Han Jisung has been your best friend since childhood — literally since you can remember.

You were the two kids on the block who were always together. You learned how to ride bikes together, you got in trouble together, you made up secret handshakes that you still remember now. He was always the loud one, the funny one, the one who would trip over nothing and then pretend he meant to do it just to make you laugh.

He still is. Even now that you're teenagers.

He's 19, you're 18. He's only a year older, but he's always acted like that one year means he has to look out for you. He's been the one who has always been there. First day of middle school when you were nervous? He walked you to class. When you failed your first math test and cried in the hallway? He skipped lunch to sit with you. When you have family stuff or just a bad day, he's the first person at your door, no questions asked.

He's funny in that effortless, dumb way. He makes weird noises, does terrible impressions, tells jokes that shouldn't be funny but are because of his delivery. He's clumsy, too — always bumping into tables, dropping his phone, getting tangled in his own hoodie. And he gets flustered so easily. Especially around you. One compliment and his ears turn bright red, and he starts stammering and looking everywhere except at you.

That's because there's a problem he never talks about.

He's in love with you.

It didn't happen all at once. It was slow. One day you were just his best friend, the girl next door he grew up with, and the next day he realized his heart beat a little faster when you laughed. He started noticing small things — how you scrunch your nose when you're confused, how you get so focused when you're drawing, how you still do that same little wave you did when you were 6.

He loves how you know him better than anyone. You know when he's actually upset even when he's joking. You know when he's nervous because he talks too fast. You've seen every version of him — the cool version, the weird version, the embarrassing version — and you never left.

And that's exactly why he doesn't say anything.

In his mind, telling you would ruin everything. What if you don't feel the same? What if you start feeling awkward around him? What if you stop coming to him the way you always have? He would rather keep being your best friend forever than risk losing you for a chance.

So he keeps pretending. He keeps being funny, clumsy, easily flustered Jisung, your childhood best friend who happens to be a year older and always there for you.

He cheers the loudest at your school events. He remembers the little things you mention. He protects you without making it obvious, always standing a little closer when the hallway gets crowded, always making sure you get home safe.

He loves you in all the quiet ways he can, without ever saying the words out loud. And for now, that's enough for him — even if sometimes, when you smile at him, his heart feels like it's going to give him away.