[Byunghun's Point of View]

As promised, I texted Moonchul later that night. He seemed happy that I had actually remembered to contact him. I talked to him very briefly before telling him that I needed to study some more, to which he replied "You studied at school. There's still more!? Fine. You better make it up to me by buying me lunch tomorrow. :P" Putting my phone away, I hurriedly got to work.

The next day, I cautiously shuffled into the cafeteria. I was greeted by the usual screams and squeals of girls and the overwhelming smell of burnt pastries.

"Did you hear that Niel got a new girlfriend?"

"Really!? Who's the lucky girl!?"

"Cha Hyerin! I'm so jealous. I'm glad Chunji is still single though. It means I still have a chance!"

Is it really that exciting that another one of them got a girlfriend? They change girlfriends so often I wonder how people keep up with it all. I swear they have a new girlfriend each week! 

Ignoring all their useless gossiping, I peered around the cafeteria looking for Moonchul. 

"Hey Byunghun! Over here!"

I turned around and spied Moonchul waving spastically. I sauntered over to him and sat down across the table from him.

"Hi. Why... are we sitting at... m-my table?"

Moonchul had either specifically or unconsciously chosen to sit at the table that I usually sat at. It was the corner table closet to the door. People normally just walked past without even noticing it. It was peaceful enough for me and I could always be certain that it was free.

"Because your table is way better than my table." He pointed to the table at the back left corner. The table was the closest to the serving area. Most of the time students, who were too lazy to walk further to put their trays back at the serving area, would dump their empty trays and food scraps on that table. "It's definitely a lot cleaner. Here. I got you lunch already. Luckily they still had lasagna that wasn't burnt."

He pushed one of the trays over to my side of the table, inviting me to start eating.

"Wasn't... I supposed to... p-pay for lunch today?"

"Well if we waited until you got here, all the good lasagna would be gone. You can pay next time when the cafeteria ladies aren't having a bad day."

I stabbed the fork into the lasagna piece, cut out a small portion with the knife and brought the piece up to my lips. The fragrant smell of cheese and tomato sauce was evident and the temperature was warm but not too hot to eat. Moonchul had definitely hit the jackpot and got an excellently cooked piece for me.

"Thanks." I muttered before placing it in my mouth. The taste was as good as it looked and smelt.

We just spent the rest of lunch time talking about random topics. Well, Moonchul was talking. I was listening. Moonchul definitely had a wide range of interests. He liked all sorts of music, but in particular rock music, most sports and reading various types of books. I enjoyed listening to Moonchul talk. I could tell that he wasn't particularly expecting a response from me and just continued talking as I nodded. Even though I didn't relate to everything that he said, I still found him to be very interesting and engaging. Even after finishing my lunch, I didn't interrupt him. Normally after eating, I would rush to the library. But today I stayed and listened. It wasn't every day that someone was willing to talk to me. 

"So what are you interested in?"

His question was unexpected. The conversation was very much one-sided until he had posed that question. I hesitated to answer.

"Come on. I can't do all the talking. There's got to be something you do that's not studying."

He was eagerly waiting for an answer. He wasn't going to accept an "I don't know" so I decided to give him a truthful answer.

"When I was back in A-America... I pl-played the p-piano and vi-violin."

"Really!? Are you any good?"

"I was al-alright. S-Since coming to Korea, I haven't really been pl-playing much."

"Why not?"

He was very insistent to keep the conversation flowing. Normally I would run out of things to say very quickly, but since Moonchul has been so nice to me, I was trying extra hard to keep it going.

"S-study I guess. I want t-to be a l-lawyer."

"A lawyer! Cool! You're definitely smart enough to be a lawyer! Though you might want to get rid of this slight complex of yours."

"What complex?"

"Your inferiority complex. Lawyers needs to be very good with people after all and you can't let things like that get in your way."

"I do NOT have... an in-inferiority complex!"

"If you say so." Moonchul smiled.

I've known Moonchul for less than a day, and yet he can still practically read me like a book. I don't need to hide anything from him because... he already knows. I don't have to say anything. It's... weirdly comforting. 

"Well what do y-you want to b-be M-Moonchul?"

"Of course I want to be a musician! My band and I are going to tour the world one day!" He raised his fist dramatically into the air and cackled. 

I chuckled at his over enthusiasm as he laughed.

"There you go. You're laughing now. We're making progress aren't we?"

I hadn't laughed in a while. Well at least, not in front of other people, so this was a refreshing change. It was definitely a sign that I was comfortable around Moonchul. There was just a particular aura around him that made him rather approachable and trustworthy. He seemed to have a fun personality. 

Then why doesn't he seem to have any other friends?

After Moonchul mentioned that he sat at that back table, I remembered that I had seen one person sitting there before. They always sat alone and would always eat alone. People would just pass by and dump their trays there without even taking a glance at him. I had always thought that the person sitting on the other side was just like me. Alone. And yet, here I was sitting with him and he's completely different from me. He's probably a total contrasting opposite of me with his radiant smile and outgoing personality. So why did he had no other friends?

"I was just w-wondering... do you have any other f-friends?"

His smile seemed to crack temporarily at my question. I spotted a small flicker of sadness in his eyes. 

"No." His voice dropped. It was both quiet and restrained, like he was confessing his sins. "I used to have many friends but... they all decided..." he started trailing off as he averted my eyes. I felt that he was uncomfortable. I planned to tell him that he didn't need to tell me if he didn't want to and I opened my mouth to speak but he interjected me. "I guess they decided that I was too clingy and annoying!" Moonchul's loud and joyful voice returned as he glanced back in my direction. "Yeah. Apparently I was too hyperactive for them. They probably got tired dealing with me and just decided to ditch me. But don't worry about it." He chortled between each of his sentences. He was back to his normal self again. Well, almost. It was only for that short moment that I felt that Moonchul was hiding something behind that constant smile of his. He was hiding something that he clearly didn't feel proud about. He was hiding something from everyone, just like me. I could see it in his eyes.

So maybe we are a lot more alike than I thought.

Something must have happened with his old friends. Even though I haven't had much personal experience with friendship, I was certain that friends didn't just simply dump you because you were too annoying or hyperactive. There must be another reason. 

"I'm fine. Really." 

The Moonchul that I was seeing now was a lot different to the Moonchul I saw less than 5 minutes ago. His laughs were not as cheerful and bright, but instead forced and cautious. His words, "I'm fine", were unconvincing and alluded a sense of despair and suffering. But I didn't want to pry. I knew that he had his reasons, so I let the subject go.

"Ok then. I-If you say so."

Before we could change the topic, a blasting ring sounded through the cafeteria. Lunch was over. As students groaned and started shuffling out of the cafeteria, they drifted past our table. Some would just stare at us while some sniggered. Others whispered into each other's ears while pointing at Moonchul and me. There was clearly something wrong. There had been instances where some students had walked past and started laughing at what their friends had said, but I brushed it off as gossiping. But this was more obvious. They were obvious directing their attention at us. 

Maybe this has something to do with Moonchul losing hi