The day Chang Wook decided to give Mi Jin the letter until he was told his best friends were dating. Although he promised himself he would give her the letter, he decided it was best not to. He decided to hide his feelings and spend his time doing things just like Hyuk Jae, he decided to play sports with the other guys and talk more with other people and threw himself more into his studies but when he was alone, at home, he would hit that punching bag that was in the garage until he was exhausted.
Just like Hyuk Jae mentioned, he never left Chang Wook alone. Chang Wook would always hang out with the couple. He hated that they would sometimes be romantic with each other in front of him, like feeding each other food, holding hands or Mi Jin sitting on Hyuk Jae's lap.
Chang Wook thought that the Universe was conspiring against him.
Mi Jin noticed that since she and Hyuk Jae started dating, Chang Wook became more open with people, he would begin conversations and participate in gym and he also smiled a lot more. She liked this new Chang Wook but she would sometimes see Chang Wook with a pained expression on his face and wonder if he was jealous that she and Hyuk Jae were together. Thinking that made her feel happy. Could it be that the guy she's always liked, be in love with her?
........
As she walked through the soccer field she felt arms around her, and she was on someone's shoulder. She knew it was Chang Wook.
"Ahhhh!" she screamed, laughing "Chang Wook, put me down!" he ran around the field, other students where laughing as well.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked her "You looked so serious I thought you needed some cheering up" he told her.
"I'm fine, just thinking about stupid stuff" she told him "What about you? How are you doing?" she asked him.
"Got into another argument with the old man, he keeps wanting me to join the company, but I want nothing to do with that. That's type of thing fits Hyuk Jae better, not me" he told her, but she had to disagree.
"You are so much more than what you give yourself credit for" Mi Jin told him. She noticed how Chang Wook's face grew red, which made her face grow red. She looked down and noticed she was also holding his hand. "When did this happen?!" she screamed at herself. It happened so naturally that she didn't even notice.
"Sorry about that" Mi Jin said.
"Don't worry about it" Chang Wook answered, letting each other go.
"What are you guys doing?" Hyuk Jae asked them.
"Wook here was telling me about his father wanting him to join the company again" Mi Jin answered. Hyuk Jae nodded.
"I know your pain bro, my dad's always getting on my nerves telling me to join the family business. Although it's a pain, I don't really mind doing that for the rest of my life. As long as it makes my family happy and I can make enough money to make my girl live a comfortable life. I'm alright with it" Hyuk Jae said as he picked Mi Jin and spun her around. Then as he lowered her to the ground, he placed a kiss on her lips.
Mi Jin was surprised by this outcome, he hadn't kissed her since they started dating. She never even thought about kissing him. She looked over at Chang Wook and he was surprised as well.
He was shocked, his brain couldn't comprehend what just happened. He knew that they dated but he never thought that they would kiss, especially in front of him. Also, Hyuk Jae said he wanted to give his girl a comfortable life, he was definitely thinking of marrying Mi Jin.
"But we're still in high school" Chang Wook thought. He quickly turned around and rushed back to the school.
"Where are you going?" Hyuk Jae asked him.
"I forgot something in class!" he yelled. When he was alone in the back of the school, he started to hit the concrete wall. He didn't know how many times he hit it but by the time he was done, his hands were bleeding and by the pain he knew he definitely dislocated something.
The next day he had to come up with an excuse to his friends as to why he had his hands bandaged and he couldn't write.
"I was helping my dad build a gazebo, I ended up hurting myself" Chang Wook said.
"You were helping your dad build something?" Hyuk Jae asked with a smile. He couldn't believe his friend that didn't want anything to do with his father was actually bonding with him "I can't imagine you doing manual labor" Hyuk Jae laughed.
"Are you okay though?" Mi Jin asked Chang Wook. He nodded.
Just like that, months, then years went by. Chang Wook always held onto his feelings, never letting them show, Mi Jin always wondering if Chang Wook liked her and Hyuk Jae happy he could call the girl of his dreams, his girlfriend.
As they were getting close to graduation, the arguments Chang Wook and Han Soo had, became more and more frequent. Chang Wook wanted to move to Seoul to study. His excuse was that he wanted to get the best education possible but, in reality, he wanted to be as far away from Mi Jin as possible. He wanted to forget her, but how could he when he saw her every single day?
Han Soo wanted his son to stay home and join the company after graduation, he didn't want to leave the company in Hyuk Jae's hands. He believed the boy to be too wild and impulsive. If he was given the CEO seat, he would surely run the company to the ground.
"I don't want this!" Chang Wook yelled at his father "I don't want to be like you!"
Do Mi and Soo Ryun always tried to stop their arguments, but they never seemed to get through to Han Soo.
"Why you ungrateful…!" Han Soo punched his son, so hard in the face, that it made the boy fall to the floor. This was the first time he ever hit him. He did sometimes grab him a bit forcefully, but it was a way to make him listen. Chang Wook could feel the buring pain in his cheek, and he couldn't see well from one eye. As he touched his lips, he noticed he was bleeding.
Chang Wook got up and walked outside. He didn't know where to go, but anywhere was better than being inside that house.
He walked to the playground, close to the school. He would spend a lot of his time here with Hyuk Jae and Mi Jin, when they were all just friends. Now, he alone goes here and thinks about what life would have been like if he had just told Hyuk Jae he liked Mi Jin at the beginning. What life would have been like if he were the one dating Mi Jin or better yet, what life would be like if they all just remained friends.
As he sat in the swing set he heard a set of footsteps come near him. He looked up and saw none other than Mi Jin.
"I have some luck" he said to himself.
Mi Jin was spending the night walking. She did this often after she started dating Hyuk Jae. She would often think of him and wonder why she was dating him. She said yes to him after he said those words to her, two years ago, but after that, she thought she said yes just to get Chang Wook to notice her if only a little but, after getting to know Hyuk Jae in a more personal level, she felt they grew closer and feelings that she thought she didn't have, started to emerge.
He would give her flowers on the most unexpected moments, as well as give her trinkets that reminded him of her. During the school games he would give her his jersey so everyone would know she was his girlfriend and they would share umbrellas on rainy days, even if both of them had one.
It was the small things that made her want to be with him and also hate herself for still looking back, searching for Chang Wook's gaze.
She thought she was stupid for walking around thinking about such things, after two years it should be obvious who she should love but somehow, the more she thought about wanting to be with Hyuk Jae, her thoughts would just naturally drift back to Chang Wook.
As she walked she passed by the playground the three of them used to go to after school. They hardly walked through here anymore. Chang Wook always stayed back to study and Hyuk Jae always wanted to take detours with Mi Jin so they would take longer getting back home. She noticed a figure on the swing set. As she looked closer, she noticed it was Chang Wook.
"Wook!" she yelled. Chang Wook looked up at her "Hey. What are you doing here?" Mi Jin asked him.