Fight with him

Lately, Tae-min's been… different.

Always surrounded by girls, loud laughter echoing through the halls like he owns the place. New girlfriend every week—like he's flipping pages in a magazine. Charming. Flirty. Careless. I don't even know if he remembers how to mean it anymore.

Nam-woo found someone too—Yoon-ah's best friend. Now they're some kind of power trio, always laughing, always together. It suits them.

Do-won still sticks by me. Kind of. But even he keeps a little distance ever since I started dating Lee-na. Maybe he's trying to respect something unspoken. Maybe he sees what I don't.

And Han-jae…

He hasn't changed.

Still quiet. Still alone.

Still ignoring me.

But that silence—it's grown louder. More deliberate. It's not just distance anymore. It's avoidance. Like he's building a wall I can't climb over.

And I—I'm done watching.

I need answers.

---

We were at the lockers when it happened.

Lee-na was beside me, talking about something I wasn't really listening to when I caught a glimpse of him walking by—fast, head down, like always.

"Han-jae," I called.

He didn't stop.

So I did the only thing I could—I grabbed his wrist.

He froze.

Slowly, he turned.

Expression blank. Cold. Like I was just another face in the crowd.

Was this still the same Han-jae? The one who once blushed when our fingers touched? The one who ate ramen at my house like a starved child? The one who—God, smiled only when he thought I wasn't looking?

"Can we talk?" I asked, already pulling him away without waiting for permission.

I didn't look back at Lee-na.

---

We stopped at a corner behind the gym, far from anyone's eyes.

"What's going on with you?" I asked, breathless from the mess inside me. "Why are you ignoring me?"

He looked at me—finally really looked at me.

"You didn't choose," he said. "When Tae-min and I fought, you didn't pick either of us. But then you went and chose a girl."

I blinked. "Lee-na?"

He didn't answer.

"That's it? That's why you're acting like this?" I asked, voice rising. "Because I didn't pick sides in a stupid fight, but I ended up with someone?"

His lips curved—not in a smile, but something bitter. "It wasn't a stupid fight to me."

The silence between us tightened.

"I asked about your life," I said softly. "Because I care. What are you doing now? What are you feeling?"

He didn't dodge this time.

"You," he said.

"What?"

"You. I'm thinking about you, Beom-soo," he said, and for once there was no filter. No mask. Just raw truth. "Even when I don't want to. Even when it hurts."

I stood there, stunned.

Why? Why is everyone obsessed with me?

Was it something I did?

Or was I just too blind to see what I really meant to him all along?

Lee Han-jae's POV

He didn't understand.

He wouldn't.

He stood there looking at me with those wide, clueless eyes—like he expected me to just smile and pretend nothing ever happened between us. Like I was supposed to be okay watching him walk around holding someone else's hand.

How could he not see it?

"You already know how I feel," I said, voice low, shaking. "So how do you expect me to accept all this like it means nothing?"

He opened his mouth—but I didn't let him speak.

"You think Tae-min was bad? He's out there screwing around trying to forget you. At least he's trying to move on. But me?" I laughed, bitter. "I can't even do that. I can't cheat on you, Beom-soo. Even if we were never officially anything."

The frustration boiled in my chest, hot and choking.

"Do you have any idea what that feels like?" I snapped. "Wanting someone so badly and watching them fall for someone else like you never mattered?"

His silence only pushed me further.

"I wish Lee-na would just disappear."

I didn't mean to say it out loud. But I did.

And then it happened.

He punched me.

For the first time, Beom-soo actually punched me.

And I snapped.

My fist flew back on instinct, landing against his jaw with a dull thud. It didn't feel good. It didn't feel bad. It just was. We threw punch after punch—pain, heat, confusion—until we were both sprawled out on the dirt like two idiots who didn't know what to do with their hearts.

Blood in our mouths. Dirt on our clothes.

Breathless.

Broken.

And then—laughter.

We laughed. It was stupid, reckless, sore-lunged laughter that didn't belong in the mess we created. But it came anyway.

"What the hell are we doing?" I muttered, wiping my lip with the back of my hand.

He didn't answer.

I didn't need him to.

Because in that ridiculous, bruised silence, I realized something—

We were never good at speaking clearly.

But maybe, just maybe, all this chaos was still our way of trying to understand one another.

Beom-soo's POV

"Let's stay as friends," I said. Quiet. Careful. Like tiptoeing over a minefield.

But he didn't take it lightly.

Han-jae's expression darkened in a flash, the kind of look that made the air around us drop a few degrees. He snapped, eyes blazing.

"I don't want to be just friends, Beom-soo! I'm not some background character who'll sit quietly while you date other people and pretend I'm okay with it."

I froze.

My chest tightened.

Because deep down, I knew.

I knew how he felt. I knew what this was doing to him. And still—I said it. I offered him friendship like a coward, like a bandage over a bullet wound.

But what could I say?

I looked away, guilt crawling up my throat.

"I know how you feel…" I murmured.

"Then why are you doing this?" His voice cracked—not loud, not angry now, just tired. "Why do you keep dragging me close just to shove me away again?"

"I'm with Lee-na now," I said, hating the way it sounded even to my own ears. "I don't… I'm not ready for something serious with you. Not yet."

He scoffed, shaking his head like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Then stop looking at me like that," he whispered. "Stop caring for me like that. You don't get to keep me half-alive just because you're scared."

That hit hard.

And before I could respond—he turned and walked away.

Leaving behind silence heavy enough to suffocate.