Yoona’s POV

 

“Come on! Give daddy some sugar!” Taecyeon said as he tried to kiss me while holding me tightly by my waist.

 

I palmed his chest and tried to push him back. “No, Taec! There are people her.” I hissed.

 

“So?” He frowned. “That’s the whole point. We have to show the other students that we look good together!” He smirked and winked before dodging for my face again.

 

I moved my face to the side so he wouldn’t manage to kiss me, but then he decided to go for my neck instead. “Ugh!” I bit my bottom lip as he bit onto my neck. 

 

I really hated this. I hated him. The first couple of days we were together he was actually acting pretty sweet, but then he changed, or should I say; he showed his true self. All he cared about was the so called publicity and ‘fame’. He always tries to kiss or touch me in public, but that’s not what I want. I want a guy who is sweet whether people are watching or not. I still don’t understand why I said yes. 

 

Once I felt him on my flesh, I realized that I have had it. “Taecyeon, get off me, you ert!” I yelled as I pushed him away. I heard people gasp, of course they were watching, and the once who hadn’t watched us before, were definitely watching now.

 

Taecyeon noticed the attention we got and chuckled nervously. “Babe, stop playing.” He said jokingly, though I could hear the anger lacing in his voice.

 

“I am not playing.” I stated. “Taecyeon, we’re through!” With that said I walked away. Everyone that were watching gasped and in a flash murmurs could be heard throughout the hallways. I really couldn’t care less. 

 

Even though at least half the school had heard the news by these few hours I still went to class with my head held high. I sat with my close friends, Sooyoung and Yuri, during lesson.

 

“Did you really break up with Taecyeon?” Sooyoung asked as she looked at me with wide eyes.

 

“Yup.” I answered bluntly as I listened to our teacher speaking.

 

“But... why?” Yuri asked and gaped at me.

 

“Because...” I sighed. “Never mind. You wouldn’t understand.” 

 

The girls nagged me throughout the whole lesson and eventually they got scolded my mr. Kim. Finally the lunch bell rang and we fled to the canteen, and of course most eyes were on me since they’d all heard about me and Taec breaking up. As me and my friends stood in line I glanced around the already stuffed canteen, looking for that special someone. I smiled when I saw those beaming eyes looking into mine. There he was. My best friend in the whole world, Kim Ryeowook. I have actually never told him how much he means to me and I probably never will. It’s like we live in two different worlds. We grew up together and have always been friends, but after we started school we kind of separated. At least in the public eye. Behind closed doors when there was only me and him, we would talk and hang out just like old times. Ryeowook is the only person I can trust 100%, he knows most of my secrets and he knows me so well. But, he is a nerd and very few people even know who he is at school, whereas I am popular. Don’t get me wrong, I was labeled as pretty by fellow classmates ever since I started school, I never asked for the attention. 

 

“Oh my gosh! Ew!” 

 

I turned to face Yuri as I heard her squeal. “What?”

 

“There is some kind of creature over there and I think he is smiling at us!” Yuri said and pointed towards Ryeowook.

 

I saw him get flustered as he hastily averted his gaze elsewhere. I wanted to giggle at his cuteness. “Whatever, just ignore him.” I muttered. 

 

“Gosh, he’s creepy.” Sooyoung snapped and grimaced. 

 

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah...” I wish I could support Ryeowook always, but I can’t. How would that make me look? As my guilty conscience started to increase I glanced towards Ryeowook, and when our eyes met I flashed him a quick smile. 

 

As me and my friends were sitting at our usual table, we were soon surrounded by boys.

 

“Hey, Yoona. I heard you broke up with Taecyeon. So, that makes you available, right?” The school’s prince Charming, Nickhun, said and leaned closer to me.

 

“I bought you lunch.” Yunho, captain of the martial arts team, said as he handed me a pink lunchbox. 

 

“Um, thanks, but I’m good.” I said and flashed an apologetic smile.

 

“Yoona~” Donghae sang as he hugged me from behind all of a sudden.

 

I gently pushed his hands off me and turned to face him. “Hi, Donghae.”

 

“Heard you’re now single.” He said and playfully pouted. “Wanna talk about it?” 

 

“Uh...” Truth be told, I did want to talk about it, but not with any of these people. In this world there was no such thing as ‘your business’, if you tell a secret to one person, especially someone whom you think is your friend, you might as well tell it to the rest of the school because everybody loves to hear and tell other people’s secrets. The only people I did trust were the people I had been friends with for the longest time. 

 

“I’d rather not talk about it just yet.”  I said and shrugged.

 

“Well, whenever you need someone to talk to, I’m here.” Donghae said and winked at me before leaving. 

 

The rest of the lunch hour was a total mess as people kept asking me questions, wanting to know more. I felt myself get annoyed and frustrated with all these gossip-hungry people, words cannot explain how happy and relieved I was when school was finally over.

I walked over to YongSeo park, the place where we would usually hang out, our secret place, our secret hideout. One of the reasons why no one knew of the place was that you have to go through the woods to get there, and most teenagers hate the woods nowadays. Another reason is the fact the path towards the actual park is kind of long and the only things you can see are trees. It could be very scary, especially at night, but since I know this path so well I could go here at any time.

 

I pushed aside a few branches and the park came to view; there was a pond there and stone path around it, some benches were spread around the area, there was a plain field that led to a hill with an oak tree on top. I could see him leaning on the oak tree, watching the clouds. I felt myself grin and I couldn’t help myself from running towards him. I ran up the hill and caught my breath as I neared the tree, then I slowly creeped in and glanced behind the tree.

 

I took a deep breath before jumping out from behind the tree. “YAH!!” I yelled.

 

Ryeowook jumped up from the ground as he let out an unmanly scream. “Yoona-yah!” He yelled and pushed me playfully after recovering from his shock. I only laughed at him hysterically.

 

“Omo! Ryeowookie! You should have heard yourself!” I laughed and pointed at the pouting boy.

 

“Aish!” He cursed and sat back down on the grass. 

 

“Alright, alright... I’m sorry.” I chuckled as I calmed myself and sat down next to him. I crossed my legs and leaned my head on his shoulder.

 

I don’t know how long we sat like that, all I know is that the silence was comfortable and soothing. It felt good to just escape school and everyone there, and just relax, have a moment of silence.

 

“Yoona?” Ryeowook said after a while.

 

“Hm?” I hummed and looked up at him.

 

“Why did you break up with Taec?” 

 

I sighed. “Because he’s an .” 

 

“Details.” He nudged me with his shoulder. 

 

“All he wanted was attention from the other students. Basically he just used me.” I muttered. “He even tried to give a love bite in the middle of the hallway!” I said and rubbed my neck.

 

Ryeowook pushed me to sit straight and lifted my chin with his finger. He cocked his head to the side as he inspected my neck. “Yup, that’s a hickey alright.” He said as he removed his hand from beneath my chin.

 

I groaned as I leaned my head back on his shoulder. “He is stupid anyway. I can’t believe I agreed to date him.” I said and closed my eyes.

 

“So... what are you going to do now?” Ryeowook asked.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Like, are you planning on staying single?” 

 

“That depends.”

 

“On?” 

 

“Wookie, let’s not talk about this right now. I just want to forget about all of it.” I muttered.

 

“Okay,” Ryeowook sighed quietly. “Let’s at least lie down and get comfortable.” 

 

We lied down on our backs on the soft, green grass. Ryeowook stretched out his arm for me to rest my head on, which I did happily.

 

Ryeowook’s POV

 

I always knew that Yoona and Taecyeon would break up sooner or later. I even tried to warn her when she told me they started dating. 

 

~Flashback~

 

“Oh my gosh! Wookie!” Yoona squealed as she jumped on my back. Luckily the blackboard was right in front of me so that we didn’t fall over. 

 

“Y-Yoona?” I stuttered as I turned around to face her. She was beaming. “What are you doing here?” It was way past school hours. I had cleaning duty and so I had to stay after school.

 

“I have some news for you!” She clapped her hands and grinned like a fool. I rarely saw her that happy unless she had accomplished or received something that she really wanted. 

 

“Wh-what is it? Did you get an A or something?” 

 

“No...” She said and pouted slightly. “But! I got myself a new boyfriend!” She said and jumped up and down while clapping her hands. 

 

I felt my face fall. What? A new boyfriend? I forced the best smile I could come up with. This was for Yoona. When she is happy, I should be happy too. “That’s great!”

 

“I know, right?” She said and flung her arms around my neck. Slowly I wrapped my arms around her waist. I curled my lips to prevent myself from sighing.  

 

“So, who is the lucky fellow?” I asked as our hug broke. 

 

“Ok Taecyeon!” She said and grinned.

 

“T-Tae...” Taecyeon?! The Ok Taecyeon?! I gulped. “Um... are you sure about this?” I mumbled as I fiddled with my fingers. 

 

“I know he has a bad reputation about being a player and such, but he seems really sweet when he is with me. He asked me just now and I just couldn’t say no.” Yoona chirped happily.

 

“But, maybe you should think this through. Those rumors can’t all be made up.” I tried.

 

“Wookie,” Yoona said as she took my hands in hers and looked me straight in the eyes. “Just trust me, please.” All I could do was gulp and nod. 

 

~End of flashback~

 

“Wook-ah?”

 

I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Yoona’s voice. “Hm?”

 

“Can I come over to your place after this?” She mumbled. 

 

I shrugged. “Um, s-sure.”

 

“Thanks.” She said. My heartbeat increased rapidly as she rested her head on my chest, right above my heart. “You’re such a good friend.” 

 

I chuckled nervously. “I think umma misses you anyway...” I muttered.

 

Yoona giggled softly. “I miss her too. And her cooking!”

 

“Of course, you’re the only person I have seen eat five portions of my mom’s food!” I snapped, which earned me more laughs from Yoona.

 

“Your mom is the best cook, I swear!” She defended. “I remember the time she used to make lunch for the two of us.”

 

“Yeah, and breakfast too. You would come to my place early in the morning and eat with me.” I chuckled at the happy memories. 

 

“Yeah...” She sighed and cuddled closer to me. “What ever happened to us?” She asked and shook her head.

 

“You became too popular for me.” I blurted and immediately covered my mouth with my hand.

 

Yoona looked up at me with a frown plastered on her face. “Is that really how you feel?”

 

I sighed. “W-well, I mean... I didn’t mean it like that-”

 

“Ryeowook,” Yoona started as she laid her upper body on my abdomen. She placed both of her hands on either side of my face and looked down at me straight in the eyes. “I really don’t want you to think of me that way! I really do care about you and you are honestly one of the coolest people I know.” 

 

As flattered as I felt by her words, I couldn’t help myself from arguing back. “But, how come you never hang out with me at school?”

 

Yoona opened and closed , trying to figure out what to say as I searched her eyes. In the end she shook her head and looked sorrowful. “Ryeowook, you don’t understand.”

 

“Then help me understand.” I tried. 

 

“I can’t.” Yoona said and dropped her head on my chest in defeat. “I’m sorry. I wish it wasn’t like this.” She mumbled agains my shirt. 

 

Yoona, I feel the exact same way. I sighed and patted her head before her hair slowly. I felt her grab onto my shirt. The way she was breathing real slowly proved that she was at the verge of crying. She didn’t look at me as she tried to hold her tears. 

 

“Yoona,” I started. “Do you want to go to my place now?” I felt her nod against my chest.

 

We didn’t talk as we walked out of our secret place and through the woods, but during our walk Yoona suddenly grabbed onto my hand. Whenever she does that it makes my heart beat rapidly and I almost feel like there is only me and her in this world. Whenever she holds my hand like that I always know that it is because she wants to feel safe and supported, and I always squeeze her hand lightly in response, to let her know that I’m here for her. 

 

I do love Yoona. A lot. And ever since we were young I have wished that we would be together forever. It was not until we became teenagers that I realized that I was in love with her. Unfortunately Yoona could never return my love and I realized that the hard way, but still I would never leave her side. I always hope that when we are both married and have our own families, that we will still stay friends. 

 

We walked out of the woods together, hand in hand as we walked towards the road home. To my surprise, Yoona actually held on to my hand even when we came out of the woods, practically in public! I was really shocked, but I didn’t question her. I just wanted to savor this moment, even if it was just a short one. 

 

I walked all the way up to Ryeowook’s room and knocked on the door. “Ryeowook?” There was no answer. I shrugged before opening the door and walking inside his room. It was the same as always; tidy and clean, smells of strawberries, a few stuffed animals on his bed. All of it. I sat down on his bed and crossed my legs as I looked around. “This room was way bigger when we were younger.” I mumbled to myself.

I lied down on the bed and spotted one stuffed animal in particular; it was a stuffed animal that Ryeowook had won at an amusement park, and he won one for me as well. It was one of the best times we shared. I picked up the chubby teddybear and hugged it close. “Why am I so unfair to Ryeowook? I shouldn’t neglect him like this.” I mumbled to myself. I felt tears threaten to fall and I immediately curled myself into a ball, with the teddybear still in my arms. “I wish I could make it all up to him...” I whispered into the bear.