"What? Where is she?" Lee Minho turned his head towards the other man.
"Well, for now, she is on her way to the class. You can go back to your class, let's meet again after that." Hwang Jaejin waved his hand dismissively.
Lee Minho frowned. He thought Hwang Jaejin was hiding something from him, what was that? He didn't know.
"Hwang Jaejin, let's make it clear." He decided to confront him. His usual bad boy style disappeared, seriousness was on his face.
Arching one of his eyebrows, Hwang Jaejin met on his challenging look. It seemed like he couldn't escape now.
"I like Choi Sujin." Lee Minho confessed. Hwang Jaejin arched both of his eyebrows now, but he still kept silent, waiting for Lee Minho to continue. "I know you must feel the same about her, too, right?"
"Yes." Without hesitating even just a bit second, Hwang Jaejin nodded his head firmly, emphasizing his one word of confirmation.
Lee Minho scoffed slightly. Hwang Jaejin admitted his feeling easily and it didn't surprise him that his best friend fell for the same girl as he did.
"Do you want to confess to her?" Lee Minho asked.
"I want to. I really want to. But, confessing to her and sacrificing our friendship? As much as I don't like you to like her, I prefer this way. I don't want it to become awkward between us. After I confess to her and she rejects me, she will keep her distance from me and it means more time for the both of you, which I hate it to my bones. Or, do you want me to confess? What if she likes me back?" Hwang Jaejin smirked mockingly.
"NO! I won't allow that! Let's just stay the way we are now." Hastily, Lee Minho refused his idea. After learning that the both of them had the same idea, Lee Minho thought it was for the best to stay together as a trio. Even though he wanted Choi Sujin for himself, the girl herself was too difficult to read. He couldn't risk his friendship over a stupid confession.
"And just as you know, I also hate the fact that you like her, too." He added as he remembered what Hwang Jaejin said just now. "Let's make a promise here and now. Let's not make a move on her. Once you make a move on her secretly, I'll make sure to do the same. It means, the facade we are playing all this time will come to waste. It will not be the three of us anymore. But, if in the future she makes a move on one of us, the other one should not feel jealous and hurt her in the process. How does it sound?"
Hwang Jaejin smiled and handed out his hand. "Deal." He said as Lee Minho took his hand in a firm handshake. "Let's be her two strong pillars that will support her."
"Good idea." Lee Minho smirked.
Fortunately, there were hardly any people in that place, else, they would suffer from people staring at them in strange way. Not to mention, their promise would be heard by other people. One could imagine if someone were to overhear their promise.
Just like that, they were bound to be her biggest supportive pillars.
-----
Time flew fast but the friendship between the three of them didn't change. When they were finally in their third year, it was rare to see the three of them together like before. Lee Minho had been so busy with his acting lesson that he had not had much time to spend with Choi Sujin and Hwang Jaejin. So, mostly it was only Choi Sujin and Hwang Jaejin who sat together -sometimes there were several people who came and joined them, of course they were mostly boys or girls who was in good relationship with Choi Sujin such as Jang Min Ah and ... Jang Min Ah.
It was not like she only had Jang Min Ah as her friend. She had other female friends, but they were too shy to get closer to Hwang Jaejin or too lazy to be involved in their drama.
Did she get bullied? Yes, of course, but she was not some weak chicks who only knew how to cry and shout for help. She was a crafty fox hiding behind her cute face. Those who wanted to bully her got bullied instead. Also, with the help of Lee Minho and Hwang Jaejin who were practically almost always with her, the bullying number decreased.
She also noticed other things, such as how both of them would not allow other people to call her 'Shorty'. They would go as far as punching the caller in the face if they refused to cease calling her 'Shorty'. It was their endearment term for her, how could they let other people use it?