Friday Afternoon, Week 9

Chorong and Bomi's dorm.

Midterms passed by like a racing hurricane leaving a chaotic mess of stress and empty coffee cups in its wake.

Chorong had somehow managed to survive the storm and with exams out of the way she now had more time to work on rehearsing for the theatre production. She lay on her bed with her eyes closed reciting her lines to the empty dorm.

Bomi was out doing who knows what with the girls. She had tried her best to drag Chorong out of the dorm but Chorong didn't feel like dealing with that much noise today.

She paused as she got stuck on a line she couldn't remember.

"Damnit…" 

Chorong opened her eyes and went to go check her script again. Ever since the library fiasco the Paris scenes had been giving her some trouble. The lines weren't particularly hard or anything but she kept getting distracted thinking about Changsub.

Chorong had noticed a slight change in his behavior recently. At first she thought it was just her imagination and brushed it off but now it was getting harder to feign ignorance.

A slight brush of the shoulder here and there, glances that lingered longer than they should, and hugs that felt a little too close for comfort. 

Chorong shut her eyes again. No. It wasn't going to happen. It couldn't happen. Not when they were so good together as friends.

Her phone suddenly chimed next to her.

"Speak of the devil…"

Chorong opened the chat.

Changsub: let's go somewhere.

Chorong's fingers hovered over the screen for a moment before replying.

Chorong: where?

She waited as the three dots bounced on the bottom of the screen until the message popped up.

Changsub: food.

Okay that seemed normal enough. She sighed and typed back.

Chorong: ok.

Changsub: meet me at the parking lot I'm stealing Eunkwang's car.

Chorong got up from the bed and reached for her leather jacket. She checked her hair in the mirror then grabbed her wallet and left the dorm room.

She hoped this wasn't going where it looked like it might be going but she had a feeling…

When she reached the parking lot she saw Changsub and instantly regretted her choice of clothing. Why did he have to wear that leather jacket today of all days?

Chorong didn't want to admit it but it looked good on him.

"Hey." Changsub said looking up.

His eyes fell on her jacket and he grinned.

"Twinsies today huh?"

"Shut up." Chorong said sticking out her tongue. He was so childish sometimes.

Changsub chuckled and unlocked Eunkwang's car.

"Get in." He set, sitting down in the drivers seat.

Chorong got in the car and sat down feeling slightly relieved that he hadn't tried to open the door for her. Imagine the embarrassment…She probably would've punched him.

They drove to one of the nearby restaurants and got dinner. They ate and chatted about school, complained about class, made fun of their friends.

It felt normal. Way too normal. Chorong didn't like it. It felt like the calm before a storm and she could see it coming from a mile away.

They finished eating and went back to the car. Changsub started driving but he wasn't driving back to school.

"Where are we going?" Chorong asked as Changsub took a turn up an unfamiliar road.

"Somewhere." Changsub said casually.

"Please don't…" Chorong thought to herself as she looked away and stared out the window at the evening sky.

They drove for a few more minutes until they reached a small lookout at the top of a hill. Chorong got out of the car and shivered slightly. The air was cold with the winter months approaching and she felt glad for her jacket despite the fact that they were almost matching. 

"Let's go look at the lights." Changsub said.

Chorong followed behind him with a slight feeling of dread. She didn't like where this was going.

They stood at the railing looking out at the city below them. It was getting dark now and the buildings glittered in the last fading light of the sun.

"Nice isn't it." Changsub said smiling at her.

Chorong nodded but didn't say anything. A small gust of wind blew past them and she shivered again

"You cold?" Changsub asked.

"Kinda."

Changsub came closer and wrapped his arms around Chorong.

"Changsub-ah don't…" She complained.

"What? You're cold aren't you?" He said, squeezing a little tighter.

Chorong didn't answer. She was cold.

They stood there in silence watching the tiny ant sized cars moving down the streets of Suwon.

"Rong..." Said Changsub softly.

"Rong? That's a new one…"

Chorong turned her head to look at him. Bad idea. He was much too close.

They stared at each other for a moment.

Chorong looked into Changsub's eyes, not wanting to see what she knew was there.

"Don't do it…" She silently pleaded.

Changsub leaned in closer.

"Please don't…"

Chorong closed her eyes and felt his lips meet hers. She felt her heart stop.

"No…"

Tears pricked at her eyes as Changsub kissed her slowly.

"Why…" Chorong whispered as Changsub finally pulled away.

"I love you…" Changsub said looking at her softly.

"I can't…" Chorong said.

"What do you mean?"

Chorong looked away.

"I'm sorry…" She said, fighting her tears.

"Do you not like me back?" Changsub asked with a hint of pain in his voice.

Chorong shook her head.

"I love you…but not like that." She whispered.

 "Why not…"

"I told myself I wouldn’t…"

Chorong felt a lump rise in as she tried to hold down her emotions.

She broke away from Changsub.

"Let's pretend this didn't happen." She said quietly.

"Why?" He asked, sounding hurt.

"I can't love you like that." Chorong said.

"Chorong please…" 

"I just want to be friends!" Chorong burst out.

They stood facing each other as angry tears fell from Chorong's eyes.

"Can't we go back to what we had before…?" Chorong asked tearfully.

"It doesn't work like that Rong…" Changsub said shaking his head.

"We can still be friends if we just…"

Changsub looked up at the sky as he tried to hold back his own tears.

"Chorong I can't just sit here and pretend I don't love you when I do. Ever since we got close I felt like you were meant to be in my life. You stop me when I'm angry and you fix me when I'm broken and I can't imagine a normal day without you anymore!"

Changsub yelled the last part and ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"I don't want to hear it." Chorong said, wiping her eyes and turning back towards the car.

Changsub grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her back around to face him.

"Chorong please…you're everything to me…you're like a mom and a sister and a best friend all in one and I just want you to be one more thing for me." Changsub pleaded.

"I can't…" Chorong sobbed as more tears fell.

"Then tell me why…" Said Changsub, his voice breaking.

Chorong scrubbed at her eyes and hiccupped as she tried to calm her voice enough to talk.

"I told myself…I told my self I can't date anyone…Changsub-ah…I want to be successful in the acting world…It's my life dream…and being in a relationship is going to hold me back. I'm so sorry…but I've made up my mind…"

Changsub took in her words for a second then he laughed coldly and shook his head.

"You're really something else." He said letting go of her shoulders.

They stood awkwardly as Chorong continued to cry. It was now dark and even colder than before but both were too emotionally spent to feel the cold anymore.

When Chorong had no more tears left Changsub took a deep breath and finally spoke again.

"Let's go back to school." He said quietly.

Changsub started walking back to the car and Chorong waited a few moments before following him. They drove back in silence. Changsub stared blankly at the road in front of him. Gone was the grumpy weirdo Changsub who Chorong had known before. Now he gave off a cold, stoic air and Chorong suddenly felt like she didn't know him anymore.

It all felt so wrong.

Chorong had known in her heart that Changsub's confession was bound happen at some point but she hadn't expected it to end up so badly like this.

Now all she could feel was the dull ache and emptiness of losing the person she had started to think of as her true best friend.

"I'm sorry…"

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A/N   I'M CRYING….. who wrote this again? Oh wait.

I hate the fact that the picture is fake. Please the jackets are too cute…

I'm sorry was it too early for confession time?