MINHYUK

The moment I stepped out of the car and I felt the rain falling over me, it ended up sending chills down my spine. But I didn’t really care about it, as long as she felt warm—I had given her my coat before entering the taxi since she had ended up spending so much time in the rain as she waited for me to show up and help her. This attack she had suffered by those girls was all around odd to me, I had a gut feeling that Jinae had something to do with it. However, I couldn’t go ahead and tell her “Hey the girl you consider such a great friend, her, Kwon Jinae, has attacked you twice already ever since coming back”…after all I had already screwed up with so many misunderstandings over the past few weeks, I couldn’t keep on messing things up for us even more.

Not after she had ended up clinging to me so desperately and telling me how she needed my presence, how she wanted to reach out to me… to me out of everyone she could have wanted to call, she thought about me before thinking of calling Jonghyun, and that as selfish as it was made me a bit glad. I didn’t want to be selfish, nor did I want to raise up my hopes…but here I was again, hopelessly wishing that she would say she needed me. I was dying to hear her again but the ride back home was almost silent, like she was hiding what had went on when those girls attacked her.

As we made our way inside the building she lived on, I could still see a light shade of pink on her cheek, it grated me. It made me feel like I wanted to put the people that did this to her in their place—Jinae, I wanted to scream at her and tell her how she should just disappear from our lives already, that I no longer cared if she went ahead and lied about me joining forces with her so that I didn’t stop Jonghyun from breaking her heart. Even if she ended up seeing me as a selfish person… even if I tried to stop Jonghyun and he still didn’t listen to me, even if I didn’t stop Jinae from doing them so much harm and even if I ended up losing my best friend and the girl I had fallen for at the same time… I just wanted to protect her from her so called friend.

“Minhyuk-oppa…” she suddenly whispered as we were walking up the stairs towards her flat. Her eyes were fixed on the steps and she wouldn’t face me, her arms were wrapped around her waist, clutching my coat that was on her.

“Y-yes…tell me” I replied, trying to act normal.

“Do you like Juniel?” she asked out of the blue, her tone with traces of hesitation.

“Junhee?!” I replied startled “No of course not, she is a good friend and I was working with her a while ago but I don’t like her that way” I told her, that completely took me by surprise; I wouldn’t have imagined she would suddenly ask me something like that.

If only I could tell you that I have loved you for more than you can imagine ended up crossing my mind, I wanted so badly to tell her that I liked her, loved her that I was in love with her, that I needed her yet obviously I couldn’t… I had already betrayed Jonghyun and blurting that out when she least expected wasn’t going to do neither of us any good.  It wasn’t going to do Jonghyun any good, he would label me a traitor for falling for the girl he loves and never telling him, it would harm her because deep down I still felt as though she was ready to jump at the chance of getting back at Jonghyun since they weren’t fighting anymore… and it would end up shattering me. The moment I confessed my love for her, that moment all would end up going to hell… I didn’t want to face heartbreak, I didn’t want to hear her say that I was nothing but her friend, her best friend.

“Then…” she started again, slowly “…you are going out with Jinae right?” she said as she placed her hand on the doorknob, looking down to the floor, avoiding in all ways to meet my gaze.

“No” I stated, matter of factly. I heard her take in some air, her breathing still felt like she was shivering—moments like these turn out to be the ones in which I find myself at a loss, in which I want to tell her how all of the misunderstandings are not what they look like, how I hate Jinae and how I just… how I just can’t live without her.

“What do you mean no…” she sighed.

“It is exactly what I mean, no I’m not going out with Jinae” I explained, as calmly as I could. I didn’t want to give away the fact that I hated Kwon Jinae so much, but I was done with being paired with her, and done with her making all these problems arise.

She opened the door to the flat and stepped inside, I did as well and closed the door behind me. I was truly glad that I had managed to get her back to safety and that she was no longer out there freezing cold in the rain while crying, that she was no longer in danger of being attacked once again.

When I gazed at her, I saw how she was taking off my coat and I took noticed of how her clothes were soaked. After all, she had spent so much time out there in that park while waiting for me to show up even if she hadn’t call me, even if she was just waiting for me because she knew somehow someway… I’m always showing up to her aid. Her shirt was drenched, her jeans were smeared, obviously from having sit on the grass for who knows how long. I couldn’t help but to still gaze at her and how casually she took off her coat…as usual, she never felt any danger coming from me, not like she ever saw me as a man to begin with; I was just best friend Kang Minhyuk and nothing else it seemed.

Her soaked shirt ended up showing bits of her skin and I tried to look elsewhere, averting my eyes even if I wanted to look at her. She had remained silent for some minutes, as though she was in deep thought after I had told her that me and Jinae weren’t going out at all. Did she believe me or was she doubting my words? I had no idea what was going on her mind at the time.

“Hey…” her named rolled out of my lips, softly, endearingly, like I always had treated her, with all the love and care in the world… even if sh