel, not even bothering saying goodbye to the others since we were too lazy too and it’s not like they would notice us leaving anyway,

As we finally reached her hotel room, she let go of my hand, “I’m going inside.” She says,

I just nod and sheepishly rub the back of my neck and lean in for a quick but haste peck on the lips.

Smooth .Lu Han, real smooth.

She looked amused and surprised at the same time, but she doesn’t say anything. She smiles, but it’s not her usual smile, -- it seemed like a relieved smile, of what though?

Is it just me or am I just overanalyzing things?

“Okay, good night before you can sneak in my room,” she says sarcastically, now that’s more like it. That sass.

I roll my eyes, but before I could give her another quick peck on the lips, she shut the door right in my face hard.

Oh good. Right when I thought she was acting weird. Never mind.

The next day, was when things got weirder.

The teachers woke us up, who I almost kicked because no one can ever wake me up from my slumber. Just no one. Okay, no one.

I tell you. It is definite.

Well, unless you’re Heejin. She’s an exception, well, who doesn’t get woken up by freezing water being poured into your heavenly beautiful face.

Yeah, okay. No.

Miraculously, I found myself out of bed and ready to go get my breakfast, when I got to the dining room, everyone were already eating and it was pretty noisy.

Well, let me give myself a time when the hell are they not noisy?

As soon as I got my food, I immediately sat down with my idiotic friends, taking the seat next to Heejin, obviously.

Which was a miracle, because the seat beside her would usually be occupied by Lay, so me, the ing supposed to be boyfriend has to suffer with sitting on the other side of the world, like no. just no.

Well, I got used to it, really. Since I trusted Lay, or did I? He’s been my friend for a very long time and I do treasure him; and I am well aware of his feelings for Heejin, but I know him well enough to know that he won’t take advantage of her with the reason of me being with her.

He has enough sanity not to pick a fight with me. I’m sure he treasures our friendship as much as I do, so I didn’t really mind his harbouring feelings for her;

But today was a little weird, Lay would always sit beside Heejin, even if it meant fighting with Kris over the seat.

It’s not like I wanted her to sit with Lay or anything, because I actually wanted the opposite.

Other than that, everyone was pretty much normal. Tao was complaining on how the sandwich tasted like sand, while Kris commented nothing on. Sehun and Kai were pretty much bickering on how stupid each other looked.

“I’m done, I’ll just see you guys later,” Lay got up and took his plate, not even waiting for our reply. I swear I saw Heejin stiffen at the corner of my eyes. Now, something is really ing wrong.

Lay would always— ALWAYS, wait for us to finish eating and comes with us. When I say, I mean always.

I notice that Kris had sensed the weirdness as well, his eyebrow raised, “Where are you going?”, Kris curiously asked, obviously waiting for an answer,

“I just want to get some fresh air,” he excuses, not looking at us then continues on his way out.

Kris and I shot looks at each other, ‘What’s wrong with him?’

Yeah, we have telepathic powers.

“Heejin, can I talk to you? Privately?”, I whisper to her, and she looks at me in confusion, but then nods in agreement the next second.

I drag her in a silent hallway in the hotel, I lean on the wall and look at her, “Did anything happen last night?” asking her seriously, something must’ve happened last night.

At least, to Lay.

I see her eye look away for a second but then she returns my stare, “N-nothing really in particular,” she stutters.

She rarely ever stutters—

“Are you sure?” I push, something happened but she won’t tell me. She would’ve told me if it didn’t involve her, but I’m pretty sure it does.

She furrows her eyebrows in annoyance, she was getting pissed and I could tell, “I said nothing, alright?” she snaps, then she realizes the rude tone she had emphasized on then her eyes soften,

“Sorry,” she mumbles, as I sigh in defeat.

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t have pushed you,” I say, I just don’t want to pick a fight anymore, I won’t stick my head into their business. Whatever happened there, Lay probably wouldn’t want anyone to have known.

I stand up and make my way to leave, though she didn’t tell me, I already knew what Lay could’ve told her last night that shook them both up.

Before I could walk away, I could feel Heejin grabbing my hand, “Lu Han— about last night, really. Nothing happened.” She clarifies.

I know something happened, but it’s fine.

“I got it, Heejin. I trust you, don’t worry,” I say and I mean it.

I do trust her.

another update! ooooh, i'm on a roll and i'm hoping it'll continue! More drama coming through, this is only the start. Please comment, I really love reading your comments ^^

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