Karam woke up on hearing his alarm clock buzzing. He got up off the bed and made his way to the bathroom. Looking at his horrible reflection in the mirror, he sighed. His eyes had dark rings around them from lack of sleep. His eyes struck him the most. They had lost their light, almost as if his will, his iron strong, unwavering will, had been crushed and simply disappeared.

After ten minutes, he was back in his room when he heard his cell phone ringing from its place on his study desk. He hesitated at first because it was an unknown number, but he still answered it.

''Good morning, Beautiful,'' a husky voice melted through the phone.

Karam groaned. ''Don't tell me this is Yang Seungho.''

''Okay, I won't then.''

''What do you want, Seungho? Why are you calling me so early in the morning?'' He groaned, lying back onto his bed.

''Well, aren't you a ball of sunshine," the person on the other line known as Seungho replied with a sickly sweet voice.

''Not in the mood. Get to the point, " he mumbled, ignoring the remark. ''Wait, how did you even get my number?''

''Uh...'' Seungho thought. ''I am uh.. very skilled at getting information?''

''Key gave it to you, didn't he?''

''Don't tell him I told you," Seungho said quickly, and it actually made Karam smile with amusement. ''He'll kill me. You know he's really protective of you? It's weird." 

''Well, we're best friends. I'd do the same for him,'' Karam told him. ''Why are you calling anyway?''

'Nothing special. Just wanted to hear your morning voice. And this is gonna be my routine from now on," Seungho said childishly.

God, what was that? It almost sounded like a declaration. It's not like he ever promised Seungho anyhthing. Oh.... Why does he feel this nervous? He has to focus on something else. Anything.

"Now that you've told me, I need to get ready for school."

'Okay, bye, Beautiful. See you later at school.'

Karam sighed after he hung up. This was going to be a long day. 'Will I be able to move on?' 

"Hmph! I can do this!" Now with a more determined expression, he got ready for school.

~~~~~~~~~~~

At school Karam thought it would be best not to mention what happened yesterday between he and Seungho to Key. He had promised he would never keep secrets from Key, had he been lying? Are there a lot of things that he hasn't told him? He felt sick at the thought.

Key texted him letting him know that he was coming in late to school. Seungho was nowhere to be seen, as well. Karam didn’t know where he'd gone. Most probably he had a meeting with his football team. He felt more lonely today than he ever had. Even when Key was off sick before, Karam felt lonely but not as much as this. He didn't seem to be able to pay attention to any of the lessons in class.

He didn’t feel like going to the cafeteria today.  He walked down the hallway to a place where he and Key would spend their lunchtime whenever they skipped lunch. He sat on the green grass under a tree behind the block.

Karam tried his hardest not to think of anything. Because whenever he thought, he would only think about Changmin and what he did, and it hurt him so much. What if Changmin had someone else right now? He would probably get whomever he wanted anyway. He was probably with some attention right now. Hell, for all Karam knew, he was with more than one at a time. Thoughts like that ran through his mind all the time along with ones about… Jung Changmin.

He closed his eyes.

"Karam, I'm in love you."

Karam looked at Seungho. "You don't know what you're saying, Seungho," he said softly.

"I know what I'm saying. I.." He paused for a second looking Karam straight in the eye. "Do you have somebody else, perhaps? I don't think that you do because I never see you with anyone else other than Key."

‘Get your own boyfriend. That will help you.’

‘Changmin is your brother, for God’s sake.”

“Hyung, I can’t love you like that. We're brothers.”

Karam was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t realize someone was standing beside him.

He was towering over him. "Mind if I join you?"

Karam was clearly surprised, but kept quiet and just nodded.  “Seungho.” He groaned slightly and pivoted around to face him with an emotionless mask.

Seungho suddenly kneeled down so they were eye to eye with one another. "Missed me?" he teased. "Sorry to startle you. I was looking for you at the cafeteria but LeeJoon told me he saw you walking this way."

Karam sighed. He kept his silence.

"Karam, are you alright?" he asked and Karam looked up, his eyes looking everywhere but at Seungho. "Karam?" Seungho asked again, and this time Karam looked at him. He smiled, but soon faltered seeing Karam's troubled face. He couldn't help but ask, "Karam, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah?" he answered nervously.

Seungho gave him a look "You seem troubled. Are you ok?"

Karam slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm okay." Seungho sat next to him. Their shoulders brushed each other.

"Karam, about yesterday... I really meant it,” Seungho said, without looking at him. He continued. "I’m serious, Karam. I really like you and I hope you will give me a chance to prove it to you." His voice turned smaller and smaller with each word.

“To prove what? And is that why you called this morning?” He asked.

"Okay, I'm sorry for calling you early this morning. Hey, don't be mad..."

"To prove what, Seungho?" Karam interrupted him and got straight to the point.

Seungho was silent and looked deep into Karam's eyes. "That I love you and I want to be the one for you," Seungho whispered after a while. He smiled and took Karam's hands in his and laced their fingers together. Karam just sat still and let Seungho hold his hands. "Please give me a chance to prove that." Slowly Seungho leaned in. Karam didn't have time to react before Seungho's lips were on his. Just a short peck, a simple touch of their lips. For the moment, Seungho seemed to be content with the fact that Karam wasn't pushing him away.

With one look at his face, Karam could te