Junhyung’s POV

            When she looked up at me, tears were coming out of her eyes. It broke my heart seeing that.

            “I’m alone now,” she said in a tired voice.

            She put her head back down and continued to cry.

            I just held her there, completely unsure about what I should do.

            “Junhyung-ah, I’m sorry you have to see me this way. . .”

            “It’s fine, Maeji, it’s fine. . . But, what happened?”

            She sniffed. “Seomin’s dead. My dad’s dead.”

            I got angry then. “By who?” Who made you cry so much? Who made you hurt so much? Who killed the last people in your family?

            “He did – my. . .my dad did.” A tear fell from her right eye and I wiped it away.

            “. . . What?”

            “He was drunk. . .it was over money. . .” She put her head on my chest again. “Just keep me safe like Seomin wanted. . .please. . .”

            I didn’t really know what she was talking about, so I just picked her up and sat her next to me on the couch.

            “I’m so sorry,” she kept saying as she cried on my shoulder. When she was done, her eyes were red and swollen, but I still couldn’t help but think that she was the prettiest girl in the world.

            “It’s fine that you cried – it’s natural when you’re heart broken.

            She put her hand on her heart. “It’s not broken, it’s just . . . scratched.”

            Then I’d hate to see it broken. I kissed her forehead. “You’re so strong.”

            “Junhyung, please be my oppa.”

            My jaw dropped. What did she just ask me? Cho Maeji! I know you’re sad, but that doesn’t mean you should cheat on Dongwoon! Even though I love you, and I want to be your boyfriend, that doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to–

            “Be there for me like this. Keep me safe. Make me smile when I’m sad. Let me know that everything is going to be fine. Be the brother that Seomin wanted to be. Please.”

            Oh.

            “Oh, Maeji, I will. I promise.” I put my arm around her shoulder.

            She sniffed and reached in her pocket. “Thank you.” She took out her cell phone, and kept moving it out of her pocket and towards me, then back to her pocket.

            “Here,” she finally said. She pressed a button and put the phone to her ear, tapped her screen a few more times and put the phone to my ear.

            Seomin’s voice came through. I heard the whole message, but what stuck with me the most was“…he needs to take care of you no matter what happens. Even if you get with some other guy, he has to be your guardian angel.” I hung up and gave her the phone back.

           “I’ll protect you.” Because I love you. I’ll stay in your life and be in love with you, even if you don’t know it.

            She put her hand in mine and hugged her knees with her other arm. “Thank you, Junhyung. . . You don’t know what that means to me.”

            I moved her closer to me and she put her head on my shoulder.

            “I wish we could just stay like this,” she said. “I feel calm now. But you know, somehow, you make me feel nervous too. Junhyung, you’re special to me. Whenever I’m around you, I feel like two different people inside of me are always fighting.”

            I didn’t know what she meant, so I figured it was just the fatigue talking.

            “You make me feel so happy, but it’s bittersweet because I don’t think I do the same for you. I’m sorry if you don’t like hearing this. . .”

            “It’s fine, Maeji.”

            She smiled. “I’ll go on then. I like Dongwoon a lot, you know that. But when I’m around him, I don’t feel like I do with you.”

            “Of course you don’t, he’s your boyfriend, and I’m your best friend.”

            “I suppose so. But I like you a lot too. Like, a lot a lot. And last week I had a dream. I was married to you and we had two kids. The girl had your smile. And the boy looked a bit more like me.” She stopped talking and when she noticed that I didn’t know what to say to that, she continued. “Junhyung, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I. . . I’m still in love with you.”