"Make way! Make way for our celebrity!" Haruto and Junghwan playfully joked, roleplaying as bodyguards. "Make way for THE Kim Yeonkyu!"

"Idiots," Yeonkyu chuckled as he walked towards his friends and gave them a quick smack in their heads. "I'm glad you two could come."

"Of course! We wouldn't miss your performance," Junghwan leaned closer. "Actually, I just wanted to see you panic over the fact you'd be singing with your crush."

"What the—"

"You like Jeongwoo?" Haruto's eyes turned wide, clearly shocked, hearing Junghwan, who by now was teasingly raising his eyebrow at Yeonkyu.

Yeonkyu's face quickly turned red. "How did— Wait, is it re-really that obvious?"

"Oh please, you're head over heels for him! Anyone can tell you like him."

The three turned their heads at a familiar voice calling. "Hey Kyu, we're up next! Let's go!" Jeongwoo yelled. "Oh, Hi Ruto! Hi Hwannie!"

The friends looked at each other and laughed. "Speak of the devil, look at him calling for you. Good luck with your performance!" Haruto cheered for his friend and waved him goodbye.

Haruto and Junghwan walked to their seats, right at the front of the stage. The two came to support their friend Yeonkyu who was asked to substitute for Yedam, the band's other vocalist who couldn't attend their gig due to an exam.

Jeongwoo was the other vocalist of the band. Despite being a new member, only since he had just transferred to the school, he immediately gained a lot of supporters from the student body because of his voice. Not to mention, he was well-gifted with looks and had a really great personality. In other words, he was the obvious definition of "perfect".

Being the perfect man that he is, people can't help but fall for his charms. Haruto wasn't excluded. From the moment the school year started, his interest was piqued when the new student introduced himself. With tanned skin, wolf-like eyes, a well-defined jawline, and broad shoulders, Jeongwoo was definitely Haruto's type.

Haruto's infatuation soon deepened when the two, together with three other classmates, were grouped for a semester-long project. The two formed a deeper friendship. This friendship only heightened Haruto's fear of confessing, though. He doesn't want to break their friendship.

"Does he really like Woo?" Haruto whispered to Junghwan.

"Yeah, it probably hasn't been long though. Why do you ask?" Junghwan gasped. "Don't tell me you like him too?"

"Wha— Pfttt, no I don't! Why would I like him?" The taller friend awkwardly laughed.

"If you say so," the younger friend shrugged. "Oh, It's their band's turn!"

Haruto turned his attention to the band performing on stage, staring at one particular vocalist. Surprisingly, the singer stared back and flashed him a smile as he continued singing the night away.

A few weeks later, stress was an understatement for Haruto who was catching up on all his schoolwork. His individual work was piling up, their exams were coming, and the semester-long project he has with Jeongwoo—and his other groupmates, who he often forgets to mention—is due the next week and they still haven't finalized their work.

The sudden revelation of his friend liking the same person he likes occasionally came to his mind too. Focusing on his priorities was a struggle when sudden random thoughts of Jeongwoo appear in his mind throughout the day.

He hated that. Haruto hated the fact that his mind was as messy as his unkempt bed all because of one guy. All because of that one guy, he couldn't keep his mind fixed on work that was way more important.

He was on the verge of breaking down when he heard a knock on his apartment door. He opened the door to Junghwan struggling to hold two bags of snacks on his chest.

"I'm busy. Go away." Haruto was about to close the door but Junghwan quickly stopped him.

"Come on. It's been a week since we hung out. All you've been doing is drowning yourself in work. You need to chill out a little."

The taller man rolled his eyes, "Fine! But if I don't get to finish my work today, you owe me coffee every day for a week. And by the way, where's Yeonkyu?"

"Uh no. That's totally on you if you don't finish your work but anyway, Yeongkyu said he couldn't come because he had somewhere to go but I'm sure he's just lying in his bed at home."

Haruto turned to his friend now making himself comfortable on his couch, "Why are you here anyway? Don't you have anything else to do?"

Junghwan cheekily smiled. "You're looking at the man who just crammed 2 weeks' worth of work in one day yesterday."

"So, you're basically just here to annoy me?"

"Oh, you got it all right!" The younger friend winked.

Silenced engulfed the room as Haruto continued with his work and Junghwan just ate his snacks on the couch.

"I wonder if Yeonkyu already confessed to Jeongwoo." Junghwan started.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean I feel so sorry for Kyu, you know?"

Haruto wrinkled his brows. "No, I don't but do tell me about it," he was curious. He didn't know where this conversation was going but he was still curious.

"I visited their practice room yesterday and played Truth or Dare with the band. We spun the bottle and it happened to land on Woo."

"What did he choose?"

"He chose truth so I asked him if liked anyone or if he was interested in anyone in your class. He said he didn't. I didn't get to see Kyu's reaction, though, but I bet it's the reason why he chose to stay home today."

Haruto sighed. He already knew he had no chance with Jeongwoo but he didn't expect to be hurt by what he heard. He knew he had to get Jeongwoo out of his mind if he wanted to focus solely on his academics and other problems.

"Hey, what do you think about confessing to someone just to get the person out of your mind?"

Haruto was surprised at himself for asking. He knew his younger friend was going to scrutinize him for asking that kind of question, after all, Junghwan was known for his quick wits.

The latter squinted his eyes, "Why? Are planning on confessing to someone to get them out of your mind?"

"It's about a movie I'm watching, a movie! Instead of 'confession to shoot their shot' type of confession, the main character confessed to their crush to get them out of their mind."

"Uh huh, and what movie is that?" Junghwan suspiciously looked at Haruto.

"You know what? nevermind. I forgot what the title was."

After thinking for a while, his mind was set. He's confessing to Jeongwoo. Besides, it's not like Jeongwoo likes back him anyway. He'll simply just tell Jeongwoo he likes him and wants to turn that into past tense so he's expressing his feelings to let it go. Simple!

His train of thought was interrupted when his friend suddenly stood up from the couch.

"Shoot! I forgot to wash the dishes at home and my mom is coming home early today. She's gonna kill me if she sees it. Bye! Gotta go! See you!"

Junghwan hurriedly ran out the door, leaving a dumbfounded Haruto at his study desk. He could only shake his head at his friend's clumsiness.

Two days later, Haruto is on his nth sheet of paper, drafting a little script for his confession. Jeongwoo—and their other groupmates—were coming to his apartment to finalize their project.

"This is so dumb," Haruto complained before throwing another crumpled sheet of paper in the trash bin. "I don't care anymore. I'll just wing it later."

"Ruto, we're here!" He heard Jeongwoo call out from outside his door.

"Coming!"

He was beyond nervous. Today was the day he was going to tell Jeongwoo everything. There was no turning back now.

Haruto spent the whole time fidgeting and was so uneasy that he didn't even realize they were done with their work. His groupmates were about to leave and he wasn't able to tell Jeongwoo what he felt yet.

"Wait! Woo, can you stay behind for a while, I have a few questions about your part, if you don't mind?"

"I don't mind staying for a bit." Jeongwoo gave Haruto a gentle smile and ushered their other groupmates to go. "You guys can go on ahead. Bye!"

After they bid their groupmates goodbye, the room quickly turned silent. It was as if a switch was turned on, no one said a word. It wasn't an awkward silence, though, weird as it was, the silence was comforting.

"So, what part do you want to ask about?" Jeongwoo broke the silence.

Haruto smiled. "Actually, do you want to go to the rooftop? Get some fresh air for a while?"

"Sure, lead the way."

If Haruto's heart could just jump out of his chest, it's probably miles away by now. He could barely walk from how nervous he was. He wants to back out and just tell Jeongwoo to go but he knows he has to do this now. If he doesn't do this now, he's never going to get the courage to do this again.

"Hey Woo, can I tell you about something?"

"Hmm?"

"There's this person that I like. He just won't get out of my head. Even though my mind is busy with other things, this guy just manages to casually waltz into my mind like he lives in it."

"You must really like that person a lot," Jeongwoo chuckled.

Haruto looked at the man beside him and he could swear he saw a sad smile forming on his face. But he brushed off the thought since there was no reason for Jeongwoo to feel bad, or is there?

"I do like him a lot. But just recently, I found out my friend likes him too and I didn't want a rift to form between my friend and me."

"The heart wants what it wants, Ruto. What if that guy likes you? Would you still be willing to let him go for your friend even if there might be no chance for him and your friend at all?"

"I could only hope," Haruto scoffed. "Besides, I heard he's not interested in anyone in our class so he most definitely is not interested in me."

"Well, he must be blind," Jeongwoo muttered under his breath.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Nothing."

"So I was thinking of confessing to— I don't know, maybe just to let my feelings go, I guess."

"It's up to you, Ruto. Do what your heart wants and it's better to risk than to regret not risking at all." The tan-skinned pat the taller man's shoulders and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Aren't you going to ask me who I'm talking about?"

"Only if you're willing to tell me."

"You."

"Me, what?"

"I like you, Jeongwoo."

"Ruto—"

"Before you say something, let me finish first because I might lose my momentum and forget everything I want to say." Haruto quickly covered Jeongwoo's mouth before the latter could finish what he wants to say.

"I liked you since I first saw you. Yes, I know it's cliché, but there was just something in you that kept me interested in you. You made me want to know more about you, Woo," Haruto glanced at Jeongwoo. "You have no idea how excited I was when I knew we'd be in the same group for a whole semester. Little did I know, spending more time with you only made me fall for you more."

"Haru—"

"Wait! I said let me finish!"

Jeongwoo laughed at the taller's cute antics.

"Don't laugh at me, I'm serious! So I found out my friend likes you so I was kind of bummed out and I also found out you weren't interested in anyone in our class. So here I am letting all my feelings out so I could finally move on from you."

"Hey, uh—" Jeongwoo was once again interrupted by Haruto.

"Wait, I'm almost done. You don't have to worry about feeling awkward because I'm really great at acting. Watch me act like none of this happened by tomorrow, you would be amazed at how good I act," Haruto gave himself a pat on the shoulder.

"You done?" Jeongwoo pursed his lips.

"Uh-huh! Now, what did you want to say a while ago?"

"Oh, you sure are talkative," the tan-skinned chortled. "But Ruto, what if I don't want you to get over your feelings?"

Haruto scratched his head. "What? Uh, that definitely wasn't in my script for the different possible scenarios that could happen today."

"What if I wanted you to continue liking me?"

"Hold on, you're going way off script now. You're supposed to be telling me 'thank you for liking me but I'm sorry I can't reciprocate your feelings' or something along those lines," Haruto said, confused and dumbfounded. "And also, that would be incredibly unfair for me because you said you weren't interested in anyone and I don't want to let my feelings stay as one-sided, thank you," Haruto sassily flipped his long imaginary hair over his shoulders.

"Oh, my god. Ruto, do you still not get what I mean?"

Haruto jokingly gasped, "Are you taking advantage of my feelings?" The taller man ironically pouted. "I thought you were better than that, Woo."

Jeongwoo burst into laughter. "I only told my bandmates I didn't like anyone in our class because I knew Yeonkyu liked me. I didn't want him to get false hopes and I knew Junghwan would not give a break asking who I was interested in if I had told the truth when we were playing."

"Really? So you like someone? Who?"

Jeongwoo faced-palmed himself, "My script must be a lot more updated than yours, huh? Because how are you still not getting the hint, Ruto?"

"Now, I really do not understand what you're talking about, Woo," Haruto whined.

"Do you want me to tell you something about my script?" Jeongwoo leaned closer into Haruto's ears. "Spoiler— I like you too."