the ending of the day dejun was born and the start of the next day meant that all the drama that was forgotten for a day came back to the blue haired male like a truck. not just the things going on with him and chenle, but also between jaehyun and taeyong and the things going on with yuta and sicheng. the high school student thought that yuta and sicheng may have problems for the next few days because of what happened to them the day before, according to jeno, but the blue haired boy didn't put too much thought into it.

"did you see dejun's face when he unwrapped the guitar?" chenle asked his best friend as the two were seated at a picnic table in the courtyard of their school. the chinese male wanted to go outside and enjoy the nice weather, but didn't want to go alone, thus, resulting in him dragging a certain blue haired boy out with him.

"yeah. he looked so surprised even though the wrapping clearly made it look like a guitar," the blue haired boy replied to his friend's question, both of them letting out a laugh at dejun's overreaction to guanheng's gift.

"i swear, they're whipped for each other," chenle said, shaking his head at the thought.

"along with yangyang," jisung added. the three very much seemed to be whipped for each other because they would do anything for each other at a moment's notice. everyone could tell they were really close, but that was just the result of a friendship since third grade. the three of them even moved to korea together at the start of yangyang's first year in middle school.

the two high school students spent time talking about whatever they could think about talking about in the courtyard of their school on the picnic table, the idea of anything else out of their mind. the blue sky was a bright blanket above them while the sun warmed that blanket up despite the time of the year. it was still cold enough to wear a jacket but it was warmer than other days in the fall so far. the feeling of it was nice, as anyone would agree, and they enjoyed being outside on this specific day, especially after a hectic day for dejun's birthday party.

"chenle," a voice said. the two boys turned to look where the voice had come from and saw chaewon at the side of the table, on jisung's right and chenle's left. she was smiling at the orange haired male and completely ignored the other.

"i... better give you two some space," jisung said, getting up from his spot and giving his chinese friend his privacy with chaewon.

the girl sat in front of chenle, where jisung had sat earlier, and set her bag down on the bench on her left. she then put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands, looking at chenle, not in a loving kind of way, but just looking at him.

the orange haired boy felt very uncomfortable under the gaze of the one he thought he liked, but trying his best to compress his current feeling about the situation, he was able to ask chaewon why she was here.

"i just haven't talked to you in a while. i wanted to know how you're doing," she said, showing a smile to the chinese male across from her. the two were put in silence, chenle avoiding chaewon's eyes while the other continued to look at the person in front of her.

"i... i don't like you," chenle blurted out. after feeling very uncomfortable for a very uncomfortable amount of time, he decided to say something to at least get a conversation going, but he ended up saying that he doesn't like chaewon.

the girl was thrown back and her face faltered for a second to shock from the sudden statement chenle said, but she chuckled a bit before shaking her head and smiling. "i know. i figured as much when we shared that kiss."

"you knew?" the orange haired male asked, confused as to how chaewon could tell that from a small kiss. okay, it wasn't small. it was both chaewon's and chenle's first kiss, but it already happened and they couldn't do anything about it.

"chenle, i'm a girl. i can tell when people are lying just from looking at them," she said to the chinese male, causing the other to shake his head.

"my friend can tell when people are lying just by looking at them, and he's a guy. he studied psychology last year, and i know you do, too."

"ugh, fine, you caught me. but still, i knew you didn't like me in that way," chaewon said, repeating what she said earlier in a different format.

silence was created between the two once again, both of them just looking around at their surroundings. the birds were chirping, but it didn't make their situation any better.

"are... are you mad?" the chinese male asked. chaewon turned to face him after hearing the person in front of her talk and she frantically shook her head.

"what? no! why would i be mad?" she asked, to which the orange haired male replied with a 'because i don't like you.' letting out a sigh, chaewon leaned forward and crossed her arms on the table.

"hey... there's no reason for me to be mad. if you don't like me, then you don't like me. i can't make you like me because i don't control your feelings. you like jisung, i get it. i mean... after we kissed, i realized that guys maybe aren't really my thing, but i'm still working on it. there's no reason for me to be mad or upset about it. this is how life works: sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't."

chenle nodded along, showing he knew where chaewon was coming from. the orange haired male could understand what the other was feeling because he had gone through a similar situation with him trying to understand if he likes jisung-

"wait, how do you know i like jisung?" the chinese male asked once he realized that chaewon had mentioned that in her little mini speech. the girl's reaction was to just laugh and shake her head, wondering if chenle knew that he was being obvious.

"let's just say... my psychology classes from middle school didn't fail me with telling me when someone has feelings for another, and the way you talked to jisung earlier showed it all. if jisung doesn't know you like him, then he's either dense or not straight as well," chaewon stated. "plus, i'm pretty sure he likes you, too."

hearing the words that just came out of chaewon's mouth made chenle scoff. the chinese boy refused to believe that someone like jisung would like him back, not to mention that the blue haired male didn't even care whether chenle went on that date or not, which, if he was being honest, he didn't really have one. if the orange haired male was even half as important to jisung as dance is, then he'd be really happy, but even though he is the blue haired boy's best friend, that isn't even the case.

"pfft, as if. if he even cared about me half as much as he cared about dance, then maybe i would think it through, but that isn't even the case," chenle defended, but was hurt at the idea that jisung probably doesn't like him back the way he does. "plus, i even asked him and he said no."

"i'm being serious. i think he does," chaewon said. "the way he leans towards you when talking, the fact that you're the only thing he pays attention to when you guys talk or hang out, even just now, when he respected your privacy, those are kind of pretty obvious signs that he likes you. not to mention that he looks at you in a different way than he looks at anyone else. and you know, he could've lied about not liking anyone."

the male shook his head, still not believing what the girl in front of him is saying. "how do you even know this?" chenle asked, really wanting to know how chaewon knew all this. as far as the chinese male knew, the girl in front of him didn't know jisung personally, or even at all.

"i've been standing by your table longer than you think, even walked by a couple times some yards away, yet neither of you shifted your attention. i also see him around school talking to wonyoung, and the look in his eyes is very different when he's with you. i don't get how you're dense enough to not notice his eyes changing when talking to you compared to jisung talking to your other friends..."

the orange haired male just groaned. "forget it. i don't want to talk about this anymore. is that the only reason why you're here?"

"i told you, i haven't talked to you in a while. let's catch up, as friends," chaewon said, and chenle nodded, something the two finally agreed to today.

the two high school students spent some time to catch up on what's been going on for the past few months and eventually headed back to their shared dorm rooms, happy feelings in both of them that they were able to become friends especially with everything going on.

"jisung, the end of the year is coming up," donghyuck said, mark and jeno nodding their heads beside him. the light blond and blue haired boys were currently in mark and donghyuck's shared dorm room, the three of them wanting to check in with jisung.

the blue haired male got a text from the canadian boy earlier after he left chenle with chaewon and asked the younger to meet him and the other two in his shared room. the korean male already knew where the conversation would be going when the dirty blond haired male mentioned that the year is coming to a close, making jisung suddenly become nervous.

"i know, i know," he replied. jeno bit his lip and looked at jisung, seeing the nervous and worried look printed on his face.

"do you at least have a plan?" mark asked. the said male looked at his older friend and shook his head.

"am i supposed to have one?"

the other three boys in the room groaned before mentally slapping their foreheads. "yes. when, where, how, have you planned anything out at all?" donghyuck asked.

the blue haired male thought for a minute. thinking about his plan to confess, he did come up with a day he wanted to confess. "i'm planning to confess on new years eve. both him and i aren't going anywhere during break, so i think that might be a good time."

"going cliche, okay," mark said, nodding his head in approbation. sure, he wished his blue haired friend wouldn't take the common route, but by this point, the canadian male was fine with anything. "do you know how you're going to do it?"

thinking for a moment, jisung realized that what he wanted to say had many holes, and didn't even have his confession in it. to say that he had no idea what to say was the truth, and the blue haired male shook his head to show the others in the room that he has no idea how he would do it.

"jisung, answer me honestly. i feel like recently you've been going back and forth with this, but do you still want to confess to chenle?" jeno asked, saying what he's been wondering since this school year started.

the blue haired boy was obviously debating now whether he still wanted to confess. after all, jisung had been planning to confess at the end of the year since summer, but decided to plan it all later. showing that he had no plan on how to confess and it being almost two months until that day told everyone that he didn't want to confess. it had become so obvious to mark, donghyuck, and jeno that their blue haired friend didn't want to confess, but he didn't want to admit that he didn't want to confess.

after a few moments of silence, jisung sighed and replied to jeno's question, which he had answered multiple times now, yet his answer was indifferent, causing his friends to doubt his answer even more.

"yes."