Jinri was thankful that Luhan acted casually on their next meetings because otherwise it would be extremely uncomfortable for her if they had become awkward with each other. He pretended that nothing had happened between them—probably the kiss did mean nothing to him—and taught her like he usually did. However, she was aware that she could felt Luhan’s eyes staring at her head or her back during the lesson—or at least she thought he did that; he always looked elsewhere when she looked back at him. Nevertheless, everything else between them wasn’t changing.

“If I were you, I would try to patch things up with Sehun now.”

Jinri looked back at Luhan in puzzlement from near the bookshelves. She had just returned her Mandarin workbook into its place after another Friday night tutoring with him.

“What do you mean?” She asked him incredulously. 

“Well, I kind of know that the two of you weren’t talking to each other in the past week and you only have another month left in Seoul.”He told her matter-of-factly.

Jinri eyes widened. How did he find out about it?

“Do you even know why he is avoiding me?” She asked him curtly.  Although she liked Luhan, he was prying to her problem and Jinri didn’t like it at all. Not to mention that it was him—her kissing him, to be exact—was the source of her fight with Sehun.

 “No, Sehun didn’t want to tell me about it, actually. I found out by accident. But if I were you, I would rather admit a fault I didn’t commit rather than leaving the country while still in bad terms with my best friend,” he advised wisely while continuing stuffing his brown leather messenger bag with his books, his back facing her.

She glared at Luhan’s unsuspecting back because she knew he was right: she was running out of time. However, Jinri strictly believed that Sehun act of avoidance was totally immature of him and she refused to succumb to his juvenile behavior.

“He will come into his senses in no time.” She muttered.

Jinri cursed as she found herself standing in front of Luhan’s dance studio at Sunday, 4 pm, sharp. I’m not going to apologize to Sehun, she chanted stubbornly in her mind, I’m not going to…

“Jinri-ah!”

Her face lit up at the familiar voice calling her. She turned back and saw a really sweaty Luhan—who became ten times more attractive than he usually was—was walking toward her, with hand carelessly thrown around the shoulder of a bewildered Sehun. She saw Sehun looked at Luhan at his side and back at her again before throwing death glares at Luhan’s direction. Luhan, however, pretended that he didn’t saw the murderous stare Sehun gave him and cheerily dragged Sehun along with him.

She smiled and nodded courteously at Luhan before handing him a lunch box.

 “Wow, you made me another one? Thank you so much. You don’t really have to go through all the trouble of making a meal for me, you know.” Luhan commented cheerfully while happily accepting her gift.

She shook her head furiously. “It isn’t a trouble at all. I just hope you will enjoy it, Oppa.”

“I will,” he answered brightly, making her blush like usual.

He squeezed Sehun’s shoulder before pushing the younger guy—who looked extremely displeased and seemed to feel betrayed—toward Jinri.

“Here, have Sehun-ah as a change,” Luhan added jokingly with a huge smile plastered on his face.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” He told Jinri before ruffling her hair and left her.

Jinri nodded and her eyes followed Luhan’s back which quickly disappeared in the midst of people rushing back to their respective home. She looked back at Sehun who was staring at her blankly. A frown quickly formed on her face. The two of them stared at each other quietly; none of them were willing to apologize and neither wanted to start a conversation with another.

However, Sehun finally broke the silence.

They silently walked side by side. She sometimes stole a glance at Sehun and so did Sehun but no one dared to say a word. Sehun made a turn at the nearby park and she followed him. He stopped to sit on an old wooden bench and tapped the seat next to him, asking her to take it. And so she did.

Sehun his lips before he took his eyes into her eye level.

“I’m sorry.”

Sehun and Jinri spoke at the same time. Jinri stopped and let him continued since she still strongly believed that she wasn’t the one at fault.

He his lips again—the habits never died—before he spoke.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated.

“I’m sorry that I purposely ignored and avoided you these days. I… I just can’t believe that you’ve kissed some other guy. It’s not that I think no one will kiss you but I was surprised that I don’t know about it. I mean, we are close and you practically tell me everything. I’ve been thinking about it in these past few days and it really bothers me.”

He stopped to see her reaction but she didn’t say anything. Her eyes bored at him in a mix of curiosity and disbelief. He decided to continue.

“I’m really, really, bothered by this because…because I’m jealous,” he admitted; his eyes stared directly at hers.

Her eyes widened in surprise but she kept being muted, triggering him to carry on.

“I’m jealous because he wasn’t me. I like you, Jinri.”

Jinri felt her heart stopped for a while after the confession. It wasn’t that she didn’t expect it because she knew it was going to happen someday. It was because she didn’t want to believe that Sehun was actually interested in her. She didn’t want him to because she knew she would have to break her best friend heart. And it hurt her to do so.

“Jinri, please say something. I know you knew it all along.”

Sehun pleaded, ignoring the fervent blush on his pale face.

Jinri closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. This is not happening.

“Sehunnie,” she started, calling him with his childhood nickname she hadn’t used for years, reminding him of the early days of their friendship, “I adore you, I really, really, do, but I believe you also know that I don’t have any romantic interest in you. I really like you as a friend; you are really important for me.”

“I’m so sorry,” she added as she saw the crestfallen look on his handsome face. She bit her lower lip as she felt herself fighting the urge to cry. She had just crushed her best friend’s heart. Her relationship with Sehun had just gone from bad to worse.

Sehun let out a bitter chuckle.

“At least you are being honest,” he hollowly spoke, “just like what you said; I already know what kind of reply you would say. I just hoped that you would be merciful enough to lie.”

“Sehunnie, I…”

“It’s alright, really. Just, give me some time.”

Sehun leaned back to the bench and exhaled loudly. Jinri eyed him worriedly, pondering over the options she had. Now that she already stated her lack of romantic interest in Sehun, there was nothing else she could say to comfort him, right? So she ended up leaning back to the bench as well and idly watched the little kids playing with the swings; she didn’t realize that they were there before.

“How long is your time left in Seoul?” He asked her out of blue.

“Approximately one month. Why?”

“Be my girlfriend for that one last month.”

“But Sehun, I’ve just told you…”

“Spare me this time, would you? Make it your farewell gift for me?”

Jinri looked at Sehun in disbelief but the guy’s eyes were full of determination.

“Would you?”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She really could never win against Sehun. However, she remembered Luhan and his not-so-innocent crush in Sehun: she was going to break his heart as well if she ever dated Sehun. Right now, there would always be Luhan in consideration.