Chapter 22: Like Sherlock

          “He called you by nickname,” That was what Gette told me. At first, my mind was thinking of an implied meaning, but I was too shocked with Catherine's sudden change that it made thinking difficult for me.

          “It's impossible that he heard us call you 'Mae',” L said. “We never spoke to him during the party and never called your name out loud during the battle.”

          “There's... is there any possibility that he...” I couldn't finish my statement.

          “Yes,” Gette said. “Yes, Mae. He's exactly who we think he is. The odds are just too slim to be all coincidences.” Just when I thought I gave up, here came another one of those events that would have somehow built up my hope if I wasn't too tired of hoping anymore.

          “As much as it is hard to believe, but yes, everything is just a coincidence,” I told her. “But how can you be sure?” Gette asked, “Mae, you know that everything happens for a reason. What if the reason is you?” Gette walked up to me and held me on both shoulders. “You already told me that I know what your heart truly wants. Now why don't you admit it again and trust me?”

          “Wait,” I said before dropping her hold, “Wait for just a minute. What... what happened here, exactly?”

          “I didn't know exactly, but Myung-soo can tell you,” Gette said.

          “Gette showed me her new composition,” L pointed to the music sheets placed over the stand. “She played it for a while, then she thought she should call you.”

          “You were taking a long while,” Gette said. “I tried your phone, but you weren't answering so I thought you were having a hard time carrying the things I asked you to buy. I tried looking for you outside, but you weren't there yet.”

          “Gette left, and so I was alone with a huge grand piano in front of me. I tried playing the composition myself. Slowly of course, when suddenly, he came in.” L said. “I stopped playing, and you know what he told me? He said 'I thought you just play guitar.'”

          “Then he asked if he can play to hear it himself,” L said. “Of course, he did a great job – sounded like Gette's – but then he saw the title and asked me if it was my girlfriend who composed it.”

          “What was the title?” I cut in.

          “The Sunshine of My Life,” L said, and Gette looked down, apparently a bit shy about it.

          “So what did you say?” I said.

          “I said 'Yes it is',” L said. “He asked me who that precious girl who composed it for me was. That was when Gette came in.”

          “I remember his expression,” Gette said. “His eyes widened and he stood up from the chair. Myung-soo motioned me to come and he held my hand. That's when he did something stupid.”

          “It wasn't stupid! It's called being proud of you,” L said. “I introduced her as my girlfriend, and he must have been so shocked because he said, 'I thought you're with Mae'.”

          “No, actually he said, 'you’re with her? Aren't you supposed to be with Mae?'” Gette said. “And that was the time our suspicions heightened.”

          “That's the time she played the role of a y girlfriend,” L said. Gette groaned and hid herself behind me. “Hey, it wasn't that bad,” L told her before turning to me. “She said that you and I weren't together and the only girl in my life was her.”

          “It must have done the magic since he told her, 'how could you do this to your best friend?' and Gette and I were like, 'how did you know that Mae is my best friend?' and 'How did you know Mae in the first place?' but he stood there, probably mentally slapping himself after realizing that he had made a lot of slip ups.”

          “And that was when you and that new girl came in,” Gette said. “How did you even find a rude person like her?”

          “She wasn't like that when I met her,” I said. “But she became rude when...” I remembered the time before she pulled Jason out of the room. “... When Jason called me Mae.” L chuckled.

          “See? She knew something,” L said. I took some time to take in everything. After a while, Gette spoke. “The rest is up to you,” she said, “If you would demand answers from him, I say you do it, because you're the only one who has the right to do it. Just remember that L and I, even the whole Infinite will always be here to back you up.” There was something comforting in Gette's words that was telling me that whatever I do, everything will work out fine. Then for the first time after three days, I smiled, with hope back in my heart.

          “Maybe I should try crossing paths with Jason more frequently,” I said, and then the mood lightened. I was about to go when I remembered something. Surely I've been gone for long, but the story seem to be too short for an hour and a half drama. Then I thought, they were definitely holding up information.

          “Oh, by the way, L, you have something on your lips,” I said, “is that lip gloss?” And what happened made me laugh out loud. Gette quickly looked at L who quickly wiped his mouth. “There's nothing!” L said which made it even funnier.

          “Ah, now I know what you did before Gette thought of calling me,” I said, leaving my best friend and L blushing beet red. I left the two and decided to have a walk alone. I was walking to the hallways to our gymnasium, leading back to our classrooms when I got sight of Jason and Catherine. They were sitting on a bench near the gym entrance. It appeared as if they were having a calm, serious talk, but then Catherine suddenly stood up and sent a slap to Jason's face. The impact was so strong that I could hear it from afar.

          As soon as I saw it, I quickly hid myself behind one column and continued watching. I knew it was wrong, but curiosity got its best on me. Catherine told him a few last words before she turned around and left him. I thought it would be best for me to turn around and leave, but the sight hurt me. I left Jun-hyung once, and now even if I still wasn't sure Jason was Jun-hyung, I just couldn't step back and leave.

          Jason remained sitting on the bench, the soft waves of his hair hid the emotion in his eyes. It tried to look normal, as if I was going somewhere past him. When I was already in front of him, I took a step closer. Then I asked. “Are you... alright?” He looked up and I was sure I saw some other emotions along with surprise. It was something like... fear?

          “I'm... I'm alright,” he said before bowing down again. “Why are you here?”

          “Me?” I wasn't that prepared for a back story, “I was just about to go to classrooms when I saw you like that.”

          “Alone?” he said.

          “Yeah,” I told him, but I couldn't bring myself to lie. “Well I saw you got slapped by your girlfriend. But I promise, I didn't mean to see.” Unexpectedly, he chuckled. “Right, she's my girlfriend.”

          “It'll be alright,” I tried to sound encouraging, but can you imagine how hard it had been for me? “Every relationship has its ups and downs.” He didn't say anything, so to avoid being called a nosy person, I said goodbye and backed off, but then when I was about to leave, he spoke.

          “I guess you're right,” he said. I turned around and listened to the rest of his statement. “We had our ups before, I just hope we could come back to the way things were.” His statement almost brought me to the edge of emotions, but I had to remind myself that he was talking about Catherine. Not me.

          “It will come back. Just trust him,” I told him.

          “Who?” I forgot to give emphasis on the word 'him.'

          “Oh, I mean God... He's the only one who has the power to bring them back,” I told him, “If you're having hardships today, just remember that He has His reasons.” For a while, he remained silent. I took it as my cue to leave. As I was walking away, I chose to take a glance back in his direction. That was the time I saw him at ease, head resting at the back rest of the bench, with a small smile in his lips.

          I came to school the next day with a strong feeling of hope in me. Gette still sat beside me in the bus even with L around, and would usually chat me about anything but that day I didn't really talk them about my encounter with Jason.

          L went to his first class that day which left Gette and I on our way to our first class. “Are you going to ask him now?” Gette asked.

          “Not now,” I told her, “If he really is Jun-hyung, then I'll treat him the way I wanted to treat him when he was Jun-hyung.”

          “Of course, not right away,” she said.

          “Ah, right, because it might scare him,” I said, “Maybe just like a person who wanted to be friends with another.” We were already in the classroom that time. I put down my things on my chair and opened my drawer to place the books we were about to use that day, but to my surprise, an album was inside my drawer with a note stuck on it. “Thanks about yesterday,” the note said. I inspected the album. It was a collection of guitar melodies, all performed by...

          “Sung-ha Jung?” Gette said beside me. “I never thought you're a Sung-ha Jung fan. How did you learn about him?”

          “Well, I knew him because of...” right. Because of Jun-hyung. Another coincidence? I don't think so. But then I'm not sure what it was.