- YOUR POV
- YEONJUN'S POV
“The Distance They Didn’t Expect”
You and Yeonjun had always been comfortable together walking home after class, sharing snacks, laughing at jokes only they understood. To everyone else, they looked inseparable.
But for Minjin, the feelings had grown deeper than friendship. After weeks of overthinking, you finally gathered enough courage to confess.
Behind the school, under their usual tree, you told him everything your voice shaking but honest. "Yeonjun-ah I like you not just as a friend, yes I fall in love with you not just how smart you are but your personality.." Yeonjun looked at her with surprise, then guilt. He explained gently that he liked someone else. He said he valued her, but he couldn’t return her feelings. You forced a smile and said you understood, even though your heart stung.
Yeonjun thought they would go back to normal.
They didn’t.
Over the next few days, you slowly pulled away. You stopped walking home with him and didn’t sit beside him in class anymore. When he tried to joke around, you forced a small smile but never met his eyes. In group conversations, you acted like he wasn’t there, responding only when necessary.
Your replies to him became shorter. Then less frequent. Then almost nonexistent.
Yeonjun felt the difference—like watching someone close a door in slow motion. He tried to stay hopeful, telling himself she just needed time. But every day, you drifted farther.
One afternoon, Yeonjun saw you pass by him in the hallway. Your had always smiled when their eyes met. This time, you looked away immediately, pretending to tie your shoelace just to avoid him. Something inside him sank. It was the first moment he realized: he wasn’t losing you slowly—he already had.
You weren’t trying to punish him. You are just tired of pretending. Being near him made your chest tighten, made you feel small, made you remember the moment you wished you could forget.
And so you distanced herself—not in anger, but in quiet heartbreak.
They didn’t fight. They didn’t talk about it. They just drifted… until the person who once felt closest to her began to feel like a stranger.
And the worst part was how natural it started to feel—like this distance was the only way you could protect what was left of yourself.
I didn’t see it coming.
Minjin and I had always been close—close enough that people joked about us being a couple. I laughed it off every time, because that wasn’t what we were. Not to me, at least. She was my friend. One of the few people I trusted without having to think twice.
So when she confessed, it felt like the world paused for a second.
Her voice was trembling, but she kept her eyes on me, waiting. And in that moment, I wished I could feel what she felt—just to spare her the hurt I knew I was about to give. But lying would’ve been worse.
I told her the truth. I liked someone else.
She smiled—too quickly, too softly. The kind of smile that doesn’t reach the eyes. She said she understood. She said it was okay.
But something inside me tightened when I saw the way her hands shook.
After that day, I kept waiting for things to go back to normal.
But they didn’t.
The first sign was small. She didn’t walk home with me. She said she had to finish something. I believed her.
The next day, she didn’t sit beside me in class. She chose a seat farther away, pretending it was nothing. I watched her laugh with other people, and even though the sound was the same, something about it felt different. Distant.
I tried talking to her—making little jokes, starting small conversations—but her answers were short. Quick. Like she couldn’t wait to leave.
It hit me hardest in the hallway. She was walking toward me, and for a moment, I thought things were okay again—maybe she’d smile, maybe she’d say hi. But as soon as our eyes almost met, she looked down. She bent over to tie her shoelace even though it was already tied.
She couldn’t even look at me.
She used to meet my eyes without hesitation. Now she avoided them like looking at me hurt.
And maybe it did.