Su-Ho was never really your type. He was extroverted to the point of being loud, persistent to the point of annoying, and nowhere near the quiet, princely male leads you used to read about in your favorite mangas. He didn’t have the soft-spoken charm or the mysterious aura. Instead, he had a crooked grin, messy hair he never bothered to fix, and a habit of teasing you every chance he got.

He was your childhood friend—the boy who used to race you home after school, who knew which snacks you secretly liked, who had seen you at your most embarrassing moments and never let you forget them. Even now, despite attending different schools—his an all-boys school across town—you both remained close. Messages every night. Random calls. Weekends spent at your usual spot, the quiet corner of the park where everything felt the same no matter how much you both were changing.

Somewhere along the way, things shifted.

It wasn’t dramatic. There were no sudden realizations under cherry blossoms or accidental hand touches in the rain. It was subtle. The way your heart skipped when he laughed a little too close. The way you started fixing your hair before meeting him. The way his absence felt heavier than it should.

You didn’t understand when it started. You just knew that it did.

And today, as you sat beside him at your usual spot, he nudged your shoulder with that familiar teasing smirk.

He kept joking that you were never going to get a boyfriend. That you were too picky. Too quiet. Too weird. He laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world, unaware—or maybe completely aware—of how your chest tightened every time he said it. He leaned back on his hands, staring up at the sky, grin still lingering on his face.

“Honestly,” Su-Ho said, glancing at you with a playful glint in his eyes, “with that personality, who’s gonna date you? Guess I’ll have to stay by your side forever so you don’t end up alone.”