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Y/N's POV

"Hey, could you do me a favor?" My friend, Y/F/N, asked.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" I ask.

"Uh, I'm not sure if you'd agree to it easily," She says uneasily.

"Go on," I tried to make her tell me what she wanted to say.

"Are you up to the idea of being a third wheel?" She asks.

I had a few moments thinking about it.

"I'm not forcing you or something but if you don't want to-"

"Yeah, sure'" I agreed.

"Wait, really?" She asks, shocked at my sudden agreement.

"Yeah, I'm serious," I reassured.

"Thank you so much!" She thanks me and hugs me tightly.

"Wait, who are you dating and why do you need a third wheel?" I asked out of curiosity.

"You know Seungwoo? My friend-" "Him?!" I blurted out a bit too loud.

"What's wrong with him and I?" She asks, slightly confused.

"I've known the two of you very well. And I don't think the both of you could be, you know... a couple." I stated my opinion.

"I know right?!" Apparently, she agreed, which made me confused.

"Then why did you agree to the date in the first place?" I asked.

"You know a lot of people actually ship the two of us. So we talked it through and... thought of trying it out." She explained, looking like she realized her mistake.

"Looks like you regret agreeing to it now," I said with a sly smirk.

"Yeah, kinda," She put her head down.

"Don't worry. I'll help you out. Just don't back out because I don't wanna be stuck with a guy I barely know." I said and just agreed with a nod.

---

"Hey, I'm here, and so is he. Where are you?" I asked Y/F/N through the phone whilst looking at Seungwoo. And he looks bored after all the waiting.

"I'm almost there. There's just really heavy traffic here." She replied.

"Okay, make it quick. He looks really bored right now." I teased her before we ended the call.

After a few moments of waiting, she finally arrived.

"Finally! So, let's go?" I asked. And after a while, she nodded.

"Why do you look so confident? Isn't it going to be awkward?" She asks as we walked.

"Exactly, it's going to be awkward and I'll have to do nothing. And plus, I get free food and drinks just sitting there." I explain as she nodded, understanding what I meant.

Seungwoo's POV

I looked at the cafe door as it opened once again. My heart started beating quickly after seeing who it is.

I waved at her as she approached my direction. But I noticed something else.

Y/N came with her, which kind of made me uneasy.

"Is she going to be with us?" I asked, trying not to sound rude.

"Uh, yeah," She stutters.

"Oh, sorry. I'll just leave if it's not okay with you-"

"N-no it's okay, really." I cut her off, knowing Y/F/N probably didn't have much courage to do this alone.

"Okay, I'll just stay a bit further," She says slowly going one table away from ours.

Y/N sat facing my direction. Probably to prevent sending Y/F/N any sort of signals.

"Hey, Y/F/N, you're paying for me right?" Y/N disrupts our conversation, making both of us turn to her.

"Yeah," Y/F/N replies, obviously annoyed.

"Sorry about that," She apologizes.

"It's okay," I replied, feeling a bit of secondhand embarrassment.

Our conversation went on for a while and eventually, it got less interesting.

When we would pause whilst thinking of a topic to talk about, I notice Y/N looking back at us and sometimes, we would make eye contact.

And when she notices it isn't going well, she silently laughs at us while cheekily sipping her drink which makes me uneasy.

"I'm sorry. Is this uncomfortable for you?" She says.

"Uh, n-no-"

"No, seriously,"

I noticed how Y/N was alarmed after hearing what she said.

And I knew too, things were probably going to go down expectedly.

"If you're not okay with it, then I'm not as well. If we're just trying to work out a relationship between us just because we want to live up to people's expectations, I think we should stop this." She said, now being serious.

"After all this time, I felt like I was stuck in a skit. I don't think it's going to work out either." I explained and she nods.

"We were fated to meet, but not destined to be together." She says.

I was dishearted at that moment, but I knew I had no regrets.

"I guess I'll go now," She stands up slowly, about to leave.

"Can we at least stay as friends?" I asked to stop her from leaving yet.

"Yeah, of course." She smiles before going on her way.

Y/N stands up as well and follows out with her.

They finally disappeared from the distance. I sighed and thought things through.

I put my head down as I let some thoughts run through my head.

"Dude, you okay?" I got startled as someone suddenly slams the table, getting the attention of other people in the cafe.

I put my finger over my mouth in panic trying to make Y/N tone down.

I slightly bow to the others for startling them.

"Sit down," I whispered in panic as she finally chills.

"Come on, what happened?" She asks, obviously curious about everything.

I ended up explaining everything we did and talked about what actually happened in detail for the past 20 minutes and it felt like talking to Y/N took longer than talking with Y/F/N.

She talked comfortably with me as if we actually were close, and to which was really odd.

The last time we talked wasn't even a conversation. I only knew her because Y/F/N kept telling stories about her to me. I don't know if Y/N is told the same with me.

"That's kinda harsh, wanna grab some food? You're probably hungry after all that." She suddenly asks.

"Sure, we're at a cafe now anyway," I agreed.

She stood up and ordered at the counter.

There's something about her that made me so comfortable with her.

I just needed someone to talk to anyway. Probably someone to keep things off my mind.

I was shocked that I immediately agreed instead of thinking and being shy about it.

She goes back to the table with a plate of pasta with bechamel sauce and bacon bits.

"Thanks, I actually like this. How'd you know?" I said as I slowly started to eat some.

"I notice you buying that often whenever Y/F/N would invite you to our table every lunch." She explains as she scratches the back of her neck.

"Aren't you gonna have some?" I asked as she just sat back.

"Nah, I'm okay. That cappuccino was enough to make me full." She replied and I just nodded.

"Then why are there two forks?" I wondered.

"Hm, I don't know actually. I think the cashier mistook that we were gonna eat it together."

"Yeah, I guess so," I agreed and continued eating.

"You really aren't gonna have some? It tastes really good. You paid for it anyway." She sighed and looked at it for a while.

"Fine, if you insist." She said and took the fork and ate some.

"Isn't that my fork?" I questioned, making her realize.

She immediately took out the fork and covered her mouth, wide-eyed.

"I'm sorry, just use the other fork," She panicked and handed me the other unused fork.

"No, it's okay. It doesn't mean anything anyway." I made a sly smirk making her more embarrassed.

"I'm just kidding, don't be so affected about it," I didn't take it seriously anyway.

Y/N's POV

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. So I checked who was calling and picked it up.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked Y/F/N through the line.

"Where are you?" She asks.

I had to think of an excuse since I can't tell her I'm with Seungwoo.

"Oh, I'm just walking around the mall, why?" I replied.

"Oh good. Because I think I left my earphones at the cafe. It probably fell out of my bag a while ago." She says.

I froze on panic and I notice Seungwoo looking at me in confusion.

In my mind, I thought she would be going here by now.

"Oh okay, let's meet somewhere. I'm not that far from there anyway." I said making up a reasonable excuse.

"But I was about to go there-"

"No, it's okay. I just got here. Meet you at the nearby entrance. Bye!" I hurriedly said and ended the call.

I hurriedly looked around the table if it was there.

"What are you looking for? And who was it?" Seungwoo asks.

"I'm looking for Y/F/N's earphones. Have you seen it?" I asked while looking.

"Here," I look up back at him as he hands me the white earphones.

"Thanks, could you stay here?" I said in panic and went out before he could reply.

I got to the entrance and saw her standing there.

I called her name and she notices me from afar. I handed her the earphones whilst catching my breath.

"Thanks so much. You didn't have to rush." She thanks me.

"It was nothing. So you're going now?" I asked.

"Yeah. But why did you sound so worried a while ago?" She asks curiously.

"Oh, well I know you really care about your earphones, I kind of got worried you know," I said with a tone of awkwardness.

"Aw thanks, really. I'll go now, bye!" She waves at me and I waved back.

Y/F/N's POV

As I got out of the building, some things were bugging me.

She didn't have her bag with her, she only had her phone. I couldn't think of where she would leave her bag since we came together, just the two of us.

And come to think of it, I don't think that was her phone. She doesn't have taste in iPhones. It somehow looked like Seungwoo's phone.

I might be mistaken. She probably just changed her phone case.

Y/N's POV

"Sorry, you had to wait for so long. I thought you left already." I apologized to Seungwoo as soon as I got back.

"I wouldn't do that, you left your bag here. And it's okay. You switched our phones though." He made me realize.

"I-I'm sorry, oh my gosh." My hands were shaking as I placed his phone down and I got my phone back.

"Are you okay? It looks like something is bothering you." He asks as he looks at me.

"I'm totally fine, wanna go somewhere else?" I asked to lighten the atmosphere.

"Uh, sure. We've been here for a while now." He replies and stood up.

Now it was awkward as we walked around the mall. I felt so small just walking beside him.

"So uh, where'd you wanna go?" I asked him to break the awkwardness between us.

"Clothes shopping?" He asks, avoiding my eyes.

"Hey, I like your taste. Let's go then!" I felt a sudden hype in me.

Soon enough, we made our way into one of the many clothing shops. It was really odd how some people kept looking at us.

They probably were thinking that we were a couple. Just by how we wore almost all black, it kind of made me more uncomfortable.

We ended up leaving the store and going somewhere else.

We happened to pass by a small milk tea store just by the escalator.

A staff approaches us and I knew what was going to happen.

"Good day ma'am and sir! Would you like to try our any size buy one take one milk tea promo with your special someone?" She asks holding the large board with the advertisement on it.

"I'm sorry but we're not-" "My girlfriend over here meant we're going to miss out on those!" Seungwoo cuts me off and exaggeratedly smiles at the staff.

He pulls me beside him and left to go to the counter.

"What was that all about?" I asked him, clearly weirded out.

"It's very occasional for milk tea stores to have promos. And hey, while we're here, we can't miss the chance." He explains.

"I'll just take this as something you're giving back in return of the pasta a while ago," I said and he just nodded.

We placed our orders and took a seat at one of the nearby tables. For a while, we talked about a few things while waiting for our order.

"So, did that girlfriend thing mean anything?" I asked him as I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh- Oh! Our order is ready, wait here." He says as he takes the buzzer and rushes to the pickup counter.

Seungwoo's POV

I took the tray from the staff and went back to our table. I put the drinks down and slid the tray aside.

"Thanks," She smiles and takes a sip of it. I took a sip as well, never looking away from her. She was looking elsewhere anyway.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question," She looks back at me and I got startled.

"Well of course not!" I said trying to be laid-back.

"Okay then," She brushes it off and continues drinking her milk tea.

[♡]

Y/N's POV

Through that experience with Seungwoo, I got to know him better and finally didn't get left out whenever Y/F/N would invite him to our table.

Whenever people would get back at shipping both of them, I'd make fun of them jokingly.

But inside, there was some part of me that didn't like it. And I didn't know why.

I sat on the railing by the exit gate. Then I heard someone call my name.

I looked around to see who it is, there wasn't anyone at that late hour. "Hi!" Seungwoo waves at me from behind which startled me.

By that, my hand slipped off the metal railing. I closed my eyes knowing I'd fall off. But I felt someone's arms catch my back.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Seungwoo, just a few inches away from my face.

"Oh I-I'm sorry," He apologizes and panics as he slowly makes me sit back up.

"It's fine, thanks though," I said and smiled.

There was something about how he looked at me. How my heart was beating fast. How I felt his hands shake when he helped me up.

I ignored all this and tried calming down. Seungwoo sat beside me and swung his legs, almost reaching the ground.

"What'd you call me for-" He suddenly lays his head on my shoulder.

We sat there in silence as I felt like I was about to fall off again. But now, I felt like I was falling for him.

"Is there anything wrong?" I managed to start a conversation.

I felt him shake his head while it was on my shoulder.

"Then why are you doing this to me?" I asked, not thinking about what I just said.

He sits back up and looks at me. "Doing what?"

"This," I said and pointed to where my heart is.

He took my hand and put it on his chest. I felt his heart beating as fast as how mine did.

I slowly moved my hand away and we sat there in silence again.

He quickly pecks my cheek and looked away. I looked at him and smiled.

I land a kiss on his cheek as well, by that, his face started to heat up.

"I'm sorry but, I love you," He says as he looks at me in the eyes.

"I do too," I smiled, and knew all those signs weren't just something.

03/18/20

2675 words

A/N:

book project coming soon!