Zico’s POV

When U-Kwon came into the room about half an hour later, he was grinning at us. “Lunch time,” he told us all.

Sung Jong and Myungsoo got down from Sung Jong’s bunk and headed outside, leaving the three of us. I, however, stayed at where I was sitting on Kyung’s bed, glowering at him. He looked up and noticed my glare.

“What?”

“What the hell are you trying to do here, you idiot?” I demanded to know the minute the door closed behind Sung Jong. I didn’t care if he was older than me and that I wasn’t being formal when I was speaking to him. Right now, I was furious. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kyung slipping out of the room. “I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to do anything while we were here?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, coming over to me. “Why don’t you ask Kasumi yourself?” he shot back irritatingly.

I gnawed my teeth in frustration and was about to yell at him when I noticed he actually looked really glum. I stared at him in disbelief. “You confessed to her, didn’t you?” When he didn’t say anything, I knew something went wrong. If Kasumi had accepted him, he would be gloating by now. Suddenly I felt bad for him. “She . . . didn’t accept you?”

Would it be mean of me if I say that I felt this surge of hope?

“No, Jiho, it’s not what you think it is.” U-Kwon sighed and sat down in front of me. He didn’t meet my eyes. But then he looked upward. “I told her how I felt about her, yes. But she didn’t reject me.”

If I wasn’t confused a minute ago, I was now.

“I let her go.”

My jaws dropped. “You . . . what?”

U-Kwon nodded dolefully. He sighed and looked out of the window, to nothing but trees. “I told her I like her, and before she could even reject me or anything, I told her that I don’t deserve to be with her.”

I was trying to grasp the meaning behind this. “But . . . why?” I mean, he really likes her! It was obvious! So why would he tell her that he didn’t deserve to be with her? Why would he sacrifice his heart like that?

“I told her that she deserved to be with someone who would move mountains from her,” he went on. “I said I couldn’t be that guy; I won’t be able to give her the love she needs. I like her enough to know that I’m not enough.”

That was bull. He could move the mountains if he was determined to. I was about to protest when it hit me.

He did it for me.

The both of us were able to move mountains for Kasumi, but as long as there was another person in the way in trying to get her heart, we couldn’t. Even if Kasumi had her heart set on that stupid jerk, if we tried harder, she would see that we truly care for her.

But U-Kwon had decided to step down to let me move the mountains for her. He did it for our friendship. He must’ve been thinking hard about what Taeil, Jaehyo, B-Bomb, Kyung and P.O had said the other day.

And it took him a lot of courage to do that.

“U-Kwon hyung . . . I . . .” I didn’t know what to say so I trailed off. I looked at him. “It mustn’t have been easy to just let her go like that, but thank you, hyung. I really appreciate what you did.”

He gave me a stern look. “Don’t make me regret making that decision, Woo Jiho,” he said to me seriously.

I nodded. “I won’t.”

U-Kwon nodded gravely before his mouth morphed into a smile and I knew that we were cool. “Come on; let’s go eat. I’m really hungry.”

I smiled as the two of us walked out to the mess hall, where we saw tables of students and teachers eating their food, chatting happily about being here, and some of them were all the way at the end of the hall, taking the food laid out for them on the clothed wooden and very long table.

We took our food and went over to sit with P.O and Kyung, who were halfway done with their food.

They looked when we approached.

Kyung glanced warily between the both of us. He was worried about what we had said back in the room and from the way he was frowning, he was probably wondering if he should have had stayed back with us. “Please tell me that you guys had sorted out your differences,” he pleaded with us.

U-Kwon nodded, shooting a glance at me. “As long as Jiho keeps his promise, I have nothing against him,” he replied.

I didn’t say anything to let Kyung know I agree with U-Kwon.

Kyung relaxed and began to eat his food.

P.O looked confused, and I knew he knew that he was missing out on something. Kyung had seen the confusion on his face, too, because he reached over to ruffle the maknae’s hair. “Don’t worry about it,” he reassured the younger boy. “Everything’s all right. Hyungs aren’t fighting. Just eat your food.”

“Okay!” He nodded happily and continued eating as though he did not have a care in the world. “Mmm! This is delicious! I wish I could have food like this every day.” He beamed at us and gave us a thumbs-up.

Sometimes I envied how carefree the maknae could be. But it was really cute, if you look at it in a certain way.

I looked up in time to see Kasumi and her friends walking into the mess hall. Myungsoo and Sung Jong were right behind them. My heart skipped a beat when she walked down aisle casually, her auburn hair falling to her face.

She caught my eye and grinned at me. Then she glanced over at U-Kwon, who was too busy eating to notice, and I saw that her gaze softened. But she was distracted when Luna said something to her.

Mr. Byun stood up in the middle of the mess hall as we were all eating. I knew he had a good announcement to tell us all. “I’m so glad that you all could enjoy your time here, and that may you end your Year Seven with plenty of memories,” he spoke up. “And now, I think the teachers are all very excited to tell you that tonight, on your first night here, we will be having a bonfire!”

There was a loud chatter breaking out as everyone showed their joy about the news of the bonfire being held tonight. I glanced over to where Kasumi was sitting and saw that she was happy and excited for it, too.

I smiled.

Myungsoo looked up that same time, saw me looking at his sister and glared at me, making me to look away. I felt like he was boring holes through my back and I didn’t dare to look up to Kasumi again.

Goodness, he was so scary.

U-Kwon snickered. “Good luck trying to convince big brother that you are the perfect guy for Kasumi,” he teased me and I groaned.

After lunch we played a game where we all sat in a circle while one person stand in the middle, holding out a roll of newspapers. One person would start calling someone’s else name and that person had to say another person’s name before the one in the middle w