ch. 66

"at the end of the long wait,you're the one."

-my everything

"earth to van!"

eunbi shakes out of her thoughts once again when she hears that name, refocusing on the customer sitting before her. this is the third time she spaced out again, lost in her thoughts during her shift. noticing the same occurrence repeating itself, wooyoung tilts his head to the side in confusion. "van, is everything okay? what's on your mind?"

not wanting to worry the male, she flashes him a reassuring smile. "it's nothing, wooyoung. i'm just thinking about something."

"do you... want to talk about it?" he reaches out to hold her hands, which she gladly allows. "it seems like it's bothering you."

her eyes slightly widen at his statement. "oh, does it seem like it is?"

he nods his head. "you keep scrunching your eyebrows together and biting your bottom lip whenever you spaced out today. also, you fiddle with your fingers around sometimes."

she didn't realize that she was expressing herself while recalling some of the things that yeosang had told her a few days ago. it's clear that her feelings are scrambled, not solidified toward one person, and her friend's advice simply confuses her even more.

"who knows? maybe your feelings for yunho... aren't what you interpret them to be."

what did he mean by that?

why does it seem like yeosang is trying to direct her feelings toward san?

does he notice something that she doesn't?

"you know that you can talk to me?" wooyoung whispers. "you've been there for me, so i want to be there for you."

eunbi's heart melts when she hears those words, appreciating his thoughtfulness toward her. however, she does not know if you can trust him with her problems since he might pick up her identity as she talks about her thoughts. if he figures it out and reveals her identity, everything will fall downhill afterwards.

but she really needs to let this weight off her chest again, to vocalize it to someone at least.

she has to be careful with her words then.

"well, it's not me who is experiencing problems, but my friend." the female starts off slowly, trying her best to make her story believable. "i've known her since i was young, and we've been really close as we grew older."

"did something happen between you two?" the black-haired male questions, earning a small 'no' from the worker.

"recently, she told me that she has been having boy problems." a sigh leaves her lips. "she told me that she likes this boy, who likes her back, but a different guy decided to confess his feelings for her."

wooyoung raises an eyebrow at the situation. "well, shouldn't she simply go with the guy that likes her then? isn't it that simple?"

"i thought so too, but she told me that the guy who confessed to her used to be her past crush."

"and? that shouldn't change anything."

"well... i guess you can say that she may or may not have leftover feelings for him."

hearing that makes the boy groan, rolling his eyes at the statement. "oh my god, no wonder you are stressing yourself over this. this girl is just making everything hard on herself."

she giggles, finding it funny that he doesn't know that she is actually talking about herself. wooyoung notices the gesture, and he smiles brightly at her; he's glad that the girl before him is a little less tense.

they soon return to the topic and eunbi tries her best to inform him about the events that led up to this point without making it obvious. she changes up a few details as she explains everything to him, excluding anything unnecessary and making her story a bland as possible.

after intaking all that information, wooyoung retells everything through a summary to make sure he understood the story. "so guy #1 is the girl's childhood friend. she liked him for the longest time, but he liked her best friend. she met guy #2 through guy #1, and they got close while guy #1 and her best friend dated each other. something happens because of that bitchy best friend, and your friend and guy #1 stop talking to one another. she eventually loses feelings for guy #1 and hangs out with guy #2 more often, gaining feelings for him instead without realizing. but then a misunderstanding happens and guy #2 breaks off his friendship with her before she could realize those feelings. guy #1 has broken up with his girlfriend because he caught her cheating on him, and your friend was nice and comforted him. they both made up after and started hanging out again, causing them to catch feelings for each other. guy #2, assumingly, began feeling guilty for what he has done and eventually apologizes to her for acting out on her. at the same moment, he takes the chance to confess his feelings for her, and it makes her confused with who she truly loves."

trying not to cringe at the sound of her own love life spilling out from his mouth, she shows him a small smile and reluctantly nods in confirmation.

the male takes a moment to think, mumbling a few words to himself in the process. "now that i think about it, i feel like guy #2 is the better choice."

the brunette's jaw drops at the customer's conclusion, not knowing what to say to that. he thinks that it would be better to be with san than yunho?

"why do you think that?" eunbi asks, clearly wanting to know the reason behind his answer.

it is now wooyoung's turn to explain, and he warms up his throat a little before elaborating on his thoughts. "guy #2 seems like a better person than guy #1. yes, both of them fell victim to misunderstandings, apologized to her, and they are probably both good people for her."

he raises his finger when he arrives to his point. "however, the way they take action is what differentiates themselves from each other. guy #1 apologized when he was comforted by your friend, so it simply happened because he was caught up in the moment; he only realized his wrongdoings due to his break up. if he didn't break up with his girlfriend or if your friend didn't approach him that day, who knows when he would say sorry to her. but guy #2 was different; he was the one who realized his faults on his own and approached her on his own will to apologize."

the girl simply stares at him, sensing those tangled feelings slowly uncoil themselves.

"the respect for her feelings is also another thing," he continues, a sad smile on his lips as if this topic reminds him of something painful. "although the both of them acknowledge that their feelings are mutual, you said a while back that guy #1 tried to kiss her on the lips before asking for her consent and she indirectly rejected it. they aren't even dating, yet he is already trying to make a big move like that on her. guy #2, on the other, confessed to her and is patiently waiting for her answer even though he probably knows about her feelings for guy #1."

wooyoung removes his hands from eunbi's and takes a sip of his drink before saying his last thought. "and since you said that your friend may have lingering feelings for guy #2 and she didn't feel like kissing guy #1, i feel like as if guy #1 is... a rebound."

"who knows? maybe your feelings for yunho... aren't what you interpret them to be."

so that's what yeosang meant by that.

a rebound.

yeosang is saying that yunho has been a rebound this whole entire time.

"that's my opinion though," she barely hears from the male. "it's all up to your friend to choose who she thinks is best for her. the best way to figure it out is to ask her to close her eyes, and tell her who appears in her mind first."

with that, she closes her eyes.

everything makes sense now.

everything makes so much more sense now, thanks to wooyoung.

the reason why she never wanted to kiss yunho was because...

she has always loved san.

never once has he left her mind after their argument, even when she was yunho. she would always sneak glances at the male without realizing, wonder if he was okay at random times, and hope that san would speak to her someday. she missed the feeling of his skin on hers, the memories she made with him, the emotions she felt whenever he was around... everything about him.

she loves san.

she always had.

she was simply lying to herself about her feelings back then because she thought that he would never reciprocate her feelings back.

and the feeling of being loved by yunho... it somewhat made up for the idea that san would never love her.

"woah van, why are you crying?"

eunbi instinctively touches her cheek when she hears him ask that question, feeling a wet sensation on her skin. the male quickly runs over to the counter to grab some napkins before returning to the table and giving them to her.

"i'm sorry, i don't really know what got the best of me." eunbi sniffles as she blows her nose into the napkin. "i was fine and then i suddenly started crying. i didn't mean to make you worry."

"your friend must have made you stressed," wooyoung reasons, grabbing the worker's hands once more and squeezing them in a comforting manner. "you must really care about her to worry about this."

the female nods in agreement. "thank you wooyoung for helping me, this means so much to me. i think this will help my friend a lot."

"of course!" a beaming smile curves on his lips, causing her to smile as well. "you've also helped me when i needed it. i'm just glad that i have been a help to you."

she can only see the happiness from the male because he was able to help her with this problem as they talk a bit more about each other's day, moving on from the serious topic. but as someone from the outside, eunbi does not see the hidden secret behind wooyoung's curved lips.

that feigned happiness is only to conceal the reaction that he fears to express as memories of he shared with a certain girl appear in his mind. he reflects on his own love life as he watches van talk a little about some plans that she has with her friend during her break from school.

he knows.

he knows that the worker was actually talking about herself.

the way she talked about it, the way she closed her eyes after his suggestion, the way she cried afterwards...

it was so obvious, and it pains him to acknowledge the fact that someone like her is going through something like that.

he knows how horrible it feels for someone to make the wrong choice and regret it for the rest of their life, and he doesn't want the girl sitting in front of him to experience that. she has done so much for him: always listening to him whether it was complete nonsense or something that troubled him, always cheering him up on a bad day, always trying her best to solve all his problems, always being there for him whenever she can...

she reminds him of eunbi, always putting others before her.

and that's because she is eunbi, but he will never say that out loud.

after all, no one is supposed to know.

and as the wonderful being she is, eunbi doesn't deserve to go through the pain he went through.

he will make sure that it won't happen to her.

even if his heart will hurt when he sees her smile alongside the boy of her dreams...

he is happy as long as she is happy.

because that's what friends are for.