My french class has finished. I’m already thinking hundreds of ways on how to avoid Jongdae today. 

“Jaehyu!” 

And speaking of the devil. 

“Jongdae”

“Are you okay? You seem off since yesterday.” His excited tone shifted to a concerned one.

“I’m… It’s just that my acads are getting the best of me.”

“Sure? I can always help you out.” 

This is the first time I heard him with pure concern. No hint of sarcasm or teasing like we used to. I suddenly felt guilty.

“It’s fine. I can manage.” I gave him a small smile.

“Aren’t you sick? You look kinda pale. Even yesterday.” 

“Uhm… I’m staying up late lately.” I reasoned out.

“Okay,” He said unconvinced.

“I’m going now.”

 I said and started walking. I was already half way at the spot where we always eat. I felt him following me. I looked behind me and saw him but he also looked behind him.

“Are we waiting for someone?”

“No, why are you following me?”

“Because we’re going to eat? There, in our spot.” He innocently pointed to the spot under the tree where we eat. I looked at him and saw him staring at my arm where I got stitched. I touched my arm and turn to the other way.

“I..I need to go to the… uhm library. I need to finish something.”

“But the library is that way.” He pointed to the other way where I was ‘supposed’ to be walking.

“Yes, that’s where I’m going.” I retorted.

“You’re a terrible liar. You know that, right?” He said and crossed his arms.

“I-I am not.” I defended but he just raised an eyebrow at me.

“C’mon, eating won’t take long. You don’t look so well too. Don’t skip meals.”

He said and started to drag me towards our spot. Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand that made Jongdae lose his grip in my wrist.

“Hyung. Jaehyu.” Jongin chidded still holding my hand.

“Excuse me?” Jongdae said with sass and crossed his arms

“Jaehyu and I need to finish our project in the library.” Jongin smiled at his hyung and I nodded like a child to convince Jongdae.

“But it’s Wednesday. It’s JJ day!” He scoffed.

“JJ what?” Jongin asked.

“JJ, duh? Jaehyu and Jongdae day, We’re just going to eat our lunch. If you want you can join.” 

“We can eat next time. I’m really sorry, we really need to finish our project.” I intervene.

“Why do I have a feeling that you're avoiding me?” He asked seriously. Jongin forces a laugh.

“Silly. Why would she avoid you? We just need to finish the project, really. We need to go now, hyung. Bye!”

Jongin dragged me away from Jongdae. I just waved him goodbye as a farewell before catching up on Jongin's walking pace.

“I saw Kris yesterday.” I told him while I continued to walk beside him.

“Really? Did you already tell him?”

“No. He was across the street when I saw him. I got anxious so I quickly got on the bus before he could cross his way to me.”

I said and held the strap of my messenger bag tighter.

“You will tell me what happened, when you’re ready, right?”

I hesitated to answer because I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready to admit that I am being abused by my foster father but I gave him a nod anyway. I notice that we’ve reached Jahayeon pond. We sat by the nearby bench right in front of the pond. 

“Here.” Jongin said as he pulled out food containers from his backpack. 

That explains the bulkiness of his bag. I just stare at the containers he placed between us. 

“I brought us food.” He said happily and started to open each container.

“I do hope you eat pasta.” He said hopefully and waited for my response.

“Yeah but it’s been awhile since I ate one.”

“Good! This is carbonara, pesto, garlic bread and a few varieties of cakes that I don’t know.” He explained.

I stare at the food in front of me and I can feel my mouth watering by just looking at them. I looked up at Jongin and saw him biting his lower lip. He does that when he’s nervous.

“I hope you don’t mind sharing with me.” He handed me a fork.

“N-no. Absolutely not. I’m just overwhelmed with the food. You shouldn’t have bothered yourself.” I shyly said but accepted the fork anyway.

“Did I mention that my sister is opening her cafe soon?” He said and motioned me to eat first.

“Yes, you did mention.” I nod and shyly twirl my fork at the carbonara.

“She was having a taste test this morning with her menu and asked me to bring some and I thought that it’s a good idea to have a small picnic with you.” 

I was caught off guard and choked.

“Jaehyu! O-oh no. Here!” He handed me an opened water bottle.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry.” He apologized as he patted my back.

“I’m okay.” I said and gave him a smile.

Did I say it too blunt? We continued our chit chat after we ate. I can say that we are a lot more closer now than before. 

For the past two days, we have developed a routine. I make sure to walk her to her class, if my next class happens to be at the same building but of course there are times when I need to run to the other building for my next class. I also wait for her outside the CSS building to have lunch with her in case she bumps into Kris or Chen and she agrees to it. We encountered Chen a few times but we were able to escape the possible interaction. We saw Kris once but we were able to flee too.

“It's Saturday. Where are you going?” My mom asked me the moment she saw walking down the stairs.

“I’m going out, Mom. I’ll meet with my uhm… classmate.”

“Classmate?” My annoying sister asked with a teasing tone.

“Yes, Classmate.” I went beside her to grab an apple at the counter.

She narrowed her eyes at me and looked at me from head to toe. 

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