Saranghaeyo Chan Yeol

Chan Yeol can see her.

She's standing by Joon Myeon-Hyung, her hands thrust haphazardly into the pockets of the coat she wore. A little breathless from having run such a distance, he takes the time to watch her. Her eyes are a deep brown; hypnotising if you look too long, dangerously irresistible if you aren't careful enough. Her fringe brushes lightly against her brows, and today she's worn her hair out. It catches the slight breeze and a lock of hair flies across her face, catching her off guard.

She laughs at the sudden movement, and tucks it determinedly behind one ear.

She's so beautiful. Chan Yeol thinks. He knows that he'll have to make his presence known soon; they do have to get to work anyhow, but he's hesitating. He likes it here, just standing here and watching her. He can stand like this forever and not feel time pass him by.

The moment drags on.

Letting his eyes lower, Chan Yeol wonders if she would ever think of him that way - the way that he thinks of her, and in an embarrassed rush, he pushes the thought away as quickly as it's come. Carese will never see him as someone other than derpy Park Chan Yeol, the loveable comedian she car pools to RCY every day with. The thought is impossible. Laughable. But still... Chan Yeol can hope.

Sighing deeply, the lanky twenty year old leans against the door way he's just entered and his mind drifts. He thinks about her hands, how gentle they are when they help little Sung-ah from her wheelchair, and her lips, how tempting they seem when they curve into a smile. He thinks about how her moments; pieces of time that she likes to call 'banana bonkers,' where she out derps even him, and how honest she is whenever he asks her if she liked his new song.

"I keep forgetting you're a famous singer, Chan Yeol oppa," she'd said, blinking up at him. "One of these days those fan girls of yours will steal you away from us."

Chan Yeol is still day dreaming when Baek Hyun bumps into him, rushing to get to the car. They both have a shift down at the RCY. It's the reason Carese is there. They carpool whenever they can because the boys are too embarrassed to ask their manager to drive them down in his car and Carese is too nice to let them catch a cab. She says that it'll look bad for her, letting her two friends go on public transport.

"What are you doing here?" Baek Hyun asks him, stopping suddenly. He's wearing a pair of slacks, easy to work in, and a gray hoodie. Chan Yeol jumps at the question. He isn't prepared for an interrogation, not with his thoughts roaming as they had, and quickly he straightens and clears his throat.

"Aiyoo!" He says, feigning indignation. "What is with you and all the questions?"

Baek Hyun raises an eyebrow but says nothing. Clearly, his room mate hasn't woken up properly. "Are you leaving with us?" He asks instead, dark eyes darting between Carese and Chan Yeol.

The latter nods hesitantly. It's a bitter sweet feeling, waking up from the day dream he'd been nursing. They walk towards Carese together. Baek Hyun is the first to get to her. "Morning, Carese-yah. Are you ready for work?"

Carese turns her gaze from a smiling Joon Myeon to Baek Hyun, and then to Chan Yeol. Chan Yeol tries not to read too much in the way her eyes light up just a tiny bit when they land on him. "Morning baby rabbits," she smiles the endearing nickname, "of course I'm ready. I was just waiting for you two sleepyheads to get up."

They say their goodbyes to Joon Myeon-Hyung, with promises to return early for rehearsal, and follow Carese quickly to her Volkswagon. Baek Hyun automatically reaches for the back seat, his usual place whenever they car pool, but Chan Yeol stops him halfway. The boy knows that sitting beside Carese-yah in his current mood will most certainly drive him insane.

"Let's change seats for today, Baek Hyun-hyung."

His room mate watches him for a moment, perplexed. Chan Yeol doesn't call him that unless he's in a desperate need for a favour. Slowly, his eyes flitter towards a chatting Carese, then back to Chan Yeol. After a minute of contemplation, he nods but Chan Yeol knows that his behaviour may have betrayed some of his thoughts. A shiver of apprehension rides up the length of his back; while he would trust Baek Hyun with his life, he's not so sure about the boy keeping his suspicions secret. Baek Hyun and Carese have always been as thick as thieves.

He realizes that he needs to do some damage control the minute Carese notices him sidling into the backseat. Her eyes narrow at him through the rear view mirror and Chan Yeol stammers.

"Baek Hyun-hyung was bugging me last night about how the back seat makes him feel like the third wheel."

And he had been, Chan Yeol knows. Baek had been going on about how the seating arrangement made him feel like an outsider. Carese looks once at Baek Hyun and pats him on the cheek. "Awh, sweetie you're part of the team where ever you sit."

Baek Hyun shrugs at her but casts his friend a questioning glance. This time Chan Yeol knows that he's figured that something is up. Smiling vaguely, he simply shrugs at him and turns to look out the window.

The half an hour long car ride is made longer by the morning traffic. Had it been any other time, he wouldn't have minded. Today though, the extended period sets him on edge. When they finally pull into the RCY driveway, Chan Yeol is more than ready to shoot off to his schedule for the day. He's to teach the kids a dance step he'd been working on. He isn't more than a few feet away though, when Baek Hyun comes up alongside him.

"What is wrong with you?" His room mate hisses. Chan Yeol ignores him, but the boy's hand on his arm stops him short.

"Why are you treating Carese-yah like the black plague today?"

Chan Yeol doesn't meet Baek Hyun's dark gaze. He doesn't want to have to explain. Not yet. He hasn't figured so many things out; like if he's even willing to let his feelings develop into something more, or even if he should risk his friendship with Carese-yah for something that might not be reciprocated and oh everything was just getting so messy! Why did things have to be so frustrating?

Baek Hyun's hand squeezes Chan Yeol's arm reassuringly. "Hey, if you need to talk, you can tell me."

There is a pregnant silence; full of several debates that run through Chan Yeol's mind at an alarming rate.

Say nothing. Tell the truth. Just keep quiet and hope it ends soon. Grow a pair and just say it, it's just Baek Hyun anyway. Are you sure we can trust him? I think so.

"Park Chan Yeol, really..."

"Ok fine!" Chan Yeol finally snaps. Flustered, he rubs the back of his head sheepishly, heat rushing to his cheeks.

"I've fallen in love Carese-yah, ok? And not the kind of love that a friend ought to feel for another." Chan Yeol groans at the confession. "I have to stay away from her until I can figure myself out."

Baek Hyun's shocked expression doesn't surprise the rapper. He knows that he might have just confessed to the ultimate friend no-no. People didn't fall in love with their friends, not like he had, not if they wanted their friendship to last. What he doesn't count on, however, is the shocked gasp that echoes from right behind him. Turning slowly, face heating to a shade of red that could shame a flashing street light, Chan Yeol's jaw falls at the sight that meets his eyes.

Carese is standing there, keys in her hand, eyes as wide as Kyungsoo's are when he spots a cup of bubble tea.

Everything that Chan Yeol has been trying to hide starts to crumble around him when he realizes that she'd just about heard every single thing he'd just said.

Aiyoo!



The rest of Chan Yeol's day is a well planned, cleverly thought out schedule that involves avoiding both Baek Hyun and Carese, no matter what the cost. He spends lunch break behind the courts, munching quickly on a sandwich that he buys from the closest Burger King and afternoon tea by the park benches. At exactly a quarter to three - his knock off time - Chan Yeol is congratulating himself on successfully evading an awkward confrontation when he spots Carese by the cafeteria. Her head is bowed over a book and just as he turns to walk quickly away, she looks up to meet his brown eyes with her own. The emotions that flitter across her face are enough to stop Chan Yeol mid-step.

Slowly, Carese gets to her feet and covers the distance between them with steps that Chan Yeol counts quietly in his head. Twenty steps, he tells himself. It took her twenty steps to get to me. When she's standing right before him though, he forgets why it is that he's been avoiding her. Even though it had all been his own doing, staying so far away from her hurts him. It's always like that - partly why he tries to keep his own sick days to a minimum. Spending too long without Carese is like having a limb amputated. Chan Yeol feels incomplete. Before she opens her mouth to speak, what he's sure to be rebuke in her eyes, Chan Yeol stammers out an apology.

"I'm sorry," he rushes, gesturing wildly. "I didn't mean to blurt it out like that. It was stupid of me to do that to you, and you are more than welcome to completely forget about it. I know that you don't feel the same and I... well, I'd rather that we stay friends. I don't know what I'd do if you stopped speaking to me, Carese-ah."

Carese blinks at the flood of words that spill from his lips - delicate and beautiful as they are - then she frowns. The furrowed eyebrows last only a moment though before she lets the emotions she's been keeping hidden for god knew how long, wash over her. Rushing forward, Carese places her hands on Chan Yeol's cheeks, pulls him as close as she can, stands on her toes and kisses him.

Chan Yeol's surprised gasp is lost to their embrace; hidden by the warmth that suddenly permeates every single fiber of his body as he understands what it is that Carese is doing. When they part, he holds her hands in place - revelling in the soft of her skin against his own.

"Saranghaeyo, Park Chan Yeol," she whispers, peering at him from beneath her lashes.

Chan Yeol's heart begins a marching band inside his chest. He tries to think but he can't. Was the girl of his dreams really standing there, telling him that she loved him too?

Carese rubs her thumb over the tip of his mouth and plants another kiss on his lips. This time, much closer, she says the words again just to make sure he's heard her right.

"I love you too, Chan Yeol."