“You’re late again today.”

“And you’re alone again today.”

Both Sungyeol and I grinned at each other and Sungyeol sat down across me at my desk. Naturally, he grabbed my pencil and started scribbling down random stuff. I let out a light sigh and closed the textbook that was lying next to my arm on the desk.

“Do you think growing up is a good thing?” I voiced out after a few seconds of peaceful silence.

“Depends, whether you want to grow up or stay as a kid.” Sungyeol replied without taking his eyes off my desk. He was drawing a silly face on it.

“Do I want to grow up?” I pondered as I stared out the window. The sky was gray once more. I could smell the scent of rain. It would rain soon.

“You can grow up but you can also stay as a kid in your mind.”

“Oh, never thought of that before.” I chuckled and gave him a small smile. “Yaa, I have a question.”

“Ask me then.” Sungyeol nodded, drawing more silly faces on my desk.

“What happened to you and Ara?”

Sungyeol stared up at me with his lips parted. His expression was unreadable. It was my first time watching his smile-less face. Then he pursed his lips and placed my pencil on the desk, not too far from my folded arms. I knew I shouldn’t have asked him that question but I was curious. Ara looked so troubled these days and I wondered whether it had something to do with Sungyeol.

“Nothing,” Sungyeol had answered simply.

But that one word held thousands of meanings, I knew it. He just didn’t want to tell me because I knew I had nothing to do with their relationship.

“She seems sad these days, I’m worried.”

“Oh, you sound like a real friend now.” Sungyeol chuckled, obviously trying to change the subject.

I played along anyway because I didn’t want to get all serious around him.  

“Good, then it’s proven that I already have friends.” I nodded proudly. “Nana told me that I was a good listener.”

“Oh, better!” Sungyeol beamed. “Then you only have one more thing to do.”

“What?”

“Talk to them, open up to your friends.”

How did he know so much about me?

~~v~~

“Ara, lend me your homework!” Nana ran towards Ara as soon as she entered the class.

Without a word, Ara fished out her homework and gave it to Nana. Nana thanked her and skipped away to her own seat.

Something seemed wrong. I stared at Ara quietly as she flipped from page to page of her textbook. She wasn’t in a good mood, I knew it. Her long, wavy black hair was shielding her side profile like a curtain. Usually she would hook her hair behind her ear so she could concentrate properly to study but this time she didn’t do it. There was something wrong with her but I felt a little scared to ask her. It was rare for her to act this way.

But I was starting to die from curiosity and I wanted to do a good job being her best friend. And so I approached her and tapped her desk to gain her attention. She looked up at me with a somber expression and lifted her slightly thick eyebrows. I fidgeted at first but then gathered up my courage to ask her.

“Is something wrong? You look down.”

Ara gazed into my eyes for a long time, as if by doing so she would be able to find the answer. She was upset about something but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze, waiting for her to answer my question but then I knew it was a bad idea so I stepped back and smiled once more.

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it. I just wanna make sure that you have Nana and me to talk to.”

Ara managed a weak smile and nodded.  When I went back to my seat, I saw her getting up from her seat and walked out of the class without greeting her classmates like she used to do.

I also noticed that there were tears streaming down her cheeks.