UGH, SERIOUSLY. I've been sighing so loud like I'm groaning.

"What is it this time?" My guy friend asks. He's likely disturbed by the sound I'm emitting now—or by me, because he said "this time".

"Nothing." I mutter in a flat tone.

He purses his lips.

I sigh to cool myself down, muttering, "It's really nothing important." Still not convincing enough. "Haha." I fake laugh then chuckle awkwardly.

He's a softie. He'll buy that.

---

"Xixi, you want to eat something?" I feel bad that I've been radiating such bad aura beside him in class. Although, I believe I do the same thing every day, pretty much.

"I guess," He raises his shoulders and his eyebrows, like he's down with everything.

He's the most accepting person I've ever met, besides my brother.

He's the type who always makes normal people wonder about how long he can put up until he explode—and they end up going crazy, because he really has no limit to that.

"It's been a long time that we don't eat in the cafeteria, right? I'll pay."

We both usually go straight to work after class, or home first then meet up at work, so we barely eat on campus in this hour.

"Which cafeteria should we go to?" He asks.

Our campus has a lot of faculties in separate buildings, along with their own cafeterias. The options are so wide. Maybe that's why we only eat outside.

"Let's take a look at the review section." He takes his phone and starts clicking stuff.

"Wait, we have that?"

"Apparently."

"And the highest rating is in the Faculty of Economy and Business. Most said that the view is great."

"What's so important about that? We come to any cafeteria to eat."

"So, no?"

"Uh, it's alright. Let's go." I hold him by the arm then start dragging him to the building.

---

The cafeteria is super crowded. I think, it's possible that the students here are a lot more than us in terms of amount.

But I still don't see any difference with our cafetaria—other than that.

We're standing right at the main door, contemplating about where to sit—and should we really sit in here, by the way?

In a blink of an eye, people start staring at us while whispering stuff to their friends and giggling.

I twitch my face while I squint, in discomfort. "What is wrong with these—" I turn to look at Xixi and turns out he also does, but he's showing his usual uneasy grin to me.

I press my eyes, as I take a deep breath through my mouth.

This is also why we always eat outside.

My good friend here—or let's say my bestfriend—has a very, very amazing face. He doesn't look like a regular Chinese guy. I used to think that he's a mix, which he always denied.

Not only the face, he also has a slender posture like a legit model. I wonder how he manages to maintain such a look while working his off to live—like me.

Wait, that's also a form of exercise.

"Sorry, that I brought you here." I mutter. "But being noticed by many is not always a bad thing, though. It'll be beneficial for you someday."

"Besides, since we're already here, let's just enjoy!" I drag him by his arm and start looking for empty seats.

---

"What do you want to eat?"

"Huh?? What are you saying?" He's slightly yelling at me, because it's ing noisy in here.

So right after we got our seats, people have stopped giggling but bickering, instead. They're producing this certain noise that makes us feel like we're attending some outdoor concert.

"WHAT-DO-YOU-WANT-TO-EAT?" I yell that slowly but with no chill—I'm mimicking everyone here.

"Oh, anything!" He raises his shoulders—again—while smiling with both his eyes and his lips.

But suddenly, a random girl with huge seemingly-widened-in-purpose eyes walks to us. "Hi, sorry.. my friends are wondering," She pauses. "—that maybe you two are together?"

I squint and instantly blurt, "No."

"Yes." He suddenly adds that in almost the same time as me.

The girl is of course, confused. She starts turning to me and him, while blinking. "So yes, or no?" She asks.

He takes a glance at me, briefly, then turns to her. I'll just act like I can read your mind. "Yes." I quickly respond.

"Uh, alright.." She presses her lips, looking a bit down, but suddenly bright again—how scary. "Are you on Weibo or something? What's your name?" She takes out her phone, waiting for him to spill a thing.

But he wets his bottom lip then bites it, instead—I feel lowkey nervous with what's possibly on this girl's mind seeing this. "No, he's not anywhere." I tell her.

She starts glaring at me. "Hey, I know he's currently with you." She scoffs. "But you don't have to be that petty! He's a person, not your property!" Her tone, her theory, and her face, totally annoy me.

I slam the table. "You know what, you." I stand up. Her nose crinkles as she gasps. I start talking in a completely higher tone. "Are you blind or just extremely stupid? He's clearly uncomfortable having you here."

"You said something about him being a person and not a property, but you yourself don't let him have his privacy." I roll my eyes, then look at her straight in the eyes. "So why are you still here? Leave."

She's blinking many times very quickly—in fear I bet, lol. She slightly stomps her feet and clenches her teeth, but then leaves anyway.

---

I sit back, trying to breathe slowly. I feel short of breath after having to deal with the lame girl. "Ugh. I hate people like her." I mumble.

"So.." He pauses. "Thanks, I guess?" He sticks his tongue out a bit, then bites it. He seems to be smiling but he's not sure about it—or another thing.

"Don't mention it. I don't know why, but I always feel like I'm guilty every time I win in this kind of thing."

"Why?"

"I said I don't know. Move on." I sigh.

"Anyway, people like her won't ever give up that easily. She'll surely find you on the internet."

"You used to be very annoyingly famous in our faculty too, right? So how did you break free from that?"

He starts scratching the back of his head. He looks kind of, restless.

"What's up?" I ask him.

"Nothing." He wets his lips again.

I my lips, thinking that it must've led him to one of the most disturbing memories ever, duh. I should stop.

"Alright. I was just trying to say, that you should try doing whatever that was again this time." I stand up.

"Remember that I always got your back no matter what, okay?" I smile at him, then leave to get our food