Goodbyes are overrated. Life moves on no matter how hard you cry and wish for it not to. You figured this out when Tao handed you the newspaper upon the recommencement of classes and pointed you to the business section.

    MERGER OF LEE LABORATORIES AND PARK LABORATORIES THREATENS TO CREATE MONOPOLY IN EAST ASIAN MARKET

    "I'm sorry."

    "You don't have to be," you whispered, folding over the newspaper cleanly and hiding the title. "It was a long time ago."

    Tao looked shocked and stared. "It was just this summer."

    "Like I said," you replied, smiling wistfully. "It was a long time ago. Did you do the homework for class?"

    You didn't miss Tao's secret gaze exchange with Kris at the table over, and you didn't miss the fact that Kris decided to sit at your table that day instead of his usual seat in the corner where he could get away with texting…whoever he texted all class long.

    We need to meet. Coffee shop tonight at 5?

    You stared at the text message for a very long time before deleting it. It was only a few seconds before your phone vibrated again.

    You're so predictable. Meet me tonight at 5.

    Rolling your eyes, you slammed your head rather violently against the library table, causing Tao to look up from his seat across from you where he was working on his psychology paper.

    "What is it?" he asked, reaching over to feel your forehead. You winced and pushed his hand away.

    "What time is it?" you asked instead. You had forgone the luxury of buying a new watch after your old one broke in favor of getting the leaky roof in your apartment fixed, but your windows were still as leaky as ever. This led to increasing problems as autumn began to come in full swing. Still, you couldn't complain considering how close your apartment was to university.

    "Four o'clock, why?"

    "Because I have to go," you replied, grabbing your pencils and stuffing the paper you were working on hastily into your bag. Ancient Greek history could wait; Kibum couldn't.

    The buses were running late, something that always happened but had never really bothered you until this moment when you had a time crunch. It ended up that you jumped on the earliest bus, which brought you close but not close enough, so you ended up jogging to make it to the coffee shop in time. This made for a very sweaty, very unattractive you that Kibum stared at the moment you entered the shop.

    "You look well," he remarked, putting down the coffee he had ordered. "How's it been?"

    "Fine," you replied, flagging down the waitress for a chocolate chip muffin and some of the shop's new herbal tea blend. "How about you? I see your Blackberry has changed."

    Kibum looked slightly embarrassed as he held up the sleeker looking Blackberry up for your inspection. "Jinki ran over it with his car…accidentally."

    "Right," you drawled, waggling your eyebrows expressively and smiling because that was just so Jinki. "Anyway, why are you here? I get the impression that you're not under any common courtesy when you called me out here. I was doing my Ancient Greek history paper. I do have better things to do with my time, you know."

    "You have to stop Jinki," Kibum replied, blunt as ever.

    "Stop his upcoming marriage? Yeah right." You scoffed loudly. "It's not my place anymore to interfere. If you don't remember, we broke up."
    
    "So that means you don't care about him?" Kibum scoffed as well, possibly even louder than you did. "Don't lie. You probably still dream about his smile."

    "I don't!" you exclaimed loudly, but the flush on your cheek definitely betrayed your true feelings. Then you settled down and stared at Kibum, pursing your lips slightly. "Minho-ssi's company is doing well now, right?"

    Kibum nodded. "Yes, after you left, Jinki's mother agreed to withdraw her vote vetoing the resolution to buy more stocks in his company."

    "That's good then," you murmured, wondering if Jinki's mother had accepted then because you hadn't been there anymore. Then again, maybe you had just read too much manga with evil mother-in-laws. "I think this merger would be good for Lee Laboratories."

    Rolling his eyes, Kibum gave you the "idiot" glare. You were pretty sure he only reserved this for when people were annoying him to no end to his stupidity. "Of course it's good for the company," he said, "but what about for Jinki?"

    You bit your lip and shrugged, not wanting to think about what Kibum was implying. "Arranged marriages don't exist in the twenty-first century."

    "In your world," Kibum muttered. Then his tone turned to something more hard and demanding. "But if you're really going to continue to be this way and not even go to talk to Jinki about this, then I misjudged your character." He stood up to leave, but you grabbed his Blackberry before he could get it and held it up.

    "Fine!" you all but snarled, "but I don't think it'll help if you all have talked to Jinki, and he hasn't budged."

    "He just needs one last push," Kibum replied, grabbing the Blackberry smoothly from your hand. "Oh, and never touch this again. I'll send a ride to pick you up this weekend."

    You didn't know why you were so nervous when the weekend came, but you ended up waking up early only to end up in front of the mirror and try multitudes of different hairstyles before finally settling on a simple ponytail. Then, you carefully pulled out the pair of jeans that had been delivered to your door a few days after your breakup with Jinki. If you were going to be nervous and sentimental, you might as well go the same way.

    Going out 4 the day, you texted Tao. Tonite, u should hang out wt kris.

    where r u going?

    :)
    
    With that reply, you heard a knocking at your door and quickly opened it before dropping your phone with a clatter. Well, there was someone that you weren't expecting.

    "Hi," Jinki said quietly, avoiding your eyes. "Key told me that you wanted to meet me."

    "That son of a—"

    The ride in the car was awkward. Okay, maybe more than awkward. Jinki didn't speak, and neither did you. Kibum was so hearing from you after this, and how had Jinki even agreed to come? Still, you weren't exactly complaining…It felt nice to see his face again without your vision blurred by tears. He'd changed his hairstyle.

    "You kind of look like a dork now," you said tentatively, unsure of how Jinki would react. The way he parted his hair was just horrible in your opinion, and the new somewhat bowl-cut haircut wasn't helping.

    "My mother told me to get the haircut," Jinki replied, and you let out a small "oh" before lapsing into silence again, drumming the tips of your fingers on the leather seat of his car.

    "Where are we going?" you finally asked when you could stand the silence no more, reminded of the times in the past when you couldn't stop talking whenever Jinki and you were together.

    "Key said you wanted to talk, so I thought we might go to the park…take a walk." Jinki seemed unsure of what else to say, trailing  off and shrugging. You saw his hands tighten and then relax on the steering wheel.

    "Relax," you said without thinking, reaching over to touch his hand and then withdrawing quickly as if you had been burned. It was kind of weird, knowing that you and Jinki were so far gone that even the touches that had seemed normal before were now completely irregular.

    "Look," Jinki said suddenly, stopping the car and pulling over to the side of the road. "I know what you're here for. I'm not stupid."

    "No, you were one of the smartest guys I knew," you replied quietly, shaking your head sadly.

    "The fact of the matter is that I love Luna, and she loves me," he insisted, gripping the steering wheel tighter. You wondered if he thought that this was proving his point.

    "Okay," you said, and you opened the car door smoothly, sliding out without a second glance behind. "Suit yourself, Jinki. If you two love each other, that's all that you need." There was a small strangled noise behind you as if Jinki just stopped himself from saying your name, but you wanted to be grown-up and mature and not pick a fight just because you may or may not be jealous of this new girl.

    "I hope she's beautiful," you said a little vindictively as you began to walk in the general direction of your apartment. "And I hope she smiles like you too." I hope you're the perfect pair. I hope that I'll never hate this girl. I hope she's the prettiest, most perfect, kindest girl in the world because that's what you deserve. You don't look back.