Today's meeting was drawing to a close, yet, there's no sight of the trouble maker. Taekwoon's gaze was fixated on the door, while his ears were shutting out the chief's babbling. Yet, he never came.
 

Taekwoon's gaze was still glued onto the door at the next meeting and the week after that. He concluded that he would never come back, because Taekwoon was an "". He was "worse than his superficial friends". So what? So what if he was being compared to those popular kids? The pencil in Taekwoon's hand snapped in half.

"Do you miss him that much?" Hyuk leaned in, whispering. "I thought you wanted him gone."

"Shut up!" Taekwoon yelled, earning the whole room staring at him. Hyuk was dying from laughter in his chair.

"Am I late?" A familiar voice was calling from the door and interrupted the awkward atmosphere. It was like the first time again.

The chief welcomed Jaewhan whole-heartedly, asking if he have recovered from the cold. So he was sick. It was not because of Taekwoon, right? A small smile found his lips.  "I'm alright! Little rain won't kill me." Taekwoon's lips were flat again. His body was suddenly overcome with aches all over. He tried to make eye contact with Jaewhan, but he was busy greeting everyone. Everyone but Taekwoon.

"Hey," Jaewhan heard someone calling him as soon as he stepped out of the meeting room. He felt a hand on his forearm. He wrestled his grip away.

Jaewhan stared at Taekwoon, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm sorry for what I did the other day. Getting you sick and bossing you around too," his voice was soft.

Jaewhan took the chance, "So you will bump up my place?"

Taekwoon's face was stony again, "No. I just wanted to apologize."

Jaewhan let out a frustrated sigh. As expected from an . He turned to leave, but Taekwoon stopped him again, "How about this: you can do a positive article on Hyuk, then I'll reconsider your placing."

"Pardon? Who am I doing a positive article on?"

"Han Sanghyuk."

Han Sanghyuk? As in his best friend or the most notorious troublemaker on campus? He was only an expert of asking for attention for himself! Jaewhan laughed, "A positive article? Are you kidding me?"

Taekwoon did not share half as much amusement as Jaewhan.

"Alright. I take that back. If I can see the good things in the rebel, you can see the good in me too."

Taekwoon nodded. It would be a challenge for both of them. He could not wait to see who would give up first.

"And then you'll bump me up the list!"

"Maybe."

Jaewhan clasped Taekwoon's hand in both of his. He was shaking his hand so hard and promising to write the best article ever, which made Taekwoon suspect his motive.

***

Taekwoon stared at Hyuk's text, baffled. He rejected his invitation for the third time this week! What's up with him? He knew all of his schedule and as far as he knew, exam period was over. What was keeping his best friend so busy? Still, no one could stop him from getting a good cup of latte. Taekwoon would go to the cafe by himself.

The bell above the door jingled and the first thing he saw was Hyuk's bright laughing face as he was pouring over the menu. Taekwoon was about to march over to demand an answer from him, then he spotted someone else laughing with him. Taekwoon's eyes narrowed at how much fun those two seemed to have. So Taekwoon had been stood up repeatedly because of Lee Jaewhan?! If they were really working on the article, why hadn't Hyuk said anything about it? What's the big secret? Why was he kept in the dark?

Taekwoon abandoned the line for ordering. He stopped at their table, waited silently until Jaewhan finally noticed him. Hyuk looked up too. Both met him in panic-stricken expressions.

"H-Hi, Taek-kwoon hyung," Hyuk stuttered. "What a coincidence!" Taekwoon's gaze grew harder, "It was a coincidence bumping into Jaewhan hyung too..." his small voice eventually disappeared into nothing.

"Oh. Really? I assumed you guys are meeting up for the article."

His pointed comment left the younger speechless. He sat down in the booth across from them. He took the menu from Hyuk's hand before he had a chance to order anything, although Taekwoon already knew that he had came for a latte.

After they had placed their orders, no one spoke a word. Taekwoon darted his eyes back and forth between the two nervous-looking guys. Jaewhan stared out of the window, pretending to be comfortable. Hyuk stared at the scratched-up table beneath him, busy avoiding Taekwoon's glare.

"So," the culprits whipped their heads to him after the bomb had dropped, "what's the deal? Is this the reason why you turned me down? Last time I checked, you guys already finished the interview."

Jaewhan answered for both of them, "I just have some technical questions about how to write a good article. I'm asking Hyukkie for help."

"Yeah!" Hyuk chimed in enthusiastically. "I'm just trying to help!"

Taekwoon’s eyes softened, "You could've asked me for help. What kind of interviewer asks the interviewee for help?"

Again, the younger stole nervous glances at each other. Hyuk chuckled a little, "Why would Jaewhan hyung ask you?... I mean... yeah! He should have asked you! You are as knowledgeable as I am and I need to go pee," Hyuk escaped the awkward table and ran to the washroom.

"What do you want to ask?" Taekwoon started.

The waitress arrived with their coffee. Taekwoon's orbs automatically lit up as the aroma of the latte wafted to his direction. He took a cautious sip at his hot drink. He paused, savouring and reminiscing the aftertaste.

Jaewhan watched him drink his coffee, "Do you love coffee that much?"

Taekwoon nodded. He was smiling so blissfully that Jaewhan dropped his own cup on the plate, almost spilling every content. He have never seen Taekwoon so happy before. He was so grouchy and isolated twenty-four/seven that he forgot that Taekwoon was a human too. Jaewhan stared at him for too long. Taekwoon's face stiffened, "I thought you have something to ask?"

"R-Right."

Jaewhan did ask to his heart content. What did you write in the intro? How long should the article be? How did you summarize? What could be the theme? Maybe it was the euphoric effects of the caffeine, Taekwoon answered all of his little questions with sufficient patient. Jaewhan diligently took all of his words down. If Taekwoon had been suspecting his ulterior motive, then his strong suspicion was growing fainter like the soft ballad resonating throughout the cafe.

Jaewhan finally closed his notebook happily after an hour of inquiring. His eye smile was so sparkly that Taekwoon wanted to either cringe or smile back at him.

For the past week, Jaewhan had been glued to his laptop, or more specifically, the word doc containing Han Sanghyuk's entire biography. Jaewhan thought he was going way overboard with Hyuk's family background, his childhood stories, his interests, his love history, etc. Jaewhan had not expected Hyuk to be so open to him even though it had been clear that Jaewhan had always disliked him. He had called him worse names than a trouble-maker or an attention-seeker. It took him entirely by surprise that their chatterboxes just opened. Jaewhan did not remember the last time he had known a person so well, not even his ex’s, not even his own father. Jaewhan quickly dismissed the thought of him or his own spacious apartment that was meant for a family of three.  Jaewhan put on his smile while cheerfully typing away.

As much as he enjoyed writing about Hyuk, ten thousand words might be a little bit too much. He looked up from the screen and saw the clock. Holy crap! It's 2 a.m. already? Jaewhan was so into writing Hyuk’s story that he was not conscious of the time passing. When had been the last time that Jaewhan stayed up late for something? A solstice party. He surprised himself by how much he could get lost in words. He suddenly realized the responsibilities words carried on their shoulders. Thus, he was responsible for Hyuk’s life story. For once, he felt truly important with presenting who Hyuk truly was to the world. He no longer had a shallow label of a rebel attaching to its identity. Hyuk was so much more than who he claimed he was, and someday, they would see who Jaewhan really was.

***

Taekwoon found more and more leisure of being by himself lately. Was that exactly what he wanted? Taekwoon missed the days before he had met Hyuk. It had been simpler time having plans according to his liking, without having obliged to show up at a required time and place when he did not feel like showing up. Like right now, he could spin on his spinny chair for another fifteen minutes without being disturbed.

God. He was bored out of his mind.

Taekwoon got up too fast and almost fell over. He grabbed his phone off the table and screamed in his phone, "Yah! Han Sanghyuk! Is Jaewhan holding you hostage?!" He kept rambling on and on until he was tired of yelling at nothingness.

It was official. Jaewhan was out to destroy Taekwoon's life. Another pencil in his hand broke in half as yet another wave of giggles erupted besides him. Hyuk and Jaewhan bent over something and had no curtesy whatsoever to disguise that they were the happiest people in the meeting room. Taekwoon tried to take a peek over Hyuk's shoulder. Hyuk was laughing too hard to notice Taekwoon's attempt. He ended up blocking Taekwoon's line of vision.

Taekwoon glared at Jaewhan's laughing face. His laughter sounded like saw against tree trunks. Taekwoon got up and walked out of the room.

***

The paper in Jaewhan's hand was wrinkled out of shape. He threw it at Taekwoon's face with as much force as he could muster, "Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?" he yelled at him in a volume that surprised them both.

The hate article about Jaewhan written by Taekwoon fluttered to the grass. Taekwoon swallowed a rising bile.

"Tell me!"

Taekwoon’s anger had long dissipated. He lost the ability to speak. All the foul things he wanted to say was in the ink.

"All I did was trying my best! I tried so hard on Hyuk's article! I didn't give you trouble anymore! Why are you lying about who I really am?" Jaewhan hated to sound so teary, but he could not help it now the worst thing had happened to him: no one would stick by Lee Jaewhan’s side anymore.

Taekwoon mumbled something, an apology maybe, but Jaewhan could not hear through the pounding in his ears.

"I'm really sorry," Taekwoon tried again. "I've never planned to publish it. I didn’t know how it got out."

Jaewhan stared back at him, “But it did! If you’ve never planned to publish it, then why write it in the first place?" a glistening droplet escaped.

Taekwoon picked up the dirt-covered article. "The True Face of the Two-Faced Lee Jaewhan" was the crappy title Taekwoon had came up with in three in the morning out of boredom. He stared at the paper, not really seeing his own words, “I just wanted to let it all out,” he could not meet his eyes now. Let out what exactly? Taekwoon did not know. He only knew how much words could break people apart once the world knew about them. He had the power to break Jaewhan, and this was what happened when he abused his power. That’s why he had not intended to use his power. How did things get out of hand in lightning speed? He heard a loud sniff.

“You know what. Forget it. I’ll be gone like you always wanted,” Jaewhan marched away to aimless direction. It did not matter where he went anyway. Everywhere he turned he witness jeers and disgust throwing towards him. His carefully constructed world was collapsing around him every step he took.

Taekwoon turned his chair over. He grabbed the nearest book and threw it at the far corner in the room. Crap. Crap. Crap. He ed up. Jaewhan’s crying face flashed in his mind again as he paced up and down the room. What could Taekwoon do to make him feel better? Hug him and tell him that everything will be okay? Jaewhan would only push him to the dirty ground with that dirty article. The only feasible thing to do was to find the culprit of this whole mess. Taekwoon’s eyes were alighted with fire. The chief had been the one who started it all. A Leaderboard? He’s a ing for trying to resurrect a rigid social hierarchy in a place for learning. Taekwoon marched over to his dorm’s window and threw it open, “Chief,” he yelled at the world, “you are an-” a string of profanities tumbled out of his mouth like jellybeans falling into a bag. He screamed until someone living upstair threw a tennis ball at his head.

Taekwoon collapsed onto the bed. He felt his heartbeat slowing down after a while. Seriously, who published that article? he asked himself. He shut his eyes, trying hard to recall who had came near his proximity and had access to his laptop. He thought over and over and the only person he could think of was Hyuk.

“Hyung, what are you doing here so late?” Hyuk’s eyes that stared back at Taekwoon were half-hooded from waking up.

Taekwoon closed the dorm’s door behind him, “Do you know who published that article?”

Hyuk yawned, “Which one?”

“The one about Jaewhan!” Taekwoon almost yelled.

 Hyuk was more awake now after hearing his name, “The chief. Who else is in charge of publishing new issue?”

“No. I mean. How did it get publish if I’ve never handed it in?”

Hyuk fell silence, and then he muttered, “I don’t know.” He lied back down, facing away from Taekwoon.

Taekwoon kicked his with no mercy and Hyuk screeched.

Taekwoon could no longer keep his voice soft, “You’re the editor, you should know how things got published!”

Hyuk bolted back up, “I don’t know! I’m not the one who wrote that nasty article!”

It was Taekwoon’s turn to fall into silence.

Hyuk hugged his knees, “I’m sorry.”

“You were right. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have.” Taekwoon knew that he was the true culprit of this debacle, but his pride had not allowed him to accept the truth right away.

They were quiet again. Just when Taekwoon thought Hyuk was falling back to sleep, he cried, “Ah! Remember that time when you asked me to send the chief something? I might’ve sent him the wrong fi-”

Taekwoon choked off his airway before he could finish his sentence. He drove his hard fist into his blonde bedhead and told him he was an idiot over and over. Hyuk flailed his arms around, indicating that he would die. Taekwoon finally released when he thought he had suffered enough.

“I’m sorry!” Hyuk was in tear now, “but the chief was the one who published it! Not me!”

Taekwoon stopped listening to Hyuk’s whining now. He only had one thing on his mind and it was a crushing question mark flashing red.

“Why?”

The chief looked up from his thick-rimmed glasses, “Why what?” he asked Taekwoon.

They were now face-to-face in the chief’s closet-size office. Taekwoon’s eyes were accusing, “Why did you publish Jaewhan’s article?”

“Because you wrote it, and I trusted you.”

Bull! Taekwoon wanted to yell. “You know what I wrote was not true!”

“So?” he shrugged nonchalantly, “It was a good story to tell. People loves to read about something shocking. It’s sensational that the golden boy who everyone loves would be such a hypocrite. Irony is the trend nowadays.”

Taekwoon balled his fists. “You are the hypocrite, not Jaewhan! You were the one kissing the ‘golden boy’ everyday and then stabbed him in the back! Why are you so greedy for attention? You think you can do whatever you want behind paper and ink? I will see that you can’t,” his eyes turned to venom, ready to vaporize the smug sunbae before him.

“Go ahead. I’d like to see you try.”

If only hypocrisy had a shiny label, but that would not be possible. If hypocrites were obvious, then they would not wear masks for nothing. Taekwoon only realized what’s going on behind masks too late.

Hyuk found himself to be awakened in the odd hour the next night. He looked back at Taekwoon in the semi darkness, only his phone’s flashlight illuminated the small office. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes!” Taekwoon hissed impatiently. “Start living up your reputation of a rebel and get into his computer already!”    

Hyuk obediently typed in the password he had discovered a long time ago. The chief’s computer granted them access immediately. Taekwoon sat in front of the PC and began going through his files, anything that he could yield as a sword. He opened up all sort of word doc. Majority of them were his old essays and his articles. Nothing special jumped into his line of vision.

“Hyung, this is kinda low. Do we have to dig around his stuff for our own vengeance?”

“Says you who almost got killed from poking around some stranger’s business.”

Hyuk bit his lips, but Taekwoon’s strong hand on his arm stopped him from leaving, “Do you know the password for his e-mail account?”    

Hyuk sighed in defeat. He tried typing in the computer password and failed. He tried typing different combinations, from the chief’s birthday to his crush’s name, but none of them worked. He typed in the last one and the account loaded.

“What did you just type?”

“‘jungtaekwoonsucksdicks’,” Hyuk answered without thinking and earned himself a beating in the head. “Stop hitting me! The chief is the one who hates you!”

Taekwoon snarled. The chief was a hypocrite and a whiny tween boy. He proceeded looking through his emails. There were all sort of scholarly articles and essays attached to the mails. They were nothing special at the first glance, but they never stood a chance in front of Taekwoon’s hawk eyes. He saw the pattern almost immediately. Hyuk noticed the chilling smirk carved on his hyung’s face, “What did you find?”

He clicked into one of the emails to show it to Hyuk, “These are the thesis written by some professors, right? And some dude sent the chief an essay, right? And he asked the chief for the payment, right? You know what it all means, right?”

Hyuk gulped. He was suddenly scared of the innocent delight in Taekwoon’s eyes from an not-too-innocent motive. Even if Hyuk turned off the flashlight right now, he could still see his next move as bright as daylight. Hyuk shook his head, thinking of someone who would never change his way.

***

The keyboard barely survived Taekwoon’s fiery attack. His eyes were not meeting the laptop screen, but his arch enemy on the opposite side of the no-man land. The typed words appearing on the doc were heartless bullet holes pierce the heart of an evil dictator. He made sure his enemy would not survive after this article was published on the local newspaper.

A knock on the door cut off Taekwoon’s stream of conscious. “Go away, Hyuk. I’m busy!” He yelled from his seat.

He walked in anyway, “Please stop it, Taekwoon.”

Taekwoon turned to Jaewhan. A mixed of feelings gave him a mini heart attack, so he looked back to his laptop before his face would betray anything. He did not want to show any emotions that were not sorted out.

Jaewhan walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Hyuk told me everything. You don’t have to get revenge for me.”

“I’m not doing it just for you. The world needs to see that he’s a bastard.”

Jaewhan heaved an exasperated sigh, “Jung Taekwoon, why do you always have to be so extreme? Does reputation not mean anything to you? Do you have to ruin another person?”

Taekwoon was fully facing Jaewhan now, “I’m really sorry for writing that article and ruining your reputation. I know that you’re not a hypocrite. I was childish for holding a personal grudge ever since I’ve met you. But the chief is the bad guy here and this article is what he deserves.”

“Jung Taekwoon, not everything is black and white. Ink and paper are not the only things that exist. You keep abusing your power. How am I suppose to forgive you now?” Taekwoon saw all of the emotions in his eyes: hurt and disappointment.

Even after Jaewhan had left, his last words hung heavy in the room like leftover cologne. Taekwoon bit his lips. All he cared about was that he could sleep tight at night with his conscience at ease.

***

“Give a round of applause to our new editor-in-chief, Han Sanghyuk!” Taekwoon announced at the front of the meeting room. He then happily stepped down for his best friend.    

“Thank you! Please! No more cheer! You guys can call me Sir Chief from now on!” Hyuk laughed into the mic.
 

Taekwoon forgot what he was saying next. His eyes glued onto the empty seat across from him.

"Thanks to you, Jaewhan hyung. I get less dirty looks lately," Hyuk leant over Taekwoon to fist bump Jaewhan. In the process, he dripped ice cream all over Taekwoon, which earned him a hit in the head.
 

"No problem. You are just an awesome person to write about! And of course, our Taekwoon hyung helped you a lot."

“Yeah. If I didn’t report the ex-chief to the dean, you won’t be the chief,” Taekwoon reminded him.

Jaewhan was beaming up to him, “You are the best. Sorry for thinking you as a nasty jerk.”

“Well, I’m not sorry for thinking that,” Hyuk piped up.

Taekwoon raised a fist, but Jaewhan held down his wrist, “Anyway, you did the right thing.”

Taekwoon did not know if he did the right thing or not. However, he had not slept a wink after Jaewhan had left his last words. He had been flipping in his bed all night, thinking for a viable solution. A solution that would teach the chief a lesson and get revenge the way Jaewhan wanted. Reporting him to the school board had been the most simplest solution. Taekwoon nearly laughed at how ridiculous he’d been. Normal people would have thought of going to the authority immediately, but not Taekwoon. He was too “special” for it. Maybe Jaewhan was right. He was turning his writing into shield and weapon. He was forgetting why he had became a journalist in the first place. Was it really for having his voice heard? Taekwoon did not know.

He stole a glance at Jaewhan -  the enthusiastic newcomer. He watched Jaewhan and Hyuk interact like they have known each other for a lifetime. It was miraculous how one article made them see eye-to-eye. Jaewhan listened to other people’s stories, while Taekwoon was eager to have his story heard. Up until this point, Taekwoon had not a doubt about his approach to journalism. He envied Jaewhan for finding out its meaning quicker than he did.

While Taekwoon was zoning out, Jaewhan and Hyuk were laughing at some silly jokes. For some unknown reason, Jaewhan threw his arm around Taekwoon’s back, killing himself with laughters. Taekwoon stiffened, but he did not break his arm. He retaliated by shoving his ice cream up into his big nose. Taekwoon did not expect how funny Jaewhan would look with melted dairy dripping down his nostril. They all burst out laughing. Jaewhan tried to sniff them all up, but Taekwoon wiped them away before he could do something gross.

Hyuk stared at his hyungs in bliss. He was more than glad that they were not playing the game of cat and mouse anymore. The day was in perfect harmony for the newbie and the experts, having their ice cream melted all over their sticky hands and the park fountain to wash off the goo... Hyuk stopped himself. He was glad that he was not in charge of the romance column on the paper.

***

Taekwoon noticed that Jaewhan had been furiously tapping away on his laptop lately. When he had asked what he was working on, he shrugged, saying they were rough drafts for future articles. Taekwoon accepted his explanation and left him alone for now. Taekwoon sighed to himself: that mystery he could leave alone, but he could not leave Jaewhan to his own device. Taekwoon should have noticed long ago that Jaewhan was a klutz. Besides constantly making sure that Jaewhan did not spill drinks all over his articles and laptops, Taekwoon found himself at strange place and strange hour just to rescue him. Taekwoon chuckled to himself upon remembering that one time when he had attempted pulling Jaewhan’s hand free from the hole in his closet. Somehow, the idiotic Jaewhan ended up sealing them both inside. Poor Taekwoon had to cradle the crying Jaewhan for hours in his arms, telling him the closet was not haunted either. When Hyuk had finally found the two with shut eyes and hands clasped together, he wailed, thinking both of his hyungs were dead. Taekwoon sighed as he recalled how Hyuk had been teasing them for weeks for whatever dirty had happened in that closet.

Taekwoon now waited in Jaewhan's living room, laughing out loud over the memes Jaewhan have made. These are so lame! Taekwoon thought to himself, while suppressing another smile. Jaewhan's voice called from the bathroom then, asking him to look over one of his articles.

"Which one is it?" Taekwoon called. He was answered by running water.

Taekwoon began rummaging through promising files. He went through almost all of them in the journalism file, until one of them popped up which made him furrow his brows. Was he suppose to see this? Taekwoon read on anyway before Jaewhan would catch him red-handed.

The sunshine would have felt really good on Jaewhan's back if he was not walking like a zombie between his classes. Students around him were rushing past him but Jaewhan could not bring himself to do so. Not after trying to meet the brutal deadline for his article. He nearly swore at the jerk who crashed into him. He stopped himself when he saw it was Sungjae, "Dude, you gotta read this!" he shoved his phone in his face.
 

If Jaewhan could not keep his eyes open before, now he could. He barely read the words but he knew that they were words of praises. Praises about himself! "Where's Taekwoon hyung?"

"Don't know. Why?"

Because Jaewhan was going to buy him his favourite flowers and give him a lot, a lot of kisses and love.

***
 

Jaewhan tried out his new coffee machine. The dark liquid that was oozing out of the brewer looked promising. And the aroma was equally enticing. He could not screw up this time. He took an eager sip and ended up fanning his tongue frantically. He felt someone looming behind, over-looking his shoulder and holding onto his waist. "Need some help?" came Taekwoon's quiet voice.
 

"Look! I've made some latte!" Jaewhan was so excited that he almost spilled his proud creation all over Taekwoon's sweater. He held the cup steady around Jaewhan’s hand, "I can never trust you with liquid, Lee Jaewhan." He took the cup from him, suppressing a knowing smile.

Jaewhan followed Taekwoon out of his kitchen. They arrived at the table that covered by messy array of papers and their two opened laptops. They were collaborating on a series of sustainability articles that were going to feature for the next few weeks. Well. It was more like Jaewhan was learning from Taekwoon than collaborating. He had been enjoying listening to him talking about the reservoir near their campus or the new environmental-friendly soup that the engineering kids have made. Jaewhan was not originally a big environmentalist, but he loved watching Taekwoon's eyes alive. His whole face actually lit up without the normal control. Perhaps it was because they were closer than before, so Jaewhan had the privilege to see the rare sight.

Taekwoon leaned in, staring into his eyes sternly, "Quit looking at me. So creepy."

"Don't lie. I know you love me."

It looked like Taekwoon was blushing, but Jaewhan was not sure. Taekwoon hit his head with a thick stack of papers, "I should never have written that good article about you."

Instead of retreating to his respective space, Jaewhan's admiring gaze did not leave him, "Why did you write it then?"

Taekwoon's gaze faltered a bit, "I was wrong about you, 'kay? And you were pathetic enough to write an obnoxious article about yourself. I need to do something about it before that got published."

Jaewhan's face was flushed, "H-How did you know?!"

"I accidentally saw it on your laptop the other day."

Jaewhan took a sip of his latte to gather his thoughts, "Actually, your article makes me look so much better than what I wrote. Why is that?"

Taekwoon's eyes shifted to the pile of paper, "I told you. I was wrong about you, maybe even your friends."

"No. Really!" Jaehwan mocked, which earned him another smack in the head.

"No. I'm serious. I've been thinking a lot when I was working on the article. I hated your clique because I've never dealt with them before, until I've met you." Taekwoon had written that article about Jaewhan like the way Jaewhan had written about Hyuk. Taekwoon had felt much more affection for him than ever before. He had experienced another feeling about writing, and he had not hated it at all.

Jaewhan did not know what to response, so they ended up locking eyes, not saying anything.

Taekwoon started again, “I’m sorry for all the mean things I’ve done. You are not what they think you are. I’ve read about your father and family,” he took a sharp intake of breath as he saw a fleeting storm passed by Jaewhan’s face. “I’ll always stick by you, whether you have a good reputation or not,” he took one of Jaewhan’s hand in his. A squeeze was returned. “Reputation is not the most important thing.”

A grin spread on Jaewhan’s face. He felt his wish had came true because of Taekwoon. Through the power of words, the world saw who Jaewhan really was, “Okay. But you’ll have your kicked if you ever abandon me.” A light-hearted chuckle escaped Jaewhan. He could not stand Taekwoon looking too serious, “You are going to the party this Saturday, right? Sungjae, Minhyuk, Minah, and Hyuk are going too. You’re not too good for us, right?” he punched him playfully in the chest.

Taekwoon, who was still blushing, caught his hand and was about to hit him with his free hand, but Jaewhan blocked it this time. “No. Never,” his eyes were firm.

Jaewhan’s smile was so big now that it hurt his face. He was about to more, saying how much he had changed. However, he liked to see the genuine smile on Taekwoon’s face to stay a little longer. The moment was perfect for Jaewhan. Him talking about protecting the forest with sparkling eyes. And him nodding off to the blissful scent of his favourite drink.

Autho's note: Finally! The story that I've been working on for more than a month is completely out! T.T I think I've revised this story for 4 or 5 times already. The multiple writer's blocks were killing. Well, this was the most challenging piece of writing I've done of late, do I get a gold star for effort? Ahaha, no. Okay. Hope you enjoyed the story. And I guess the moral of the story is that if you want to fall in love, you should interview your crush? Jokes. 

Thanks for the support! I'm grateful for the response from the first part. <3 Please let me know what you think of the rest of the story too. Please look forward to my other works :)

-Suzie

P.S. You Keo shippers are too nice. I think I'm falling for them too...