People watching has always been entertaining for me, but today, it’s even more interesting. Walking down the hallway, I see a girl, sitting by the corner, in a staring contest with her laptop screen as if that would hasten the rendering of her video. Beside her is a group of students arguing and talking over each other while the professor they cornered narrowly slips away without their knowledge. I laugh to myself, wondering how long it’ll take for them to notice.

I continue to look around, observing the people I walk past. The school hallway is quite different today in the sense that it's kind of divided into two— heaven and hell. Each person either is in complete chaos or at absolute peace. No purgatory, no in-between. It is the last week of the school year so everyone either has something to be worried about or none at all.

As for myself, I can proudly say that I belong to the latter because I’ve finally taken care of all the requirements I need to graduate. The past few months have been the most hectic and stressful part of my college life and I’m just glad it’s over. I had a lot of things on my plate that I had no time for anything else. I haven’t even been on a single date since Joy and I broke up and that was 4 months ago.

Four months… I've been dry for four ing months. I can't-

“Believe!” I gasp out the last of my thoughts as the door in front of me suddenly flies open. My hand reflexively shoots up, stopping it just inches away from hitting my face. “Be careful, damn it!”

The culprit steps out from behind the door and whatever it is she was about to say dies in . She just stands there gaping like a fish when she sees me.

“Joy,” I blurt out in shock of seeing the subject of my thoughts materialize before me. “What are you doing here?”

Not that I care, I just didn’t expect to run into her here. Although we’re in the same university, we belong in different departments. Her building is literally on the other side of the campus, so the chances were next to none.

“Just had something to, uh, take care of,” Joy stammers, waving her portfolio. She clears . “Um… I'm sorry, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I nod as my palm loses its prickling numbness from the impact. “I'm fine. You barely did any damage.”

Joy flinches a little and I swallow down the laugh that threatens to escape at how obviously more uncomfortable she becomes. I wasn’t implying anything, I swear, but I guess the shoe fits.

This is the first time we talked since we broke up and I really couldn’t care less about her at all now, but it’s fun seeing her clown herself like this. So, have I moved on? Yes, definitely and quickly. They say it’s odd how I get over my breakups so fast, but it’s just the way I am. I cry my heart’s out, then move on with my life.

“Right,” I break the awkward silence. “I’ll go ahead. Just be careful next time.”

“Wait.” Joy grabs my elbow as I’m about to pass her, her eyes glued on the floor, biting her lip like how she does when she’s nervous. “Can we talk?”

I arch a curious brow. “About?”

“Us.” Joy musters the courage to look me straight in the eyes. “A-about what happened to us.”

“There’s nothing left to talk about, Joy.” I know that comes out a little too indifferent, but it's just that talking about us will not, in any way, benefit me and there’s genuinely not one single cell in my body that cares. “I have somewhere to be so if you could let go of my arm, I’d appre—”

“I’ll be quick.” Her grip tightening suggests how strongly she needs this... and not me. I could hear it in her voice when she pleads, “Please, Lisa.”

I close my eyes briefly, taking in a deep breath. Rosie always reminds me how I’m only a step away from being too kind to being a complete pushover; that one day, I need to take a step back, but I guess today’s not that day.

I sigh. “Yeah, okay.”

//

My head dangles at the foot of my bed, looking at my TV upside down and smashing random buttons on my controller. This is how I chose to spend my Saturday night, well, given my limited options.

I don’t have a girl to date and the two people who I genuinely like spending time with both have plans with their partners tonight. Roseanne asked me if I wanted to join her and Nayeon, but I wasn’t down at the thought of being the third wheel, so I declined.

So, yes, here I am with my PS4 & sixth can of beer as company, left with the thoughts of my talk with Joy yesterday.

It went as I expected it would. I didn’t get to say much and just listened to what she had to get off of her chest. She apologized for what she did and what she said that night, but it’s the last part of our conversation that’s been living rent-free in my mind.

“I feel as though even if you’ve given me everything you had, there was this hollow feeling inside me that you couldn’t tend to. He filled that hole, Lisa. But I know that doesn’t excuse-”

“Wait, let me just— my ‘everything’ was not enough for you? Is that what you're trying to say?” I’m more amused than offended, actually.

“If you put it that way...” Joy looks at me so ruefully that it makes me believe that she’s genuinely sorry for what she did. "I'm so sorry. God, you deserve so, so much better."

There’s no sense in holding a grudge over the past, so I decide to forgive her and while it’s true when I said I couldn’t care less about her anymore, I’d be lying if I say it doesn’t bring me some kind of peace.

“Well, you better be,” I joke lightheartedly and she lets out a brief chuckle. “Though, I wish you could’ve just told me that instead of me finding it out the way I did cos—”

“Cos you would have understood, right?” Joy finishes for me and I nod. “See, I knew that… and my conscience gnawed on me every day knowing that you would. You’ve always been so nice so I didn’t want to hurt you, but I guess I ended up hurting you even—”

My phone ringing interrupts her and my eyes widen when I see who's calling and what time it is already. “, is that the ing time?”

I scramble to answer the call, but before I can even get a word out, Jisoo threatens, “You better have a good excuse for making me wait or else—”

“I’m so sorry,” I cut her off. I know how much Jisoo hates waiting. Abhors it, even. “I’m on my way. If I don’t make it in 15 minutes, I’ll let Dalgom chew my eyes out.”

“Oh? I was gonna say you'll have to buy me dinner, but that’s even better.” Her tone has lost its fangs and I heave a sigh of relief. “I’ll make sure that happens if you’re not here in 15. See ya.”

I quickly gather my stuff as soon as she drops the call that I almost forgot I was with someone. I flash Joy an apologetic smile, "Sorry, I have to go."

“No, I'm sorry for holding you up,” Joy apologizes, handing me the jacket I drop in my hurry. “That was Jisoo, right? Are you two… dating now?”

Despite being in a rush, I have to halt all actions just to roll my eyes at her exasperatedly. “C’mon! Not you too!”

“You know the only reason I stopped being jealous of her when we were dating was that you proved that I could trust you, but you two have so much chemistry. Maybe even more than we had and I was your girlfriend… like? Have you never thought of dating her? Ever?”

“Oh my god,” I chuckle, shaking my head. “Look, I really need to go. We’re just friends and that’s on that. Drop it, yeah?”

But, Joy just shrugs. I can’t believe her. It’s just been a minute since we got on good terms and she’s being annoying already. I start towards the door not bothering to give her a response again.

Joy speaks behind me, loud enough for me to hear, “Just try and think if you ever want to kiss her, Lisa.”

I snort a laugh, thinking about how ridiculous that was. When I told Jisoo about it yesterday, we just laughed it off, because again, it is ridiculous. I just don’t see Jisoo that way, even when I had that tiny crush on her eight years ago, that never came to mind.

“Watch out for his combo! Oof!” The huge K.O appears on the screen before I can even press the left button to block. Jisoo cracks up from where I can't see her, “God, can you not so much in video games?”