"Eunji."

"Oh?"

"Eunji."

"Why?"

"Do you know that girl?"

"Who?"

"That girl with the blue backpack."

"Ahh... Arisa?" 

I turned to face him and noticed that his face was slightly red.

"So it's Arisa."

"Uh huh. Yagi. Arisa Yagi. She just got back from Japan. My mom and her mom are best friends. And what about her?"

I followed his gaze towards her. Arisa Yagi. She is three years younger than me. With a great personality, she is also talented in fine arts such as painting and drawing. She is a prodigy, she always participated in competitions in and out of the country. On top of that, she is beautiful. With a medium-long dark brown hair, clear skin and a slim body, she attracted attention everywhere she went. She was loved as she had every right to be.

In other words, she was the complete opposite of me.

"She's so pretty. I like her."

My hands lost their grip on my sandwich and my mouth seemed to be glued shut by the peanut butter. I couldn't seem to find my voice or anything for that matter. I don't know what this is all about but... I felt like crying. He's just a friend,  and I know that's how it was always meant. Totally cliche, right? Falling in love with your own bestfriend.

"Y-you like her?"

"Totally my style." He admitted, a bit flustered.

I glanced down for a second before returning my gaze on him.

"Your style. Yeah, I know... feminine, prim and proper."

He still wouldn’t look at me, so I decided to direct my gaze forward instead. 

"So it's safe to assume that you're sort of friends too, right? Like your mothers? Can you set me up with her?"

The cold afternoon air blew on my face. My heart suddenly seemed to plummet to the deepest sockets of my stomach as I leaned forward and took deep breaths. Does he really enjoy beating me up emotionally like this? 

Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my right arm. 

"Eunji Eunjiiiii." 

Oh, his aegyo. I let out a small sigh. 

"Sure."

><

I eyed Kibum and Arisa from the corner of my eyes as they sat together inside the library. He had put his right arm around her and she smiled back brightly at him. They are so beautiful that it almost hurt to look at them, they were the perfect couple, as what others even said. I had to agree with them that they really fit together.

She laughed happily at something and placed a gentle hand on Kibum's and he turned to smile at her. My heart clenched but I couldn't avert my eyes away from them.

I sighed as they both got up from their seats, she smiled and waved goodbye to him as she passed him and he returned the gesture.

I remained on my seat for a while before getting up to one of the book shelves. I got a small shock when I saw Kibum leaning between two shelves.

"I can feel it, Eunji. She's the one."

I swallowed audible after hearing what he said.

"Wow. You've always liked her, right?"

"Yes." He said and remained where he was.

"I'm... I'm happy for you." 

We were silent for a long time. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that situation.

"Hey. Ss that all the congratulation you'll give me?"

"What do you want?"

"I miss you."

"But we see each other everyday."

"I know but we don't hang out like we used to anymore."

"Hey, Isn't that a good thing? You have a girlfriend now."

"She's not the jealous type, you know. She's amazing, really great personality."

"Yeah, of course. She's the best."

"I know! Thank you!"

I blinked. What for? 

His lips curled slightly, showing his small dimples in each of his cheeks. "For setting me up with her."

I didn't falter at his words and just continued to smile. I pretended like his words didn't hurt.

"Kibum... Are you happy?"

"Very."

This time, he smiled, a proper smile that had my heart beating double time. 

"Seriously though, thank you, Eunji. I love you."

My eyes went wide open in shock as my slow brain process his words sluggishly. Kibum... loves me? However, before I really had the time to think about it, he took a deep breath and continued.

"You'll always be my bestfriend..."

It snapped me back to reality. Back to the fact that as a friend, I will always be just that, a friend. My job is to love him from afar and not hope for something that's impossible. My eyes started filling up some wet substance I didn't want to acknowledge, tears brim my eyes and that moment, I knew that crying was inevitable. I had to blink repeatedly to unblur my vision.

"Eunji?" He asked in a worried tone.

"I... I love  you too."

He strode to me with quick steps and tightly wrapped his arms around me. 

"I know, I know. Friends forever." I mumbled while enjoying the feeling of his arms around me. I wish he could do this forever; it felt nice.

"So... what does my bestfriend want to do today?"

"Huh?"

"Where should we go?" He asked me excitedly.

"But---"

"Ice cream?"

"Not bad."

He grinned, a proper full out grin that had my breath catching. "Let's go!"