“Sun-ah…”

“Go away, Jong Sukkie.”

I pouted. “I’m sorry.”

“Well, apology not accepted. Shoo.”

I sighed. “C’mon, Sun-ahhhhhhh~” I tried to put a bit of aegyo in, though I knew she would reject me further.

“I said, go away!” she angrily shouted at me as she walked home faster.

I stopped in my tracks at that. She did not even look back, not once. I frowned as I felt the sadness set in. It’s the first time that Sun-ah’s mad at me.

I ran my fingers through my hair as I kept walking. Even if she would not look at me, the least that I could do this late at night was to make sure she makes it home safely. It’s not that the courtesy was compelling me to do it. I needed to do it. I sighed as I tried to catch up and at least watch her from a distance.

By the time I reached her building, she had already made it at the top of the staircase. I hollered, “See you tomorrow!”

She answered me with the bang of her door.

I bit my lips as I stared longingly at the top of the building. “Don’t get mad at me for too long…”

It all started when I caught sight of Kim Sun walking to the bookstore that she works at with Young Kwang and that MMA Club President that I do not trust. At first, I wanted to just leave them alone and head home, but my instincts were telling me that something bad was going to happen. Not bad bad, but just… something unpleasant.

So I followed them. I was about to hit myself for my useless instincts when they safely arrived at the bookstore but I stopped in my tracks as I watched only Young Kwang step inside. Sun-ah was slowly turning around to face the MMA Club President, and that was when I noticed the way he was looking at her. He looked at her like he was in love. Worse, he looked like he was slowly getting closer, like he wanted to ki–

No way! “Sun-ah!” I shouted as I jogged closer to her.

Right at the millisecond she turned to look at me, the third year was already close enough to land a smooch on her cheek. I felt my heart drop. If she were a second too late, he would have kissed her on the lips.

She pushed the third year away, blushing furiously as she looked at him and me back and forth. “Excuse me, Sunbae?! Again?!” she fired at him.

The third year had a slight flush at the crest of his cheeks and as he glanced at me, there was a mix of emotions in his eyes. Fury and embarrassment were the only ones I could easily understand. There was something else, or rather, other emotions that were bubbling from his whole being that I could not seem to decipher. No way, no way! Don’t tell me that he’s fallen for her too!

He gruffly cleared his throat. “It seems that it’s not the right time, after all.” He turned to me for a while, “Pleasure to meet you, friend of Kim Sun.” He then locked gazes with Sun-ah one last time, “Later, newbie.” He took off to the opposite direction and disappeared out of sight.

“W-Wait! Hyun Jae-sunbae! Aish!” she recovered a bit late and ruffled her hair as she missed the timing to stop the third year.

Serves him right. “Sun-ah,” I started to say as I approached her, “what were you doing with him?”

She slowly shook her head as confusion was shown in her face. “I have no idea, Jong Sukkie. I really don’t,” she mumbled breathlessly. She just kept looking towards the direction that the third year disappeared to.

What I really wanted to say was, “Why do you look so affected by him? Do you feel something for him?”, but what I ended up saying was, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work now? Is your boss okay with this?”

Real smooth, Lee Jong Suk. Real smooth. If she were a bit sharper, she would have realized how much of an you sound like right now.

She then blinked up at me a couple of times before realization set in and she widened her eyes. “Omo! I totally forgot about work! I’ll just get going, Jong Sukkie!”

I grabbed her arm right before she could rush into the store, which made her curious.

“Jong Sukkie, let go of me so I can get to work,” she said to me.

How should I say it? Wait, do I have anything to say at all? “Ju-Just a minute, Sun-ah. I have something to say…”

She cocked her head to the side. “Well… say it,” she muttered indifferently as she glanced towards the bookstore.

Aisshhh why is she not paying her full attention to me~! I took a deep breath. Just do it, Lee Jong Suk! “Can you… not hang out with that sunbae? Please?”

The affronted look of her face certainly said that I had just earned her undivided attention. She pulled her arm away from my grasp. “And why in the name of heaven should I do that?”

I’ve decided to just be truthful to her. “I just… have this bad feeling about him. He’s bad news, Sun-ah.”

She scoffed. “Excuse me? What do you mean?”

 I bit my lips as I tried to elaborate whatever it was that my gut instincts were telling me about the third year. By elaborating, I meant saying other nonsensical theories without mentioning the actual he’s-so-into-you theory. “The way he looks at you is weird! Trust me, I’m a guy! And a guy does not look at you like that and expect to just be friends!” I heatedly argued.

She raised her voice. “Then, what the hell does it mean?!”

I wished with all my heart to not let my lips spit out my suspicions. “I don’t know! But it’s not a good thing! Just stay away from him, please?”

She blew at her bangs in frustration as she noticed that I had not answered her question.  “Yah, Lee Jong Suk! I can’t just stay away from a friend with no concrete reason! I’m sorry, but I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say anything and just go! Later.”

Dammit! I bit my lips frustratedly as I sensed the agitation in her voice. Why can’t she understand what I’m trying to tell her?! Right before her hands touched the handle of the door, I yelled out. “You were friends with us first!”

That effectively made her freeze in her steps. Slowly the aura emanating from her back felt like a raging fire had just spread through her whole body from the inside.

At the time, the jealous fire that was growing inside me did not care. I kept going. “You were friends with us first! Why can’t you just listen to me?! Something’s wrong with that guy! I know that you’re all friendly and open-minded to befriending all sorts of weirdoes and freaks, but a-a guy like that is just–”

Her fist landed a powerful punch to my stomach. It carried such a magnificent strength to it that it left me choking for breath and crouching on my knees. It was the first time that I was hit by a girl. It was also the first time that I knew it was my own damned fault.

I looked up, ready to apologize (and catch some breath that I needed) when I saw tears b in her eyes. Her clenched fists were shaking and her backpack was left fallen by the side. She was breathing a little too hard, and she had a pained look in her face.

And God help me, despite getting punched in the stomach and literally left breathless by this girl, I was worried about her. “Sun-ah… Why…?”

In a broken voice, she lowly muttered. “Don’t ever say my friends are freaks.”

Maybe it was the abundance of venom in her tone, or the awful feeling of disgust that she seemed to direct towards me, but her words tore right through my heart. I felt like my insides were hollowed. She thought that I was judging her friends. She thought that I thought of them unworthy of getting befriended. She thought that I was a lowlife superficial scum just like that horrible girl that made me miserable when I had first met Sun-ah. She thought that I was a monster. I could feel my face getting pale and cold sweat forming on my forehead.

“No, Sun-ah, what I–”

She downright screamed in my face. “I’LL SAY IT AGAIN! MY FRIENDS ARE NOT FREAKS!”

I was stunned