Requested by Jelliuh along with the idea for this chapter. A bit of inspiration from Seventeen's "Thanks" as well.
Male Reader
Angst and fluff(?)
warning: mentions of alcohol
note: I'll be referring to Joy as Sooyoung
___
We were best friends. For the longest time, Sooyoung was the one thing that was constant in my life. Through thick and thin, she was by my side, ready to lend a shoulder to lean on when things got tough.
I've known Sooyoung for over fifteen years now. The two of us met when we were four. her family was our neighbour, just moving in after moving away from their last residence on Jeju Island. Our parents became good friends and with them being close, Sooyoung and I naturally found ourselves together. Whenever my parents went over to Sooyoung's house or vice versa, her and I would go play outside or just laze around in the house.
From age four to age seventeen, we were inseparable. We always sat beside each other during elementary school, though we were often forced to sit away from each other after talking over the teacher too much. Middle school was much of the same. We were in the same class throughout those years. High school contained the closest years of our friendship. We'd spend every waking second of high school by each other's side. We'd walk to school together, attend classes together, skip boring classes together, eat lunch together, and walk home together.
All was well during those years until three words had escaped Sooyoung's lips.
"I love you," she said. It was out of the blue. The two of us were coming back from the forest that sat behind the school. We were skipping class and hiding away in the place we dubbed "the hole" since there was a big clearing in the forest where we could just relax and unwind.
We were sat in comfortable silence when she spoke those words. Seeing as I wasn't expecting her to say anything, she had caught me rather off guard. The girl I had spent basically all of my life with had said she loved me. Did she mean it in a friendly way? Did it symbolize more than just friendship? Did I love her back? Of course I did. Why would I spend all of my life with her if I didn't love her as a friend?
But the words "as a friend" were words I'd regret.
"As friends, right?" I asked. I didn't even turn to her when I said it. I wasn't expecting much, but when I turned to her after silence hung in the air for a little too long, I didn't see Sooyoung beside me. For the first time in a long while, she wasn't by my side. It felt odd, but it didn't bother me too much at the time.
I just assumed she had gone back to school without me, so I grabbed my belongings and made my way back too.
After that day though, Sooyoung was gone from my side. I'd occasionally see her in the hallways of our school, but that was it. She never showed up at "the hole" when she usually would. She'd just get up and disappear when lunch came around. I'd never even catch a glimpse of her before or after school. The worst part is, it didn't really bother me. If anything, it annoyed me. As creatures of habit, losing someone who was beside me throughout my whole life was an odd feeling.
And unfortunately, it look this long to realize it.
The rest of high school was bland and boring. Without my best friend there with me, the fun was drained from every day.
At least back then, I could at least see Sooyoung a few times a week. College was a different story.
I got accepted to a college down in Busan, meaning I was headed out of my hometown. I was leaving behind everything I knew, including Sooyoung. Though at this point, Sooyoung was basically out of my life. I hadn't talked to her almost a year and haven't even seen her in months. Even my parents recognized the weird distance between the two of us. When they'd ask, I'd just shrug and respond with "I guess we just drifted apart". It was sad, but true.
