돌아서고나면 너를 제일 잘 아는건 나잖아.
( But when we turn around, I'm the one that knows you best. )

"Did you hear about what happened to Yong Seura?" Saemi leaned against the balcony that was overlooking the school grounds, "Didn't someone say that she fell down the stairs and broke a few bones? I really feel bad about what happened to her."

Lie.

Sometimes, Mark doesn't know what to believe. Although the girl in front of her appeared to be the sweet girl type, he can't understand why every single socially polite thing she says is a lie.

Perhaps this is a question that should never be answered. He knows that if tells Saemi that he can determine what are lies and truths, she would never believe him, and even if she does believe him, she would become very cautious with her word choice. If that were the case, then he would no longer be able to find out truths about her.

He does not want this.

Mark nods slowly, "Yeah. I can't believe something so terrible happened to her."

"Wasn't she an acquaintace of yours?" Saemi questioned, "I've seen her talking to you before."

Lie.

Mark tilts his head to the side in confusion, "You've seen her talking to me? Where?"

"Just in the hallways," she replies as if what she was saying was the truth, "The last time I saw her, she seemed really happy to see you. You two seemed quite close, and I almost thought that the two of you were the true girlfriend-boyfriend pair."

Lie. Lie. Lie.

Hearing those words come out of Saemi's mouth, he found himself speechless. If he didn't have this ability, then he would've fell for Saemi's lies immediately. They always seemed real to the point that he could've sworn she's done her research on him. It was also difficult to the point that he felt like she was testing him on how long he could keep up that perfect image of himself.

Mark takes a deep breath, speaking in a solemn manner, "She was one of the people who took a liking to me; in fact, she is the reason why I asked you to become my stand-in girlfriend. While she had started to become the possessive type, I still can't believe someone wanted to hurt her. She is still one of the nicer people I know."

"I wonder who has it out for her," Saemi taps her chin, curious, "Maybe we should get justice for her. She seems like a sweet girl."

Lie.

Hearing her talk, the boy  finds himself laughing softly, "Yeah. She does make quite the good first impression."

Saemi looks at him with a look of confusion. She doesn't understand why he is laughing, but even so, she realizes that his laugh sounds a lot more genuine than the other times he's laughed. With that, she smiles as well, impressed with herself for being able to elicit such a natural emotion from the other.

What she didn't know was that Mark was thinking about how she could pick up on the annoyance that was Yong Seura. He found it amusing that Saemi had the same thoughts as he did, even if she didn't say it bluntly. Of course, Seura was a bother. The way she tried to cling to him, as if her life depended on it, caused him to want to erase her from his life.

Like Saemi had said, everyone in the school believed that Seura was pushed from the stairs, but Mark knows the truth of the situation. The teachers had made up the lie about the little fall Seura had because they didn't want the students to worry. The teachers had found Seura outside, under an opened second floor window.

They concluded that Seura had jumped from it due to a broken heart.

Yes, every student and teacher at JG High knew that Yong Seura had a huge crush on Mark Tuan. Seura made it clear as day that Mark was going to be hers, so when the rumor went around school that Mark had been in a long distance relationship with Saemi, they knew that Seura was one of the girls who took it the hardest.

Seura had ended up in the hospital, in a coma, with a couple of broken bones. Her injuries were not fatal, but they were not light either, and Seura's parents had been staying with her at the hospital ever since.

But what everyone thought was the truth was actually a lie. Indeed, Seura did fall from a second floor window, and she did end up in the hospital with a couple of major injuries. However, she had not jumped from the second floor window from a broken heart. She had been drugged with painkillers and thrown out of the second floor window. He was the one who had it done.

So why did Mark choose the second floor window?

Because Mark knows that Seura was not the type of person to jump from the highest floor or the roof of the building. He knows that if she really were to jump, she would not want to kill herself. If anything, she just wants the sympathy from Mark, and the only way she could do that was to get hurt. If she got hurt enough, then she would be able to bring Mark to her side due to guilt, since he would have been the reason why she jumped. The painkillers were used because he knew that she did not like pain, and it would make carrying her a bit more manageable. The use of painkillers would almost be like a sedative.

He had clearly given this a lot of thought, and he was careful enough to make sure that the story could hold to be true.

"I think we should go visit her," Saemi remarks, "She is your friend after all."

Lie.

"I don't think I can do that," Mark frowns a bit, making an excuse for her and himself, "I'll be quite busy these days. Perhaps you can visit her on my behalf. I'm sure she'll like that."

"Is that so?" She pauses for a second before nodding, "Alright, I will go see her and make sure she is doing well in treatment."

Lie.

With a raised eyebrow, Mark gives a small attempt to hide the truly entertained expression that Saemi has taught him to feel. He has to admit that before he met Saemi, the amount of feelings he truly felt was little to none.

Perhaps what he feels now is gratitude.

***

Mark pulls out his newest assignment that the teacher had given him and his partner. Naturally, with his luck, he gets trapped doing it with none other than Park Saemi. However, he doesn't feel as upset as he usually does, and that takes him by surprise.

"I wasn't too clear on the assignment that the teacher gave us," Saemi frowns a bit, her eyes skimming the project sheet that the teacher had handed out earlier in class, "Did she want us to write about each other?"

Mark shakes his head, "No, that's not it. She told us about how communication, or the lack thereof, is one of the major issues in society today. Things like lying are what causes the wars and fights that people have with each other. She wants us to learn the truth about one another, and then write about what kind of misunderstandings we would have if we didn't know the truth about each other."

Saemi's eyes widen a bit as she looks up at Mark. Needless to say, she finds herself impressed that Mark had really been listening in class. She thought that he was one of those boys with the above-average looks, but in reality, did not care about a single thing in academics.

She didn't know that Mark was so smart.

"Oh, this can't be too hard then," she mumbles to herself, before glancing at the clock, "Would you like to meet after school today to get this started? Around dinner time? 6 o'clock? I have prior arrangements before then."

Lie.

Mark agrees with her suggestion, but he can't help but feel curious as to what she had to do between school ends and when they meet if she actually has no prior arrangements. However, he keeps this curiosity to himself.

It was none of his business anyways.

But when we turn around, you're the one that knows me least.