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Changbin loved people. As a people person and a true extrovert, he enjoyed showing his love through gentle touches and quality time together. Being so clingy and affectionate, you could say he was like a monkey who clung onto a tree. His tree being Hwang Hyunjin.
Hyunjin was sweet and romantic, always talking about love and how deeply he wishes to be in love. He loves to tease Changbin about how single he is, but you might have already guessed that he didn't mind as long as he got to spend time with Hyunjin.
Hyunjin is a hopeless romantic. Changbin is hopelessly in love.
"Changbinnie-hyung!" A voice sweet and warm as a spring breeze called, making Changbin turn around, only to see a running boy in the distance.
He looked at him with a smile full of affection as the Hyunjin neared him.
"Found you!" Said the boy with a grin, eyes shaping into crescents.
"I guess you did, Jinnie!" Changbin replied as warmth bloomed in his heart and traveled to his cheeks, making them rosy. At least he could blame it on the breeze.
"I’ve been looking for you for the past 15 minutes!"
"Sorry, everyone needed me today. Did something happen?"
"Oh, nothing, really! I was just having problems with math and was wondering if you could help.”
It was a stupid question really. Changbin would drop anything at any moment for Hyunjin.Of course he would help with some math homework.
“Yeah, sure!”
Changbin would always help Hyunjin out. No matter what.
“I’ve got a great idea!” Jisung had once said to their group of friends. “Let’s all go hang out somewhere today!”
They were five guys: Changbin, Jisung, who has been his best friend since diapers, Felix who he had met through Jisung, Seungmin who was Hyunjin’s best friend, and then Hyunjin himself.
At first, it was just Changbin and Jisung. At the age of fourteen, Changbin met Hyunjin, who soon introduced Seungmin to Changbin, and with Jisung by Changin’s side, the four of them started hanging out together. Two years later Jisung befriended the newbie Felix and four of them became five.
If Changbin was honest he didn’t know when exactly he fell in love with Hyunjin, Jisung said it was from the start, and Changbin must agree with him. He was always so amazed by Hyunjin, how he viewed the world, how he treated others, how even after multiple failed relationships, he never gave up on the love he learned as a kid.
“Oh, I can’t, I yesterday went shopping with Felix, needless to say, I’m broke now,” Hyunjin said with a pout at Jisung’s suggestion and Felix giggled by his side.
“It’s alright, I’ll pay for you!” It didn’t take Changbin even a second for him to spell out the words.
“No, no! It’s alright hyung! I can stay home for once!” Hyunjin said just as quickly, feeling bad about Changbin spending money on him.
“Oh, c’mon you can pay me back later! We all want you there with us! How are we supposed to hang out when you won’t be able to join?”
At that moment Changbin didn’t see nor feel eyes on him, that so hoped that Changbin would once look at him the way he looked at Hyunjin, but I guess love makes a person blind in multiple ways.
Changbin was always there for Hyunjin.
“I’m so stupid, I should have trusted myself when I thought that he was cheating,” Hyunjin’s words were scrambled, tones changed with every syllable as every letter was laced with pain.
“You’re not stupid Hyunjin, you’re just very faithful and he took advantage of that,” Changbin was holding Hyunjin close and wiping his tears as Seungmin went to the convenience store for snacks.
After more tears shed and escaped sobs, Hyunjin spoke again.
“Hyung, am I not enough?”
“What are you talking about? Of course, you are! You are more than enough, you’re amazing, you put everyone around you in a spell of immense happiness, you bring joy and smiles, and getting you to smile, feels like winning Olympics,” Changbin didn’t care if his feelings were obvious at that moment, as long as he could make the boy in his arms feel special and loved.
There was silence as Hyunjin looked at Changbin, surprised at the words other just told him. His eyes were widened, glassy and red, yet Changbin could swear that no one had ever looked at him with prettier eyes.
A smile soon made its way on Hyunjins features and giggles filled the room.
“I should date you Hyung,” he said as a joke and Changbin didn’t have any other choice but to laugh with him, hoping that he’ll laugh his pain away.
But Hyunjin wasn’t always there, not in a way Changbin was, not in a way Jisung was there for Changbin.
“Hyung, it’s been years, why don’t you move on? I’m really sorry to tell you this, but I don’t think Hyunjin sees you as anything more than a big brother…” Jisung said one day when Changbin was having his monthly rant about Hyunjin. Pretty ironic of Jisung to say.
“I know he isn’t, Jisung, I know he doesn’t see me as anything more than a big trustful brother, he can always lean on, but I can’t move on, not yet.
“Why not?”
“Because moving on feels like giving up, and I’m not ready to give up on him, on us.”
“Then why don’t you confess?”
“Because he doesn’t love me back.”
“But what if you confessing made him realize his feelings?”
Changbin didn’t say anything, because he never considered this as a possible outcome. Jisung only considered it because he thought rejection would make Changbin move on.
Changbin didn’t get to confess though, because when he did get the guts to confess, Hyunjin was already announcing his new relationship, one that wouldn’t end soon, one that came straight out of a fairy tale.
“Guys! Me and Felix are dating now!” Hyunjin said excitedly, clinging on Felix’s arm, his eyes never shined so brightly when he was Changbin, his smile never got so wide and he never was so clingy. Hyunjin found his own tree to cling on.
Smiling and congratulating the pair wasn’t as hard as realizing how truly blind Changbin has been. Putting all the pieces together, made him question, how did he not notice that? Hyunjin and Felix made perfect sense, but Cangbin didn’t see that until now.
All these feelings were incredibly overwhelming, it felt like rock was dropped on his lungs, pushing the air away. His breathing was unsteady as his eyes itched. But he didn’t show it until later.
Of course, it was Jisung, Changbin came to after to share his pain. Jisung gave him warm comfort, which surprised Changbin, because he thought Jisung wouldn’t understand how he felt. But he had no idea how Jisung could relate to him more than anyone else could. He had no idea how much Jisung wanted Changbin to view him like he viewed Hyunjin.
In the end Changbin and Hyunjin were like winter and spring.
A beautiful spring that destroyed everything of winter, making snow melt until it disappeared.