“Young Kwangie!” I darted to the duo and tried to pry the big giant away from Sung Joonie. “Stop it! Stop this!”

Young Kwangie flashed me a dark look that literally made me shiver. Those warm brown eyes of his were suddenly like the coldest embers from the deepest cores of the earth. He lowly muttered, “But he was– He was– Let me just teach him a lesson.” He then threw another punch that left a cut on Sung Joonie’s lip.

I did not know why my eyes were tearing up at that moment. Maybe it was because I felt a tiny hint scared seeing Young Kwangie not being his usual sunny self, or because I hated seeing my friends fighting each other. And so, with all the strength that I could muster, I pulled Young Kwangie away and hugged him tight with my face up to his chest, “PLEASE STOP IT, YOUNG KWANGIE! JUST PLEASE!”

That successfully detached the two of them, even if Young Kwangie put up a real struggle to be free. I tried pulling him far away from my friend who was lying on the ground. As Sung Joonie warily looked over at me, who was bear-hugging Young Kwangie and bringing him to the other side of the rooftop, I signaled him to run away. He did just that.

I waited for a few minutes before slightly loosening my hold on his body. Young Kwangie was panting. He cursed under his breath as he looked down at me. “Why would you do that…?” he gruffly demanded.

I just shook my head at him. Will I ever be ready to look at him again when I’ve seen how scary he looks like when he’s mad?

“Hey…” his voice started to go gentler. One of his hands came up to tuck a stray lock of my hair behind an ear. “Look at me.”

“No!” I closed my eyes, and immediately I felt some tears fall over my cheeks. Shoot! I really am crying! I felt some sobs climbing up to my throat, but I suppressed them for now.

His chest calmed down from its previous panting as I could hear his heart slowing its beating. When he spoke, I felt a slight movement from his chest. “Come on, now. I’m sorry you saw me like that. Did I scare you?” This time, he opted to run his long fingers through my hair, which was strangely calming.

Bingo. I hesitated to answer. “No…?” I muffled, as my face was still buried in his chest.

Young Kwangie let out a long and heavy sigh. For a couple of minutes he just let the silence envelope us both, until he slid his arms around my waist and brought his chin to the top of my head.

He whispered, “I’m sorry. I overreacted.”

I just sniffled in response.

He went on. “I got a call earlier, from Jong Hyun. He told me to check up on you, and said that he was held up with his dad at home. Said you were getting harassed and you called for help. When I saw you and Sung Joon…” he trailed off. “Well, let’s just say I may have let out something else from today too.”

I nodded once. We stayed in that embrace.

Young Kwangie sighed. “I really hate it when a girl gets forced into something, and to think that he did it a second time…”

That made my head tick. “But he didn’t force me this time, Kwangie-ah.”

I felt Young Kwang go silent. Even his next words were a mere mumble. “He didn’t…?”

I felt my face go red, but thankfully, he could not see it as my face was still buried to his chest. “Mm-hmm. I think… I actually kinda liked it, now that I’m thinking back on how I… responded.” Oh dear God, why does it feel so embarrassing to admit I enjoyed a kiss from a guy friend to another guy friend?!

“Really?” This time, his voice was barely a squeak. I could only catch it because of our proximity. “Huh.”

I groaned as my face felt even warmer from his replies. “This just gets even more embarrassing by the minute,” I muttered and chuckled.

“You don’t say…” he drawled, with skepticism dripping all over his voice.

When I managed to peer up and look at his face, I found his bemused expression looking down at me. When he grinned, I felt myself grin too, before we burst out laughing. Laughing with Young Kwangie was easy and natural, and it never felt odd to still be hugging each other and wiping each other’s tears that fell from too much laughing. Somehow, it was heartwarming for me to know that I had someone like him in my life.

He pinched one of my cheeks hard – Ow! – before he poked his tongue at me. “Even if you did enjoy yourself, you shouldn’t go around letting other boys kiss you like that, you know. Somewhere in the Book of Propriety, kisses like that are meant for someone more than just a friend.”

I laughed out loud and thumped on his chest. When he frowned, I just shook my head. “I’m sorry. I see your point, but seriously- the Book of Propriety?!”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Making fun of me, eh?” Suddenly, I felt the change of his hug. He was literally pressing my body to his.

“What are yo– AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

Somehow the giant Kim Young Kwang had enough strength in his body to lift me up and spin me around, as if I weighed like nothing.

Still spinning me around, he guffawed. “YOU DARE TO MAKE FUN OF ME AGAIN?!”

“NOOOOOooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOO~!!!!” was all that I could manage.

He just continued guffawing. When he tried to stop spinning me around, gravity found us instead as we both fell on the platform with him on top of me. At first we both gasped, but then we laughed together.

“I guess you’re not that strong, Football Player Kim!” I taunted, breathless as his body leaned over mine wholly.

“Yah! At least I tried to lift you over the ground!” he retaliated, also panting after excessive laughing.

Once the breathing silenced, everything else did. All of a sudden, I was conscious of the way our bodies touched. It did not matter that I wore a thick pullover hoodie over my T-shirt and sweatpants and that he had a jacket with his T-shirt and jeans. His upper body was literally lying over mine, that when he shifted his position to hover while leaning on his elbows, I could feel his muscles move over my stomach before the contact was gone. As he was leaning on his elbows, I could feel one of his muscled thighs in between my legs. His brown hair fell over his brows and almost covered his soft-looking eyes. Those dark cocoa orbs had a hazy look as they stared into mine. I thought my heart was thumping just fine, but the rhythm was a bit funny. It felt like my heartbeat went faster as time painfully passed us by.

I reached out to tuck away the stray locks of his hair. My hand then drifted to lightly touch his cheek. I felt my lips stretch into a smile. “I’m happy that I have you in my life, Kim Young Kwang.”

I honestly did not know what propelled me to say those things to him. The words came to my lips before I knew it, and I felt it was necessary to let him know my sentiments.

I thought I heard an unsteady breath from him. He whispered, “You are?”

My smile widened. “I am. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

I felt his breath hitch. He had a wavering look in his eyes, but I did not think it right to comment on it. He then reached out and tenderly cupped my face. “Me too, Sun-ah. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

The next morning came smoothly, as if yesterday never happened. Even though I went to bed late, my body automatically woke up at eight in the morning. I put on my work out clothes and went out for a morning jog. After I said bye to my mom, who was preparing breakfast for my other siblings and dad, and kissed her on the cheek of course.

My aim was to walk from my home all the way to the recreational park and do my usual rounds there. After agreeing to join the theater performance for the school festival and getting excused from the usual football club practice, I had forgone my morning jogs and it felt great to get some fresh air in my body.

After jogging for about five rounds, I slowed down to start walking along the path. Wiping away some sweat that gathered on my forehead, I tried to hide my sigh as last night’s events came to mind.

“I’m happy I have you in my life, Kim Young Kwang.”

“You are?”

“I am. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

I missed my footing and stumbled onto a grassy path leading to the children’s park. I heard a few people calling out, asking if I was okay. I just sat up, sent them a smile and said I was alright.

“I should really get my head checked…” I murmured to myself as I bent down to brush away bits of dirt and grass on my pants.

“You okay there?” I heard a familiar voice approach me.

I looked up and smirked at him. “Fine, Jae Hyun. Just fine.”

My friend grinned right back. He was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt over shorts with his favourite jogging sneakers, and was carrying a water bottle. Jae Hyun probably missed exercising as much as I did.

I straightened my back and motioned for him to sit down at the nearest bench. “How many rounds have you done?”

“About five, on the other side of the park. I saw you when I decided to stop for a while.” He said as he took a sip of water from his bottle, with which he offered to me to drink.

I kindly declined him. “I feel like all the after-school theater practice is making my stamina fade away.”

He groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Me too. Because my body’s so used to long hours of swimming right after school, not doing them makes my body feel so lazy. I think even Soo Hyuk’s affected.”

I nodded. “I saw him the other night, when I was walking home from my part-time job. He was playing basketbal