The sun seemed much brighter when I woke up the next morning. 

I felt, happy. It felt great to belong to someone you actually wanted to be with. 

"Do you want to be with me?" He had said. Of course I nodded. It never dawned on me that there was someone who could be hurt by this? Who could. We were both happy. 

"Umma, I'm leaving now." I said, grabbing a muffin from the table. 

"Have a good day sweatheart!" She called after me. 

I started walking the usual route in hopes that I would come across his group. I had been walking for about a block now, and no sign of them. I turned a corner and there he was, waiting for me. I smiled. 

"Good morning. What are you doing here?" I said, taking a bite of my muffin. 

"Waiting to walk my girl to school" He grinned and put his arm around me. 

We were beginning to casually chat when we heard someone yelling for him behind us. And it was none other than Jaehyo. 

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? I CALLED DIBS." he pouted. The rest of his friends came up to us as well, so it looked sort of like a mob. 

"That's a funny way to say 'Congratulations." I replied. He pouted even more. 

"when exactly did this happen?" The short boy, Taeil asked. 

"Last night" Zico and I both said at the same time. 

"Yah, our little Zico is tied down and growing up." Kyung said, playfully hitting Zico. "Treat him well okay?" I grinned and nodded. 

We playfully got to know each other in that short walk and they were actually very nice. Is this what people mean when they warn you not to judge a book by its cover? For the first time in my life, I was actually glad to recieve envious glares. There were also some shocked ones. But overall, people knew he was mine. Zico and I walked inside the school , his arm still around me. I spotted Rina and James. James saw us too, and cast a painful look at me before walking away. Rina did the exact opposite. She walked up to Zico and I, giving me a slight glare. 

"Uh, Jiho, I'll see you in class okay? I think she wants to hurt me." I said, not taking my eyes off Rina once. 

"Uh... sure.." He said, looking at Rina as well. He looked sort of... terrified. He quickly said bye and gave me a kiss on the cheek. 

"What was that?" Rina said once he was out of hearing distance. 

"He's sort of my boyfriend now." I said shyly, and recieved a slap from Rina. "OW. What was that for?" I said, rubbing my arm. 

"How dare you." She looked at me, disgusted. 

"What?" I was so confused. 

"You knew how James felt." She said coldly. 

I mentally slapped myself. James. I had been so happy that I forgot him. I had forgotten how great he treated me. How he comforted me. Especially the first few seconds before Zico showed up. She must've seen this in me, because she softened. 

"He's really hurt, SunMi. The least you could do is apologize." She said before walking off and leaving me there. 

I stood there shocked. My two best friends had abandoned me. Why was I being punished for trying to be happy? The said part is that I new it hurt James now, and even I myself hated me. I thought nothing could get worse, but of course, I spoke too soon. Eunjung walked up to me along with two of her followers. 

"You're with Zico now." She demanded, giving me a cold stare. 

"Is that a question or a statement." She scoffed. 

"break up." She said bluntly. 

"Excuse me?" I was appalled. 

"You heard me. Break up." again, she said with no expression on her face. 

"No." I said firmly. 

"Fine. Don't. Just don't come crying to me if your life become a living hell." she stated then walked away, her two followers after her. Again, I questioned why this was happening to me. I only wanted to be happy. Nothing too bad could happen, right? I wasn't seriously hurting anyone, right? No matter how badly I tried to convince myself of this, I still felt hurt. The bell rang and I was glad. If I started to cry in the hallway by myself, everyone would see how pathetic I am. I rushed to class and quickly sat down, and put my head on the desk. I could feel the hot tears coming, but I stopped myself before they fell.

This is what they wanted, wasn't it? 

Pain. 

Why should I give them the satisfaction? 

I put my head up and straightened myself out and forced myself to look happy when Zico walked in. However, seeing him did make me sort of happy. Knowing that he wanted me and didn't think of me what everybody else did was good enough to me. Class seemed so much longer than the usual. It seemed like 10 hours instead of 2 when the bell finally ring. 

"Jiho, go ahead with your friends. I need to talk to someone." He nodded and set off, while I ran after James. I finally caugh up to him and grabbed his arm. He shook me off violently. 

"Yah!" I said when I almost fell. He turned around. 

"What? What do you want?" He yelled at me. I was shocked. I had never seen James like this. I cleared my throat. Apologizing was something I was never good at. 

"I.. I wanted to apologize." I said, stuttering madly. 

"For what" He scoffed.

"For being such a terrible person." 

"No you aren't." He said, not even looking at me. And sounding unsincere.

"Yes I am." I said, searching for his face, since he was avoiding me. "I knew how you felt. And how well you treated me. How caring you were. The reason I ran to you that night is because I knew you were the only one I could turn to. And even before Zico came... when we almost kissed." I said looking down. "You did all of that for me, and I repay you for pain." 

"You don't know that I'm the selfish one." He said, giving me a piercing look. "I knew how you felt about .. him. Ha, I still can't bring myself to say his name. I knew you were infatuated with him from the very beginning. And I wanted you. So I did everything to keep you. And anything to say keep you. But in the end, I still lost to him." He said, with such sadness in his voice. 

I didn't know what to say. So was everything a lie in the end? His caring ways, and how great I felt around him, was that just because he liked me? 

"But." He managed a small smile. "since I like you so much, I guess its alright. You're happy, right?" I nodded. "That's all that matters. I'm selfish, but all I care is that you're happy. Even if its him that makes you happy." He pulled me in to a tight hug. 

"Please be happy." He whispered into my hair. 

I hugged him back. 

It dawned on me how much committment he had to me. To like someone so much, yet be content to have me smile. Isn't that what love really is. Its a shame I don't feel the same way. He seems like a fantastic person to fall in love with. 

"Yah, you should go back now. You don't want people talk." I nodded and walked away. I only turned back when he called my name. 

'SunMi-ah" I nodded to show I was listening.  "Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?" I nodded. I had far too many times. "And you got through it alright?" I nodded again.

"Life goes on." I smiled and walked away. 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

That was the first time I realized that I was going to cause someone pain within my own happiness. 

I really regret hurting you, James. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. But I'm glad you were so committed to me. That you not once left my side. 

19 cranes to go. 

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Hello guys ^^

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had writers block. 

Short chapter, but I hope you liked it!

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