Yuna watched as Jonghyun laughed along to whatever Jun Hee was telling him. She scrunched her nose in disgust and continued choosing her bread. Here she was, thinking she could have a peaceful time at the bread shop and just so happened, she bumped into the one guy she was trying not to think of.

Yes, she was starting to like him. And the sight of him together with Jun Hee was making her jealous. She told herself to get a grip of her emotions but once in a while, she couldn’t help falling back to him. She knew it was ridiculous; he was in love with Jun Hee after all.

She blamed Jonghyun though. Who had asked him to be so nice towards her? She was perfectly fine not trusting anyone in her life. She was fine without anyone’s help. Why did he have to go around asking if she’s fine all the time? She’s an adult; she could take care of herself. She didn’t need him to care for her.

**

“You better tell her then,” Jun Hee told him.

“I’m not going to do that,” he mumbled.

“Are you afraid?” she asked.

“What? No,” he retorted.

“Are you scared you’re going to be rejected again?”

He was stumped. He bit his lips instead of answering.

“If you never tell her, you’ll suffer even more,” she said, staring him down.

They stared at each other silently. He knew she was right and he hated that fact. He sighed, admitting defeat once again, and stood up.

“Fine, I will,” he said. “Aigoo, you should really listen to your advice sometimes.”

Jonghyun walked up to Yuna and leaned in against the counter as she paid the cashier.

“Do you want to walk home together?” he asked, giving her the best smile he could make.

She stared at him blankly, and as expected replied coldly with a simple ‘Yeh’.

He waved goodbye to Jun Hee and gave a little wink as they passed her to leave the shop. He felt nervous all of a sudden and started playing with his fingers as they walked side by side.

“What’s up with you?” she asked, frowning at him.

“Nothing,” he quickly answered. He noticed she had been pretty cold since she entered the shop. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” she replied back. “Why would you think there’s anything wrong?”

“Well for starters, you’ve been rather unfriendly. What’s with the frowns and the harsh words today?”

“I did no such things,” she rebutted.

“Right,” he simply said.

They continued walking in silence again. The journey home seemed longer than usual.

“Are Yonghwa and Jun Hee still broken up?” she suddenly asked.

“Yeh,” he nodded. “Why do you want to know?”

She shrugged and simply said, “Just curious.”

Again, they walked in silence before she broke it again,

“Tell me the truth. You really do like Jun Hee, right? I mean, more than friends. You were lying to me before right?”

He eyed her suspiciously, weirded out by all her strange questions. If he was right, it felt like she was jealous.

“Are you jealous?” he cocked his eyebrows at her.

A laugh escaped her pursed lips but she quickly turned serious again. “Jealous? Aniyo.”

“You want the truth?” he asked.

She nodded, her ears already perked up. He tried to suppress a smile from seeing her eagerness.

“I had liked her for a very long time. 2 years and 4 months, to be exact,” he smiled softly.

He made sure to watch her expressions as he said that, to try to catch on any hints of whether he was right. As expected, her face immediately turned sour and she became silent once more, perhaps thinking she had lost. He smirked and tried to contain his smile at the thought of being one step ahead of her.

“I don’t like her anymore though,” he added.

Her head bolted up to look at him. “You don’t?”

He shook his head and stopped in his tracks. Yuna, too, stopped and they faced each other. Jonghyun counted in his head, trying to stay calm before he finally confessed.

1…2…3

He leaned in and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight. He could feel his heart immediately beating faster. His face flushed as a surge of happiness suddenly filled him. But more than that, he could feel Yuna’s heart fluttering as well.

“I like you now,” he whispered into his ear.

Slowly, he felt her arms landing softly on his back. He grinned wide, unable to contain his delightfulness any longer.