The lock turned noisily. Quickly abandoning what I was engrossed with, I ran to sit before my computer.

Luna whistled, coming through the door. I moved the mouse casually with a nod to acknowledge her presence. Dumping her books on her desk, she glanced over to greet me - her sharp eyes didn't fail to notice the outfits I had laid out on the bed.

"Amber, what are all these clothes doing on your bed?"

"Oh those? Clean laundry," I fibbed, hoping that Luna would just retreat to her side of the room and stay there.

Only she wouldn't let up. The nosy girl stood at the foot of my bed, scrutinising the display, "Are you planning your outfit?"

Slowly twirling around on my chair, I shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe?"

"You never care about what you wear," Luna stated the obvious. Why was it of all days, it was that day Luna didn’t have to meet Onew after class?

She was right - I never paid much attention to my clothes and wore a semblance of a uniform - of baggy tess and jeans - for school. On occasion, I did change it up - back home in Beijing or with Kris, I would put some effort into my dressing and attempt to look more feminine.

Yet, somehow, I had found myself rummaging through my sparse wardrobe for something decent to wear earlier and had spread out the permutations of tops and jeans.

For my date with Jin Woon.

I didn't know why it mattered - there was a pressing need to dress up for the occasion. Although this didn’t necessarily mean pulling out a dress or skirt that I didn’t even own - a 180 switch would probably scare Jin Woon - I did want to look good.

Although I had my fair share of movies, fancy dinners and random I guess you could call it romantic events that Kris had a knack of planning, everything me and my oldest friend had done together had been organic. Living together meant that the normal dating process wasn’t necessary - there was none of that heart thumping and nerve wracking that involved waiting by the phone for text messages and calls. There was zero anticipation and building up - I always knew that Yifan loved me and I had loved him too.

I had never been asked out before. As gentlemanly as Yifan was, he had taken for granted that I would be his default companion.

I had never been on a proper date before.

And I was nervous.

My roommate annoyingly stuck her face two inches from mine, “Are you going out?”

“Duh. Why else would I be getting dressed for,” Picking up a top, I remained what I hoped was nonplussed.

“Who are you going out with?”

God, this Luna could be as persistent as an insurance agent. I paused to think how much of the truth to tell her then I realised she would still find out through the grapevine even if I lied now. So I quickly muttered, “Jin Woon.”

A high-pitched yelp shot through the room. Staring at Luna in horror - why did girls make such noises when they were excited - I contemplated whether I should smack her.

“I always knew that you liked him!”

“Wait a minute, didn’t you say that he liked me the last time?” Perhaps I did need some new clothes, I eyed the outfit combinations critically.

“Of course Jin Woon likes you. Remember all those times he walked you home? But I could tell you were soft on him - you practically glowed each time after.”

So Luna was a genius now?

Before I could retort, Luna pointed at the ensemble on the left, “You should definitely wear that, Am. Oh my god, can I help you put on some makeup?”

“No you can’t.” Secretly approving Luna’s choice, I now squatted down to rifle through the footwear that lived under my bed.

She finally stepped back into her half of the room, only to ask, “Is Jin Woon the reason you broke up with Kris?”

Sighing deeply, I shook my head hard, “Our breakup had nothing to do with anyone else.”

The girl nodded as though she understood. For a minute, I envied her relationship with Onew - the love they shared was innocent and simple. I always believed that I would grow old with Kris and never had any opinions about that until Jin Woon walked into my life. Now I couldn’t imagine a world without the latter, even as my oldest friend threatened to cut himself out.

I checked myself out in the mirror once more after getting changed, only to notice the ring on my finger. I had left it where Kris put it - on my third finger - even though I was uncomfortabl