Chanyeol doesn’t show up to math class. I debate texting him about how he’s doing, whether he’s sick or if he needs me to give him the notes, but I decide against it. I’m worried about him, but I know I shouldn’t be. Chanyeol may be a friendly confidante, but he doesn’t seem like the type of person who wants people to know about his personal problems. Even when he is close to me, he feels distant. It’s like that time at the back of my dorms when I told him everything about Lange. There was a disconnection of communication, as if he could hear me but I couldn’t hear him.

“We’re going to have a test next week,” my teacher says. Everybody groans and takes out their pens to write out the homework he is sure to give us. I start to write notes when someone calls my name.

“Junah.”

I raise my head. Lange is looking at me. “Um, do you think I could borrow a pencil? I lost mine.”

Thinking too quickly, I give him the pencil I am already holding. He hesitates to take it from my hand and says, “Um … “

“Don’t worry, I have more,” I say. He shrugs and takes my pencil. As soon as he turns back around, I cover my face in my hands. I’m ridiculous. Why did I give him the pencil I was already holding? I reach for my pencil case and grab another one.

I make sure to write my notes clearly and concisely in case Chanyeol asks for them. When class ends, I quickly pack my things and head towards the dorms. After doing my homework and watching a few episodes of a TV show, I text Nam to join Bora and me for dinner.

At the cafeteria, I see Chanyeol sitting by himself. I momentarily excuse myself from Bora and Nam to talk to Chanyeol.

“Chanyeol!” I greet. He jumps when he sees me, and then he laughs away his surprise. “What’s up? Why weren’t you in class today?”

“You know you can skip up to seven classes on this campus and still pass, right?” He observes. “I felt like skipping.”

“Oh.” I look down at his table. “Do you need notes?”

“I got them from Lange,” he tells me. He takes a bite of his food and says, “By the way, I talked to Lange about you.”

“What did you say?” I ask him as I pull a chair out and sit down.

“I basically tried to get some information out of him. He said he doesn’t know what he thinks of you yet.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Maybe you guys have an unresolved issue.”

Unresolved? “We don’t have anything – “ I stop. I think back to our previous semester’s history. He doesn’t mean that, does he? Chanyeol smiles at me, and I know that he understands what I am considering. “But I’m not a confrontational person,” I say. “I can’t just bring that up. I don’t even know him yet.”

“So get to know him,” Chanyeol concludes. “It really isn’t that difficult. Don’t treat him like he’s any different from all of your other friends.”

“But like … “ But he is. He is different. He’s different, because I’m attracted to him. “Of course you can say that. You’re friends with everybody.”

“Mostly acquaintances,” Chanyeol corrects. “By the way, I think they’re calling you,” he points behind me. I turn around to see Nam and Bora staring at me with really weird faces. They erupt into laughter, and then they wave for me to come over. “Doesn’t matter. Either way, I’ll have him for you by February 14.”

“It sounds like a mail order,” I scoff as I stand up.

“Makes love seem easy, doesn’t it?” Chanyeol comments. The tone of his voice pauses me from leaving. In a rejected whisper, as if his thoughts have already been discarded without having ever been said, he murmurs, “It isn’t.”

“Do you want to invite him