“You look happy,” Seri remarked as I took the seat beside her.

“I’m happy,” I replied nonchalantly. I didn’t realize sooner how it sounded so true.

“Good morning class,” Mr. Dong greeted as soon as he placed his bags on his desk. He brushed his hands over his pants to wipe them off.

“Good morning,” the class greeted in an unsynchronized manner.

“How was your weekend?” he clasped his hands together, signaling the start of the class.

“Great, except for one thing,” I mumbled to myself.

“Do you remember the homework I didn’t give you?” He smiled and I laughed silently at his humor. I seemed to be the only one who did so.

I leaned closer to Seri, “Do you know that the guards don’t greet him when he passes by the gates?”

I laughed at my own joke and Seri gave me a half-hearted smile before she turned back to Mr. Dong.

This was why it was difficult to make friends. When I made jokes, no one laughed. I felt like no one understood me, not just my kind of humor but everything else. Was I weird? I was one of the most normal people I’ve known, not that I could say a lot when I always hung out with the likes of Mino.

Seri was the only one I’ve tried talking to. Half of it had to do with the fact that the seat beside her was free on the first day and it was the closest to the door. The other half being that we share similar schedules.

It was really difficult. We didn’t have the same wavelength of thinking. We didn’t even have each other’s numbers, not that I needed it, anyway. I only used my phone to keep in touch with my family, but seeing as they were away, I used the laptop more often. Exchanging text messages with Mino was already a difficult task. What more she, Seri, a mere classmate?

I was that detached, that unable to make new connections aside from the ones I already had, two of them going downhill.

I never thought I’d come to terms with that. I always thought that my bond with my sister and mother was unbreakable, that distance was nothing. But with distance came the difference in our time zones and the less frequent phone calls. I felt like I was starting to lose touch with them.

I was growing, not that growing lost was a positive thing but the point here was that I was changing, changing from the person I once had been.  I needed them to feel secured, to stay myself and unfortunately, I couldn’t have them. It wasn’t like I could ask them to give up their lives so that I would stay the same and for someone who understood, that would be lowly.

I had told them I would be fine but back then I didn’t know what the situation would be. I hadn’t realized that I was so dependent to them.

I didn’t even know what would happen if Mino disappeared as well. That would be a nightmare. He had with him the last piece of me. I was so thankful that he was living with me now. It felt like I had myself back, closer.

I shifted my attention back to Mr. Dong who was writing a very familiar word on the white board.

Love.

After he wrote the last leg of the letter E, the class made hooting noises.

Childish. My nose scrunched up at their reaction and after a second, I regained my expressionless face.

“Love is a very vast subject. There’s love for family, for material things, for nature, for someone…” Mr. Dong drifted off and he wore a sullen expression. He seemed almost sad, pained but he regained his composure immediately and the corners of his lips curled up again. It seemed like it didn’t happen, like I was just imagining it. But as one who paid attention, I knew it did.

“We’re going to write about love for someone. It can be a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a crush. It doesn’t have to be all rainbows and butterflies. You can express jealousy, longing, getting over, anger, so long as it relates to love,” he paused to breathe and he walked closer to his desk to retrieve a sheet of paper from his bag.

“I’m going to read you something, to give you an idea.”

“