Gaele: Good morning. I hope you've slept well and forgotten that you were supposed to be mad at me.

Ten2: then why are you reminding me again?

Gaele: Oh, so you were really mad at me. I don't even get a good morning, huh?

Ten2: good morning. i wasn't really mad at you. but i am blaming you.

Gaele: What did I do?

Ten2: you said i want that person to care about me and now i have been wondering if it's true. i know there's no way it's true though, it's your fault for planting that idea in my head.

Gaele: Now you're just looking for an excuse. I'll tell you something, Ten-Ten, do you know that the intensity of in-denial is equivalent to the amount of truth behind the thing you're trying to deny? But it's good to know that you're not mad at me. I thought you were suddenly going to send me a photo of a sunset with the caption "The sunset is beautiful, isn't it?"

Ten2: is that one of Gaele's logic again? -__- and i am not being in denial! I was just stating the truth!!! and why the sunset?

Gaele: That's what in-denial people always say, Ten-Ten. The sunset, that's a romantic way of breaking up with someone.

Ten2: ah enough, I dont wanna talk about that person first thing in the morning. a romantic way of breaking up? since when has break up become romantic? and why are we gonna break up, we're not even in a relationship. :I but seriously i never heard about sunset being equivalent to break up, i only know the japanese sentence, the moon is beautiful tonight. do you know what it means when someone told you that?

Gaele: Aren't you the one who brought him up? Haha, break up could apply to friendship too, no? Yep, it's a Japanese romantic way of saying "I like you", right?

Ten2: i didnt bring him up. you did. oh i wont break up with you, gaele even if you're overbearing sometimes. how come you also know about it? it's not like you're into japanese stuff so why do you know it. it's because you're pretty romantic right? so you know a lot about romantic stuff.

Gaele: I didn't though. I just asked if you're still mad at me and if you won't greet me good morning. You were the one who slipped him into the conversation. I told you, didn't I? My parents are pretty romantic people so I learned a lot of stuff from them. Our prof's coming so let's continue this later. Ah, but one quick question, what's one thing that can usually make your mood better?

Ten2: k study well genius. painting, anime, games, and talking to you but if i have to choose only one then that's no brainer. of course it's food. especially sweet foods.

Gaele: So food comes before me, huh? That's fine. Later then, li'l Ten-Ten.

Ten2: yeah food is more important than you. :P unless you give me food so it would be you and food on top but i dont think that is gonna happen anytime soon. later

Last read at 8:07 a.m.

It is ten minutes before noon now. Lunch break.

Poll wonders what Gaele is up to at this time. He rereads their conversation earlier and can't help but think his online friend has been acting kind of different these past few days. It's not like the change is a bad thing and it's not that significant. For the most part, Gaele is still the same good-natured friend who likes to tease Ten-Ten and make his cheeky remarks, but Poll feels like he has become more open and—for lack of a better word—sentimental. Although it's subtle, given Gaele has been trying to talk more even before for Ten-Ten's sake, and not concerning, Poll is curious to know what made the little change.

"Eujae?"

And speaking of someone who has been acting different, the guy who owns that name sure had taken Poll aback with his strange behavior last night.

He looks up from his phone and around the University's cafeteria, expecting to see a man with brunette hair, but the only people standing across from him are his sister, their childhood friend, and his sister's boyfriend. Well, Cloud is a man with dark brown hair but the one Poll is looking for has a lighter shade of brown.

He's not here.

Confused, Poll turns to Nick who called Eujae's name.

"He won't come and join us today too, huh?"

Oh, he was asking where that guy is, Poll thinks and looks back at his phone with a frown. What was he even expecting? That guy has always been like this and just because he acted nice last night doesn't mean things are suddenly going to change. Maybe he was right to assume that something happened which made that jerk momentarily lose his sanity and behave the way he did last night. Now that he has come to his senses, maybe he's gone somewhere else, regretting everything he did for Poll.

So what? It's not like I wanna see him. Poll shoves his phone into his pocket rather huffily. Has a sweet side to him too, my foot. That's another thing he ought to blame Gaele for. Because of the things he said last night, Poll has started to consider the possibility of Eujae being nice to him.

"If you miss him this much, Poll, then why don't you two make up with each other already?"

Poll snaps to when he hears those words. He turns to where the voice came from and notices that his twin sister and their friends have already settled themselves around the table. Tem is next to him with Cloud beside her. Across them are their three other friends. Lia is the one sitting in front of Poll.

The male twin looks at the woman farthest from him and scowls.

"What the hell are you talking about, Risa?" Poll asks, voice covered with distaste. "Why would I even miss that jerk?"

Risa shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know why you would, Poll, but I am pretty sure I'm not the only one who noticed the way you sulk every time you hear that Eujae is not with us. Even earlier, when you heard Nick say his name, you appeared to be hopeful but when you realized that he was not here, you returned to being grumpy."

"Stop interpreting my reactions the way you want, Risa. Sure, I'm annoyed by that guy's dramatic behavior. It has nothing to do with wanting to see him or whatever you believe it is."

Poll lets his eyes wander around their table to check the others. They all seem like they are busy with their own thing but Poll has been friends with them for too long to know that they are listening in on the exchange despite looking uninterested.

Lia keeps on twirling a fork on her food. Poll looks down at the plate in front of his friend, and then grimaces, noticing the diced celery sprinkled all over her pasta. Who even eats that thing? And why is this place feeding students a horrendous dish? Poll gulps nervously and shudders, just imagining what it would taste like.

He moves on to the man sitting beside Lia. Nick is sipping from his canned soft drinks while staring ahead. However, Poll is pretty sure his friend is not looking at anything in particular, judging by the withdrawn look in his eyes. Besides, there is nothing to see in front of him other than the couple next to Poll who are acting like they are in their own little world, whispering and giggling with each other.

Poll glares at Cloud when he notices the man discreetly kiss his girlfriend's knuckles.

"Excuse me, you shameless couple," Poll calls their attention, groaning, "I just wanna remind you that you're in a public place. Can you tone it down with the flirting?"

Grinning, Cloud rebuts, "Hey, you didn't hear me say anything when you and Eujae made–Ouch!–You didn't have to pinch me that hard, love. I was just joking." He rubs the arm that Tem had nipped with her fingers, and returns his attention to Poll. "But really, Poll, I get it that you feel lonely because you haven't seen Eujae in a while, but there's no need to take it out on us, man."

"I told you I don't–" Poll stops as he gets distracted by a giggle in front of him. "Oh, not you too, L.A.," pouting, he tells his friend.

"Seriously though, even I feel like I haven't seen Eujae since forever," Nick chimes in, "But you girls, considering you're his cousin and classmates, still have normal interactions with him, right? It's not like he's ignoring you too, right?"

Finally, something that is at least sensible. Poll decides to make Nick his favorite friend for today for getting the teasing away from him.

The women simultaneously give an affirmative answer to Nick's questions.

"Oh, so it's really just 'cause of Poll, huh? Guess no other way to bring Eujae back to us but for the two of them to kiss and make up, huh?"

Forget about what he said earlier. He has no friends officially from now on.

"What do you mean kiss–"

"Alright, that's enough teasing Poll for today, guys. Let's get serious now."

"Don't talk like you're not the one who started this, Risa." Poll makes a face, which only earns a smirk from his childhood friend.

Risa places her arms on the table and turns to her left, leaning in Lia's direction. "By the way, L.A., I saw you and Eujae get off a car earlier. Got me curious but I didn't get to ask him about it this morning. I mean, he appeared to be busy flirting with someone on his phone before class and it was like he was in a hurry to leave after. You guys came here in your dad's car, right? What happened to Eujae's bike?"

Poll's curiosity piques. He glances at the young woman in front of him but doesn't make it too obvious so his friends would not think that even he is interested to know. It's just that the guy's motorcycle was still fine last night. He wonders if something happened to it after Eujae departed from their place.

Now that he thinks about it, it started to rain heavily, shortly after he fled from Eujae and left him alone in front of their house. The guy might have been caught in the rain last night.

Since Poll was the reason Eujae was not able to go home immediately, the male twin would feel bad if something happened to the motorbike because of the downpour. His concern has nothing much to do with the owner of the bike.

Taking her gaze off her pasta, Lia looks at Risa and shakes her head. "No, his bike's fine. It was him. He called early this morning to say that he was not feeling well enough to drive so I asked Dad to drop us off instead." She tilts her head to the side and knits her brows as if she's in deep thought. "You mentioned him flirting with someone on his phone. So he'd kept doing that even in your classroom? I've been wondering about it too. I mean, I noticed him texting the whole time in the car. He was so engrossed with his phone that I didn't even get to chat with him at all. And for someone who was not feeling well, he sure looked like he was in high spirits."

Different questions from their curious friends follow the two women's conversation.

"Eujae is sick?" Tem asks, at the same time as Cloud wonders, "You're saying Eujae is courting someone or what?"

Nick looks at the couple in front of him and then turns to Lia. "Hey, could it be the real reason why he rarely hangs out with us nowadays? Has he found someone again that's why he's ditching us? So is the fight with Poll just an excuse to disappear on us?"

Poll shifts his eyes between Nick and Lia and then looks down to fiddle with his fingers, remembering the time he saw Eujae under a tree near their college building. At that time, the guy was also busy with his phone and Poll can't forget the affectionate expression he had then. So it indeed was someone instead of something.

"Who's ditching who? Stop with your stupid ideas, Nick, and stop assuming things about me, guys. I am not seeing anyone."

Upon hearing someone suddenly speak behind him, Poll startles. Just as he is about to look back, he feels a pat on his head, and then a hand reaches over to place a kraft case in front of him.

Poll stares blankly at the brown paper box at the table. It looks like a DIY food packaging but he is not sure what is inside. Curious, he leans forward to examine the top of the box.

His eyes widen at what he sees through the paper case's clear plastic window.

Muffins. Chocolate muffins with lots of chocolate chips.

Puzzled, he rolls his neck backward to look above him, only to have his gaze fall into a pool of crystal blue.

It has been a while since the last time he saw that shade on those particular eyes. Recently, Eujae has been wearing his amber contact lenses a lot that Poll has begun to think they were natural. Now that he's looking at a different shade again, he suddenly feels the urge to know what those eyes look like without the lenses. He wonders what their real color is.

Silence comes over but Poll can't tell if it is because their friends have been stunned to silence or because his senses have shut down. It is as if all he can see, all he can hear at the moment is this particular person before his eyes.

Something flutters in his chest as he notices Eujae's lips curve up into a smile. At some point, Poll starts to feel dizzy because of the awkward angle of his head but he finds himself unable to tear his gaze away from the man.

Poll blinks when Eujae opens his mouth to speak again, warmth coming over his crystal blue eyes, "I am not courting or flirting with anyone. Although I have to admit I am trying to win a certain someone over."