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They walked their way home everyday.
Myungjun and Jinwoo have been neighbors and best friends since childhood. They grew up together, ate together, played together.
They also went to and back from school together. Everyday. From daycare to college.
The morning walks were like rushed steps to the university since they both woke up late and they didn't want to be late for their own classes. The walks home, however, were these long, unwinding silence. They didn't have to talk, and they were comfortable with each other like that. (Most of the time though, Myungjun breaks this silence with his loud screeching laugh, remembering something funny that happened this morning. But Jinwoo doesn't mind. In fact Jinwoo loves it even more.)
Today's silence was different. It was heavy. And it was punctuated by every step of Myungjun's feet that dragged the sand below him. He knew Jinwoo noticed; he gave up on making lame jokes two days ago.
"You've been sulking for a week." Jinwoo opened, unsurprisingly. He can only stay quiet for so long and his best friend knew that.
"Yeah." Myungjun replied without effort.
"You know you need to tell me, right?"
"I know."
"I've been waiting for you to tell me. It's like I'm walking alone."
"I don't have anything to say."
"You do." Jinwoo stopped walking. He stared at Myungjun's eyes like he's piercing holes into his skull.
Knowing he doesn't have a way out of this (and that he has to tell Jinwoo now, or else he might never say it out loud), Myungjun decided to open up. "I saw your contacts list."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I'm MJ friend. Friend. Not even best friend, just friend–"
"Myungjun..."
"–and here I thought we're something more than that. I see the look in your face whenever you see me. You glow. And all these hugs, all these accidental touches, I thought they're something else."
Then silence. But Myungjun wasn't done.
"Maybe it's because I'm so comfortable with you that I actually thought of being more than friends, right? One day I just woke up and realized that this isn't something regular friends do. I thought what we had was different. And I'm so ashamed of assuming that I don't even have a face to show you."
Jinwoo was waiting for more, but that seems to be the end of it. "Are you done?"
"Yes." Myungjun said, finally breathing.
"Okay. First of all, I classify my contacts. You know that. It's 'friend' for you and 'family' for the others, then 'university' for everyone else..."
"Second, you like me?"
"Yes," Myungjun admitted, "isn't it obvious?"
"No? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought you knew."
"Oh. I didn't."
Then another silence. But this silence was lighter than the previous one, as light as their usual comforting silence.
"I like you too, Myungjun."
"I know. That's why I'm hurt." But Jinwoo grabbed Myungjun's hand before he even finished talking.
"I'm sorry for hurting you."
"I'm sorry for not telling you."
And they smiled, with a different shine in their eyes, still intertwined in each other's hands.
"Are we together now?" Jinwoo bravely asked despite the thumping in his heart.
"Not yet. Maybe later, when we reach my house." Myungjun said with a smile. And as they come closer to their homes, they just knew: their walks home will never be the same again.