“No.” He says. He sees something flicker across her eyes, sadness, no worse. It was like her eyes were broken like glass, but with that one word, they shattered, revealing a vulnerability that he hadn’t ever seen in anyone’s eyes. But then it disappears as quickly as it came and her face is emotionless.
“May I ask why?” She asks.

“Do you think I want to be just another guy you’ve dated?” He asks.

“Fair enough, see you in class, Zitao.” She smirks, her voice like ice. Why does he feel bad? Was it the look in her eyes seconds before? Was it the iciness in her tone now? He doesn’t know. Just then his friends appear: Luhan, Kris, and Lay. Chen and Xiumin are still finishing their lunch.

“Why was Victoria talking to you?” Luhan asks.

“She just asked me out and I said no.” Tao replies.

“Really?!” Kris gapes.

“Shouldn’t be a surprise though, should it?” He says.

“You’re right.” Kris sighs. Then Xiumin and Chen come in, Chen’s eyes wide.

“We just saw Victoria, her eyes are ice cold. I’ve never seen her like that.” He says with some concern in his voice. He was her boyfriend for a while until she dumped him as well.

“Probably because Tao just said no to her asking him out.” Lay says.

“You what?! Why?” Chen asks shocked.

“How was it when she dumped you?” Tao asks suddenly ignoring Chen’s question.

Chen is taken aback but he replies after a moment, “She actually did it gently, said I was a good guy but she couldn’t keep the relationship going. She also had real sadness in her eyes, maybe because I was her boyfriend for one of the longest times, and I was one of the only ones who she ever kissed.” He says.

“She really only kissed you and maybe two other guys?” Xiumin asks.

“Yeah, actually only one other.” Chen replies. The other boys look surprised, even Tao. He’d heard that she had kissed many boys in the past but he never asked Chen about it because he hadn’t really cared.

“Did she flirt with any boys while she was with you?” Tao asks.

“No, I know where you’re going with this, but nothing like that ever happened. Anyway, I’ve only ever seen a look like that on you, like when a girl you don’t like tries flirting with you.” He points at me.

“Hers was worse.” Xiumin says. Really? But that’s my coldest look, he thinks but then remembers the way she had looked at him with the icy gaze, it portrayed no emotion, did he really do that? He feels guilty all of a sudden, this makes no sense, why does he feel this way? He only ever talked to her when he was in her classes. He looks at his watch, still ten minutes until they have to go to class, might as well walk around while he still can.

“That idiot.” Sulli scowls after Victoria told them what happened.

“What are you going to do now?” Krystal asks.

“I don’t know, maybe I should lay off dating boys for now.” Victoria replies. Luna sees how sad she is but it’s not her ‘longing for him’ look, it’s a completely different one, not that it’s any better though.

“You sure that’s the right decision though?” Amber asks, knowing full well that Victoria will probably start thinking about him.

“Maybe if I take a break from dating people I'll…ah, I don’t know.” She sighs.  

“Oh joy, he’s here.” Sulli rolls her eyes. Victoria’s eyes harden as they land on the dark haired guy walking through the cafeteria, some girls look at him wanting him to notice them but he just focuses on the exit of the room. Victoria looks away not wanting to make her slight hatred towards him apparent, well, not exactly hatred but something close to that.

Maybe he was right about him being just another guy she would have dated, she would have been with him for a week or two, not too long probably. Then she would dump him because she doubts he would be the right guy, and then she would go to the next guy. But even so, why does she feel like this? What am I even feeling? She asks herself, I have no idea.

Tao’s eyes flicker towards Victoria, her eyes looking straight ahead, she doesn’t look as cold as she did but there’s just a ghost of the sadness he saw in the library.

He never did really look at her when he was near her, she’s got long dark hair, pale skin, and she’s quite pretty, he regrets never looking at her—stop it, with how you treated her today, you’ll never have a chance, wait what? Why was he thinking like this, has he gone crazy or something? He shakes his head trying to forget about Victoria but then his mind goes to her. Her eyes, the way they shone when she laughed or smiled, her voice…damn it! God I hate my brain, he thinks.

He walks around a bit more and doesn’t think about Victoria or her. Now it’s time to go to class, he quickly goes in that direction, he hates being late. He sits down in his seat and sees that among the people in the class, Victoria is there reading a book next to one of her friends; Luna. She’s sitting right in front of him, oh right, he forgot that he usually sits near her in all their classes together, which are quite a lot.

He’s still got about a minute until class starts so he just doodles a bit in his notebook which he uses when he’s bored, Chen comes in and sits beside him. The teacher comes in and he puts the notebook away. Victoria closes her book and he sees which book it is: City of Ashes.

“Well everyone, today we are going to start a new project. You will be in pairs and I will choose them.” Groans from the class, “You can choose the topic yourself but it has to be about literature.” He says. He takes out a list and reads out the partners, “Chen and Krystal, Jaehyun and Sun-Hee, Josh and Luna, Tao and Victoria…” Tao’s mouth falls open, do you have any idea how awkward this is going to be?! What am I going to do? He almost moans. 

"Why me?" Victoria sighs.