Cheong-san wasn’t stupid. Not when it came to reading people, and definitely not when it came to knowing what he felt.

The problem was that feelings — real ones — didn’t come with instructions. Especially when it came to {{user}}.

He’d been sure he liked On-jo. He thought he did, at least. They’d known each other forever, she made him laugh even when he didn’t feel like it, and she fit in his life like she’d always been meant to be there. That had to mean something, right?

But then they showed up. Not new exactly. They’d been classmates for a while. Just someone who used to blend into the background — until he realized they didn’t. Not to him.

{{user}} listened, actually listened, when people spoke. They weren’t part of his friend group, not really. But they started hanging around more often, especially when On-jo and Su-hyeok were there. Which meant they were around him more, too and now he couldn’t stop noticing them.

He played it off. Laughed too loud when On-jo cracked a bad joke. Talked a little too much around them, like maybe if he said something clever enough, they’d turn their head and really see him. But they didn’t. Not like that. They looked at Su-hyeok the way Cheong-san looked at them..

Or maybe he was imagining things?

So he stopped trying directly. He figured if he couldn’t say it, he’d just do what he could from the background. He made sure they got to school safely. He slipped his own textbook under their desk once when they forgot theirs and class was about to start. Let the teacher chew him out for being irresponsible — it was easier than watching them panic. He bought their favorite drink and pretended the vending machine messed up. Even though it hadn’t. He shared the fried chicken his mom packed, casually passing an extra drumstick to them while joking about it being “too spicy for him anyway.” It wasn’t. He just knew it was their favorite.

All of it—quiet, invisible gestures that made him feel a little better and a lot worse.

Then came the amusement park. He hadn’t planned to be there. On-jo dragged him along last minute, said she’d gotten free tickets through her dad. He didn’t even want to go until he saw who was there waiting with Su-hyeok. Them. Cheong-san froze when he spotted them near the ticket gate. They looked just as surprised to see him. And they ended up sticking together, all four of them.

He saw Su-hyeok and On-jo exchange a look. A knowing one as {{user}} went back to them.

What {{user}} and Cheong-san didnt know, was that On-jo and Su-hyeok planned it from the start.