A guy shyly bowed his head and nervously waited for an answer from the girl standing in front of him. He twiddled his fingers and shuffled his feet, anything to keep the tension away. From time to time, he would even brush a few strands of hair out of his face. To anyone who knew him well, this type of behavior is unusual.

 

This scene would remind you of a typical confession; however, it is much more complicated.

 

The girl’s face was horror-stricken. She was so shocked she could not even think to close . After a while, the guy became impatient so he looked up only to see the girl taking a few steps back.

 

“Miyoung,” he called her name, reaching out to her.

 

“Let go!” she shook his hand off and took refuge beside the wall.

 

He took this chance to corner her against the wall by blocking the way with his arms. Since she was only a little bit shorter than him he didn’t need to bend down far in order to kiss her, so he went ahead. Unfortunately for him, his chance was interrupted when someone walked through the previously empty hallway. He quickly stepped away from Miyoung and met the other girl’s gaze. The moment lasted for about a second and the girl was gone. He once again advanced toward Miyoung, but she stopped him with her hands.

 

“Please Jongin,” she begged, “this is wrong. You can’t do this to Sehun. He’ll be crushed if he finds out you’re interested in me. Think about your friendship.”

 

The boy, now identified as Jongin let his arms fall to his sides as he once again bowed his head. There was a glint in his eyes before he looked up at her with a smirk on his face. It was an expression that was most associated with him.

 

“Miyoung-ah, mianhae…” the tone of his voice sounded friendlier than earlier. His expression suddenly turned innocent as he stared at her, “Please keep this between the two of us.”

 

“Huh?” Miyoung was left with a very confused face.

 

“You were right,” Jongin’s voice became a little serious, “it is wrong for me to like you especially since you’re my friend’s girlfriend. I promise it won’t happen again so please don’t tell Sehun. I don’t want him to hate me.”

 

Miyoung bought the excuse and smiled, “That’s a relief. Don’t worry, I’ll keep this between the two of us.”

 

“Kamsahae,” Jongin gave her a smile and ran off.

 

Miyoung put a hand to her heart and exhaled heavily. “I’m glad I didn’t ruin a good friendship.”

 

The minute he turned away from her, Jongin’s expression became morbid. He has always been interested in Miyoung, but he couldn’t find the courage to confess. The feelings that were bottled up inside only came up with the news that she had been dating one of his good friends for two weeks.

 

The first time he heard about it, he was in denial. However, they repeatedly slapped him in the face with their public displays of affection. Nobody else knew how he felt so his next response was to isolate himself. It was only today that he came out of hiding, when he decided to finally confess to her.

 

The response that he received was unexpected and it made him angry. She was supposed to pick him over Sehun. He stopped in his tracks and punched the wall, causing a dent in one locker.

 

Jongin was initially a very humble person. However, once he stepped foot in high school all the compliments and adoration he received led him to believe that he is everything they say he is. That is why he expected Miyoung to choose him over her boyfriend.

 

He was so focused on getting her to be his that he failed to take into account that if she does choose him, he would be stealing her from Sehun. A part of him felt guilty when she reminded him of it, but no matter what he does, nothing can make him forget what he feels for her.

 

It was with these thoughts in mind that he disregarded the multiple people eyeing him when he abruptly entered the classroom and plopped down onto his chair.

 

“You’re late,” that one statement from his teacher caused him to snap out of it and bow in apology. “Don’t let it happen again,” the teacher sighed after seeing the despondent look on Jongin’s face.

 

As soon as that was over, the teacher continued lecturing until the bell rang, signaling that it was time for a break. Everyone filed out of the classroom except for Jongin and the tall, skinny, blonde-haired person sitting next to him.

 

“Jongin,” the person called but Jongin acted like he didn’t hear anything. “Jongin,” the person tried again and got the same response. “Yah!” he decided to nudge him with his elbow.

 

Jongin brushed off where he had been hit and groaned, “What do you want Sehun?”

 

“What’s wrong with you?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Nothing? Then where have you been this past week?” Sehun looked at him with a raised eyebrow, conveying that he would not be fooled. However, Jongin saw none of it because he was yet to face him.

 

“…”

 

“We’re friends, right?” Sehun asked causing Jongin to turn to him, wondering if he found out what he had done.

 

It took him a while to say, “Yeah.”

 

“I know you’re not as close to me as you are to Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, but you can tell me things. I’ll listen.”

 

Hearing this made Jongin feel guilty. Just moments ago, he was going behind Sehun’s back. He faced Sehun and said with the best smile he could muster, “Thanks man, but don’t worry about it. I just haven’t been feeling well.”

 

“Are you sure? Do you need to go to the nurse?”

 

Jongin shook his head, “Nah, I’m fine. I’ll get through it. I’ll find a way.”

 

~~~*~~~

 

The sound of a tray harshly thrown down onto the cafeteria table caused Jongin and Sehun to look up from stuffing food into their mouths. They were met with the cute but very annoyed face of one of their friends.

 

“What’s wrong with you hyung?” Sehun asked with his mouth full.

 

“Someone thought it would be funny to mess around with his locker?” A low voice chuckled from right behind the aforementioned guy.

 

“Why Chanyeol-hyung,” Sehun now put his attention to the tall guy with a cheshire grin, “what happened to Baekhyun-hyung’s locker?”

 

“There’s a big dent right in the middle of it,” another one of their friends replied, his big eyes clearly stating that he found his friend’s situation funny.

 

“Yah Kyungsoo shut up,” the very annoyed Baekhyun backed up his words with a heated glare.

Much to his annoyance, the glare had no effect on his friends as they burst out in laughter.

 

The only one not joining in on the merriment was Jongin. Hearing what happened suddenly made him remember the slight sting on his knuckles. He immediately covered his right hand after briefly glancing at it and noticing scratches on his knuckles. His sudden movement did not go unnoticed by the one sitting beside him.

 

“Hey Jongin, haven’t seen you in a while,” Chanyeol patted him on the back and smiled, waiting intently for a reply. Jongin gave him a sheepish smile and abruptly left the table without putting his tray away, which left Chanyeol with a dumbfounded look.

 

“What’s up with him?” Another guy joined them followed by Miyoung who immediately took a seat beside Sehun.

 

Knowing that Jongin was going through something but didn’t want the others pestering him about it, Sehun stirred the conversation back to Baekhyun which also relieved the girl by his side. “Suho-hyung did you know someone dented Baekhyun-hyung’s locker?”

 

~~~*~~~

 

Jongin walked around the hallway trying to remember where he had punched the locker. He was so focused that he did not respond to the greetings of those he came across. He retraced his steps and finally found the locker he was looking for. But as he examined it, the dent wasn’t that big. In fact, it was small and hardly noticeable.

 

~~~*~~~

 

With furrowed eyebrows Miyoung looked to Baekhyun and stated, “I didn’t know your locker was close to my classroom.”

 

“Eh? Aniya, Baekhyun’s locker is on the second floor,” Chanyeol answered.

 

“So did you find out who did it?” Suho asked. “If so, you should inform the teacher.”

 

~~~*~~~

 

No matter how insignificant the dent was, Jongin felt bad so he tried fixing it by lightly banging on the sides of the door to see if the dent would bounce back.

 

“Excuse me, but what are you doing to my locker?” a girl’s voice stopped his banging.

 

Looking back apologetically, Jongin was faced with her incredulous expression. However, as soon as he got a good look at her his expression changed to one of shock. She was the girl who had seen him almost kiss Miyoung.

 

“Yah, Jongin!” the loud, almost whiny voice made him immediately look toward the source. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were running toward him while the others were calmly walking behind. “Who’s this?” Baekhyun curiously glanced at the girl, causing her to bow her head down.

 

“Hey you two! Get away from her. Can’t you see she doesn’t want your faces so close to her!” Kyungsoo slapped the back of their heads.

 

“I’m sorry for their behavior,” Suho instantly came from behind the two troublemakers to apologize.

 

Suddenly having multiple eyes on her caused the girl to feel flustered, “Don’t worry, it’s okay.”

 

“May I ask your name,” Suho politely offered his hand.

 

The girl shyly took his hand and replied, “Yoon Jiel.”

 

Hearing her name caused Sehun to push through the human wall. After seeing her, a look of realization passed through his eyes before he abruptly took Miyoung’s hand and led her away from the scene. “You’re all going to be late if you don’t hurry!” he yelled out with his back facing them.

 

“Oh, well then it was nice meeting you Jiel-ssi,” Suho retracted his hand. “I’m sure you and Jongin have some things to talk about,” he misunderstood.

 

“Yup definitely,” Baekhyun said with a wink at Jongin as he followed after the others.

Once they were gone, Jongin faced Jiel and bowed profusely for what she had caught him doing earlier. “I’m really sorry about your locker. I thought it was my friend’s.”

 

Jiel kept looking at him with furrowed eyebrows then suddenly said, “Ah, you’re that guy I saw in the hallway.”

 

Her words caused Jongin to feel dread, “About what you saw—”

 

“I don’t know what happened between you and the girl you were with, but next time please don’t take it out on my locker,” she cut him off.

 

“No-nothing happened,” Jongin shook his hands nervously.

 

Jiel stepped back to avoid getting hit, “If you’re worried about me telling the teachers, don’t be. I have no intention of doing that. It’s just a small dent. Besides, I don’t know who you are.”

 

He was relieved she hadn’t brought up Miyoung. “Oh sorry about that,” he gave her a genuine smile, “My name is Kim Jongin.”

 

“It’s nice meeting you Jongin-ssi, but if you could please move away so I can get to my locker.”

 

“Oh, sorry about that.”

 

~~~*~~~

 

A few weeks have passed, and although Jongin hasn’t completely forgotten about Miyoung, he’s getting there. It really helps that over the past few weeks since the incident, he’s gotten much closer to Sehun. Sehun was there for him whenever he would feel down, even though he is the one unknowingly causing him misery. It also helps that when he can’t take it anymore, Kyungsoo is there for him to lean on.

 

Just last week Kyungsoo confronted Jongin about what’s been troubling him. Not surprisingly, because of their many years of friendship Jongin told him everything. Including his intention of trying to forget Miyoung. Kyungsoo, the ever-caring motherly figure, took it upon himself to help him. According to him, the more Jongin sees Miyoung and Sehun together, the more he’d get used to it. And eventually, he should be able to accept their relationship. That’s why he forces him to hang out with them.

 

Jongin doesn’t agree with him, but what can he do. Kyungsoo might not be physically strong and he may be shorter than Jongin, but he’s seen him punish Baekhyun and Chanyeol enough times to know not to mess with him. Another great idea of Kyungsoo’s that Jongin doesn’t agree with is to find another girl he could put his attention to. However, unlike his first idea no matter how much threatening Kyungsoo does, Jongin would not budge. Forgetting Miyoung is one thing, but using another girl to do it is something else.

 

Even though Jongin has told him multiple times that it isn’t a good idea, Kyungsoo took it upon himself to find that one girl. One day while Kyungsoo was sitting in the school’s courtyard he had an epiphany. He vaguely remembers Jongin talking to this one girl. As far as he can remember, girls have been approaching Jongin since the start of high school but Jongin rarely ever takes the initiative. That’s why his friends thought he was interested in that girl. Until now they still have the wrong impression of what happened, even Kyungsoo, since Jongin did not think it was important to mention the misunderstanding especially since he’s stored that accident into the far recesses of his mind. If only Kyungsoo could remember her name, then he’d be able to find that girl and ask her for a favor. Fortunately, she came up in conversation during lunch a few days later.

 

“Hey Jongin,” Chanyeol tried to get his attention, “how did it go with that girl?”

 

“What girl?” Jongin replied in confusion.

 

“I think her name was Yoo Jiae,” Baekhyun said excitedly.

 

Suho furrowed his eyebrows and intercepted with, “I think you mean Yoon Jiel.”

 

“Ah!” Kyungsoo exclaimed with wide eyes after hearing the name, causing the others to look at him suspiciously. Seeing the strange looks he was getting, he tried to save himself from embarrassment and questioning by adding, “Ah, this soup is really hot,” while exhaling rapidly.

 

Although none of them believed his acting they let it go and put their whole attention on Jongin, who was still giving them a confused expression.

 

“That girl he was talking to three weeks ago?” Sehun interrupted the interrogation. “I don’t even know what you see in her. She’s just a plain-looking girl.”

 

“Sehun-ah, you shouldn’t say that. Jiel-ssi is pretty and she was nice,” Suho defended her with the only thing he knew about.

 

“How are you so sure she’s nice, hyung?” Sehun dared to question him.

 

“Well…she seemed like it,” Chanyeol agreed with Suho’s opinion.

 

“And how long did you get to talk to her? Was it like 15 seconds?” Sehun argued.

 

“Yah maknae, why are you so aggravated?” Baekhyun patted his shoulders.

 

As if he’s been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to, Sehun immediately became silent and physically took himself out of the conversation by taking Miyoung’s hand and dragging her away from their lunch table toward the exit.

 

“What’s wrong with him?” Chanyeol disrupted the awkward silence that ensued after Sehun’s departure.

 

“Anyway…So Jongin, are you ever going to answer our question?” Baekhyun refocused all attention back to Jongin.

 

“I’m sorry guys but I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jongin finished the last bits of his lunch and stood up. “See you guys later,” he gave a single wave with his back turned to them.

 

“I guess nothing good happened if he can’t even remember who we’re talking about,” Chanyeol offered an explanation.

 

“Maybe we have a wrong idea about the situation,” Suho tried to think logically. “After all, I can’t imagine Jongin actually liking someone.”

 

“That’s true, he’s usually always just thinking about dancing,” Baekhyun agreed.