“Weren’t you a little harsh?” Luhan asked as he took a bite from his favorite waffle meal. “You should have tried to be somewhat nice with your words.”

Kris shrugged his shoulders. “You know I was being nice,” he pointed out. “If I wasn’t I would have used more scarring words.” Luhan agreed.

The kingka sighed in frustration. A part of him was telling he did the right thing; but another part of him was saying that he missed out on something – something that he should have considered.

“I couldn’t understand her,” Kris suddenly blurted out. “One time, she’s okay with being with me. Then another time, she makes me feel like she hates my presence.”

Luhan smiled as he lightly tapped his best friend’s shoulder. “Girls are meant to be like that,” he said. “You need to exert effort to fully understand them.”

“But she’s just so hard to read!” Kris pulled his hair in frustration.

Once again, the deer smiled calmly. “But that’s where the fun lies,” he said.

As his best friend couldn’t reply, the older man took the chance to give his two cents in. “You see,” he started. “Krystal obviously had gone through some sort of traumatic experience so you can’t just expect her to be oh-so-accepting. You said she’s also a Scorpio so above everyone else, you should be the one to understand her best because she’s most likely the same as you are. For all we know, she could also just be trying to keep trying to keep the strong façade to hide the emotional her. You do the same, so why can’t you understand that?”

“Same?!” Kris cried in outrage. “BUT I DO NOT PRETEND THAT I’M OKAY BECAUSE I’M REALLY OKAY!”

Luhan shrugged his shoulders as he went back to eating his waffle. “See? You mastered pretending already that you, yourself, can’t even tell that you are pretending,” he said.

Kris’ brows furrowed in confusion and annoyance, not wanting to accept the idea.

“You, too, might need to set your priorities straight, Kris,” Luhan advised.

***

Krystal leaned on the tree trunk as she skipped lunch to use the time to think. As she felt the roughness of the tree on his back, she let her mind wander off to what Kevin told her. It numbed her for a moment when she felt his presence drifting away. He spat her name as if it was coated with poison; and it boggled her. When she saw his back disappearing to the ocean of students running to the cafeteria, she felt the need to run after him and say sorry. But it felt like her feet were planted on the ground, held by something she easily referred to as ‘pride’.

She thought of Kevin’s advice, and knew instantly that he was right. There are priorities she needs to set out. But which comes first? Which comes last? What did he even mean with that anyway? He’s so confusing!

The girl thought of her reply and honestly couldn’t find anything rude on it, except the tone she used. It’s true that she’s not her boyfriend, and her mood turned from down to depressed as she put more thoughts to it.

“I guess I just lost my chance,” she muttered to herself.

“I knew you’re going to be here,” a voice interrupted her thinking. “Are you okay?”

Krystal just smiled timidly as her cousin sat on the ground beside her. “Unnie,” she acknowledged.

Amber was taken aback. The queenka never call her ‘unnie’ in such affectionate manner unless there’s something serious going on with her. She sensed it