Smiling, Sol said.
"Brother Yoon-Jae, I ant-"
However, Sol didn't get to finish as Yoon-Jae cut him off by saying with an expressionless face.
"How long have you known?"
"I-"
Yoon-Jae's eyes narrowed.
"Are you still going to pretend like you don't know?"
Sol's heart started to race. If he wasn't under water his palms would have started sweating with nervousness.
Silence suddenly ca over the two, but Yoon-Jae continued to stare down at Sol in the water with a placid look.
Sol suddenly lowered his gaze and said softly.
"Since we were leaving for the Hundred Plants and Herbs Dinsion."
When Yoon-Jae heard that his expressionless face changed and he seed to realize sothing, anger began to boil in the pit of his stomach.
Glaring at Sol he asked.
"You did it on purpose didn't?"
Sol visibly winced and he looked up at Yoon-Jae to try to explain. But before he could Yoon-Jae suddenly released an angry laugh then said.
"You know, I always thought it was strange."
Yoon-Jae looked at Sol who had an apologetic look on his face. However, he acted like he didn't see.
"Each ti I decided to bury these feelings and lock them away, you would say or do sothing that would remind they existed. I thought I was going crazy but turns out you were doing it on purpose. Since you know that I had feelings for you, do you get off on seeing my attempts to hide them? I bet you were probably laughing behind my back while watching , weren't you?"
As Yoon-Jae spoke, his voice got calr and calr, but Sol saw that his gaze got colder and colder.
Each of Yoon-Jae's sentences was like a nail that stabbed into his guilty consciousness.
"Brother Yoon-Jae, I- I'm sorry. I really didn't an to do this, I… I just thought that you only beca my friend because you like , but if you stop liking then you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."
Yoon-Jae suddenly snapped.
"So you sched to get to continue having feelings for you?! What kind of logic is that?!!"
Yoon-Jae's sudden shout caused Mar-Dule, who was drifting so distance away, to wince.
He then sent out Aether Energy which caused a ripple in the water that moved him further away from where Sol and Yoon-Jae were arguing.
Sol could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he looked up at Yoon-Jae from the water.
He didn't know what to say, everything that ca to his mind sounded like an excuse.
Seeing Sol's silence, Yoon-Jae shook his head.
"If you don't want to talk now, then never talk to again."
He then turned to leave, but Sol began to panic.
"Wait-Wait!"
The water splashed and Sol flew up to stop Yoon-Jae, but Yoon-Jae suddenly turned and glared at him.
Within that glare, Sol felt a faint trace of Killing Intent, and his heart shook. He stopped and then backed away into the water. But his nose started to sting while his eyes glossed over.
Sol lowered his head, and Yoon-Jae gave him one last glance before he turned to leave.
However, Sol suddenly clenched his fists, and he looked up at Yoon-Jae before saying.
"Yoon-Jae, I'm sorry. When I found out, I was nervous throughout the whole journey towards to Hundred Plants and Herbs Dinsion. I thought about telling you that I know, but then I hesitated because you never said anything. But I shouldn't have hesitated then, because after that I started wondering when you had those feelings for , and whether you genuinely wanted to be my friend. And as ti went by, I started to convince myself that you only wanted to be friends because you had those feelings for , so I... I panicked and did sothing stupid."
Sol stopped talking, but Yoon-Jae had stopped leaving so ti into his explanation.
"I also didn't want to reveal that I knew because that would an rejecting your feelings and hurting you. I didn't want to do that while risking not being friends anymore."
Sol lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
After a mont of silence, Yoon-Jae suddenly turned around and looked at Sol. At this point, he was standing on the bank while Sol had his body subrged underwater.
"You have so attachnt issues you know that?"
Yoon-Jae suddenly said.
Sol didn't say anything, but he nodded his head.
Yoon-Jae then said again with a frown.
"When did I ever say I need your protection from my own feelings?"
"I made a promise that I'll protect those closest to , not hurt them."
Upon hearing this, Yoon-Jae's frown deepened, but he then sighed and said.
"I know, you'll even go out of your disregard yourself and your own feelings."
Suddenly, Yoon-Jae looked at Sol with narrowed eyes and said.
"What if I had confessed to you, what would you have done? What if I confessed now?"
Hearing that, Sol instinctively glanced up at Yoon-Jae and hesitated.
"See what I an? Don't tell you were going to accept my feelings just now?"
"Yoon-Jae, I-"
Yoon-Jae waved his hand and cut off Sol.
In a serious tone, he asked.
"How many of our interactions have you been acting? Not just , but for everyone around you. How much of your words and actions have been you putting on an act?"
Sol shook his head.
"No, I was never putting on an act."
"Really? If you read people's emotions and act based on them, how can you say you're being genuine? How can you say you're acting like yourself? Even Mar-Yue, did you find out she likes you, and because she's your friend's sister you didn't want to hurt her, so act accordingly by accepting her feelings? That's a really shitty thing to do, Sol."
"No."
Sol said firmly.
"I love Mar-Yue, I didn't accept her feeling out of obligation."
Yoon-Jae hearing that, looked at Sol silently and then said.
"So you knew she had feelings for you and accepted them, but you couldn't do the sa for ?"
Sol opened his mouth to say sothing, but Yoon-Jae calmly interrupted.
"If you lie to Sol, then I'm leaving, and we'll have nothing to do with each other."
Sol paused, and after struggling for a mont, he released his clenched fists. He then said softly.
"Like you, but only as a friend. But you're my best friend, and if I had a brother then I would have wanted it to be you."
Yoon-Jae shook his head.
"Was that so hard, Sol? You're really too selfless, and it's going to be detrintal in the future. You want to protect those around you but at the cost of not only yourself but even the ones you're trying to protect. I never asked for your protection, nor do I need it. If you're going to force that on then you might as well, take back what you just said. Also, it's quite arrogant of you to think I only beca your friend because I had feelings for you. I'm not that desperate. Have you seen my face? Do you think you're the only one with good looks?"
After throwing those questions out, Yoon-Jae turned and walked to a spot so distance away and sat with his back to Sol.
Sol glanced at Yoon-Jae's back and muttered.
"I'm an idiot."
He lowered himself further into the water and tried to hide himself out of embarrassnt.
It was obvious Yoon-Jae's words up until now had all been an act to point out his dumb way of thinking.
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