He stares at the ceiling, thinking thoroughly of what Leeteuk told him. ‘It’s true, I lost her already the moment I decided to run away from her. He’s right that she can’t be happy right now when I’ve caused her so much pain. I just want to protect her but if protecting her like this means that she can’t be happy, should I just go back to her and make her mine again?’ He glances at his phone. ‘I can’t do it! She risked her life once for me… I can’t let her risk it again because of me.’ He groans and buried his face on his pillow, cursing and whining. He gives up. ‘I’m not going to change my mind.’

“Ah, this is hopeless. Should I stalk her for this idiot?” Leeteuk observes the idiot next to his bed, talking to himself. “Why am I roommates with this person again?” He sighs in frustration as he watched Jongwoon go crazy again.

“Yah! I heard that!”

--

“He can’t be in Seoul, right? I mean, come on, that’s the stupidest thing ever if he wanted to stay away from me. So three universities down. Let’s see, ahhhh! Incheon has so many universities!” You plop down the bed, feeling discouraged all of a sudden. “Why is it like this? It’s so many.” You unconsciously pout, not really minding what’s happening to your surrounding when your phone unexpectedly rings. Your stupidity takes in as you answered it casually, forgetting that you’re avoiding the world.

“Hello?”

‘Hey! It’s Hyukjae. Finally. Where in the world are you? Are you still in Korea? Answer me!’

You come back to your senses as you realized that it’s indeed Hyukjae and you actually answered the call. It’s too late to hang up. “Uh, I… I want to be alone. I’ll be back in three days! Don’t look for me, okay?”

‘Yah! Wait! Don’t hang up. If you’re doing this because of Jongwoon then tell me, are you taking a break to forget about him or are you taking a break because you’re searching for him?’ Hyukjae on the other line nervously asks you. In all honesty, he really wants to be there for you whatever your answer could be but a big part of him is praying that you’re out there somewhere, wanting to be alone because you want to forget that person who broke your heart.

“I… I need to go.”

‘Wait-’

“I’m sorry.” You mumble. “I can’t give up yet. Maybe if he tells it to my face that he doesn’t love me anymore then I think that’s the time to give up but for now, I’m going to be stupid for this love.” You go on with your list as you prayed to hit the right university soon.

On the other hand, Hyukjae stares at his phone, standing outside a café. He heaves a frustrated sigh and unknowingly screams. “Why can’t she just let him go?!” The by passers give him cold stares. He doesn’t mind them but he minds you. He knows that he’s just a friend and he’s confused as to why he’s feeling too attached to your situation and to your feelings as well but he cannot help but to just be there, worry about you. He never wants to be involved with other people’s lives so that it will be easy to disappear when it’s needed however, the very first time he encountered you gave such a big impact in his life already. ‘I can’t feel this way. It’s dangerous to feel this way.’

He decides to wander around the city, trying to involuntarily look for you. He also skips classes because he panicked about your sudden disappearance.

From: Nagging Donghae
Hyukjae-ah! Do you know where she is? I’m seriously worried right now! She doesn’t answer my calls. Please help me find her!

To: Nagging Donghae
Hae… She said we don’t need to look for her. She’ll be back after three days.

He looks up, seeing the sky turned orange to dark blue. It’s almost night time. He decides to give you one last call before he goes back to his house.

‘Hey, it’s me again, Hyukjae. If you’re trying to look for him, let me help you. You can’t be alone doing this. Just… just let me be there with you. I’m still around the city. I’m going to wait for your reply.’You listen to the voicemail and you thought about it so many times. As much as you want to do it alone, you know you can’t but you’re just too confident that you can. You don’t want to trouble others because you think it’s your problem and you must solve it alone. But sometimes, it’s not always good to be alone especially when you’re emotions are scattered everywhere. You will always need someone to lean on at times like this.

To: Hyukjae-ssi
I’ll meet you tomorrow. Just don’t tell Hae!

Hyukjae smiles to himself when you finally agreed for help but he frowns immediately when he realized that you are indeed looking for Jongwoon. ‘Why am I feeling this way? Ahh!!! I need someone to talk to about this! It’s killing me!’

--

“Hyung… it’s ten in the evening! What the heck are grumbling about?” Jongwoon throws a pillow at Leeteuk’s side. He’s being loud again.

“My step brother is still not calling me! He usually calls me at this time.” He whines but in a low tone as he waved his phone in the air.

“Wow. What an overprotective brother. You remind me of someone.” Jongwoon rolls his eyes when he remembered Donghae, how the latter wanted to strangle him to death every single time you two go home late from school and how your brother, from acting like a five year old to an overprotective father when he sees him.

“Who?”

“Oh. Don’t mind me. Just keep quiet! I’m trying to finish some proposals here.” He exclaims then the older unconsciously acted cute. ‘This is frustrating. Everything around me reminds me of her.’

“Ha. He’s calling me. Finally.” Leeteuk answers the call dramatically. “Hyukkie! What took you so long? How are you?”

‘Hyung!!! I’m sorry. I’m having troubles with someone.’

“What!? Did you get involved in a fight??”

‘Calm down. No, I’m not. You know I can’t just knock people down. It’s about a girl.’

“Ohhhh… so my little brother is in love! Tell me about it.”

‘Remember the friend I told you before? I don’t know why I’m feeling like this towards her. She still can’t get over her first heartbreak but I wanted to protect her hyung but it seems like she doesn’t want me to.’

“Your first friend after you left here? So you’re really in love?”

‘Noooo! Well… I don’t know. I’m not really sure hyung. Maybe? Help me! I’m going crazy already!’