-_-

[Aaron and Selina’s House]

Selina sat around for hours waiting for Aaron to come back so they could eat dinner together. Once the door opened Selina quickly hurried out of the kitchen.

“You’re back,” Selina said with a smile.

Aaron looked at her without replying.

Selina’s smile disappeared, “Are you hungry?”

“I already ate,” Aaron replied and right after his cell phone rang. “Excuse me.”

Selina watched as Aaron hurried up the stairs.

“Is something bothering you? You weren’t paying attention at all at the theater,” Hebe said. 

“It’s nothing,” Aaron lied closing the door to the bedroom.

Selina stared up at the stairs feeling empty.

“Should I talk to the wall for company now?” Selina asked herself sarcastically.

-_-

[A restaurant]

Danson felt gladly excited as he waited for Selina to arrive. It had been a while since they had gotten together. Especially since he only heard her voice and had not seen her face for a while. On the other hand he was happy that Selina had finally called him out. Selina walked in through the doors and paused to look around. Once she spotted him she went over to him and took a seat. After ordering their food Danson started chatting.

“It’s been so boring at school without you,” Danson complained.

It was the same complaints over and over. Selina stirred her drink with her straw bored. Noticing Danson suddenly stopped yapping.

“You thinking about something?” Danson questioned.

Selina stopped and looked up at Danson, “Aaron’s been acting weird these few days. It’s like he’s trying to ignore me.”

“What’s wrong with that?” asked Danson.

“Well…because he’s not like that. It’s weird to be around him when he’s acting like that,” Selina told.

“He hasn’t told you?” asked Danson.

“What?” Selina said.

“I told him about Jiro,” Danson told.

“You what?!” Selina asked her eyes wide as she slightly slammed her hand on the table.

“I was just warning him that he shouldn’t get too close to you…” Danson told.

Selina made a face as she pressed her eyes shut, “I’ve said before this is none of your business.”

-_-

[Taipei University]

Selina sat in her car eagerly chewing on her nail. Aaron would be out of school soon and she would have to talk to him. She would get things clear and get rid of the guilt or whatever it was that was bothering him. Her cell phone rang breaking her train of thoughts.

“Don’t come pick me up. I have plans,” Aaron said.

“What?” Selina asked. “But I’m…”

Aaron had already hung up. Selina sighed and decided she would speak with him when he would get home later that evening. Her plan dissolved as Aaron suddenly walked by with a girl marching by his side. Selina’s eyes watched them closely as they passed by. It seemed they were joking around and the girl was tightly holding onto his arm. Selina felt a weird thump inside her.

“Is that Hebe?” Selina wondered.

She’d seen Hebe a few times before but that was long ago. Selina lightly gritted her teeth.

“Just do what you have to do,” Selina told herself and got out of her car.

She hurried and stopped at the corner of the sidewalk. She turned to look at her left and wondered if they’d crossed the street, but to her luck they were halfway down the block on her left. Selina took a step forward, but paused. Should she go on? Should she even care? Wait why was she even caring in the first place? Before going on her legs already dragged her after him.

“Aaron!” Selina suddenly shouted.

Aaron came to a stop and slowly turned back. A surprised expression appeared across his face. He turned around and started on.

“Aaron!” Selina shouted again. “Stop right there! Don’t you take a step forward!”

Aaron stopped. Hebe stopped along with him and turned around to look at the strange woman who was calling out her boyfriend’s name.

“Who is she Aaron?” Hebe asked.

Selina didn’t care. She couldn’t care about what Hebe was thinking at that moment if she wanted to talk to Aaron. Especially if she wanted to get things out of the way asap. Selina walked forward and grabbed onto Aaron’s hand.

“Let me borrow him for a while,” Selina said to Hebe and dragged Aaron after her.

As they rounded the corner and down the street some more Selina finally stopped. She turned around to Aaron feeling that she was out of breath.

“You…you disappeared the other night! I walked around for two hours looking for you!” Selina went on. “What did I tell you about Danson?”

Aaron looked at her blankly.

“I asked you a question,” Selina said.

“Uh…to ignore him…” Aaron replied clinging onto Selina’s hand.

It wasn’t until then that Aaron realized Selina hadn’t let go of his hand yet.

“Who cares about what he said. Jiro’s not here right now. Why should you worry about him?” Selina asked. “I know who goes where in my heart so don’t think that you’re rudely taking his place. There’s only you and me right now. Think of only the present and not the future ok? I’m just telling you this because I don’t want any misunderstandings.”

Selina stopped and stared at Aaron. Their eyes locked on for a minute and Selina suddenly felt nervous.

“Uh…so stop feeling whatever guilt you’re possessing right now.” Selina said.

“But I didn’t say anything about guilt yet…” Aaron said.

“I know you’re feeling it anyway! Just look at you!” Selina told turning away. “You’re just like a kid!”

Aaron couldn’t help, but smile. Selina’s words were small, but they were already enough to comfort him. Just worry about the present and not the future.

“You should go back,” Selina said suddenly slipping her hand out of his.

Aaron glaced at Selina’s hand and turned to look toward the corner of the block.

“Come home with an empty stomach,” Selina said and walked off.

-_-

[Aaron and Selina’s House]

Finally feeling better Selina had fallen asleep fast. Aaron tossed and turned slightly. Thoughts were still rumbling throughout his mind even if he felt better. Jiro…he was always conscious about him. It made Aaron curious to know more about him. How was he like? Funny? Serious? How was he able to capture so much of Selina’s attention? It made Aaron wonder that whenever Selina was with him would she drift off to think about Jiro?

Aaron stared at Selina’s silent back. He wanted to do more for Selina. He wanted to do things Jiro couldn’t. But it was hopeless. Reality showed it all. Aaron couldn’t compete with him. At least in the present Aaron was able to stay near Selina. He moved closer toward her letting his face into her soft hair. She smelled so good it made his heart beat a thousand times faster. Aaron rose his arm and slowly put it around her being careful not to wake her. He feared that if she woke up he’d probably get a yelling from her for touching her. The only thing he didn’t know was he did wake Selina. She had opened her eyes in the dark, but finding it comforting she just went right back to sleep.

-_-

[Taipei University]

Without waiting for Hebe Aaron was already headed toward his first class with Sun Mi. As they neared the door Aaron came to a pause as he saw Hebe waiting for him. Once Hebe saw him she walked over.

“Hi Sun Mi,” Hebe greeted.

“Hi,” Sun Mi greeted.

Once Hebe looked at Aaron he could see that she wasn’t very happy about something.

“You…you never told me who that girl was yesterday,” Hebe said. “You know I’m angry with you because you ignored every question I asked you yesterday?”

“Well…it’s obvious you’re angry,” Aaron told.

“You!” Hebe scolded. “Just tell me who she is.”

“No one really,” Aaron lied. “I’m off now!”

Hebe spun around as Aaron hurried off into class. Sun Mi smiled at Hebe and followed Aaron inside.

-_-

[Aaron and Selina’s House]

Everything have seemed to go back to normal the next day. Aaron was doing his homework as usual in the living room while Selina was preparing dinner in the kitchen. The door bell suddenly rang surprising the two of them. Aaron suddenly wondered why they always had unexpected guests.

The door opened and Sun Mi shouted, “Hi Aaron!”

“Sun Mi?” Aaron asked.

Hearing a girl’s voice Selina filled up with curiosity made her way out to see who was at the door. She found that Aaron had let the girl in already. Selina found herself standing there silently staring at the strange girl. Who was she and who was she to Aaron? Why was she here…in their house?

Noticing the soon to be tense atmosphere Sun Mi introduced herself happily, “So you’re Selina right? You’re so pretty! I’m Sun Mi, Aaron’s classmate from school.”

Selina stared at her blankly then turned to look at Aaron who smiled back cheekily.

“You…told someone?” Selina asked.

Fearing that Selina might be angry Aaron stuttured through his words, “She’s from Korea so she doesn’t know anyone yet. I…thought it was ok to talk to her so I told her some things.”

“I won’t tell anyone. I don’t have anyone to tell anyways,” Sun Mi jumped in to help Aaron.

Selina eyed them strangely and turned around to walk into the kitchen. A classmate. That made Selina feel a little better. She didn’t even bother to wonder why she had felt tensed up about it in the first place.

“Did you need help on something?” Aaron asked as he returned to sit.

“Um…yea. That worksheet we got today,” Sun Mi said.

As they talked on about their assignment Selina could hear every word from where she was standing in the kitchen. As the table was set Selina stepped out to invite them to come eat. Sun Mi sat beside Aaron her eyes suddenly wide and a smiled crawled onto her face.

“It’s so good! Can you teach me how to make these sometime?” asked Sun Mi.

“Sure,” Selina replied as she began to dig in.

“I bet Aaron can’t cook.” Sun Mi said.

“What are you talking about? I’m…not that bad,” Aaron retorted.

Selina watched them argue playfully. She started to feel as if the was really big between her and Aaron. This new girl…even she understood Aaron better. Selina felt as if she were a parent supervising two young kids. Was it she felt left out? Or was it a tinge of jealousy that was getting to her? Selina shook her head no. She couldn’t possibly be jealous. Aaron was just Aaron that kid she had to live with. She didn’t have feelings for him.

-_-

[Taipei University]

It was lunch time and Sun Mi was left to sit with Hebe in the cafeteria. Aaron had disappeared after class. Sun Mi sat quietly as she chewed down her lunch. Hebe on the other hand didn’t touch her food.

“I just don’t get Aaron nowadays!” Hebe complained. “Have you seen him hanging around with a girl?”

Sun Mi shook her head no as she looked up at Hebe.

“Why in the world would he move out of his father’s house anyway? He makes things so suspicious! Doesn’t it sound fishy Sun Mi? He even has a cell phone he’s never told me about,” Hebe said.

“Did you ever think that he might be with any other girl?” asked Sun Mi.

“No!” Hebe exclaimed without a second thought. “That’s not a choice.”

“Oh…” Sun Mi replied.

“If only I knew where he lived!” Hebe told.

“I know!” Sun Mi suddenly said.

She suddenly frowned and looked around remembering she wasn’t supposed to say anything.   

-_-

[A Restaurant]

Aaron sat across from Selina with a coke sitting in front of him.

“Can you find a ride home later?” Selina questioned. “I have some plans later on.”

“What kind of plans?” Aaron asked.

Was she meeting up with someone? Who? A girl or a guy? Aaron wanted to ask those questions but knew he would only annoy Selina.

“There’s a meeting at work,” Selina replied. “I’ll be home late…possibly.”

“It’s ok. I’ll take the bus home,” Aaron replied.

-_-

[Aaron and Selina’s House]

Aaron was sitting quietly doing his homework as usual. He actually felt lonely without Selina around. Around this time she would be preparing a good dinner for him. The door bell rang shortly and he wondered if Selina had come back already. As he opened the door he felt shocked when he saw who was standing there.

“Surprise!” Hebe shouted.

Aaron stared back at her expressionless. What was he to do now? What if Selina came back? As Hebe pushed her way in Aaron quickly turned around and gently grabbed her by the arm.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I can’t be here?” Hebe asked.

Aaron was about to say something else, but Hebe pulled out of his grasp, and started to walk around.

“Your house is pretty clean!” Hebe complimented. “Do you clean it everyday or does your maid come in?”

Aaron watched Hebe just feeling shocked to the core.