“I like you,” he had blurted, after months of braving up.

She had frozen on her spot, a guilty look on her face and he could immediately tell that she was thinking of the thousands of ways she should reject him. He understood her that well.

“Mianhe, oppa,”she uttered softly, not meeting his eyes. “It’s not you that I like.”

“So you do like someone,” he had blurted after realizing that his suspicions were right all along.”Who is he?”

She had seemed so reluctant to say it out but she did anyways. “Yonghwa oppa.”

As he sat at the rooftop of the building, clear memories of his first love wandered in his mind. He remembered that day very well. Jonghyun clutched his chest as he stared straight out into the sky. It was the most painful thing he had ever gone through. Having been rejected was already bad enough, but to know that she had chosen his best friend over him, that had hurt even more. He remembered them getting together just a few days after he had confessed and he avoided them for quite some time.

He had spent 2 years watching them together and lying through his teeth whenever Jun Hee asked if he was fine. He was actually glad when she had to move out to Japan for her training, just so he could forget about her. She was a great friend and understood him well and he loved spending time with her. But seeing her in Yonghwa’s arms was different. He felt good when she had visited him first as soon as she returned back home but he knew he was just putting in false hope for himself by thinking about it too much.

His ringtone burst and he picked it up blankly, half his mind still immersed in his thoughts.

“Yeoboseyeo?” he answered.

“Oppa, where are you?” a sweet voice replied.

He immediately sat up, snapping to reality once realizing it was Jun Hee on the other line. “Home. Wae?”

“Well, I’ve been knocking on your door for the past 5 minutes. I figured you weren’t at home,” Jun Hee told him.

Jonghyun stood up and quickly rushed down. “Oh, I’m reaching soon! I went out for a walk.”

He reached his floor and saw Jun Hee talking to Yuna outside their apartments. He walked up to them, waving his hands.

“Jun Hee-ah, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Oppa, I wanted to have lunch with you today since you missed dinner yesterday,” she told him.

 “Oh, lunch? I can’t today,” he lied. “I have other plans.”

He noticed Yuna staring at him and he cocked his eyebrows at her. He could feel her judging him again.

“What other plans? Besides work, you don’t have anything else,” she wondered out loud.

“Erm,” he stuttered, unsure of what to answer. He caught sight of Yuna again and quickly blurted out an excuse. “You see, I..I..I agreed to take Yuna out for lunch to show her the town! Right. Yesterday, when I walked her home. Yeah, we did that. Made plans. With each other.”

He could see Yuna’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he tried to made faces to her to play along with his lies. Jun Hee eyed the both of them suspiciously, but didn’t questioned any further.

“Well, since you’re going to eat lunch anyways, why not join us?” Jun Hee asked.

“Us?” he asked out loud.

“Yeah, Yonghwa oppa and I. I thought I could hang out with the two of you today, but I don’t mind if Yuna joined us too. I’d love to get to know her better,” she beamed.

Jonghyun’s mood dampened when he heard Yonghwa’s name but he tried to not to show it. He was relieved that he had just avoided hanging out with them alone. But once again, he caught Yuna still eyeing him. No, she was more like glaring at him.

“Ani, ani! You guys can go ahead with lunch! I don’t mind postponing this lunch,” she smiled though gritted teeth.

Jonghyun realized she was trying to get out of this, but he was also desperate to avoid spending time with the two lovebirds. He quickly thought of excuses again.

“Aniyo! I promised you already!” he blurted out desperately. “A promise is a promise!”

He made eyes with Yuna, begging her to help him out just this once. Finally, she reluctantly agreed.

“Ah, then I have no choice right?” she smiled to Jun Hee. “I’ll just change into something else.”

“Yeah, we’ll wait for you here,” Jun Hee beamed excitedly.

Yuna gave him one last glare before disappearing back into her house. Jonghyun gulped as he tried to make an apologetic look to her. He turned back to Jun Hee, who didn’t seem to sense anything.

“So,” she started. “When did you suddenly become nice to your neighbors?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Jonghyun I know wouldn’t make plans with a girl he barely knows. It took you three months just to talk to me!” she pointed out.

“Well, I’ve changed a lot since you left,” he said glumly. He realized he had sounded quite harsh when he noticed Jun Hee staring at him.

“Mian,” he simply said, fidgeting his legs and not looking at her.

“Oppa,” she called out.

When he still didn’t look at her, she repeated herself. “Oppa.”

“Neh,” he gave in and faced her.

“You..you don’t still have feelings for me, do you?” she asked.