Chapter Text
"Wait, seriously?" Sunoo asked, staring at the pastry display. It was around 3 p.m., and he had just left his class and was on his way to Artuana Cafe, a modest but well-known cafe at their university.
The café staff nodded apologetically. "The last strawberry cream tarts, a box of 1 dozen, was reserved thirty minutes ago."
"But it's still there," Sunoo argued mildly, sounding genuinely devastated.
"It is," the cafe employee replied casually, smiling. The employee looked entirely unimpressed because she'd seen this routine enough times to recognize it immediately .
"Which means I can still see it." Sunoo argued again, as he could still sense that the café staff would not budge for a little longer, and by the way, the employee chuckled despite herself.
Sunoo placed a hand on his chest. "Do you know how cruel that is?"
"I think you'll survive," the employee joked with Sunoo, knowing that he was always doing this to get what he wanted.
"I don't know. It looks really good. I think I'll die," Sunoo said, his eyes widening to resemble a glare but still charming.
"It does taste so good," she said, still smiling lovingly at Sunoo. Did not give in to Sunoo's charming pity party.
"Right?" Sunoo makes his voice sadder, indicating that he is extremely sad.
"Right." The employee agreed, prompting Sunoo to sigh heavily and step back from the counter. "That's unfortunate."
The worker smiled. "You can come back tomorrow."
"I have classes tomorrow, every day; my schedule is tragic." This time, she laughed out loud. Sunoo giggled and accepted defeat with surprising ease.
"Fine. I'll mourn quietly." As he started to go, the staff called towards him.
"Wait."
Sunoo looked back and waited for her to talk. "The customer who reserved it just cancelled."
She reached into the display case. "If you still want it."
Sunoo smiled. "I knew fate was on my side."
"No," she replied, laying the box on the counter. "You just got lucky."
Sunoo took the package with both hands.
"That's what fate is."
The employee rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling. Sunoo walked to the café with the tart and an extra cookie that he had clearly not paid for, and another staff member directed him to his usual spot.
The thing was, Kim Sunoo had a habit of getting his way, not in an overly dramatic manner. He wasn't the kind to throw tantrums or make demands with his family's name on the line. Most people would describe him as easygoing and sweet.
That was the problem.
Sunoo could walk into a room, flash a smile, and somehow leave with exactly what he wanted.
Teachers who had sworn they wouldn't extend deadlines suddenly found themselves making exceptions. Store managers remembered him by name after a single visit. Friends who had started conversations fully prepared to disagree with him often ended up saying, "Fine, whatever you want."
It wasn't manipulation. At least, Sunoo never thought of it that way. He just understood people. He knew when someone needed reassurance, knew when to back off and when to push. Knew how to make people feel seen.
Most of the time, he used that ability for harmless things.
A better table at a restaurant. An extra week for a group project. Convincing Minju to stop being mad at him after forgetting her birthday three years ago.
Just little things, normal things. The kind of things that made life easier. Which was why it took him far too long to realize that people were willing to follow him almost anywhere.
Even somewhere they shouldn't, especially when he believed he was doing it for the right reason.
“Kim Sunoo.”
The voice cuts through the noisy café, sharp enough to make several heads turn. Sunoo slowly lowers the straw from his lips, blinking innocently across the table while Minju looks one second away from throwing her iced americano at him.
“What?” he asks, tone light and unbothered.
"You told the professor you had already submitted our presentation file." Minju didn't question; she only wanted assurance from Sunoo.
"I did." Sunoo smiled at Minju. Sunoo usually smiles, but Minju, who has been familiar with him for years, knows that smile indicates that he doesn't care what he did.
"You submitted the wrong file." Minju's frustrated tone can be identified, yet it can also be interpreted as an admission of defeat.
Sunoo tilts his head slightly. “No, I didn’t.”
Leehan, who has just sat down alongside Minju, snorts into his drink while trying to hide it behind his palm. Jake is even worse, his shoulders shaking with laughter as he slouches farther into the seat next to Sunoo, who has also just entered the cafe.
Minju stares at him in disbelief. “The file you sent was your Spotify playlist.”
“That was an accident,” Sunoo admitted calmly.
“You named it Final Presentation.”
“Because it is final. I finalized the playlist yesterday.”
Jake bursts into laughter at that, nearly choking on his drink while Minju looks genuinely ready to commit violence.
“Kim Sunoo, I swear to God.”
Sunoo only smiles, slow and pretty enough to look harmless. It is the same smile that gets him out of almost everything.
Almost.
Minju narrows her eyes. “Do you know what the professor replied to me?”
Sunoo takes another sip of his drink. “Hmm?”
“She said your playlist was surprisingly good and asked for the link.”
Leehan loses it completely this time, laughing loudly enough that the people from the next table glance over. Even Jake bends forward, pressing his forehead against the table while groaning.
Sunoo blinks once before leaning back against the booth with an expression that looks far too pleased with himself.
“So technically,” he says, crossing one leg over the other, “it still worked out.”
Minju points at him accusingly. “This is exactly why you keep getting away with things.”
“That sounds like a compliment.”
"It's not." Minju instantly responded; she loves Sunoo, but she's also trying not to feed on his ego too much because there may be times when Sunoo will just use his ego to think.
“It should be.” Sunoo argued back, nailing the coffin.
Jake finally lifts his head, still grinning despite himself. “You’re actually unbelievable.”
Sunoo shrugs lazily, brushing invisible lint from the sleeve of his cardigan. “You all still love me anyway.”
“That’s unfortunately true,” Leehan mutters while Minju groans in agreement and that is exactly the problem with Kim Sunoo.
People know what he is like, they know he is spoiled, difficult and dramatic when things do not go his way. They know he talks his way out of trouble with smiles and pretty excuses. They know he pushes boundaries because somewhere deep down he expects the world to catch him before he falls and it always does.
Because Sunoo has this strange way of making people feel like indulging him is their own decision.
Even now, Minju is fixing the presentation herself while still glaring at him across the table. Jake is buying him another drink because Sunoo mentioned thirty minutes ago that he was craving something sweet. Leehan is shaking his head fondly while Sunoo steals fries directly from his plate without asking.
No one stops him and they don’t even try to stop him from what he’s doing.
Sunoo stretches slightly against the booth, letting his gaze wander toward the café windows where rain lightly taps against the glass. The entire place glows warm under yellow lighting, crowded with students escaping the weather outside. Somewhere near the counter, a couple argues quietly over cake flavors while soft music hums overhead.
Exactly the kind of environment Sunoo thrives in.
“You know,” Minju says suddenly while typing aggressively on her laptop, “one day your luck is going to run out.”
Sunoo hums absentmindedly. “Doubt it.”
“You always say that.”
“Because I’m always right.”
Jake laughs quietly as he returns from the counter, placing another drink in front of Sunoo without even asking what flavor he wanted. Sunoo immediately reaches for it, since he already knows it belonged to him.
“See?” Minju says, gesturing dramatically toward him. “That. That’s exactly what I mean.”
Jake blinks. “What did I do?”
“You indulge him too much.”
Sunoo grins before Jake can answer. “Because Jake loves me.”
“I regret meeting you every day,” Jake says flatly, though the fondness in his voice ruins the insult completely.
Sunoo only smiles wider. Then his phone buzzes against the table.
He glances down lazily at first, expecting another useless notification, but the moment he sees the sender, his expression shifts just slightly.
Jake.
Not the person sitting in front of him, but the private conversation. Sunoo opens it after seeing Jake messaged him rather than discussing it.
Jake:
i need to tell you something later
Then another message appears.
Jake:
about someone
Sunoo’s brows lifted faintly after he read the message..
Across from him, Jake is currently arguing with Minju about whether pineapple belongs on pizza, completely unaware that Sunoo is now staring at him with narrowed eyes.
Jake has known Sunoo long enough to recognize the difference between his real expressions and the ones he performs for other people. The fake offended one, the dramatic one, the sweet one that usually means he is about to manipulate someone into doing something for him.
And the dangerous one is the silent one. The one in which Sunoo says very little but notices far too much. Which is exactly why Jake regrets sending that message almost immediately because once Sunoo gets curious about something, there is no escaping it anymore.
-
Three days later, the four of them are sitting outside the convenience store near their neighborhood just past midnight, surrounded by instant ramen cups, half-melted ice cream, and Minju aggressively ranting about her marketing professor.
“I’m serious,” Minju says while pointing her chopsticks around like a weapon. “That man wakes up every morning and chooses violence.”
Leehan snorts beside her, one arm lazily draped over the back of the bench behind her shoulders. “What did he do this time?”
“He said my campaign lacked emotional depth.”
Sunoo, sitting cross-legged on the pavement, looks up from his drink. “What campaign?”
“Toothpaste.” A beat of silence passes.
Then Leehan bursts out laughing loud enough that a couple walking past turns to stare at them.
Sunoo leans against Jake’s leg dramatically. “Maybe your toothpaste just wasn’t emotionally available enough.”
Minju glares at him. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m hilarious.”
“You submitted a Spotify playlist instead of your presentation last week.”
“And our professor loved it,” Sunoo shoots back immediately.
Jake laughs quietly beside him, shoulder bumping against Sunoo’s as he opens another bag of chips. The movement is natural, unconscious. Years of familiarity settled into something easy and permanent.
That is what their friendship has always been, it was effortless.
Their parents knew each other before they did. Same neighborhood, same social groups, same late-night convenience store runs when they were younger. Sunoo and Jake grew up moving around each other so naturally that people eventually stopped asking if they were together and just accepted that they came as a pair.
Even now, despite studying in different universities, despite completely different courses and routines, they somehow still end up seeing each other almost every day.
Jake studies civil engineering with Leehan.
Sunoo studies marketing with Minju.
Yet somehow they always circle back to this exact spot near midnight, complaining about life while eating unhealthy food under flickering convenience store lights.
“You’re smiling at your phone again,” Sunoo suddenly says.
Jake immediately stills.
Minju gasps loudly. “Oh my God.”
Leehan points at Jake with narrowed eyes. “I knew something was going on.”
“There’s nothing going on,” Jake says too quickly while shoving his phone face-down against his thigh and Sunoo notices that immediately.
“You’ve been checking your phone every five seconds,” Minju says accusingly. “That is not normal behavior.”
“That’s normal behavior for people who actually experience romance,” Leehan says thoughtfully.
Minju smacks his arm.
Jake groans, rubbing a hand over his face. “You’re all annoying and as if you two are not romantically committed.”
Sunoo grins lazily beside him. “And yet you still hang out with us.”
“That’s because I have no self-respect.”
“True,” Minju mutters.
Jake flips her off while the rest of them laugh but Sunoo keeps watching him because Jake looks different lately. Lighter somehow. Distracted in a way that feels good instead of exhausting and Sunoo knows Jake too well not to notice it.
“What’s his name?” Minju asks immediately, leaning forward with dangerous interest.
Jake freezes for half a second and that alone confirms everything. Leehan lets out an offended noise. “There’s actually someone?”
“Wow,” Sunoo says slowly, staring at Jake with narrowed eyes. “You’re hiding things from me now.”
“I wasn’t hiding anything.”
“You literally are.”
Jake opens his mouth, closes it again, then sighs like he’s already regretting this conversation.
“Jay.”
The teasing quiets down slightly after that. It was enough for Sunoo to notice the subtle shift in Jake’s voice when he said the name. It was careful and soft around the edges like the name matters more than he wants it to.
Minju immediately grabs Sunoo’s arm dramatically. “Tell us everything.”
“There’s not much to tell.”
“That’s a lie,” Leehan says. “You’ve been smiling at your phone like an idiot for two weeks.”
Jake groans while Sunoo laughs openly this time.
“He’s from our campus,” Jake finally says, quieter now. “Civil engineering.”
Leehan’s brows lift. “Wait. I think I know him”
“Probably you know, he’s quite wel-known.”
Minju immediately points between them. “You two better not know and just not tell us.”
“I don’t,” Leehan says defensively before glancing at Jake. “Do we?”
Jake only shrugs, looking down at the condensation dripping from his drink. A faint smile pulls at his mouth before he can stop it. Sunoo catches that too. It’s subtle but real and suddenly this feels more serious than he originally thought.
“How did you meet?” Sunoo asks.
Jake glances at him briefly before answering. “Group project during freshmen year. We kept seeing each other after that.”
“Cute,” Minju says instantly. Jake throws a french fry at her. She catches it and eats it anyway.
Sunoo leans back slightly against the concrete wall behind him while Jake continues talking, and for the first time since this conversation started, he notices something important. Jake likes talking about Jay. Not in the exaggerated way people usually brag about crushes but quietly and carefully like every detail matters to him.
“He remembers small things,” Jake says absentmindedly. “Like stuff I mention once and forget about after.”
Leehan whistles softly. “Oh, you’re gone.”
Jake ignores him completely. “One time I told him I hadn’t slept properly because of a project, and he stayed awake with me until four in the morning while I finished it.”
Minju clutches her chest. “That’s disgusting. I hate men.”
“You’re literally dating one,” Sunoo says.
“That’s different.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Leehan looks offended. “Why am I catching strays?”
The conversation dissolves into laughter again after that, comfortable and familiar beneath the soft buzz of the convenience store lights. Cars occasionally pass by the empty street while humid summer air clings lazily against their skin and for a while, Sunoo simply listens.
To Minju and Leehan bickering. To Jake smiling down at his phone when another notification appears. To the easy rhythm of people he has known long enough to call home.
Then he notices something else. Whenever Jake mentions Jay, there’s always a pause afterward. Small, almost invisible like there’s another thought sitting behind the first one.
Sunoo files that away quietly.
After that night, Jay becomes a regular presence in their conversations despite none of them meeting him yet, technically Leehan knows him but not that they got to interact. Mostly because Jake cannot stop accidentally bringing him up. Sometimes it’s random.
Like when the four of them are eating lunch together and Jake suddenly says, “Jay hates horror movies but still watched one with me because I said I liked them.”
Or when Sunoo and Minju are suffering through another marketing project and Jake sends a picture in their group chat of homemade pasta with the caption:
he made this btw
Minju immediately replies:
marry him
Sunoo types:
looks ugly
Jake responds almost instantly.
you haven’t even tasted it
Sunoo smirks while typing back.
i don’t trust engineering students with seasoning
Jake sends seven laughing emojis after that. The kind of friendship built from years of knowing each other too deeply.
Jake sleeps over at Sunoo’s apartment after exhausting engineering projects because commuting back to his condo is too much work. Sunoo complains every single time yet still keeps extra blankets in his room specifically for Jake.
Sometimes Sunoo waits outside Jake’s university with iced coffee after classes despite insisting he “just happened to be nearby.”
Sometimes Jake buys Sunoo food before he can complain about being hungry because he already knows the signs. They know each other too well which is why Sunoo notices immediately when something starts changing.
At first, it’s small. Jake checks his phone before sighing quietly afterward. Typing messages and deleting them. Going strangely silent whenever Jay’s name comes up too suddenly.
Then one evening, Jake shows up at Sunoo’s condo carrying snacks and emotional distress. That combination is never good.
Sunoo knows it immediately the moment Jake walks in without his usual greeting, drops a plastic bag of convenience store food onto the kitchen counter, and starts pacing around the room like his thoughts are chasing him faster than he can process them.
Back and forth.
Restlessly.
The apartment is quiet except for the low volume of some random video playing from Sunoo’s phone and the steady sound of rain tapping against the windows. The weather had turned ugly sometime after sunset, leaving the city soaked in silver reflections and blurred headlights outside.
Sunoo is sprawled across his bed sideways, one leg hanging off the edge while scrolling mindlessly through videos, but his attention slowly drifts upward the longer Jake keeps pacing.
He watches him for exactly thirty seconds before speaking.
“If you don’t say it in ten seconds,” he mutters lazily, “I’m charging you rent.”
Jake exhales sharply through his nose. “You say that every time.”
“And I mean it every time.”
Jake ignores him, dragging both hands through his hair this time hard enough to mess it up completely. He looks exhausted, not physically but emotionally.
That alone already irritates Sunoo a little.
Jake is not usually difficult to read. He gets frustrated openly, laughs loudly, sulks obviously. Everything about him tends to sit close to the surface.
But this? This nervous pacing, this hesitation, this weird inability to start talking despite clearly needing to? It feels different. Heavy and uncertainty looks wrong on Jake.
Sunoo finally locks his phone and tosses it onto the bed beside him before sitting up properly. “Okay,” he says slowly. “Now you’re annoying me.”
Jake lets out a humorless laugh but still says nothing.
The silence stretches long enough for the rain outside to become louder somehow, filling the condo with soft static noise. Somewhere below the building, a motorcycle passes through wet streets, muffled by the storm.
Jake stops pacing only long enough to lean against Sunoo’s desk. His arms cross tightly over his chest before uncrossing again a second later, restless even standing still.
“I think there’s someone else,” he says quietly.
Sunoo’s brows immediately furrow. “What?”
“Not like that,” Jake says quickly, pushing himself upright again. “I mean, I don’t know if there actually is. Maybe not. I don’t know.”
“You’re explaining this terribly.”
“I know.”
Sunoo stares at him for a moment before motioning impatiently with one hand. “Start from the beginning before I start guessing and make both of us miserable.”
Jake rubs his face tiredly before finally sitting down on the floor beside the bed, back resting against the mattress. Familiar. Comfortable. Like muscle memory from years of doing this exact thing whenever life overwhelmed him.
For a moment, neither of them says anything.
Then Jake exhales quietly. “His best friend.”
Something in Sunoo’s expression shifts slightly. He became more attentive now because this is the first time Jake has sounded genuinely insecure talking about Jay.
“What about him?” Sunoo asks carefully.
Jake stares down at his hands. “Nothing happened.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I know.” Sunoo waits. Jake has always talked easier around silence. You just had to let him settle into it first.
Outside, thunder rumbles faintly in the distance while rainwater trails down the apartment windows in uneven streaks.
Finally, Jake speaks again. “His name’s Jungwon.”
The name means nothing to Sunoo yet but Jake’s tone does. Careful and complicated. Like he already dislikes what admitting this out loud means.
Sunoo leans back slightly against the headboard, eyes still fixed on him. “And?”
Jake laughs quietly under his breath, but there’s no humor in it. “He’s just” He struggles for the right word before giving up halfway. “Everyone likes him.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you look like you’re about to spiral.”
Jake presses his lips together. Then he says softly, “Because Jay’s different around him.”
The room feels quieter after that. Sunoo doesn’t interrupt. Jake continues staring at the floor while speaking, voice low and frustrated all at once.
“It’s not even something obvious,” he says. “That’s the worst part. If Jay was actually flirting with him or crossing lines or something, maybe I could at least get angry properly.”
“But?”
Jake lets out another tired laugh.
“But it’s like” He pauses again, searching for words. “Jungwon comes first naturally.”
Sunoo’s eyes narrow slightly.
Jake notices it immediately and shakes his head. “No, listen first.”
And that alone tells Sunoo this has been sitting inside him for a while.
“He always talks about him,” Jake says quietly. “Not constantly, but enough that I notice. Like if something funny happens, it’s ‘Jungwon said this’ or ‘Jungwon likes that place’ or ‘I promised Jungwon we’d do this later.’”
The more Jake talks, the tighter his voice becomes.
“Whenever we’re together and Jungwon calls, Jay answers immediately. Doesn’t matter what we’re doing.”
Sunoo’s expression hardens slightly. Jake notices but keeps going anyway.
“And it’s stupid because I know they’ve been friends forever. I know I shouldn’t care this much. We are also like that.” He swallows hard before laughing bitterly under his breath. “But sometimes it feels like I’m borrowing time that already belongs to someone else.”
That lands harder than Sunoo expects.
The rain outside grows heavier, tapping rapidly against the glass while the apartment fills with dim gray shadows from the storm.
Sunoo studies Jake carefully now.
The slight tension in his shoulders. The way he keeps rubbing his thumb against his palm absentmindedly whenever he’s anxious. The exhaustion sitting beneath his eyes.
Jake rarely asks for reassurance directly. Instead, he minimizes himself first and Sunoo hates that.
“Did Jay actually do something?” Sunoo asks after a moment, voice calmer now.
Jake hesitates. Then nods slowly.
“Last week,” he says quietly, “we were supposed to have dinner together after class.”
Sunoo waits.
“He cancelled thirty minutes before because Jungwon was stressed about an exam and didn’t want to be alone.”
“And?”
Jake laughs softly again, this time emptier. “And I told him it was okay.”
Sunoo stares at him in disbelief. “You cannot be serious.”
Jake immediately looks defensive. “Jungwon was having a hard time.”
“And you were supposed to matter too.” Silence.
Jake looks away first. That already says enough. Sunoo exhales slowly through his nose, irritation beginning to settle under his skin now. Not at Jungwon.
Not yet but at Jay. By the way Jake is already trying to justify things that clearly hurt him.
“He still spent time with me after,” Jake mutters quietly, like he needs to defend Jay before Sunoo judges him too harshly. “And he apologized.”
“But he still left.” Jake doesn’t respond because he can’t.
Sunoo leans forward slightly now, elbows resting against his knees. “Does this Jungwon guy know about you?”
Jake goes still for half a second. That alone is enough to answer enough.
Sunoo blinks once slowly. “You’re joking.”
Jake immediately shakes his head. “It’s complicated.”
“No,” Sunoo says flatly. “That’s a terrible excuse.”
“Jay said he just doesn’t know how to tell him yet.”
“And why exactly does he need to prepare a speech for his best friend to know you exist?”
Jake visibly winces at that but Sunoo keeps going because now he’s annoyed for real. “You’ve been talking to this guy for how long?”
“Almost 3 years.”
Sunoo actually laughs this time. Not because it’s funny because the situation is ridiculous.
“Three years,” he repeats in disbelief. “And his best friend still doesn’t know the two of you are apparently whatever this is?”
Jake stays quiet and suddenly Sunoo understands the real problem. It isn’t jealousy. It’s that Jake feels hidden.
Temporary and unchosen. Like no matter how much Jay likes him, there’s still a place beside him that already belongs to someone else first.
And the worst part?
Jay probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.
-
The conversation leaves something sour behind, not enough to ruin the night but enough that Sunoo keeps thinking about it long after Jake stops talking.
The rain outside eventually softens into a light drizzle, leaving the apartment colder than before. Empty snack wrappers are scattered across the floor now, and Jake looks slightly less tense after finally saying everything out loud, though the uncertainty still lingers around him like static.
Sunoo hates that. He especially hates the way Jake keeps trying to understand everyone before himself.
“It’s probably nothing,” Jake says eventually, quieter now as he leans his head back against the side of Sunoo’s bed. “Maybe I’m just overthinking.”
Sunoo stares at him in disbelief. “You literally just told me your almost-boyfriend ditches your plans whenever another guy calls him.”
Jake groans. “See, when you say it like that, it sounds bad.”
"Because it is bad!" Sunoo almost yelled, but then did some breathing techniques to keep his blood from boiling again.
Jake throws a crumpled snack wrapper toward him. Sunoo dodges it easily. “You’re so dramatic.”
“And you’re too forgiving.” It was supposed to be an insult but Sunoo knew that Jake took it as a compliment.
Jake laughs weakly at that, though it fades quickly after. The room falls quiet again, filled only by the soft sound of rainwater dripping from the balcony outside.
Sunoo studies him carefully for a moment before sighing and sliding off the bed. Jake immediately looks suspicious. “Why are you moving like that?”
“Because you’re depressing me.”
“That’s rude.”
“It’s true.”
Sunoo walks toward the kitchen while Jake follows him a little and watches him with narrowed eyes. A few seconds later, cabinet doors open, glasses clink softly, and the sound of the refrigerator follows.
“You know,” Jake says louder from the bedroom, “normal best friends comfort people emotionally.”
Sunoo reappears holding two cans of beer. “And yet you still chose me.”
Jake snorts quietly before accepting one from him.
The cold aluminum presses against Sunoo’s palm as he settles onto the floor beside Jake this time instead of climbing back onto the bed. Their shoulders bump lightly together from the movement.
Comfort, and it was automatic. Years of familiarity packed into small unconscious actions.
“You like him too much already,” Sunoo says after a while.
Jake stays quiet for a second before laughing softly under his breath. “I know.”
That answer alone tells Sunoo everything because Jake does not deny things once they become real to him.
Outside, headlights briefly pass across the apartment walls before disappearing again. The storm has calmed enough now that the city sounds are slowly returning underneath the silence.
“You know what the worst part is?” Jake asks suddenly.
Sunoo glances sideways at him.
“I don’t even think Jay realizes he’s hurting me sometimes.”
His voice sounds more tired than angry and somehow that feels worse.
“He just” Jake pauses, staring down at the beer can in his hands. “He acts like Jungwon is permanent. Like no matter what happens, Jungwon will always come first naturally.”
Sunoo’s jaw tightens slightly.
“Last month,” Jake continues quietly, “we were eating together after class, and one of Jay’s friends asked if he and Jungwon were dating.”
Sunoo immediately looks over.
Jake laughs bitterly. “Yeah.”
“And what did Jay say?”
“He laughed.” That answer irritates Sunoo instantly for reasons he cannot fully explain yet.
“He said they were just friends,” Jake says. “Then everyone kept joking about how close they are, and Jungwon just sat there smiling like he’s already used to hearing it.”
The image settles unpleasantly in Sunoo’s mind.
“And you?” he asks.
Jake shrugs weakly. “I was there.”
Something about those three words feels embarrassingly sad not because Jay necessarily did something wrong but because Jake sounds like an outsider watching something he is not allowed to interrupt.
Sunoo hates that feeling. Hates imagining Jake sitting there quietly while people pair Jay with someone else right in front of him.
“You know what’s worse?” Jake mutters after another moment. “Sometimes I think Jungwon could stop all of this if he wanted to.”
Sunoo’s brows furrow slightly. “What do you mean?”
“He notices things,” Jake says immediately. “Like, everything.”
There is no hesitation in that answer and somehow that catches Sunoo’s attention more than anything else tonight.
“Jungwon’s the type of person who reads a room in five seconds,” Jake continues. “He always knows when someone’s upset, when something feels off, when Jay’s hiding something. That’s why everyone likes him so much.”
“But?”
Jake sighs softly.
“But if he knows” He swallows once before finishing quietly, “then why does he still stay that close?”
The room falls silent after that because that question changes things slightly. Before, Sunoo only thought Jay was the problem. Now there is someone else in the picture. Someone observant enough to notice.
Smart enough to understand. Yet still choosing not to step back and for some reason, that annoys Sunoo even more not because Jungwon owes Jake anything but because Jake is sitting here questioning his place in someone’s life while another person silently occupies it so effortlessly.
The sound of keys rattling outside suddenly breaks the tension. A second later, the apartment door swings open without warning.
“Why does this place smell like emotional damage and instant ramen?” Minju’s voice echoes immediately.
Leehan follows behind her carrying plastic bags filled with convenience store snacks. “Oh. The divorce meeting started without us.”
Jake groans loudly. “Can you two not?”
Minju kicks her shoes off near the entrance before walking into the room dramatically. “Absolutely not. We saw Jake’s message saying ‘come over’ and knew this was serious.”
Leehan squints at Jake. “You cried yet?”
“I’m not crying.”
“Disappointing.”
Sunoo watches as Minju immediately drops onto his bed while Leehan settles onto the floor beside them like this exact scene has happened a hundred times before because it has. That is the thing about their friendship.
No invitations necessary and no explanations required. They just simply arrive.
Minju looks between Jake and Sunoo suspiciously before narrowing her eyes. “Okay. Update us.”
Jake immediately points at Sunoo. “He’s making this worse.”
“I’m making this realistic.”
“You called me pathetic.”
“You were being pathetic.”
Leehan snorts loudly while Jake throws another wrapper at Sunoo.
Minju sighs dramatically. “Men are exhausting.”
“You literally date him,” Sunoo says while pointing toward Leehan.
“And it’s my greatest struggle.”
Leehan gasps. “Baby.”
“Shut up.”
The atmosphere slowly softens after that.
Leehan starts talking about a professor who accidentally sent the wrong exam coverage to the entire engineering department. Minju complains about students in her marketing class using ChatGPT for campaign slogans. Jake finally laughs properly again after Leehan reenacts someone failing a lab experiment dramatically enough to nearly fall over and Sunoo watches all of it quietly for a moment.
This. This is why he gets protective because these people are his.
Jake especially.
The person who stayed beside him long before Sunoo became good at getting whatever he wanted from everyone else. The person who never treated him like someone difficult to handle.
Just Sunoo.
Later that night, while Minju and Leehan argue over what movie to watch, Jake suddenly glances at Sunoo from across the room.
Then casually says, “Jay’s birthday is this weekend.”
Sunoo looks up immediately.
“Oh?” Minju says instantly. “Birthday party?”
Jake nods slowly. “Yeah.”
Leehan’s eyes widen slightly. “Wait, is this the first time you’re introducing him to us properly?”
Jake scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “Kind of.”
Minju gasps dramatically again. “Oh my God, this is huge.”
Sunoo stays quiet. Watching and thinking
Jake notices immediately. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re planning something.”
Sunoo smiled slowly and it was pretty dangerous. “I just want to meet the people making my best friend emotionally unstable.”
Jake groans loudly while Minju bursts out laughing. But beneath the humor, something has already started settling into place inside Sunoo’s mind.
Jay and especially Jungwon.
The boy who somehow keeps standing exactly where Jake wants to be.