SOUR

'One step forward and three steps back.'

milli.

I order food for the both of us and Sunwoo makes sure that I pay.

As we eat he asks, "So why did you sit with me? Be honest."

I gulp. He's more intuitive than I thought he would be. I didn't think guys like him were this skeptical.

"I was...I like sitting in the back, I guess." I lie. I hate lying, but this is an exception.

"I know that's not true, you're a teacher's pet. You usually sit in the front so that the professor can call on you." Sunwoo says.

"Ouch." I say.

"You'll spare me time of talking to you if you just spit it out." Sunwoo says. "And aren't you Ms. Popular? I know you'd rather sit with your friends and be a social butterfly and all that crap."

"Why couldn't I just have wanted to?" I ask. "Maybe I thought you looked lonely and you needed a seat partner."

"Oh so you feel sorry for me?" Sunwoo sets his chopsticks on the table.

"That's not it, that's not what I-"

"No, I see." He crosses his arms.

I find myself staring at my plate. It's hard to look him in the eyes because I know he's not joking about this. I didn't mean to make him feel upset, I just didn't think he'd care this much.

"I promise, I don't pity you." I say.

"Then what is it? Hm? Because I've met people like you. People who only stick around because they feel sorry for me and my problems. But honestly, I prefer being alone, so spare me the fake apology and your fake ass niceness. I've had it with people like you." Sunwoo suddenly stands up.

Now I'm the one feeling hurt.

He looks at me, waiting for a response but I have none. I walked myself into a corner, because I won't tell him Sora's secret.

Instead a girl and a guy walk in, and Sunwoo is facing away from the door so he doesn't notice. But the girl certainly sees him.

She's pretty, she has long dark hair and a certain sporty-ness about her. She stares at the back of Sunwoo's head, slightly smiling.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask him.

"What the hell?" He makes a face at me. "Are you kidding right now?"

"There's someone..." I nod behind him and Sunwoo turns around, his chair scratches the floor and it seems as if the whole room goes silent.

"Sunwoo, I knew it was you," the girl says.

"Sola..." Sunwoo says, his voice sounds breathless.

"I-I thought you were in an orientation," Sola says. Her pretty, cat-like eyes flicker from him to me.

"It ended about an hour ago!" I stand up and I hold my hand out. "Hi, I'm Milli."

The boy with lighter hair shakes my hand. "Hyunjae, nice to meet you! I'm Sola's boyfriend."

"Ah," I glance at Sunwoo. "My mistake."

"Hey Milli," Sola says, she's smiling now. "We're Sunwoo's high school friends. And you're his...."

"Classmate," Sunwoo says quickly.

I was about to say friend, but I'm glad I didn't.

"Oh okay," Hyunjae answers. "You guys wanna go get dessert? It's on me."

I look at Sunwoo. His friends seem so nice, but he shakes his head and takes a step back from us all.

"No, I was just heading out." He replies.