ch. 61

"i knew i loved you then, but you'll never know."

-say you won't let go

"eunbi-ah! sit next to me!"

wooyoung waves his hand to catch the pair's attention as they enter the cafe. the girl quickly spots the table that he was at and makes her way to the black-haired male, plopping herself next to him with a smile. with no available seat around her, yunho reluctantly takes a seat on the other end of the table.

clasping his hands together, the male looks around to see that everyone is present for this meeting. his excitement seeps through his giggles while he begins talking.

"today, we will be discussing our hangout during break!"

the conversation then explodes into chattering, numerous people suggesting different plans for their hangout. some like yeosang and eunbi simply stay quiet and listen to these ideas and join the chat for a while as others like mingi constantly spout every little thing that appears in their heads.

yet all except one person contributes to their process of planning, and wooyoung notices it.

san slouches against his chair with his arms cross as an expression of discomfort washes over his face. his eyes never once leaves the surface of the table as a small sigh leaves his lips, his hands lifting his drink to his mouth. he turns his head to the side to watch the cars pass by the cafe with a melancholy gaze.

a small frown tugs on wooyoung's lips.

he can tell that the words he told him that day have been on his mind lately, and he's glad it is. every time he sees yunho and eunbi together, there's a hint of regret that glimmers in the male's eyes before he shifts his gaze to somewhere else.

yet for some reason, he still hasn't made a move.

softly nudging his friend, he gains the dazed boy's attention and notices how his eyebrows are scrunched together in annoyance.

"what do you want?" san says in a moody tone. "i don't have time for your nonsense."

oof, that stung.

disregarding the remark, wooyoung whispers into his ear. "san-ah, you need to contribute to the conversation."

he earns an eye roll and a scoff from the male once he backs away from him. "why would i need to contribute if i'm not planning to go?"

his statement comes off a little too loud to his liking and wooyoung looks over to his shoulder to see eunbi blinking a few times with a confused look on her face. she stares at them, appearing as if she overheard them talking among themselves. by the way she raises her eyebrow at them, it can be told that she did not like what she heard.

she's the last person they needed to intervene in the conversation.

but nonetheless, wooyoung tilts his head to the side, implying that she should try convincing san to take part in the session. the other male simply shifts his gaze to the window once more to avoid the awkwardness.

a small sigh leaves her lips before she places a hand on the black-haired male beside her.

"you can't force him," the girl says, which was surprising to the both of them. "if he doesn't want to participate, then that's his choice."

wooyoung's jaw drops at her words as he looks back and forth between his two friends. he tries to get a sound to come out from his mouth, but only silence could be heard from him.

he did not expect her to defend his best friend, especially not after that incident.

he looks over to san, who is now staring at eunbi with no emotions whatsoever. the corner of his lips twitch a little, as if he has something to say, while the tips of his ears slowly become red.

after a few seconds of silence, the quiet male turns his head away from her.

changing his focus to the female beside him, wooyoung notes that eunbi seems like she expected that reaction from the black-haired male. the small smile she once wore is now pressed into a thin line and she reluctantly takes a sip of her drink.

wooyoung lets out a quiet sigh and lets his arms cross over his chest before bringing his attention back to the conversation. it's infuriating that san is being stubborn, yet there is so little he can do about it.

nonetheless, the group eventually came to consensus that they would hold a sleepover at yunho's house one day since his parents were the most lenient out of everyone else's parents. they remained at the cafe until an hour before closing time, talking about anything that came to mind whether it was mingi bumping into a pole on the way to the cafe or eunbi's experience in her new class.

when the time to depart came, everyone except eunbi collects their belongings and begins to seep out of the building. yeosang and jongho notify the boys that they were going to walk hanna home since the older male was sleeping over at jongho's house and her house isn't far from that of the younger male's. the remaining people surround yunho's car and are about to file into the vehicle until hongjoong notices something.

"guys?" the older blond male says, earning the group's attention. "there's six of us, but five seats."

the boys bring their gazes to the interior of the car, confirming that indeed there are only five seats. yunho is the only one who can drive, so only four seats were available for the remaining of them. one of them is either walking back to the dorms by themselves or staying back to wait for another ride.

since no one wants to be left behind, everyone discusses the plan to fit everyone in the car, whether it is squishing four of them in the back seats or even having one of them in the trunk. seonghwa, being the one with integrity, argues against these ideas and their discussion prolongs for a few minutes. ideas are thrown back and forth in the conversation without stop, solutions being rejected in an instant.

wooyoung mindlessly turns his head toward the cafe and notices how eunbi is still waiting for her ride to pick her up. the brunette takes a sip from her drink as her beautiful eyes focus on a piece of paper on the table, her adorable lips moving as if she is reciting a song. her delicate fingers make their way to her face to brush her soft hair behind her ear.

in an instant, an idea pops up in the black-haired male's head.

swiftly, the boy raises his hand to bring everyone's focus to him, a cunning grin plastered on his lips. he makes eye contact with his best friend, and san immediately gets the gist of what is happening.

san opens his mouth to protest, but wooyoung's loud voice overcomes it.

"san volunteers to stay behind!" he exclaims. "he said that he can ask eunbi for a ride back!"

san smacks his face with his hand and drags it downward, dreading the fact that wooyoung set him up. the male is about to lift his fist and pummel his friend to death until seonghwa speaks up.

"that could work. thank you san for volunteering." the young man gives the black-haired male a small hug before heading into the vehicle.

wooyoung, being the last one to enter the car, snickers at him with lips curved into a devious smile as he places himself into the car. everyone snuggles close to each other for warmth while yunho starts the car.

staring out from the window, the black-haired male watches his friend enter the building once more. the lonely girl perks her head up at the sound of the bells chiming at the entrance, and a small smile makes its ways onto her lips when she recognizes the person at the entrance. san nervously rubs the back of his neck and slowly walks towards the table she is at, taking a seat a few chairs away from her.

wooyoung brings his gaze back to his fiddling hands once the car leaves the parking lot and immerses itself into the streets of seoul. a heavy sigh leaves his lips and an aching pain lingers on his heart.

he lied.

he lied about everything.

he lied about planning everything from the start.

he lied about acting everything out.

he lied about...

not having feelings for eunbi.

to be honest, he wanted her to himself.

he wanted to shower her with all the love he has for her.

he wanted to feel that electric feeling every time their skin touches.

he wanted to be the one to make her happy...

because she was the light that showed him the way from the darkness, and he will be forever grateful for that.

but he has already messed up, she will never accept his feelings after everything that has happened between them.

and only one person can bring her the happiest moments of her life...

his best friend, san.

wooyoung leans his head against seonghwa's shoulder.

san may think that he is a coward...

but wooyoung is the biggest coward out of the two of them.