The Boyz Anthology

I Love You - Lee Sangyeon

"Sangyeon, stop!" You yell at his retreating back. 

You're not even sure how the two of you ended up in a fight, but you'd be heartbroken if he left before you could fix it. He's your best friend - your other half - and you refuse to allow things to be bad between the two of you, so you follow him to the front door.

He sighs when he feels you come up behind him. "I think it'll be best if I leave now instead of saying something I'll regret."

"Will you just face me and listen? Just for a minute?"

"Why?" He turns to you. When you see the muscle in his jaw twitch, you know he's close to exploding. "You never listen to me, so why should I listen to you?"

"I do listen to you. I just don't agree with you on this."

His eyebrows raise and you can see the barely contained fire in his eyes. "You listen to me? Because I remember clear as day when you blatantly ignored what I told you the last time and it blew up in your face. This is just a repeat of that."

Your shoulders drop when you realize this conversation is going bad fast. "Sangyeon, please… I love you, and I don't want to fight with you."

It takes a moment to process the words that just came out of your mouth, but when you do, you freeze up. Sangyeon's breathing seems a little faster than normal, but you hope he took your words platonically and not romantically. Confessing your love in the middle of a fight has got to be one of the worst moments possible.

"What did you just say?"

"As a friend. I love you as a friend."

Sangyeon's eyes search yours and you can see his expression softening. The fire that was there is more of a burning ember now, and you can see that he doesn't believe your words at all.

"No, you don't."

"I don't what?" You retort as he takes a step closer to you and you step back.

"You don't mean you love me as just friends." When you scoff, he must take it as a challenge because his eyes light up. "Don't forget how long I've known you. I can tell when you're lying, and I can tell that you didn't mean for that to come out of your mouth."

You sigh and shake your head. He's absolutely right, but you won't tell him that. "I think there are more pressing matters at hand."

"I don't think so," he immediately responds. "You just told me you love me. How am I supposed to let that go?"

"Just please, be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to."

Sangyeon stands there, studying your face for what feels like an eternity. You can barely keep eye contact with him because so many emotions are running through your head, and you're unsure of which one will show up on your face.

"Okay, fine. I'll let it go for now," he finally concedes, "but you should know that the entire reason I'm worked up in the first place is because I love you, and seeing you in a bad spot really screws with my head. I'm not trying to start shit with you because I want to be right or something. It's because I want the best for you. I care about you."

Unsure of what to say, your mouth drops open but no sound comes out. You stay like that long enough that Sangyeon takes the chance to walk over to you and pull you into a hug. When he whispers the words "I love you" into your hair, you bring your arms up and hug him back.