MISSION: Love

+ one +

I silently ate my meal with Ahrin, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere between us. That was until Yurin stormed toward us angrily and plopped herself down next to me. Ahrin and I exchanged confused glances before she asked, "Yah, Ahn Yurin. What's wrong with you?"

"I don't understand. What the hell is wrong with Jay? I want to go to the cinema with him but he said he has plans with his friends later."

"Didn't you guys go to the movies last week? Maybe it's been a long time since he's spent time with his best friends?"

"You don't understand, Hana," she raised her voice at me. I quickly shut my mouth to avoid annoying her more. Yurin angrily opened her lunchbox and stabbed a piece of spam with her chopsticks.

"You've never been into a relationship. You won't understand how it feels to be ignored by your boyfriend."

Ahrin looked at me apologetically, "Hana has a point, Yurin. You've been spending time with Jay almost every day. It's about time he gets to have fun with his friends."

She kept quiet after hearing Ahrin's words. Yurin's words did offend me a little. But she was right. Maybe I don't know how it feels like having a boyfriend. I've never even gotten to experience receiving a love letter. I'm always the one who confesses or sends the letters.

Ahrin and Yurin were one of the prettiest girls in our school. Ahrin was smart and she's pretty athletic too. No wonder she often gets love letters from the boys. But she always says that she doesn't have time because she wants to focus on her studies.

Yurin, on the other hand, loves to play around and she enjoys spending time outdoors with her friends rather than staying at home studying.

"Did you fight with Jay?" I asked. Yurin nodded and pouted, "We did. He's not talking to me."

We averted our attention to the field. There he was. Jay smiled and laughed with his friends as they brought a basketball to play. Heeseung, who was one of his friends, approached our table and placed a box of chocolate milk next to Yurin.

"Jay said he's sorry. He told me to give you this," he said. He then placed a packet of biscuits next to Ahrin, "I brought you your favourite snack."

I smiled at them both. I could feel that Heeseung genuinely likes Ahrin. But I'm not sure if she likes him back. They both have been best friends ever since kindergarten and I've always seen him taking care of her.

But of course, she was too clueless to notice his feelings towards her. Or maybe they were just being genuinely nice to each other? I wonder.

I turned my attention to Jay who was dribbling the basketball. How his smile made my heart flutter every time. I've liked him for three years already. But I kept it a secret because I didn't want people to make fun of my feelings.

Jay was popular. It was because of his handsome looks and also his smart brain. He's also athletic and all the girls in the school would always sit at the bleachers to watch him play basketball with his friends.

But I was too late. I didn't know Yurin had a crush on him too and they both fell in love with each other. When she told me she was in a relationship with him, I was speechless. But I didn't want to be a bad friend so I congratulated her.

I hoped for the feelings to go away. But it didn't. That was how I ended up being hurt for three years by watching them together.

Jay's attention finally went to our table. We both made eye contact and I immediately averted my gaze somewhere else. He waved at Yurin and flashed a soft smile at her.

She blushed and stood up, "Okay then. I'm going to give him a bottle of water. Bye, guys!"

I chuckled and my smile soon curved into a small frown. Heeseung sighed and watched as Yurin made her way to her boyfriend.

"They keep fighting. Is she always this selfish? She keeps hurting Jay."

Ahrin also let out a tired sigh, "He's hurting her too. Relax, they'll work things out."

💌

I walked through the hallway with Yurin. Ahrin had already gone into class to do some flip-learning.

"Ah, why do we have to be in different classes?" She whined and linked her arm with mine. I let out a small laugh, "We can still meet after school."

"But who am I going to talk to during class? It's not fair that you're in the same class with Ahrin."

I pinched her arm gently and we both continued walking until she stopped. "I have something to tell you."

I waited for her to continue with full anticipation. There was no glint of playfulness in her eyes. I gulped down my saliva nervously when she held both of my hands.

"I think I've fallen out of love."

My heart dropped at her sudden words, "What? What do you mean?"

"I don't think I love Jay anymore. I don't know. I think I'm in love with someone else."

"Who?!" I whisper-yelled. She looked away and widened her eyes when she saw our senior, Choi Yeonjun walking with his friends.

I followed her gaze and sighed, "You like Yeonjun?"

She closed her eyes and nodded, "God, I feel so mean."

"Ahn Yurin, you have to tell Jay. You can't leave him hanging like this."

"What?! No! I'll just create an argument and then I'll break up with him. He can't know that it's actually about someone else."

My heart broke when she said that. Was it because of my feelings towards Jay? Or was it because it's common sense to think Yurin's plan was stupid.

"You can't do that. He has feelings too!"

"Yah, Yoon Hana. Do you like Jay?"

She can't know...

"What? Me?" I laughed, "I won't like someone like him, Yurin-ah. Did you bump your head or something?"

"Ugh! I'm tired of talking about this topic. You'll know when we're broken up later. Bye," she waved before entering her class.

I stood in the hallway alone, speechless at what had happened. Jay would be so heartbroken.

But I couldn't do anything. I can't even tell him because he was not my best friend. We weren't even close. We were just classmates. Nothing more. And I've never even spoken to him before and probably never will.