-The Present-

“You trying to get chose, huh?” Chanyeol nudges my elbow.

“No.”

“Yeah, you are.” He smirks in that self-satisfied way that he does so well.

“Can we not?” I don’t know what makes me feel more irritated: the fact that he’s annoying, or that he’s right.

We fall into a lapse of silence as I look out the window, people watching. A couple walks by, holding each other’s hands, disgustingly happy.

“How come nobody likes me?” I turn my head to look at him, resting my chin on the palm of my hand. How come nobody chooses me?

“What do you mean? I like you,” he looks at me empathically.

“You don’t count.”

“Wow. Ouch, much,” he clutches his chest in mock pain.

“No, Ben-ten, you know I love you too,” I use his nickname. “Am I ugly? Am I too sarcastic? Am I just unfit for relationships?”

“Yeah, you actually put that into a box very neatly. Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he says, casually taking a sip of his hot chocolate.

I resist the urge to punch him across the face. “You’re helpful.”

“And you’re a ray of sunshine.” He laughs. “Come on, lighten up.”

“You’re not helping.” I ease up, though.

“I’m not trying to be,” he smiles at me teasingly.

What a great relationship we have, Ben-ten and I. But I love him, and he knows he can get away with it.

“But seriously, don’t be insecure. It doesn’t suit you. And don’t worry too much about getting chose. It’s not that important,” he looks at me seriously. “There’s so much more to the world than waiting for your prince to come.” On cue, he starts singing ‘Someday My Prince Will Come.’ Moment of seriousness over; I knew he couldn’t keep that for long.

I shake my head at him, laughing at his silliness. “Come on. I have class in ten minutes.” Still, I knew he was right. It’s just a matter of actually believing those words.

-

“Lay!”

He looks up, dazed. Raising up a hand in acknowledgement, he quickly bowed to look at his phone again.

That’s weird. He’s never rude to anyone.

“Is something the matter with him?” I look at Danhee in question.

“You should ask him. I don’t think it’s for me to say,” she avoids.

I put away the thought until I catch him walking back to the dorms by himself.

“Lay.” I jog lightly so I could walk with him side by side. “How are you?”

“Could be better,” he shrugs.

“Come on, Lay. You said the same thing earlier. What’s up?”

“My girlfriend and I broke up.” He looks at me for a second before directing his eyes back to the pavement.

“Oh.” It can’t be. Not Lay and his girlfriend. They have the relationship people only dreamed about. Lay’s clearly so in love with her. Based on the pictures, I assume she feels the same way.

“It happened just this Sunday.”

“I’m sure whatever it is, you’ll get back together quickly. Especially since you love each other the way you do.”

He doesn’t respond; instead, he shoves his hands into his pockets and looks down on his feet, walking with the most devastatingly sad look I’ve seen.

I don’t know how to react. I don’t know what to say, so I stay quiet.

We reach the dorm building, words still hanging in the air.

“Bye,” he waves his hand half-heartedly, entering the elevator.

“Bye,” I wave back as the door gradually covered more and more of his slumped figure. I’m such a great friend. I can’t even console him, because I don’t know how to. Because I may know that it’s painful, but I would never know how painful or how all-consuming that must feel.

But that won’t keep me from trying. I climb up the stairs to my floor, grab my homework, and head straight to the seventh floor. If he’s going to wallow in his sorrows, he won’t do it alone. I refuse to let him.

He lets me in, but immediately flops down on his bed, staring at his phone, presumably at a picture of her.

Now what? I sit down on his desk, unsure of how to approach him.

The door clicks open as Luhan enters the room. I look at him, willing him to help me.

“Hey, wanna eat? I cooked much more rice than I thought I could eat. Help me finish it.”

“But I’m full.” I just ate dinner.

Lay doesn’t even respond.

“No. It’s going to go bad if I you don’t eat it.” Luhan takes a plate and a spoon for me. “Let’s eat it outside so we don’t get the room dirty.”

I concede, following Luhan out the door and into the hallway. We eat in silence for a few minutes.

“I don’t know what to do,” I whisper to him.

“He’s fine,” Luhan just keeps eating.

“No. He’s not. Not right now,” I retorted fiercely.

“He’s going to be fine.”

I’m not sure how to take this apathy. How could he not see that Lay’s not fine?

“Don’t coddle him. He doesn’t want your pity. Right now, he just needs to think. Let him be. Try again tomorrow.” He looked at me, conveying with his eyes that he knew Lay wasn’t fine.

I take Luhan’s advice. I will try again tomorrow.

--

Lol sorry for the number of guys. But I want this to be reflective of a true college experience, where one's life does not revolve around just 2 people. I don't know if Luhan is still the endgame. We'll see :)