Jjung, Ssul, Luna and AJ: Age 17/18/19

Another few weeks had gone by since I introduced Suz to the gang. Suz was very personable so I knew that she wouldn’t have had trouble getting along with my friends and I was glad that they gave her a chance. I was really only worried about how Ssul and her would get along. After all, Ssul had been the most important girl in my life for so long I was sure that she would be just a little bit jealous. On the contrary, Ssul was always very friendly towards Suz and they got along just fine. Or at least I didn’t notice otherwise.

Ssul still wouldn’t let on about whom it was that she liked. It wasn’t just me who was curious about it, AJ hyung and Luna were too. I was surprised that she wouldn’t even tell Luna who the guy she liked was and they always shared their secrets with each other.

Since I told the other three that I was dating Suz, AJ hyung seemed to be a little angry at me. It was probably because I had hid it from him even though we were best friends. It wasn’t my intention on hiding it though, it just happened that way. He still couldn’t believe that I was dating when according to his words that I “had no interest in girls before”. That wasn’t true. He just didn’t know it. Perhaps he was just being protective since he didn’t know Suz that well but I was sure that he would change his mind eventually.

“So, how is it going with Suzy?” hyung asked me one day when it was just the two of us hanging out.

“It’s fine. We’re taking things slow but I really like being around her,” I answered as sincerely as I could.

“I see. Are you happy?”

I stared at him wondering why he was asking such a question. “Yes, I’m happy when I’m with her.”

“So you like her and you’re happy being with her. You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure hyung. Why are you being weird?” I snapped.

“Sorry, I just wanted to be sure. Jjung, I have something to tell you and I hope that you will not be mad…”

“What is it?” I was now curious.

“I know that you’ve known Ssul even since before me and you love her like a sister…” he started.

He now had my full attention.

“Well I know that you are very protective of her so I just wanted to tell you, before I did anything, that I like Ssul.”

“What are you trying to say…?” I asked. I just wanted to be one hundred percent sure that he said what said before I responded.

“I’m saying that I like Ssul and I’m going to ask her out. I want her to be my girlfriend,” he replied seriously.

“Since when did you like Ssul…?”

“For awhile now. I didn’t want to do anything because I didn’t want to hurt you but now I’ve decided to tell her,” he explained.

“W-Why would it hurt me?”

“I don’t know… you tell me…”

“Well, you’re both my best friends and if you really like her then at least I know you will treat her well.”

“So you don’t mind if I asked her out?”

“No.”

“Good.”

The atmosphere was awkward after the conversation. Honestly, I DID mind. I minded A LOT! Why is he doing this?! No… it had to be a joke. There’s no way he liked Ssul… She was always just a sister to him. He never even showed any interest in her that way before. And even if he did ask her, I was sure she wouldn’t say yes. She didn’t like him that way… I decided to let it go.

(The next day at lunch…)

“Where’s AJ oppa and Ssul?” Luna asked when hyung and Ssul didn’t show up for lunch.

“Not sure…” I answered.

The conversation that I had with hyung the day before replayed over in my head. There’s no way she would say yes…

(The next morning…)

I had asked Ssul where she was during lunch the day before but she refused to tell me. I asked her if she was with AJ hyung but she wouldn’t budge.

There’s no way she would have said yes.

She had told me not to wait for her to go to school together so I decided to wait for her at the gate instead. It was getting close to the start of classes but she was still nowhere to be seen.

“Jjung!”

It was Luna calling out to me as she ran towards me.

“What’s up noona?”

“Have you seen AJ oppa? He’s not here yet…”

Hyung too? I was getting suspicious. It couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Just then I saw Ssul in the distance walking towards the gate… and hyung was with her… and they were… HOLDING HANDS!

No way… NO WAY!

Even when they spotted Luna and me standing at the gate, they continued to hold hands and just waved at us.

I turned to Luna and her eyes were wide open. Apparently, she was in as much shock as I was.

“Hey guys, sorry we’re late,” hyung said casually.

“Jjung, I told you not to wait for me,” Ssul said to me.

“I just wanted to make sure you got here okay,” I replied.

She just smiled back at me.

I didn’t know how to ask them what was going on so I just pretended like nothing was different.

But Luna on the other hand couldn’t contain herself. “W-WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” she asked out very loudly.

“Shhhhh...!” hyung shushed her. “Why are you shouting?”

“W-Wha… W-Why are you…” she trailed off. She wasn’t even able to finish her sentence.

“We’re going to be late for class…” hyung pointed out. “We’ll talk about this later.” He walked off towards his class. Luna chased after him. I could see that she was still interrogating him in the distance.

I looked at Ssul but she avoided my eyes so I just started heading towards class with her following behind. We didn’t say a word to each other until lunch.

(Later that day during lunch…)

“Now explain! What’s going on?!” huffed Luna still unable to calm herself. It must have been torturous for her the entire morning.

“I don’t really know how to say this so I’m just going to be straight about it… Ssul and I are dating.”

It was as if time had stopped altogether. This isn’t real… this can’t be real!

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU TWO ARE DATING?! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!” shouted Luna. Her outburst had caused the other students around us to stop and stare at us.

“Please, calm down unni…” Ssul said softly.

“Calm down?! CALM DOWN?! How do you expect me to calm down? You knew how much I like AJ oppa! How could you do this to me? Since when did you even like him?” She turned to AJ hyung. “And you! Since when did you like her?! I can’t believe this is happening.” She burst into tears. “I hate you! I HATE YOU BOTH!” Then she ran out of the cafeteria.

Even though I had not said a word up until then, I felt exactly the way Luna did. I thought I would be fine with it but now that it had really happened, I couldn’t accept it. It hurt me a lot. I couldn’t stay there any longer so I just got up and left.