“I want you to forget. Forget everything about me. Forget every memory you’ve had with me. Forget me. Do you understand?”

 

All he could do was nod his head, his eyes dazed.

 

“Now close your eyes.”

 

And he did.

 

All she could do was stare at his sleeping figure, savoring the last time she could look at him like that. After a few minutes had passed, she turned around, disappearing into the darkness that concealed a lone tear that escaped from her eyes.

 

 

“Hey, Dara! Have lunch with me and Seunghyun.”

 

I looked up and saw Bom dashing towards me. I was about to turn away from her when she hastily grabbed my arm.

 

“Don’t tell me you were planning to ignore me!?”

 

There’s no point in arguing with her when we both know that what she said was true. Instead, I opted to remain silent and just looked at her.

 

“Hey! Stop ignoring me! Eat lunch with us!”

 

I was about to voice out my protest when she cut me off.

 

“And I won’t take ‘No’for an answer. I haven’t been able to talk to you for weeks now. Come on. Don’t you miss me?”, she said, trying to be cute.

“You know I like spending time with you. But, I don’t want to intrude between you and Seunghyun.”, which is the truth.

 

“Ya! Who says you would be intruding? Come on. No more excuses. I want to introduce my boyfriend to my bestfriend.”

 

I haven’t even given her my consent when she started dragging me into the cafeteria. Why am I letting her drag me anyway? I could just easily—

 

My musing was cut off when Bom suddenly stopped. I was about to ask her why she stopped. But when I saw her looking at something in front of her, I instinctively followed her gaze. There, I saw a tall man smiling at Bom, seemingly waiting for her.

 

I guess this must be Seunghyun. You should’ve given her roses with thorns if you really love her. Stupid!

 

“Dara! Hey!”

 

Huh?

 

I didn’t notice I was spacing out until I saw Seunghyun already at Bom’s side. They were both looking at me curiously.

 

“What?”

 

“Aisht! We were asking you if It would be okay to have another company at lunch.”

 

“Another company?”

 

“Yes. My friend Jiyong.”, it was Seunghyun who answered my question.

 

I looked at Bom who was eyeing me skeptically.

 

It wasn’t enough that I have to eat with this Seunghyun guy, now I also have to eat with his friend.

 

Bom must have known what I was thinking so she immediately spoke, “Jiyong is nice. You don’t have to worry about him. He’s Seunghyun’s bestfriend. So I guess it’s meet the bestfriends today. Hehe.”

 

I was still thinking about it when a somebody yelled, “Yo! Seunghyun!”

 

When I looked to find the person who spoke, I saw a guy with an orange hair walking towards us. Seriously? Orange? Who is he, Carrot Man?

 

When he finally reached us, Bom introduced him as Seunghyun’s Jiyong. Pfft! I gave a slight nod as acknowledgment, and he did too, without breaking eye contact. I would’ve continued staring Jiyong if it weren’t for Bom touching my elbow.

 

“Let’s go?”

 

The four of us ate in silence. This is certainly not what Bom was expecting to happen when she asked me to eat with them today. Knowing her, she must’ve been thinking of plans to break the awkward silence. And I wasn’t mistaken.

 

“So..”, here it goes.

 

“I think it’s my first time seeing you.”

 

I immediately snapped my eyes towards Jiyong, and indeed, he was looking at me. I was right. He was talking to me.

 

I stared at him.

 

“Of course, you’re not on the same year. Besides, Dara is really quiet and she keeps to herself. And we usually eat our lunch in the rooftop. The view there is nice. Maybe we should eat there next time.”

 

 

I shifted my gaze towards Bom, silently telling her that there would be no next time.

 

“Oh, really? But, I also feel that I know you.”

 

What?

 

“Yah! Jiyong! Are you hitting on her?”, it was Seunghyun who spoke this time.

 

I looked at Jiyong, waiting for him to answer Seunghyun’s question. After a moment of silence, he shrugged and said, “I’m not. I’m just saying that I think I know her.”

 

He then trained his eyes on me.

 

I suddenly felt anxious and broke our eye contact.

 

“Excuse me. I have to go first.”, and hurriedly went away.

 

No. It can’t be. I’m just being paranoid. He doesn’t know me.

 

He shouldn’t know me.