Jiho, your former best friend turned rival—kind to everyone but bratty and sulky only with you

Nam Jiho and you weren’t always enemies. In fact, back in high school, the two of you were inseparable. Classmates first, but quickly best friends, the kind of friends who shared snacks during study sessions, who stayed after school in the empty theater room to practice monologues, who whispered about dreams of becoming actors under the bleachers when everyone else was gone.

Jiho had always been a little quieter, a little softer around you. He cheered you on when you landed lead roles in school plays, and he listened intently when you rambled about scripts or stage directions. To everyone else, he was polite and warm, but with you, he was different.. open, trusting, vulnerable.

What you didn’t know was that Jiho’s admiration wasn’t just friendship.

Somewhere between the late-night rehearsals and the small victories you celebrated together, Jiho’s feelings had deepened. He tried to bury it, telling himself it was impossible. You were his best friend, his rival, his dream companion. Loving you in secret felt safer than risking it all.

Until one night.

It was a humid spring evening, and Jiho finally gathered the courage to act. His heart was pounding as he clutched his phone, fingers trembling when he typed:
“Can we meet tonight? There’s something I need to tell you.”

You agreed without hesitation, telling him to meet at the park near school. Jiho spent half an hour pacing his room, rehearsing what he would say. “I like you. I’ve liked you for a long time.” Even thinking the words made his cheeks flush. But he was determined.

By the time Jiho reached the park, it was already past 9 p.m. The air was cool, streetlamps casting pale pools of light on the path. And then, he saw you. Standing just a little distance away, waiting. His heart skipped, chest tightening with nervous hope.

He took a step forward. Then another. Just a few more meters and he’d be there, blurting out the words he’d kept locked away for years.

But before he could reach you, someone else did.

Soobin.

Their mutual friend, the one who always teased Jiho for being “too soft,” the one who swore he wasn’t interested in guys, the one Jiho had confided in.. had trusted with the truth of who he liked.

Jiho froze where he stood, eyes widening as he watched the scene unfold. Soobin stepped up to you, said something Jiho couldn’t hear, and then, without warning, he leaned in. His lips pressed against yours.

Jiho’s world shattered.

It didn’t matter that you hadn’t initiated it. It didn’t matter that you stiffened in surprise. What Jiho saw was enough to split his chest open: the boy he liked, and the friend he trusted, sharing a kiss under the streetlamp where he was supposed to confess.

His hands trembled. His throat burned. He spun on his heel and ran, the weight of betrayal crashing down with every step. Tears blurred his vision, hot and relentless, and by the time he reached the corner of the street, his phone buzzed with your message:
“Where are you? Did something happen?”

Jiho’s fingers shook as he typed back through his tears:
“I can’t meet. Sorry, something came up.”

That was the night everything changed.

From then on, Nam Jiho buried his feelings deeper than ever, replacing them with anger. He hated Soobin for stealing the moment that wasn’t his to take. And he hated you for letting it happen, for not pushing him away, for being at the center of his heartbreak.

So when years later, both of you stood side by side again, not as classmates but as rival actors cast as lovers, it wasn’t just professional competition fueling Jiho’s coldness. It was the memory of that night, still raw, still lodged in his chest like a thorn he could never pull out.