"Do you want me to buy you anything first?"

"Caramel latte, please?"

I sighed. "It's lunch time, Jumie. You gotta eat something too," I scolded her over the phone.

"But I don't feel like eating," she whined. "You know how I am when I'm about to speak in public."

"It's going to be a group presentation, is it not?"

"It's still called a presentation, Lay!"

"Okay, fine. Just come here quickly." I hung up.

I bought caramel lattes for her and myself, but I also ordered lasagnas and some breads. Jumie always said she ain't gonna eat when she was about to speak in front of a lot of people, but she would eat anyway if food was presented before her. She was just weird like that.

I found us a table and waited for her afterwards.

"Ugh! My heart is going to explode any time soon from nervousness!" She dramatically complained right when she just arrived. "Why do we have to present our design! The lecturer already knows our concept because we always consulted with him. And plus, the other groups won't really give a damn about our concept," she ranted and spooned the lasagna. Ha! See! She needed food. "Why, Lay? Whyyy?" She whined and I just silently listened, trying to hold back my laughter. "I mean like, does it really matter to know the concept?!" She continued complaining while taking one of the lattes. I quickly stopped her from drinking it.

"That one contains cinnamon powder," I explained - as she continued her rant - while quietly taking away the coffee and handing her the other one. "This one is yours."

I had to switch it unless I want to see her dying gasping for air. And I certainly did not want that.

She took a sip and continued, "What should I do?!" She dropped her head on the table, placing her forehead on it, and I chuckled at that.

"Do you know that for a well-known 'silent' girl, you're pretty chatty?" I asked.

She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at me. "You're not helping."

"Relax, okay? Eat first." She sat up straight and complied with a sigh. "Didn't you complain about having a heart attack from nervousness, but aced the last presentation anyway? And what about last year's exam project you said make you feel like elephants are rampaging in your stomach? You aced it too right? So relax, Jum Jum," I patted her head and she nodded with a pout.

"I guess you're right. I'm just being a drama queen now, aren't I?"

I just gave her a smile.

"Hey!" Someone suddenly interrupted and plopped down on a seat beside Jumie. I just realized that it was Lee Hwayoung.

"Oh! Hi, Hwayoung!" Jumie greeted back with a smile.

"Hi," she turned to me.

"Hi," I greeted back with a smile.

I now fully understood why everyone was calling her the Queen of the campus. I would be lying if I said she wasn't pretty. 'Pretty' might even be an understatement.

Now that we were talking, I noticed how different she was from Jumie. Hwayoung was beaming out energy and she joined our conversation as if she had known me for a long time when in truth we just officially met today. If Jumie were in her shoes, she would be clamming up and would find ways to escape the conversation. But I was glad that Jumie had another friend she could open up to besides me.

I silently listened and watched the girls talked. It was amusing to see how their differences made them clicked. But there was something about Hwayoung that intrigued me.

When it came to Jumie, seeing her talking animatedly like this, I knew it was real. Probably, it was because I knew her for so long now that she wasn't like a layered onion anymore to me. I could read every emotion of hers even if she didn't say it. Jumie concealed her deepest thoughts most of the time, but that was why that when she did spoke, I could tell it was the truth. She rarely showed emotions, so when she laughed like now, I knew it was her real and raw happiness.

Not that I thought of Hwayoung as fake, but there was something about her being loud and always cheerful that made me think she was just masking something. In short, she was the complete opposite of Jumie. To everyone else, the conserved Jumie was the layered onion. But to me, Hwayoung was the one. And that somehow interested me.

Aish! I stopped Jumie from eating my bread and handed her another bread. This girl worried me too much! At this rate, she could kill herself without her knowing it.

Hwayoung just learned that Jumie was allergic to raisins and cinnamon too. It was good for her to know because now I had a friend who could help me take care of this clumsy girl if I was not around.

"Jongin-ah!" Hwayoung picked up her phone and greeted.

Jumie and I exchanged a look. I was pretty sure we both were thinking of the same thing. Who's Jongin?

Hwayoung looked behind her and waved. We too looked that way and found her boyfriend - whom I think was named Kai - standing few feet away from our table.

So Jongin is Kai, huh?

I immediately glanced at Jumie who was still looking at Kai. She had liked Kai ever since the first year. I remembered telling her to just approach him at rare opportunities, but she always shunned herself away thinking that she did not deserve a popular good-looking guy like him. Sometimes, I felt like pinching her for thinking of herself so low.

I thought her feeling for Kai was just fleeting though since some time later, she told me she started liking back the guy who had been having a crush on her. But the jerk stopped liking her when Hwayoung came, saying she's prettier than Jumie. She was devastated at that point, but quickly recovered from the heartbreak when she knew Hwayoung didn't date the jerk. Honestly, I too was happy that Hwyoung didn't date the jerk because a girl like her didn't deserve a guy like him.

But Jumie's feeling for Kai that I thought was fleeting turned out to be more than just that. And when she knew Kai had become Hwayoung's boyfriend, her condition was worse than when she found out the jerk liking the very same girl. Yet, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't even hate Hwayoung because at that time she was already friends with her. Rather, she felt guilty for liking her best friend's boyfriend. I didn't how to help her move on. All I could do was to stay by her side.

Hwayoung abruptly stood up and bid us good bye before running up to meet Kai.

"You're still not over him, huh?" I carefully asked Jumie when she faced me again.

She glared at me and kicked my shin under the table. She held back a chuckle when I winced in pain. Her face then turned somber as she looked down, and I instantly felt guilty for asking her that.

"I'm such a bad friend, aren't I?" She sighed.

Even though she didn't directly answer my question, I knew that meant she still liked him.

She was silent for a while and just lazily ate the lasagna. She then took a deep breath before suddenly going back to the whiny anxious-over-presentation girl.

"By the way," she shot me a glare, "I didn't ask for you to buy me lasagna! Why did you buy it, Lay?! Now the food is only making me more nauseous. I don't think I can eat."

"You've finished half of it already!" I pointed out and chuckled.

"Aish!" She cluck her tongue and gave me an annoyed look, but then she laughed when she saw her half-finished lasagna.

I was laughing at her when I felt someone staring at us. I glanced over Jumie's shoulder and found Hwayoung lowering her gaze before turning around.

Was that a look of.... pain I saw?
Was that what she had been hiding behind her cheerful mask?

__________

"Let's go home. I'll just grab a lunch on the way. Drive thru maybe," I coldly answered over the phone.

"Why? Let's just eat here," she protested.

I raised my gaze to the table Hwayoung was sitting at and found Jumie's eyes looking back at mine before she lowered her gaze.

Because she's there. I answered Hwayoung's question in my mind.

"If you're not coming in 10 seconds I'll leave you," I threatened. "One..,"

"Okay, okay!" Hwayoung finally relented and I saw her stood up before running to where I stood.

"Why don't you just eat here?" She whined.

"Let's go," I simply replied.

I took a second to look over Hwayoung's shoulder and saw the pair she left at the table. It irked me so much how the guy looked at her with genuine care in his eyes.

I turned my back on them and walked away.

No matter how long I had set my eyes on her, he was always the one at her side. He was always the one she gave her smile to. I guessed I got ahead of myself for thinking I had a chance when he was clearly the one she had always loved.