"why didn't jake come?" sunoo pouted as he looked at his group of friends who were currently at their favorite korean barbecue place

"he had something last minute probably" jay spoke, patting his back, "it's nothing new. he'll apologize anyways afterwards"

"i guess" sunoo shrugged, pushing the thoughts away

"hey don't be sad. he came to your art contest and saw you win. i'm sure he wanted to come eat with us" yuna comforted him and he nodded

"so on the topic of art" sunghoon looked at sunoo, "when are you going to paint me for a contest?"

"when you get pretty, i'll paint you" sunoo responded

"plus he wouldn't win 1st place with you as a painting" riki stated, defending sunoo's statement

sunghoon looked at the two, offended at their comments, "you're so lucky you're my best friends or i'd murder you both"

"oh well" sunoo smiled cheekily and grabbed a piece of meat off of the grill and putting it on his rice

"oh right! before i forget" sunghoon started and looked at jungwon and heeseung, "do you two want to come to yuna's birthday party next week?"

"ooo it's your birthday?" jungwon asked yuna and she nodded, "sure i'll go"

"same" heeseung responded and looked back at yuna, "let's not have a repeat of my party"

"oh trust me..i will be staying away from alcohol for a long time" yuna chuckled then glared at sunghoon, "if i see one single soju bottle or any alcohol, i'm kicking you out of the group"

"come on! yet you won't kick soovin out??"

"no because i like her. you..you're..okay i guess"

sunghoon rolled his eyes, "for your information i wasn't going to have any alcohol there anyways. plus..your parents wanted to murder me when i mention it.."

yuna laughed and nodded, "that sounds like them"

the group continued to talk and eat until each of them were full; this was going to be an expensive meal

"i'll go up and pay" heeseung said standing up

"wait" yuna stopped him as she pulled out her own wallet and gave him a 50,000 won bill, "here. i feel bad for you paying for all of us"

"it's fine" he shook his head, denying her money

"no, seriously just take it" she kept offering but he kept denying it

"well then if he doesn't want it" niki reached his hand out for it but jungwon smacked his arm away from the 50,000 won bill

"you literally work and get a paycheck. sit down" jungwon rolled his eyes as niki muttered incoherent words under his breath in japanese causing jay to laugh since he understood what he was saying

heeseung and yuna were going back at forth at each other; yuna trying to get him to take the money and heeseung not wanting to take it

"just take it!" sunghoon groaned in annoyance grabbing the bill out of yuna's hand and placing it in heeseung's hands, "now go pay. we'll wait for you outside"

heeseung nodded in defeat as the group grabbed their things and began leaving the place while heeseung went to go pay

as they all left the place; they were met with jake who had just gotten there, "guess..i was too late"

"where'd you go?" sunoo asked, clenching onto his jacket in his hand

"something came up and i ended up leaving early. i was going to text you guys but my phone died..so i hoped that you guys were here..seems like i was kinda late though"

"it's okay" sunoo shrugged, "you tried coming and you came to my art contest at least. we can come another day together"

jake nodded, still feeling bad about it but sunoo was always understanding since he knew how busy he was and had good reasons for not being there

yuna bit her lip and and kinda felt guilty for always getting mad at jake; well she didn't express it but she still had the thoughts

heeseung then came out of the place, "okay i paid. thanks for the 50 yuna"

the girl nodded, saying no problem to the boy

"i guess we should all go home then" sunghoon spoke and everyone agreed

"i'll walk you home yuna" two voices spoke at the same time making everyone look back and forth and the two voices; including yuna

it was jake and heeseung who spoke

"it's fine i can do it" jake chuckled awkwardly as he grabbed onto yuna's wrist, pulling her towards him

"no no, i can walk her home" heeseung responded, pulling yuna towards him.

jake took in a deep breath before pulling her back towards him, "i can walk my best friend home"

"and i can walk the girl i ask-" he cut himself off, not wanting to say anything, "i can walk the girl i tutor home as well"

the two were going back and forth at it while yuna's arms were starting to hurt from them constantly pulling her back and forth

"okay! okay!" sunghoon took jake and heeseung's hands off of her arms, "you both are going to rip yuna's limbs off at this rate"

yuna looked between the two boys and sighed. she looked over at heeseung, "jake can walk me home. we live near each other"

heeseung just nodded sadly and yuna felt bad. the girl placed her hands at the hem of heeseung's hoodie that she was wearing and took it off, "here. before i forget. thank you for lending it to me"

heeseung took it back, "no problem"

yuna and jake were the first to leave the group and began walking home

the two were in silence some of the walk home until yuna's feet began hurting from the heels she was wearing.

'should've switched shoes before coming' yuna bit her lip as she looked down and she could feel the blisters forming because of the heels

jake looked over at her and sensed her discomfort. he looked down and saw her feet were turning red from the heels.

jake looked around hoping to see a bench they could stop at and luckily there was a bus station near them.

jake grabbed yuna's wrist, "come here" yuna followed him as the two walked over to the bus station where no busses were currently since it was too late at night.

jake told yuna to sit down as he took off his sweater and placed it around yuna, "just in case anyone..creepy decides to look at you"

yuna chuckled and nodded. he then bent down in front of her, turning around, "get on my back"

"what? n-no...it's okay i can finish walking"

"they're decently tall heels yuna..i can see your feet are turning red. just get on my back"

"okay.." she muttered before wrapping her arms around his neck and he gripped onto her thighs, pulling her up. she flinched when he adjusted her and she held onto him more tightly

"don't choke me please" he joked and she chuckled

"no promises"

jake laughed as he finally began walking with yuna on his back, "so..where'd you go?" she asked

"i had to do something...nothing important" he brushed it off as he couldn't tell her yet

yuna frowned as he wasn't telling her but she accepted it anyways mostly because she didn't want it to end in an argument

"you know.." he started, "the painting sunoo did of you was really beautiful"

"i know right" she smiled, thinking about it, "he's so talented at art. i can't believe he used me as his muse..or whatever it's called"

jake chuckled, nodding in agreement, "he really is. he captured all your beauty"

"i know right!" she exclaimed and jake looked over hoping to see some red on her ears but there was none

"you're still more beautiful in person though" he complimented her, hoping for a hint of red to show on her ears but to his dismay, there was no red at all from that compliment

"i know i am" she responded cockily but chuckled afterwards, "but save those comments for soovin. she deserves them more than me. you like her anyways"

"yah i do.." he muttered

'is she..over her feelings?' jake thought as he looked down at yuna's arms, noticing the star bracelet around her wrist

"hey..you still have the bracelet i gave you" he mentioned.

she looked her at wrist and nodded, "why would i get rid of it? it was a gift from you so it's special to me"

'please..stop saying those things..' jake thought, biting his lip

the rest of the walk home was silent but it wasn't awkward; it was comfortable.

jake dropped off yuna, setting her down on the floor, "thank you" she smiled

"no problem. i'll see you in school tomorrow?"

she nodded, "bye jake" the girl waved bye as she entered her home and closed the door afterwards

jake took in a breath and sighed. he looked up at the sky, staring at the stars, "soon.."