"You like her."

Hoseok freezes, immediately averting his gaze away from the girl standing a little far and back to his friend.

"What?"

"You like her," Taehyung repeats, a wide grin on his face, "You like Lee."

Hoseok blinks, his face suddenly feeling warm. "No, I don't."

His denial seems like a confirmation to Taehyung, whose smile grows wider.

"Since when?" He asks, leaning closer.

Hoseok starts unwrapping the bandages on his hands, and keeps his concentration on them, hoping his friend doesn't notice his red face.

"A while," He mumbles.

"When will you tell her?"

Hoseok shrugs. "I don't know yet. I have a feeling she'll reject me."

"Of course she will," Taehyung says with a low chuckle, and clearing his throat when the other glares at him.

"Nothing personal," He adds, "It's not you. You're handsome and cool. Any girl would want to date you. Well, any girl but Lee. I don't think she's into dating. Not to mention that all guys are scared of her."

"I'm not," Hoseok says, looking back at her in the ring, having a struggling man in a headlock.

Taehyung sighs, "Then what are you waiting for? Even if she says no, at least you would've tried."

"Do you think she likes me back?" Hoseok asks.

Taehyung chokes on his saliva, falling over and putting a hand on his chest as he coughs, making Hoseok roll his eyes. It takes a few seconds for Taehyung to stop, and when he finally catches his breath, he looks up at his friend with an are-you-kidding-me look.

"I'm serious. What if she likes me but is hiding it?"

Taehyung laughs. "No offence but why did you ever think she likes you?"

Hoseok frowns. "She talks to me the most."

"Everyone talks to you the most because you're friendly."

Hoseok rolls his eyes again. "She keeps on sneaking peeks at me."

"Probably questioning your rationality."

"Hey," Hoseok whines, throwing the bandages at Taehyung, "Whose side are you on?"

"Hers."

"I'm your best friend."

"And I'm scared of her."

Hoseok can't help but laugh at the statement with Taehyung laughing along, and as he glances around, he catches a glimpse of Lee looking at him.

Or maybe it's just his mind playing tricks on him.

---

"You're not as scary as everyone makes you sound," Hoseok says, swinging his legs off the edge of the roof.

Lee turns her head to him. "You're not scared of me?"

"Why would I be?"

"Because I can kill you right now if I want to."

"But you won't." He smiles.

Lee blinks, mentally scolding herself for finding that smile beautiful. "And why do you think I won't?"

"Because we're friends."

She scoffs, looking away. "When did we suddenly become friends?"

"When we started drinking together on the rooftop, I guess," He shrugs, taking another sip from his bottle.

"I know this may sound stupid, butㅡ"

Lee turns her head around and stops abruptly, heart stopping when she realises how close Hoseok's face is to hers. Words get stuck in the back of her throat as she gets lost in his eyes for seconds. There's a small smile on his lips that slowly fades away when his eyes fall on her lips, then go back to her eyes.

Her heart beats quicker, and so does his. It's like she loses touch with the real world, not even noticing when his breath mingles with hers for he leans closer. It hits her when he shuts his eyelids and she can't see his beautiful eyes anymore, and only now does she realise what he's trying to do.

She quickly leans back, eyes widening.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

Her warmth fades away and he opens his eyes, leaning back slowly. Red creeps up to his cheeks and ears, heart now beating fast from fear.

"Iㅡ Iㅡ I wasㅡ Youㅡ" He stumbles over his words, face going red even more at her expression.

He can't really figure it out, what she's feeling. Is she mad? Upset? Confused? Her eyebrows are drawn in together, mouth in a small pout.

"You weren't trying to kiss me, were you?" She raises an eyebrow.

He chuckles nervously. "What? Nooo. No way. Haha."

Her expression slowly morphes back to her normal blank face before she stares into the distance, and he gulps while scratching his nape in awkwardness. It falls silent for a few seconds, Hoseok cursing himself for trying such a move out of nowhere and Lee cursing herself for not leaning into it.

"There you are!"

She lets out a breath of relief at the familiar voice, turning around to wave at Namjoon and Taehyung approaching them.

"What's that kid doing here?" She shouts, pointing at Taehyung, "He's underage."

Namjoon shrugs, pulling out a pack of cigarette and gesturing it to Lee. "He wanted to tag along."

Lee pulls out a smoke, side-glancing at Taehyung smiling with a boxy grin.

"We're not letting you drink," She says to him, "You're at the age of my brother and I would kill his ass if I catch him drinking."

"I'll just watch," Taehyung says innocently, climbing on the edge and carefully sitting beside Hoseok.

"I really can't believe you brought the kid along," Lee says as Namjoon sits beside her, lighting up her stick.

"He's fun," He pauses, pulling in a breath from his cigarette, "And rich. We can get him to bet on us on matches with lots of cash so we make more."

"I'll gladly do that," Taehyung says, leaning over to look at them, "Take all my money. You guys are really cool."

"Is that why you wanna learn fighting?" Namjoon raises an eyebrow. "Because we're cool?"

Taehyung shakes his head. "I'm doing it to piss my mother off. She thinks fighting is for, and I quote, low-born vulgars. I'm honestly tired of piano lessons, so here I am."

"And you, Hoseok?" Namjoon asks.

Hoseok shrugs. "I think I'm actually doing because it's cool."

Namjoon chuckles, blowing out a whirl of smoke. The three guys look at Lee next, waiting for her turn. She sighs and thinks for a second.

"I think... " She trails off. "I just wanted to be strong... somehow."

Namjoon nods with a small smile, patting her hand with his warmer one, being the only one of the three who knew about her background.

"And you, Namjoon hyung?" Taehyung asks, coughing out a little at the smoke.

"I was born into this."

"As cool as it sounds, I really don't get it."

Namjoon grins, dimples showing on the sides of his cheeks. "My dad was an MMA champion. Not illegally, though. He went to real championships and tournaments, won many medals and all, and he wanted me to follow his footsteps. And I did, but I guess I missed a step."

Lee laughs, bringing up her bottle to her lips to drink.

"You have a match tomorrow night," Namjoon says, "Don't drink too much."

"I won't," She puts her bottle down, "Don't wanna go home drunk or Jungkook will get mad again."

She gets up, getting down off the edge. "I have to go now. Night."

They wish her goodnight back, and she glances back at them once before walking away, to catch a glimpse of his beautiful eyes again, and she does, so she goes back home with a smile on her face.