The following day, I met up with you and drove you to the mall to meet Donghae. It had been three months since I last saw him and I was rather excited. All the way there, you were silent, preferring to use your phone to text message someone. I ignored it to prevent a fight. When we reached the venue, Donghae was already at the entrance, waiting for us. After I parked the car, we walked across the carpark to meet him.

“HELLO!”you greeted him with a big hug.

I felt as if my heart was being squeezed as I looked on.

“Hey! It’s been so long since I last saw you. Been really busy, huh?”Donghae asked with a smile as he let go of you.

I gave him a hug and after we let go, we went off to grab lunch at a restaurant. We got a table and sat down.  I was quietly studying the menu when I heard soft whispers. I looked up and saw you whispering to Donghae before the two of you burst out laughing.

“What’s going on?”I asked.

“Nah, just an inside joke,”you shook your head while smiling.

I went back to looking at the menu but I was really distracted by your conversation with Donghae. You two just kept talking as if you haven’t met for years. He went on to tell you about some embarrassing things that happened to his friends on campus. This went on for quite a bit before I decided enough was enough.

“Yah, what are you all having?”I asked, annoyed.

“I’m getting the pasta,”you replied.

“Same here! It’s the best here,”Donghae smiled before you gave him a high five.

“Agreed!!! Let’s see if the manager is working today!”you looked around frantically.

“Maybe we’ll get a discount for being their regular customers!”Donghae helped to look as well.

Immediately, I felt a pang of jealousy. It was my first time patronizing that restaurant. All of a sudden, I was forced to snap out of my thoughts when I saw a man standing at our table.

“Oh, you two are back! And looks like you two brought a friend along,”the man whom I supposed was the manager smiled at Donghae and you.

“Yeah, he’s my best friend for many years,”Donghae introduced.

“We’ve been a clique since high school,”you smiled.

That was the end of your introduction of me to the manager. Where did the usual, ‘This is Eunhyuk, my boyfriend,’ go to?

“I suppose you two will be taking the pasta?”the manager smiled.

“Yupp, three plates of pasta!!”you ordered.

I had not even said I wanted it.

“You will really like it!!!”you grinned.

With that smile on your face, I couldn’t help but smile as well. After the manager left, we were left to talk amongst ourselves. Though Donghae and you were dominating the conversation. You told me about things you two did when you all went out alone while Donghae cracked jokes that I didn’t understand, causing you to laugh.

“You know there was one time that the crew at the cinema thought Donghae was my boyfriend,”you couldn’t stop laughing.

The food came and I dug in to avoid talking since there wasn’t much that I could contribute anyway.

“So, we decided to trick them and just pretended to be a couple,”you continued.

I stopped chewing the pasta and looked at the two of you. Donghae didn’t laugh along when he saw my serious expression. Instead, he eyed you before looking at me. You were oblivious to everything and carried on laughing till you excused yourself to go to the ladies. I went back to my lunch without any word.

“Eunhyuk, are you alright? Are you and Haemin having problems?”Donghae asked me.

“Didn’t she tell you? I thought she would since you two are really close nowadays,”I replied without even looking at Donghae.

“Are you jealous? Geez, Hyukjae, you know Haemin and I are nothing more than best friends,”Donghae replied.

“With the way things are, she seems happier with you,”I answered.

“That’s cause she’s angry with you for neglecting her! Initially, she did complain about how busy you are and that she can’t even go on dates with you. But recently, she stopped complaining and I thought that you’ve started to bring her out more often,”he replied.

“She didn’t even mention anything to me,”I mumbled to myself.

“What?”Donghae couldn’t hear.

I looked up to continue the conversation but I saw you walking back to the table. So, I decided to continue eating. You came back and started eating your pasta while conversing with Donghae once again. Donghae, after talking to me, knew about how I felt and had started to converse more hesitantly.

“So, Eunhyuk, what have you been up to? You need to update me about your life,”Donghae said all of a sudden.

“He’s just really busy with the student union. Moreover, there’s a dance battle coming up. I thought I told you the other time,”you replied for me.

“You did but I want to catch up with him since its been months since I last saw him,”Donghae gave me a reassuring smile while you went back to eating the pasta.

The whole lunch became rather awkward with poor Donghae being the middle person. You refused to talk when we were talking and purposely left me out when you talked to Donghae. I could tell that you were really angry with me. After lunch, we walked around the mall and when we walked pass a famous clothing brand; you grabbed Donghae by his arm and pulled him to the display window to take a look.

“Oh look! Isn’t it gorgeous?”you asked.

And as I watched from afar, I had to resist the urge to cry. That arm that you were holding on should have been mine. I know it was my fault that you were angry hence I told myself that I had no right to cry. Instead, I kept swallowing the lump in my throat to prevent myself from crying. This continued for the rest of our group outing. Even when I was about to drive you back, you hugged Donghae for so long that I couldn’t even bring myself to watch. The journey home was quiet and when we parted at your room door; your hug was short with no kiss at all. I lay awake that night, unable to sleep. I decided to bring this matter up when we go out on the following week.

End of Chapter

DarkAngel