Yeosang slowly released himself from the embrace and looked happily at Lia. "Thank you," he breathed out with relief. The thank you was more for the fact that she had forgiven him, than the fact that she had been there for him and cheered him up, but Lia nodded appreciatively anyway and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face.

"Hey!" a voice was then heard behind the two of them. Yeosang didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. A wide, excited smile came to his lips and his heart rate increased.

Jongho came over to the two of them. He looked first at Lia and then at Yeosang. "You're back." he remarked as his eyes met Yeosang's. His voice sounded more distant than usual. "Yes, I wanted to pick up my things, I didn't have time to answer my phone yet," Yeosang said quickly, not knowing why he was justifying himself. Maybe because Jongho was kind of acting weird.

"And what are you doing here?" he asked with a smile, hoping it would lighten the mood a little. Jongho pointed at Lia, "I just wanted to pick her up." Lia grinned at her brother, then handed him her bag. "I'm your brother not your butler," he complained but took the bag anyway.

Yeosang smiled a little uncertainly. He didn't know why, but he was a little disappointed. Perhaps he had simply had false hopes, but after they had almost kissed last time and had texted each other a lot over the past few days, he had thought their reunion would be just as exciting. But something was bothering Jongho, he could see that immediately.

"See you in a few days and don't forget to text me," Lia said in Yeosang's direction and gave him a warm smile. She walked ahead, her long hair disappearing over the path leading away from the university.

"Did you two make up?" Jongho asked as he looked after Lia, obviously avoiding Yeosang's gaze. "Looks like it," Yeosang said, smiling because he thought it was a good thing. But Jongho just nodded. "That's good. I'll see you later." He didn't sound annoyed, but there was still something strange.

Yeosang looked after him in confusion and sighed. How he would love to just hold him and ask him to talk. But he finally had to get his things and Jongho didn't seem to be in the mood to talk.

While Yeosang continued on his way to the university, he pulled out his phone and texted Mingi and Wooyoung that he was back. He could really use advice from the two right now.

~

"We're so sorry," Mingi explained as the three of them sat in the park near the university in the late afternoon. "It's okay," Yeosang said, as he didn't want Wooyoung and Mingi to feel bad. He was already sad enough about his dog, but something else was bothering him more at the moment.

"I have something to tell you," Yeosang said after a long pause. He couldn't help but tell Wooyoung and Mingi about everything or he would collapse.

~

"And now I don't know what to do because he was so weird and I don't know if I did anything wrong," Yeosang finished his story. It was quiet and both Wooyoung and Mingi looked perplexed and that rarely happened.

"Yeosang.", Wooyoung finally said and Yeosang turned to him. "You should just talk to Jongho. Communication is always the solution. Just ask him what's going on and tell him how you feel about him."

Slight panic flashed in Yeosasng's eyes. Mingi nodded in agreement with Wooyoung. "After everything you've told us, I'm sure that Jongho returns your feelings. Otherwise he wouldn't have invited you over or visited you. Otherwise you two wouldn't have almost kissed and he wouldn't have kept texting you when you were away." Yeosang took a deep breath. "I don't know."

Wooyoung joined in again. "And as for him being weird just now, couldn't it be that he was jealous?" Yeosang looked at Wooyoung in irritation. "Jealous of who?" Wooyoung started to laugh because he didn't know anyone who was that oblivious.
"At you and Lia," Mingi explained, nudging Yeosang.

Yeosang shook his head in confusion. "But he knows I don't like her like that." Wooyoung giggled once more. "And he doesn't know that you like him either. So talk to him and tell him how hot you think he is." Wooyoung earned a light slap from Mingi. "Tell him what he means to you," Mingi quickly improved Wooyoung and Yeosang smiled slightly at the sight.

He nodded uncertainly. But he had no idea how to do it. So far, Jongho had almost always made the first move and he was infinitely grateful to him because he probably wouldn't have dared to do so himself. He was far too shy and was afraid Jongho would reject him. Nevertheless, he knew that Wooyoung and Mingi were both right.

"Thanks guys," he said after a short while and smiled. If he hadn't had Mingi and Wooyoung, he would have lost it long ago. Mingi put a hand on his arm and nodded. At least Yeosang knew that he could always rely on them, no matter what happened.

"What about Yunho?" Yeosang finally said to distract them from his drama. Excited, Wooyoung nodded as if he wanted to ask the same thing. Mingi avoided Yeosang's and Wooyoung's penetrating looks and brushed his gray hair out of his face instead.

"What is with Yunho?" he finally asked. Yeosang rolled his eyes in amusement, because Mingi was incredibly bad at playing dumb. "Don't you think you should talk to him? Maybe he really means what he said." Mingi seemed to think for a moment.

"And if then what?" he said indifferently. Wooyoung rammed his elbow into Mingi's side, making him wince. "I think you and Yunho would be cute together," Wooyoung then explained and glanced at Yeosang. He immediately agreed. "And yet he's friends with Hongjoong," Mingi objected. "And yet you couldn't care less and you should give him a chance," Wooyoung protested reluctantly.

Mingi crossed his arms. "Oh yeah, and what if I don't like him at all?" Wooyoung rolled his eyes. "First of all. From what I've seen, there's hardly anyone who could resist Yunho. Secondly, you don't even know him yet to judge that."

Mingi snorted. " Exactly I don't know him." Wooyoung rolled his eyes. "And as long as you don't give him a chance, it will stay that way. But please, just ignore him. It's your loss and you'll die alone as a single while we marry our dream men." This time it was Mingi who pinched Wooyoung's side.

Yeosang couldn't stand it any longer and started laughing out loud. There was nothing better than Mingi and Wooyoung's bickering. Wooyoung and Mingi looked at each other in confusion when Yeosang started laughing but it didn't take a second for them to join in and giggle too.

Eventually, Yeosang calmed down again. "But I think Wooyoung is right. Just give him a chance. What should happen? Or do you hate him that much?" he said in Mingi's direction. Mingi also fell silent and shrugged his shoulders. "Hah!" Wooyoung shouted, pointing at his best friend. As if he had just confirmed to him that he liked Yunho.

Mingi was about to lash out at Wooyoung, but Yeosang grabbed his arm and started laughing again. His whole mood was better again thanks to the two of them.

~

When Mingi entered the university building the next morning, he couldn't get his friends' words out of his head. Now he had to talk to Yunho or he probably wouldn't get any sleep.

Mingi walked unsteadily through the corridor into the building for the design students. He was more than nervous and didn't even know why. He didn't like Yunho. He didn't even know him. But something made his heart beat faster. Maybe the fact that there was a chance that someone might like him. And this someone was Yunho.

Mingi was so confused that he almost collided with a student, but managed to escape at the last moment. He stopped in his position against the wall, because he had found what he was looking for.

Unfortunately, Yunho was not alone. Hongjoong stood close to him and they laughed together. Mingi had flashbacks of what Yunho had said.
"I only became friends with Hongjoong in the summer to get closer to you, but then you two had a fight and the only way I could stay close to you was to help Hongjoong to annoy you."

Hadn't those words been a bit rude from Hongjoong's point of view? But why did they still seem to be such good friends? And why had Yunho thought it was a good idea to annoy Mingi to be closer to him? Mingi didn't understand his logic. Or was it all just a prank? Were they just messing with him?

Mingi knew that he couldn't trust either of them because of everything that had happened. Maybe he should just leave them alone and ignore them both. Saddened, he turned around and walked back the way he had come.

~

It was afternoon and Yeosang was pacing restlessly around his room. He hadn't been able to bring himself to call Jongho since yesterday. But he couldn't take it anymore. The uncertainty was getting him down. And even if he had to jump over his shadow now, at least he would feel better. At least he hoped so.

Yeosang tapped Jongho's name with trembling fingers. After one last deep breath, he pressed call. He pressed the phone against his ear and closed his eyes. His heart was pounding in his head. He felt dizzy and sat down on his bed.

"Yeosang?" Jongho's voice electrified him. "Hey, am I interrupting?" Yeosang asked uncertainly, fervently hoping that Jongho couldn't hear his nervousness in his voice. "No, not at all, I wanted to call you too."

Yeosang didn't know what to say for a moment. "Do you think we can talk in the next days?" he asked cautiously. His hand rubbed nervously over the rough fabric of his jeans.

Jongho was quiet for a moment. "Actually, I wanted to apologize for being so absent yesterday. It had nothing to do with you. Not exactly." Yeosang had no idea what he was supposed to understand by that statement. "Okay." he mumbled, a little overwhelmed.

"Are you free later?" Jongho suddenly asked. A tingling sensation ran through Yeosang's stomach. "Yes, why?" he asked excitedly.

"Can you come to the lake in the park next to the university at midnight?"

__________________

Update on Saturday <33