Two bottles of chocolate milk were placed onto the table, in front of Suzy, as Myungsoo sat down across her.

Her face brightened up upon seeing him.

“The vending machine ran out of banana milk today.” He said with a little smile.

“So you’re admitting that you’re buying it for me?”

“You always knew anyway, didn’t you?”

Suzy smiled, “Thanks.”

With the little smile still on his lips, Myungsoo returned, “You’re welcome.”

After a few sips of milk, Suzy said, without looking at Myungsoo, “I broke up with Minho. I should have listened to you; I’m sorry.”

“I’ve heard. It’s going all around the school now.”

A few moments of silence lingered before he spoke again, “You did the right thing. But… how do you feel?”

Suzy looked up at him, her eyes round with surprise.

How do I feel? I feel… unsettled. I feel… like something is different. But… I don’t think it has anything to do with Minho at all.

“Suzy? Are you okay?” Myungsoo asked, seeing the creases of frustration on Suzy’s forehead.

Suzy returned to her senses and chuckled, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Myungsoo grinned widely, “That’s good.”

Over the next hour leading up to lunch, more smiles and kind words were exchanged between them, but Suzy only felt increasingly suffocated, the reason of which she is unaware of.

As Suzy quietly picked at her vegetables during lunchtime, she couldn’t help but recall the way Myungsoo would always chide her about it and snatch the vegetables from her plate.

“Suzy!” He hollered as she poked lightly at the vegetables and shifted them to a lonely corner of the plate in contempt, “How can you play with your food like that? Don’t you think about how the people who cooked it will feel?”

Suzy pouted and raised an eyebrow, “Not like they’re going to see it anyway.”

“But still.” Myungsoo narrowed his eyes, then reached over to her plate and scooped up the vegetables, “Just give it to me if you don’t want it.”

Suzy moved her plate away and exclaimed, “No, I’m going to eat it!”

“Please, who are you kidding? You’re just playing with it. Come on.”

Myungsoo then grabbed the vegetables from her plate and placed them onto his own while Suzy pouted, “You’re looking down on me. I was going to eat them.”

Myungsoo laughed lightly, “Yeah, right. But seriously, Suzy, you need to grow up and learn how to eat vegetables. They’re good for you.”

Suzy burst out in laughter, “Oh my gosh, you sound exactly like my grandma!”

Myungsoo scowled, “So much for my concern.”

Nonetheless, he ended up laughing with her while the other people in the canteen casted weird glances on them.

Ever since then, Suzy always bought vegetables because she knew Myungsoo liked them; Myungsoo always snatched Suzy’s vegetables (and sometimes some other delicious-looking dishes) and gave her some of his in return, insisting that it was because he would never “take advantage” of her, being the “good boy” he is.

Suzy looked up from her food to see Myungsoo eating his own quietly. Sungjong was there too.

Suzy unknowingly pouted at how cold the atmosphere was and began poking hard at the vegetables, releasing the feelings of suffocation within her.

The sounds of the metal fork clanking against the plastic plate got Myungsoo’s attention. He looked up and frowned. The frown slowly dissolved into a gentle smile as he said, “You still don’t like the vegetables huh?”

Suzy stopped poking the vegetables and looked at him.

“Yeah, don’t you like them?”

Myungsoo couldn’t really comprehend why her voice sounded so bitter, but he just smiled and said, “You’re not going to eat them? I’ll take them then.”

“Go ahead. They’ve always been yours.”

“Suzy-ah… Is… is something wrong?”

“No, not really. I don’t know.”

An awkward silence lingered for a while as Suzy looked away.

“Ah, right!” Sungjong exclaimed suddenly, breaking the silence, “Myungsoo hyung always eats your vegetables. Hyung, you forgot today eh?”

Myungsoo glanced at Sungjong and chuckled sheepishly, “Yeah, man. I think my memory’s failing me.”

He quickly took her vegetables and then transferred some of his dishes onto Suzy’s plate.

“Suzy-ah, aren’t you going to eat?” He asked.

“Suzy, your food’s turning cold! Come on, don’t waste your parents’ hard-earned money like that. You’ve got to eat something; I don’t want to have to carry you home later!”

Suzy turned to Myungsoo and narrowed her eyes.

“I am not going to faint okay.” She enunciated, her eyes blazing.

“I’m not going to believe you until you eat something. Hurry up, the period’s almost over!”

Suzy scowled and finally picked up her utensils reluctantly.

Suzy shook her head.

Why do I keep thinking about the past?

“Suzy, are you okay?” Myungsoo asked as both of the boys looked upon her with concern.

“I’m fine, I just have no appetite, that’s all. Don’t worry though, I won’t need you to carry me home.”

“It’s okay, I wouldn’t mind even if I had to.” Myungsoo smiled.

Suzy returned the smile weakly, but the feeling of suffocation remained throughout the lunch and beyond.

After school, Myungsoo spotted Suzy at the school gate and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

“Hello!” He greeted with a bright grin.

Suzy smiled lightly, “You’re here.”

They saw, in a distance, a group of students queueing up for ice cream at the ice cream truck.

“Should we have some ice cream?” Suzy asked.

“But you’re still coughing, aren’t you? I think better not. Your cough may get worse.”

Suzy pouted, “But I’m really in the mood today.”

“Next time, okay? Get well first. You’ve had the cough for like a month already.”

“Eating ice cream when you still have flu? Are you trying to make yourself sick, Suzy?”

“But I can’t control this great desire; my heart longs for ice cream! You can’t stop me.” Suzy said as she walked to the ice cream truck determinedly.

“Just think about it in the long term, Suzy. If you get even more sick than you already are, you may not be able to go to school. And then you’ll have to deal with the pain – of not seeing me for a few days. Oh man, you don’t want that, do you?” Myungsoo grimaced exaggeratedly.

Suzy rolled her eyes.

“Okay, great, I’ve just lost all my appetite.”

Myungsoo had a silly grin plastered on his face as they walked away from the truck eventually.

“Considering the extent you’ve gone to in lying just to dissuade me, I’m going to give in to you for once.”

“What lying? I was being very serious.”

“Fine, let’s just go home then.” Suzy said as she turned in the other direction.

“How’s your project going?” Myungsoo asked with a smile.

“It’s almost done,” Suzy said, “We just need to find some sponsors.”

“Ah, right, sponsors! Do you need help? I think I have some contacts…”

Suzy smiled, “Oh, you do? That’s great!”

“Do you need help? I see that you’ve been on that question for ages…” Myungsoo said, peeking over at Suzy’s half-filled paper.

Suzy groaned, “Yeah, I still don’t get it. Do you know how to do it?”

Myungsoo smirked, “Yeah, and guess what? I’ll help you. I know, I know, I’m such a nice soul that even I can’t stand it sometimes. Oh, but there’s a condition.”

“How’s that a nice soul?” Suzy gritted her teeth.

“All you have to do is cook me dinner! Isn’t it a great deal?”

Suzy smiled embarrassedly, “Are you sure… you want to taste my cooking?”

Myungsoo made a terrified expression for a moment, before breaking into a grin and saying with his arms stretched out, “Of course! I’m a risk-taker!”

A slap on his back was delivered promptly and he could only scream, “Suzy!” as she stormed off.

“C-conditions?” She asked cautiously with both eyebrows raised.

“What conditions? We’re friends!” Myungsoo chuckled, “Don’t worry about it!”

“Oh, thanks.” Suzy said with a grateful smile, but her heart was still at unease for some reason.

This carried on for a few days, with Suzy hoping that the feeling would just go away by itself, but of course, it never did.

Sungjong was sketching a new clothing design when Suzy crashed onto the seat across him and exclaimed, “Sungjong!”

The of his pencil went in an unintended direction and Sungjong frowned.

“What is it, Suzy?” He grumbled, “Can’t you see I’m doing something –”

“Listen to me! This concerns our friendship!”

“You think you can threaten me?” Sungjong said as he meticulously erased the mistake, not giving a heed to Suzy’s words.

Suzy ignored Sungjong’s preoccupation with his sketch and continued, “I think I finally get why I’m feeling this suffocated the whole time.”

“Why?” Sungjong muttered as he continued working on the delicate contours of the sketch.

Suzy smiled, “See? I knew you were listening to me.”

Sungjong scoffed lightly, still not looking up.

“Sungjong-ah. Myungsoo is gone.”

Sungjong’s head shot up and he looked at Suzy with confusion written all over his face.

“But I just saw him this morning.”

“I mean, he’s not the same anymore. Recently, he’s been acting so different.”

“Really? He’s still the same around me. Silly, cocky Myungsoo.” Sungjong said in disbelief.

Suzy scoffed, “It’s true then. So he’s only treating me this way.”

Why does this sound so familiar? Sungjong thought.

“Wait a minute, I heard you say something similar last week.” Sungjong said.

“What? I didn’t…”

“Oh, I remember now!” Sungjong exclaimed, “You did! You said you didn’t like how Myungsoo’s treating you so differently from other girls!”

“Shh!” Suzy said, “Can you not say that so loudly in the school?”

“But that’s what you said.” Sungjong shrugged, “So how’s it now?”

“Now… He treats me… the same as other girls?” Suzy mumbled absent-mindedly, her pitch increasing with confusion in the last few syllables.

“Aha! Then what are you complaining about now?”

“No, no, no, that’s not it! I feel so weird now because he changed so much around me.”

“But isn’t that what you wanted?” Sungjong’s words were sharp, piercing through Suzy’s thoughts mercilessly as he looked her in the eyes.

“No!” She blurted out, and then continued in a softer voice, “I don’t like it.”

Sungjong rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, “Either way, you don’t like it. Girls.”

Suzy grabbed Sungjong’s hands (further ruining his sketch in the process) and cried, “I’m so confused; what should I do now, Sungjong?”

“Suzy! My sketch –” Sungjong exclaimed, but stopped abruptly when he saw how desperate she looked.

“Suzy… are you alright?” Sungjong asked gently.

“I just want things to go back to the way they were, before Minho, before Myungsoo treated me so distantly, just like everyone else… I know I misunderstood him before, but…”

“He was hurt, Suzy. He may not have shown it, but he was upset because of how you neglected us for Minho, and because of how you doubted him. I’m not telling you to make you more upset, but you need to know, to patch things up.”

Suzy nodded.

“He still cares about you, you can tell right?”

She nodded a few more times without saying a word.

“That day, after your quarrel with him, we met. He said that he wanted to change his behavior towards you because you didn’t like it. But even I can tell, that relationship between you two is something so special, how can you just give it up? Suzy, just talk to him sometime, I’m sure things will return to the way it was very soon.”

Suzy smiled lightly as Sungjong squeezed her hands firmly in assurance.

“Thanks, Sungjong. Always such a trustworthy friend.”

“Personally, I feel quite uncomfortable to see you two so unnatural around each other as well, so it will be good for everyone if you two talk things over.”

Suzy nodded hard a few times.

“Thank you anyway!”

During the first lecture the next day, Suzy was scribbling on her lecture notes yet again, while thinking about how to talk to Myungsoo. Incidentally, she stumbled upon an old scribble Myungsoo made on her notes.

#1 Fool --> Bae Suzy

She stared at it for a few moments before realizing that it was a grave mistake to do so, because those memories came gushing up at her, guilt and longing tugging so much at her heart that she couldn’t take it.

Suzy you really are a fool how could you not have realized how you actually liked the interaction although it was different it was something unique it was something between only the two of you how could you have misunderstood and taken it for granted –

Suzy realized her tears were about to fall and looked down, pretending to read her lecture notes.

Suzy what are you doing you are in the middle of a lecture don’t cry don’t cry you cannot cry –

Regardless, she let out a few gentle sobs which, unfortunately, were sufficient to break the silence of the lecture hall.

Suzy get a hold on yourself everyone’s looking this way –

Suzy got up abruptly and ran out of the lecture hall.

Myungsoo traced his vision from Suzy’s empty seat to the door of the lecture hall, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

In the next few seconds, he too, got up and left the lecture hall swiftly.

“Suzy! Suzy!” He shouted, running after her. He grabbed her wrists tight when he found her and turned her to face him.

Suzy turned her head away and the sobs were still prominent.

They were in the middle of an empty corridor then.

“What on earth is wrong with you?” He asked anxiously.

“I lost my friend.” She said in between sobs.

“What are you talking about?” Myungsoo asked, bewildered.

“His name is Kim Myungsoo, have you seen him?”

“You’re not making any sense, Suzy, I’m right here.”

Suzy shook her head hard, and then Myungsoo pulled her into his embrace, placing his hands on her back.

Suzy just sobbed and sobbed, and Myungsoo felt his heart break again and again.