“What are you doing here?” I questioned.

He smiled that great smile of his, “I heard from some friends that you work here. You chose a pretty decent restaurant. I remember you liked cooking.”

I stared at him dumbfounded. He remembered…

“Can I talk to you for a few minutes?” he asked.

I turned back to glanced at the others in the back then turned back to Fluke. I nodded then followed him out and we stopped in some alley. It was pretty silent between us as if the world was waiting for only 'us'.

“I don’t know if you’ve been the same as me these past two years,” he began, “it was hard surviving every day knowing that you didn’t want to be with me. You wanted to be friends but I couldn’t accept that. I regretted not being friends with you. If you were my friend I would see you everyday, I could talk to you whenever I wanted, you could give me hugs when I needed them.”

I stared at him blankly. If he’d asked me to go back to him I would say yes. His words seemed real enough to me as it was.

“I think you know how I feel,” he told, “will you….accept me back?”

I gazed at him feeling the wind whip my face. I wanted to say yes, I wanted to nod but when I wanted to do so my body refused. Why? Why was God doing this? Why wouldn’t he let me tell Fluke I loved him too.

“What do you say? If you agree,” he took my hand, “I promise I’ll make you happier than before. I know you still love me.”

"I…” I finally muttered out after struggling.

“She doesn’t like it when others touch her,” a voice interrupted.

Fluke and I turned to see Jiro standing there. What? What was going on? Why was Jiro there?

“Who are you?” asked Fluke.

“A classmate,” Jiro answered, “who are you?”

“Can’t you see? Her boyfriend,” Fluke answered holding up their hands entwined together for Jiro to see.

Jiro coolly walked over and pulled my hand away from Fluke’s then stared into Fluke’s face.

“Not yet, I don’t think,” Jiro said. Fluke stared back at Jiro.

I hated it. Throughout the whole thing I could not make a single word come out of my mouth. It felt like being tied to a train track and you couldn’t free yourself. I was practically standing behind Jiro right now since he had come in-between Fluke and me. I couldn’t talk but I could still move my body. I stepped out from behind Jiro and pushed him away so I stood in front of Fluke.

“What are you doing?! Go away!” I shouted.

“He’s not what you think,” Jiro began, “a person can change over 2 years. You can’t expect someone to stay the same. His words are too fast. Can’t you tell they’re all lies? Selina! Wake up a little.”   

I stared at him angrily. Who does he think he is?

“It looks like we won’t be able to finish things tonight,” Fluke sighed. “I’ll come see you some other time.”

I watched as Fluke walked away. I don’t know why to Jiro I was able to speak to but I couldn’t make out any words for Fluke. Why was that? It made me so angry when I couldn’t understand it. As Fluke left I turned to face Jiro. I glared at Jiro angrily and walked away.

***************************

Jiro knew it was wrong to follow her, but he couldn’t help it. That man seemed familiar somehow. Like Jiro had seen him somewhere before and it gave him a bad feeling. As they left it hit Jiro. At one of his father’s friend’s parties he’d seen that man dancing around with a lot of women. He drank and flirted with them giving each of them kisses on the cheeks.

Now Jiro stood watching as Selina stomped away from him and disappeared as she turned the corner to return to the restaurant. Curious about it he decided to follow Fluke. He hadn’t gone far off. The neighborhood Selina lived in wasn’t too big, but there was plenty of places to disappear to. Jiro followed far from behind making sure that Fluke wasn’t aware of his presence. As they went on Jiro watched as Fluke talked on his phone. He was talking in a very quiet voice then a minute later hung up sticking his phone into his pocket.

“Where were you?! You made me wait an hour in the cold!” a shrilly voice yelled.

Jiro watched as a girl dressed in a tight shirt and short skirt hit Fluke.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry,” Fluke said then kissed the girl, “there does that make you feel better?”

Jiro watched as the girl hit him again then they went into the club arms around each other.

“He’s playing with her,” Jiro said to himself and that made him feel uneasy.

*********************************

After work I stomped home angrily forgetting to fear the dark. Just when I had the perfect chance to get back with Fluke stupid Jiro had to ruin it all. Why, why did he have to be there? Oh why?! I was so angry I could bring myself to do anything. Maybe even kill that stupid arrogant Jiro!

“Uggghhh!” I moaned. I was just so angry at him I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to hit him, slap him, punch him, do anything that would hurt him. I was so angry that I wasn’t able to sleep that night.

The following day at school I prayed so hard that I wouldn’t be able to see his face but to my luck he entered the classroom. I glared at him as he walked passed, if I wasn’t in public I would jump up and attack him. I gripped my pencil and scribbled on a piece of paper throughout class. When class ended I quickly exited so that I wouldn’t have to watch him leave.

At the end of the school day I found him standing by that tree again. I wanted to take the other way around but it would be too long and I wouldn’t be able to go help mom with her stall in time. I quickened up my pace to walk pass him hoping he'd ignore me.

“Hey,” he said turning around as I came by.

I didn’t want to stop but my body did. I hated this. Why is my body going against my mind now?!

“What?” I asked coldly.

He quickly walked over and grabbed me by the wrist pulling me toward a black car. My mind fastened trying to think of a way out, but nothing came up. I was so annoyed by this.

As the door to the car closed I pulled my hand away from him.

“What do you want?! What is your problem!” I was so angry now I wanted to hit him, but I was trying my utmost best to not do so.

He gave a short laugh, “You’re still angry? Don’t worry. During class I can see that the eyes on the back of your head are shooting fire darts at me.”

I glared at him, “You think it’s funny?”

I couldn’t help it no more. I began to hit him angrily.

“Stop it! Stop it!” he said getting serious.

He grabbed my wrists and I could feel him pushing himself forward to pin me down in order to stop me. He stopped abruptly. I stared back at him and he stared back at me. He was so close…his face was right in front of mine. He moved back and cleared his throat as I scooted closer to the window pulling the collars of my jacket.

The car finally came to a stop in front of a mansion and just looking at it amazed me. Everything was completely made of marble and it was even larger than the college I attended. His life was far more different than what I had pictured.

Jiro could see how amazed I was and said, “It’s not as pretty as you think.”

Jiro headed inside the house and I followed him knowing I would feel like a big idiot if I just stood outside. I glanced around feeling small as I entered. Compared to the house I lived in we were separated big time by social status. I wanted to leave realizing I didn’t belong here nor was I supposed to be here.

“Come on,” Jiro said urging me on. “I need your help on some homework.”

I silently followed him over into a large white room filled with nothing except pictures and a large white table in the middle of the room. I sat with him at one end and while he took out his homework a maid came in.

“Would young master and his friend like anything to drink?” the maid asked.

Jiro turned to me, “Would you like anything to drink?” I shook my head no quickly. “Nothing. Inform everyone else to leave us alone.”

The maid nodded and walked off and as she did so Jiro got out some of his assignments. I told him some things he was unsure of but I later found out that he already knew how to do pretty much everything. He was making me feel like a fool.

“Why do you work there?” he asked all of a sudden.

“What?” I asked playing stupid.

“You know that restaurant,” he answered. “Why do you work there?”

I debated whether I should tell him or not, “Why should I tell you?”

Jiro shrugged, “I’m just curious.”

I figured it would be harmless, “Boss Lady Han is the owner of that restaurant. She also started the restaurant by herself.”

“So what?” Jiro asked.

“I’m saying that I think owning your own business is cool,” I told.

“You want to own one too?” questioned Jiro.

“Well, where I’m at right now with money I know it’s impossible, but you know…maybe sometime in the future,” I said. I looked to see Jiro smiling. “What?”

Jiro shrugged again, “It’s nothing. So…who is that man yesterday?”

I looked at him unhappily, “I don’t have to answer you.”

“It looks like you like him a lot,” Jiro pointed out.

I stood up from where I was sitting annoyed, “You brought me to your house for this?! I was about to think you were nice.”

Jiro’s expression quickly changed, “Stay away from him.”

“No! You stay away from me,” I declared, “I don’t know why I allowed myself to be pulled here by you. You always make a fool out of me!”

“He’s going to hurt you,” Jiro said calmly, “I think you should take this into consideration.”

I glared at him, “You should take this into consideration! It’s my business. I’ll do whatever I want! Stop butting in! So what if I want to love him you’re nothing compared to him. I wish you’d just leave me alone!”