This Friend | Yeonbin

21

Soobin P.O.V

It’s official: I like Yeonjun as more than a friend.

I tried my best to stop it, and yet, it happened. I know it in my gut; I know it with everything I have. Ever since we hung out in the pool, it’s like a switch has been flipped.

I always noticed he was cute, because he is, and I’ve always liked his company.

But now it’s more than that.

It’s a fully-fledged crush.

Every time I think about him, it’s like my stomach fills with crap-off butterflies. And I’m smiling so much lately that my cheeks are always kind of sore.

Even though all this stuff is going on, thinking about him makes me smile that hard.

God damn it.

I’m sitting with Dad, in his hospital room. He’s finally being brought out of his coma tonight. I can’t believe my timing with this crush, but it’s not the sort of thing I can control.

If I could get rid of these feelings, I would. In a heartbeat.

It’d be a lot easier to stay friends with Yeonjun. And what I need right now, more than anything, is a friend.

I can’t let myself be distracted by this. Taehyun is here, and so is Vince, who is beside his wife, and Tony. (:Random names as I probably said before but forgot:)

We’ve been here for hours today, listening mostly to machines beeping and Dad’s breathing. It’s weirdly hypnotizing.

All I know is the chemicals keeping Dad under are no longer being pumped into him, so he could wake up at any time, and my whole family wants to be nearby the second that happens.

It could be because they care about him.

Or they just want to make sure they stay in his good graces.

It’s hard to tell.

Anyway, being here has given me a lot of time to think about Yeonjun. Still I haven’t figured out what to do about my feelings for him. Unrequited romantic feelings can often signal the end of a friendship.

If I tell him, and he doesn’t feel the same way, then things will get awkward and we’ll probably stop hanging out.

My instincts tell me I need to keep these feelings a secret, until I know how to wrangle them into something controllable. Because they’re totally off the chain, rampaging through my life, making me think about him nonstop.

But then there’s the off chance that he’s feeling something close to what I’m feeling.

In that case

Across the room, Taehyun rushes forward to stand by Dad’s bedside. He’s noticed something- I guess because he’s here, not miles away, like me.

Dad groggily opens his eyes.

The first thing he sees is Taehyun. That feels fitting. I stand up and move over to the bed. Dad sees me and smiles weakly.

“My boys,” he says, reaching out and putting his hand on Taehyuns, then on mine.

“We’re here, Dad,” says Taehyun. “We barely left.”

“I know,” he says. “I could tell.”

Does this mean he’ll be okay? His skin looks slightly translucent, his hair is limp, and his cheeks are covered in salt-and-pepper stubble.

But he’s awake, that’s the main thing. He doesn’t look so bad for a guy who took two bullets to the gut, is all I’m saying.

“Welcome back, Mr. Choi,” says the nurse.

Dad opens his mouth, but then his face twists in pain.

“Don’t try to talk,” she says. “Just relax.”

Dad nods and then closes his eyes again.

“What’s happening?’ asks Taehyun. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” she says as she writes something on her clipboard. “He’ll drift in and out for the next few days. It might be best for you all to give him some privacy; he will need to rest for the next few hours.”

I glance at Taehyun. He’s calling the shots on this.

“Okay, you heard her,” he says. “Clear out.”

I turn and go to leave.

“Not you, Soobin,” he says.

“Oh, right.”

To my surprise, my family complies. As a group, they all file out of the room, I’m guessing to head to the waiting room. The nurse follows them out. She closes the door behind her, so it’s just the three of us.

“One of us should stay,” he says. “You want to take first watch?”

“Sure.”

“Cool. We’ll swap in five hours, that sound good to you?”

“Yep.”

He starts packing up his backpack. “Are you sure you have everything you need for the ball?”

To be honest, I’m surprised it’s going ahead, given Dad’s current situation. But it is.

“Yeah, my suit came the other day. Dad already got me everything I need.”

My heart aches.

“Have you tried it on?” asks Taehyun.

“A bunch.”

“And?”

I smile. “You might not be the only good-looking one.”

“Bring it, brother.”

“Oh, I will.”

He smiles, but then his attention falls to Dad, and his face drops. “We got really lucky, you know that, right?”

“What do you mean?”

He rests his hands on the metal end of the bed. “If they got their way, he’d be dead.”

Technically that’s true. Still, Dad isn’t totally innocent. The Chois may have started this, but he’s the one who decided to turn it into an all-out war.

I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but I do think it’s partially Dad’s fault that he got shot. If he’d tried to figure out some sort of peace with them, then we wouldn’t be here.

I guess I’m still hoping this is the wake-up call I’ve wanted him to have for ages.

“I want to kill them,” says Taehyun. “Every single one.”

“I know.”

“I haven’t told you, but I have all my leads tracking down the shooter.”

“I thought it was Maria Choi?” (:randomm:)

“No, she wouldn’t get her hands dirty like that. She might’ve called the hit, but she’s not the one who did it.”

That makes sense. Dad only really gets involved these days when he’s showing me or Taehyun how things are done. Most of the time, he orders someone to do his dirty work.

“I want her dead, too,” says Taehyun. “But nobody knows where she is right now. We’re trying, but we can’t find her. So my focus is on finding the man who pulled the trigger. He’s just as responsible, and sure to be less protected. We can get to him.”

“And what will we do if we find him?”

Taehyun finally looks at me.

“We’ll kill him. Together.”