A helicopter flew across the cerulean sky.

After a week of cloudy skies, the rain had finally stopped.

There were no more puddles that could make your shoes wet and dirty at the sidewalk and there were no more raindrops to make you fall sick.

The sky was healthy once more.

“Which one’s faster? A helicopter or an airplane?”

“I’d say airplane.” Sungyeol replied as he stuffed a lollipop into his mouth.

“No, a helicopter is faster.” I argued.

“Airplane’s faster.” He argued back.

“Screw them all.” I held up my hands in the air dramatically. “I can’t study anymore. The exam’s right around the corner. What should I do?”

“Simple, force yourself to study,” Sungyeol shrugged. “If you can’t study alone, try studying in groups with your friends—well if you have any friends.”

“Why do you think I have no friends? I have Ara, Sungjong and Nana.”

“But you don’t seem like their friends. All you did when you sit with them was to stare into space or do your homework. You didn’t even speak to them unless they talked to you. You’re just like a stranger in a park who would sit down on a bench next to a bunch of friends.”

“Whoa, that hurts.” I made a pained expression and he laughed. But honestly speaking, I was a bit taken aback when he said that.

What he said sounded true to me. Whenever my friends had a conversation, I would only sit there listening to them or end up drifting into my mind. I never really started a conversation with them. It was always them who would speak first. I wasn’t the type to start a conversation first, I guess.

There’s nothing wrong with that, right?

“Do you really consider them as your friends?” Sungyeol looked at me expectingly.

“Yes.” I answered without hesitation.

“Do you consider them as your best friends? “

That left me speechless.

I gazed down towards my hands that were resting on the rail quietly and finally scoffed after a couple of moments.

“You’re so good at making me feel bad. But it’s true,” I turned around to face him and managed a light smile. “I can’t-no, don’t think they’re my best friends, yet. Actually, I’m not sure whether I know when or how someone qualifies to be a best friend. My sister told me that there’s no use in calling someone your best friend. They’ll only abandon or forget about you in the future. Some might even betray you. You can’t trust those kinds of people.”

“Well, I don’t know what happened to your sister but there’s only one thing that I want to tell you,” Sungyeol leaned closer, staring right into my eyes. I stood there frozen and stared back at him. His black hair looked so soft up close. I had the urge to touch it but I controlled myself and clasped my hands together. “If you don’t cherish the people around you then you’ll never get to experience joy of living.”

“Then tell me how to cherish them.”

“Easy, listen and talk to them.” he took my wrist and wrapped his big hand around it, causing me to blush. “But most importantly, you should learn to care about them. Hold their hands and don’t let go.”

“That’s so ridiculous…” I was about to laugh when I saw Ara staring at us solemnly from the entrance of the class. When she saw me looking at her, she tore her gaze away and walked out of the class.

I then realized that there was one more thing that made me hesitate to have best friends.

Jealousy.