She did not want anything to do with Jaemin anymore, Dabin decided. First of all, they were long over. Second of all, she did not know if she could handle being around him without telling him how much she missed him—as cheesy as that might have sounded. The Gourmand had already lost its sweetness, it was scary. Anyway, she was lucky that the university campus was big, big enough to keep her from bumping to him. She heaved a sigh of relief as she entered the classroom of her last class for the day. Just a bit more and she could finally say that she survived her first day in college.

Maybe it was also because she was taking International Studies and she knew that Jaemin would not be taking the same course as her that she was so confident that she would not have to see him.

Not wanting any unwanted attention in such a large class, she settled herself on a seat in the middle of the middle row. She then took out her phone to read some online comics while she waited for her professor to arrive. Maybe she should have just focused more on her comic, maybe she shouldn’t have looked up in the first place because when she did look up, she saw a familiar figure striding into the classroom, looking for an available seat in the midst of the lecture hall.

Staring was a bad habit Dabin did not want to develop. However, she couldn’t seem to look away from the figure of the man she knew. As if knowing that she was watching him, he turned to look at her, meeting eyes with her with that unreadable eyes of his. He looked surprised, sure, but that was quickly masked with the expression that the female could not read. The female, of course, was the first one to break the eye contact. She did not want to look at him any longer. She decided to play dumb even after she felt him sit on the empty seat behind her—completely unbothered like a stranger she had never seen before.

Dabin wetted her lips, trying to act as natural as possible. She did not want to appear anxious in front of him, she wanted to show him that she was completely unaffected even if he was breathing right behind her. Albeit desiring to remove all her concern for the boy, a huge part of her regretted the fact that she did not even bother to tie her hair in a proper ponytail and she was stuck in sporting a messy one. Of all required subjects and classes, he just had to choose to be in that one. Awkwardly, she reached for her hair and tried to straighten it using her hands and fingers. She could even feel his eyes on her and that scared her to be honest, in case she would look like a fool (and she bet she was actually already doing a great job on looking like one).

“Student Jung Dabin,” the lecturer repeated, trying to get the attendance for the first day.

Dabin jolted, she did not even notice that the old man had arrived and started to take the attendance. Someone tapped her shoulder and whispered, “He’s calling you, quickly raise your hand.”

The female immediately did what she was told, startled that Jaemin had talked to her. When the lecturer proceeded to call someone else, Dabin timidly turned around to look at Jaemin but he was already looking somewhere else, acting like nothing had happened—something that the female should be doing.

Heaving an inward sigh, the female turned to the lecturer to actually listen to what he was going to say on the first day of lessons—although at the back of her head, she was wondering if she could switch classes so that she would not have to bump into Jaemin anymore.

“The attendance only matters during the first day of school, examination days, and the last meeting,” the lecturer announced. “For the rest of the days, I won’t bother to get your attendance. Whether you want to go to class or not, that will be up to you.”

Dabin’s tensed shoulders finally relaxed. She could just skip classes and she would not have to deal with Jaemin every single time they had class. She almost smiled, things were still being nice to her.

Perhaps, Dabin should have known better than to tell Sera which lecture hall she was in and to inform her best friend that she had nothing to do after because by the time class was done, Sera, along with Hina and two guys, were already waiting for her outside the classroom.

“How can he dismiss you at six-twelve when his class time is only up to six?” Sera was the one who spoke immediately after she grabbed Dabin by the wrist before the latter could even walk away—she was trying to leave before Jaemin, you see.

“What are you doing?” Dabin asked, referring to Sera’s hand that was on her left wrist.

“Let’s eat dinner,” Hina replied for Sera. “It turns out these guys would grab their dinner too so we decided to eat with them.” She ushered at the two boys who smiled at Dabin when she turned to them.

The two boys were equally good-looking. The taller one had a sharper feature but his bright eye smile told otherwise as it made him more approachable. He had a black hair that adorned his sharp feature. The shorter one had a softer appearance, looking gentler as he smiled—his eyes disappearing as he did so too. His brown hair with a hint of orange made him look like an adorable kid.

“What are you guys up to?” A familiar cheerful voice made Dabin turn back, she just had to because she had not heard of that in a while—she was welcomed by his unfamiliar cold voice anyway. She actually had to control her expression to not look that surprise that Jaemin sounded cheerful. But, as soon as she looked at him, she turned back to the other four people.

“Let’s eat dinner with Hina and Sera and their friend—” the shorter guy trailed off.

“Dabin, its Dabin,” the taller guy cut off, snorting at the shorter boy. “Sera kept on babbling that name. Injun, you should learn how to remember names.”

“How about remembering how to pronounce ‘Renjun’ properly first?” the shorter guy retorted.

“We’re not here to listen to your argument. That’s not leaving Dabin any good impression at all,” Sera pointed out. “Although she might not have any good impression because Jaemin was so rude to her earlier this morning.” To Dabin’s discomfort, Sera decided to bring up what happened earlier that day. “Jaemin,” Sera called out to Jaemin. “You should at least apologize. Even if she does not speak that much, she is probably hurt by that.”

Dabin swallowed her small gasp. When she felt like Jaemin might speak up, she immediately opened . “I… it’s really fine, really. It was an accident, really, because i-it was my fault for not paying attention. That’s why it’s really fine. He can get angry. It’s okay.” She felt like a fool, shaking her head and her hands in denial as she stuttered out an explanation.

The others chuckled—except for Jaemin, that was, because she clearly felt him tense behind her despite the obvious distance between their bodies.

“You’re so adorable, Dabin,” Sera cooed, pinching both of Dabin’s cheeks. “You do not have to deny it so strongly. Okay, okay, I understand. We’re going to forgive Jaemin now and in return, he has to pay for our dinner! Sounds great, right?”

“Deal!” Of course, Dabin did not agree but everyone else did, even Jaemin.

“Do I have a choice? If that was what you wanted, you should have just said so in the beginning, Sera. You didn’t have to make me feel guilty about something,” Jaemin chuckled. Dabin could almost see his grin just by hearing him talk. “Just name a restaurant and we’ll drive to that right away.”

Sera stuck her tongue out at Jaemin. “Okay, so, boys take your own cars while us, girls, will ride mine. See you at the newly opened restaurant downtown.”

The six of them somehow ended up being in an overly fancy restaurant about fifteen minute drive away the campus. Dabin was kind of worried that they did not reserve a table but she was reminded that she was going to have dinner with five people from influential families—Jaemin’s friends turned out to be the Renjun and Jeno who Daye’s friends had told her about; Sera was the daughter of the President of MBC; Hina was the daughter of the owner of Japan’s largest malls. Face passport was indeed heavier than any reservation.

They found themselves situated in a peaceful corner of the restaurant, hanging above them was a crystal chandelier which probably cost more than Dabin could imagine. All around were known personalities and sons and daughters of huge people—Dabin actually felt out of place, especially when she was wearing her blue Doraemon shirt paired with her black skinny jeans and a pair of worn-out walking shoes. The other five were entirely different because even if they just came from the University, they wore designer clothes.

“Their seafood pasta is the best,” Hina pointed out. “My sister said so since she tried this out yesterday with her boyfriend. It’s a must-try, she said.”

“I read about that too in a blog,” Sera voiced out her agreement.

“I didn’t know you read, Sera,” the taller one of Jaemin’s friend (who introduced himself as Lee Jeno before they left the University) teased Sera.

“For your information, I do read. I am, after all, a drama major,” Sera boasted, puffing her chest proudly.

“The only drama you do is fighting with all the girls back in high school,” Jeno commented, making the others laugh (it was actually Hina who was doubling over with laughter because she witnessed it firsthand and Dabin was merely chuckling because she simply heard about it from Sera).

Sera groaned, glaring at Jeno. “I seriously want to poke your eyes right now. Why are you seated across me in the first place?”

It was purely accidental—Dabin threw a glance at the person in front of her before adverting her gaze back to the bickering pair. The girls were the first once to settle down their seats, courtesy of Sera who occupied the middle chair, followed by the boys. Renjun followed the suit and sat on the nearest chair which was coincidentally across Hina. Jeno did the same, sitting on the second nearest chair. Jaemin, the last one to finish parking his car, was left with no choice but to sit across Dabin (although he did seem hesitant at first, he shrugged it off soon).

“Change seats with Dabin or Hina then,” Jeno nonchalantly told Sera.

“And let them suffer because of you? No thanks,” Sera snorted.

“Are we all going to have seafood pasta?” Renjun looked rather impatient when he spoke, probably getting too tired of the seemingly endless banter of the pair.

“I guess,” Hina tried to answer for everyone, looking around as if trying to get everyone’s attention.

Dabin remained quiet even if she felt Jaemin’s gaze on her, albeit for a few seconds only, and stared at her fingers as if it was her first time seeing them. She did not voice out her opinion, she felt no need to do so since everyone else seemed to be very excited about the seafood pasta they were getting. It was when Jaemin’s gaze finally left her figure that she managed to be much calmer.

Jaemin, with a smile on his face, finally spoke up, no longer playing the quiet card—to Dabin’s relief because she actually thought that Jaemin was being quiet because he disliked her presence. “I want to try the steak too. I’ll have a serving of it.”

“We just ate one for lunch.” Renjun gave the former a look as if judging him.

The pink-haired guy simply shrugged and raised both of his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. “Don’t judge me, you know how I love meat. I love steaks.”

Everyone else but Dabin chuckled at Jaemin’s statement. They knew Jaemin’s love for food, particularly meat. Dabin did too—she had witnessed it firsthand and it was indeed amusing, only, she did not know if she was even allowed to chuckle at him since they were not friends nor acquaintances.

“Fair enough,” Jeno mumbled, shrugging his shoulders.

“But as for everyone else,” Hina trailed off, trying to take note what everyone wanted to get. “Seafood pasta is good enough, right?”

There was a collective reply of agreement, coming from everyone while Dabin simply watched. She did not have to say anything, things would be just fine. She could only dumbly watch as Sera called the waiter over, ordering a strange-named food, which Dabin assumed to be the pasta, Jaemin’s steak, red ice tea for everyone and not to forget, ice cream cakes to be served later.

“You know, I’m thinking of switching courses,” Sera immediately spoke when the waiter left, saying that their foods would be ready in fifteen minutes. “Like, maybe drama is not for me. Should I just study business? What do you guys think?”

“You should have thought about what you actually wanted. You’re wasting your time if you do not even like drama in the first place,” Jaemin told Sera.

“I know.” Sera sighed. “I like drama too but now, I guess I do not like it that much?” She looked unsure so she turned to Dabin as if pleading for help.

Dabin had known Sera since they were little and although the latter was so talkative, there were times when one had to know Sera’s nonverbal cues to know what she wanted. Dabin knew exactly what the other female needed—reassurance. “You’ll be fine.” The former almost squeaked, feeling awkward that she had to speak more than she deemed necessary. “It’s only the first day, Sera. You’re probably just confused. Give it a few weeks—or months—before you decide.”

Sera hesitated before smiling widely. “You always know what to say, Dabin.”

“That’s like the most I have heard from her,” Renjun chimed in, sounding amused.

“She doesn’t talk that much,” Sera explained for Dabin. “She only speaks when she deems it as a necessity.”

“I guess someone has to learn from her,” Jeno muttered but loud enough for everyone to hear. That was, once again, a cue for the playful banter for the two to begin.

Dabin could only watch in amusement, chuckling from time to time. As she did so, she could not help but to sneak a glance at the guy in front of her who was also smiling at his friends. He was still as handsome as he was a few months ago. The only difference was, perhaps, solely his newly dyed hair which was a mixture of pink and orange. And if there was another difference, it must have been his attitude towards Dabin. Maybe, it would have been too much to ask for him to be friendly towards her or to at least cast a genuine smile towards her.

She was so deep in her thought that she was only brought back to reality when the waiter finally came with their order on his tray. He was professional, laying their own plates of foods on their table—with Jaemin having two plates before him because he requested to have both served right away.

The pasta looked appetizing; covered with red spaghetti sauce and topped with shrimps, squids and several other ingredients, one could not mistake it to be anything less than a four-star restaurant. The only problem was seeing it alone made Dabin nauseous, plus, she wanted to cry just by thinking about the rashes that might come later. This was so in contrast with how she felt seeing Jaemin’s mouthwatering steak which he so conveniently placed next to him and within Dabin’s sight as he started eating his pasta.

“Why aren’t you eating yet? It looks so great, right? I also don’t want to eat it right away but my tummy has been asking for it.” Sera nudged Dabin to get her attention.

“Y-yeah,” Dabin almost absentmindedly replied, twirling her fork to finally eat the pasta.

I can just take my medicine later. Jaemin is going to pay for this too, I shouldn’t waste it.

She slowly pulled her fork closer to . Before she could manage to actually feed herself with the pasta, she was startled because of the sound of a glass hitting the table—not strong enough for it to break into pieces though. She did not gasp at that, no, yet she did gasp about the fact that her pasta was already swimming in ice tea. In shock, she also happened to drop back her fork on her plate. For a good three seconds, she stared at her plate.

“I’m sorry,” Jaemin muttered although he did not sound apologetic at all—at least to Dabin.

Dabin snapped her head up to look at him, feeling betrayed. Maybe, he hated her that much. Maybe, he did not even want to see her eating in front of him—or worse, he might not have wanted her to even breathe in his presence. Negative thoughts filled Dabin’s mind that she just wanted to cry even if she remained calm and collected outside. She so badly wanted to drag Jaemin somewhere private and yell at him for making her feel more like a loser than she already did.

“What the hell, Na Jaemin,” Sera spat, annoyed that Dabin was not able to eat the pasta.

“It was an accident,” Jaemin countered, handing Dabin a piece of tissue as if that would help the situation (the female still accepted the tissue though). “As an apology, she can have my steak,” he declared, replacing the plate of pasta with his own plate of steak. Then, he signaled the waiter nearby to clean the mess.

“I thought you wanted steak,” Jeno butted in. “Should we just order a new serving of pasta for her?”

“That would take a good ten to fifteen minutes to serve. We’ll be done by then,” Jaemin stated. “Plus, I don’t think my stomach can handle the steak after eating this pasta.” He pointed at his plate.

Dabin was pretty sure that the second part was a lie, Jaemin had a huge appetite. The first part was highly plausible—Jaemin did not want to waste his time dealing with her so he gave her his food which made sense because either way, he would end up paying. But, Dabin did not want to take anything from Jaemin anymore. She did not want to be indebted to him. “N-no, I’m fine. I don’t have to eat.”  

Renjun laughed. “What kind of person does not have to eat? It’s okay, take Jaemin’s food. He is to blame why you have no pasta anymore.”

“It’s a pity that she wouldn’t taste such a great pasta though,” Hina said. “I think we should order another serving just for her.”

The others immediately agreed except for Jaemin who had a disapproving expression. “The pasta is nothing special. It tastes so bland. I don’t think we should let her taste it. We’ll just waste time and money on this.”

Dabin stared at Jaemin as if he had grown two heads, he was indeed being weird. He was looking at her too, trying to send her signals with his eyes. The female did not fully grasp what the signal had meant yet she had an inkling. Or maybe she was just exaggerating things and making them seem better than they were because she was trying to comfort herself.

“No. I don’t even think she likes the steak.” Sera frowned. “This is like the best of the best seafood pasta around the University. I’m going to call the waiter.”

“N-no need,” Dabin grabbed on Sera’s arm. “I-I actually wanted to eat the steak… I cannot eat the pasta.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Sera spoke in a stern voice. “I know you are overly sensitive and considerate but food is food and you like to eat, am I right? I’m going to buy it for you, Jaemin does not have to pay for it.”

“N-no!” Dabin immediately shook her head. She did not know if she should continue but feeling that Jaemin was watching her and anticipating what she was about to say next was giving her more courage. With a soft, soft voice, she decided to continue in a very small voice, “I-I am actually allergic to seafood.”

“What?!” Sera could not help but to shriek. She looked scandalized. “Then, you’re lucky that Jaemin spilled his drink on your pasta or you would have forced yourself to eat that. Goodness, how come I didn’t know about this when we’re friends from childhood? You could have—”

Sera was nagging so much Jeno, Renjun, and Hina had to calm her down yet Dabin failed to find herself actually processing what her best friend was saying. She had another concern of her own. She did not know how to feel about Jaemin’s actions. Although they seemed clear, they gave vague signals. Was he just being nice because he knew about Dabin’s condition? Or was it just really an accident?

Dabin could not be sure because there were really things that her best friend did not know but her ex-boyfriend did—just like her being allergic to seafood.

So, was it very delusional of her to hope that even just a little—a teensy weensy amount—that Jaemin, maybe not as much as before, still cared about her? Perhaps, it was an impossible scenario, a lost case, but deep inside, she hoped that it was true… because he actually remembered.