Falling for my best friend, Jinjoo.

Chapter 4

Yujin's POV

School has ended while screams and shouts could be heard along the hallways. Typical after-school behaviour—a ruckus. Everyone's just tired and is dying to head home.

I shoved my pencil case and books into my bag in a nonchalant way, not caring if it's in a mess because I can't comprehend what happened earlier back on my way to the sacred toilet. I was so caught up in my movements when I saw a hand snapping right in front of my face.

"Oi! Yujin? Yah!" the person started smacking my back while I blinked back into reality. Oh, it's her. "What?" I replied lifelessly, almost sounding irritated, while hanging my sling bag around my shoulder. "We're going home?" she told me, seemingly looking as if she was taken aback by my response when I realise what was actually going on. Shit.

"Yeah, I'm done," I said and dusted my skirt, smiling while she slowly nodded, looking at me in a funny way. She was staring at me for too long when I held onto her shoulder and pushed her out of the classroom. "Bye ducky!" I exclaimed while she waved as we both made our way out of class.

We were just walking and I found myself looking towards the floor, letting my legs bring me to wherever we're going. "You okay?" She suddenly spoke while I looked at her, hand grabbing onto my bag strap and gave her an assuring smile. "Yup. Why?" I furrowed my eyebrows while she puckered her lips.

"You've been feeling off ever since lunch ended." She must've noticed. "Is there something wrong?" she asked, looking at me worriedly.

"Nope, nothing's wrong. Everything's perfectly fine." I tried not to sound too sarcastic while she nodded, looking as if she has something to tell me. "Do you have something to tell me?" I asked her while she immediately looked in front and shook her head. That's weird. There's definitely something bothering her and I can smell it.

"What's bothering you? Come on. I can see right through you." I said as I stopped walking, making her stop too. She turned around and gestured for me to go to her which I did as I squinted my eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked while she let out a small sigh.

"I don't know." I chuckled while looking at her in an amusing way. "You don't know?" I replied while she put on an uneasy face. If there's one thing about her, she tends to hide her feelings away from everyone else, perhaps except for me. And I know for sure, she has a rather low self-esteem, always overthinking.

She looked at me before looking forward again, letting out a big sigh. "It feels like I'm not enough," she uttered while I frowned, not understanding a word she's saying. "What are you talking about? You're more than enough." I scoffed while she shook her head.

"I think he's getting bored of me." Getting bored? "What?" I uttered while looking at her who is kicking stones off the pavement. "Chaewon."

Well, that's...surprising.

"Why do you feel that way?" I asked softly, trying not to sound too mad in a way because I am fuming at what he did earlier. "He's not spending as much time with me compared to the first few months we're together." She sounded...sad.

Her love language is quality time with a mix of physical. Yup. Explains why she's feeling that way. We took the test online for fun, but I think it's quite accurate.

"He's always playing basketball, and every time I ask him to walk home together, he says he had other things to do..." She went on and on while I stopped walking and held onto her shoulders, looking intently into her eyes under this afternoon sun. "He's not bored of you, okay? Maybe...he just has some things he needs to do for school. He's a senior after all. Don't overthink it too much, I know he loves you." She relaxed a little as I released her from my grasp.

As much as I disliked, no—hated saying those, I had to at least make her feel better even though I know what he has been up to. I don't want to see her getting hurt just because of a guy's stupid and ignorant action.

"I won't forgive him if he hurts you," I said as I continued to walk, biting down on my lips at the knowledge of him doing something that would definitely hurt her if she found out. She caught up with me and clung her arm around mine. "This is what I like about you." She rested her head on my shoulder while I looked at her, almost trembling at what she said.

"Huh?" she looked up at me. "I know you'll be there to protect me." She gave me a sweet smile that calmed my raging heart. I hate how she always says these kinds of things that keep my hopes up for nothing, but no matter how much I hate it, I love hearing them. At least there's someone who appreciates my presence.

"Of course I'd protect you. You're my best friend, and I'll never leave you." I said while smiling casually which probably made her smile too.

"How I wish you could just be a guy." She suddenly uttered which made me confused. "Why?" I said while chuckling lightly at her remark. She looked at me and smiled softly.

"So you could be my boyfriend instead." She said while raising both her eyebrows. Those few words hit straight through my heart. As much as I want to abruptly say 'What if I could?' or to change that word to 'girlfriend', I can't.

That's going to cost me our friendship because I know she's joking and she's straight. Everything is a joke. At least to me. I don't even know what I'm thinking about right now. Well, we've never brought up the topic on sexuality and stuff, just didn't find the need to...so I don't know. And also, I'm assuming she's straight. Well, because she has a boyfriend, duh?

"You're funny." I used my finger and pushed her head away while she pouted...adorably. "Aish. You've changed Yujin-ah. Where did the cute and adorable, always clingy Yujin go?" I laughed at her statement while shaking my head.

"We're growing up Min. Of course, I'd change, we would all change." We reached her apartment entrance and stopped walking. "Don't change." I raised an eyebrow.

"For me." She soften her gaze while I let out a sigh.

"See you tomorrow," I said in a joking manner while she shook her head. "Try not to get hit by a car on your way home!" she said while I chased her to the point she entered the building. I playfully acted like I was about to kill her while she stuck out her tongue at me.

What am I going to do with her?

I waited downstairs and tilted my head up, narrowing my eyes at a particular room on the 9th floor. Once the light turned on, a small smile curved up on my lips—that's when I know she's safely back at home.