"You know," Andrea spoke as they stood on the balcony, their bodies leaning on the railing and looking down into the city. "Cat isn't going to develop feelings for you until, like, a year from now or something."

   "I said that I don't like her that way. I haven't even known her for two months and you think I like her?"

   "A crush doesn't have to have a basis, Jae." She shrugged. "You just like being around them and maybe you won't ever talk to them. At least you're one step ahead...or maybe even a few."

   His cheeks were on fire still and he rested his chin on his hands before looking up at the cloudy night sky. "I don't like her, and that's the last time I'll say it. She's a friend, I don't see her as anymore than that, okay?"

   "You don't? So, why are you blushing then?"

   "I'm not blushing!" He argued before touching his cheek with the back of his hand and feeling the heat radiating from it. "I'm tipsy. Have you never seen an Asian person drinking before?"

   "I know the difference between Asian flush and a blush."

   "You clearly don't," Jae grumbled. He might have been slightly embarrassed but it was true, he had horrible Asian flush, even his upper arms were red and on fire, he looked as if he should have been drunk, but he wasn't just yet. He'd only had two drinks and they weren't strong at all.

   Andrea scoffed, "You like her and you know it."

   "I thought you were against me?" He raised an eyebrow and looked over at her.

   "I am," she nodded, "that doesn't mean I can't tease you, we are friends after all."

   "Yo!" Daniel slid open the balcony door and Andrea and Jae looked back at him.

   Andrea blinked, "What? We're talking here."

   Daniel rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, he spoke, "It's not sad boy hours, that's reserved for three a.m, it's time to play video games. Jae can choose the first one."

   "Oh." Jae shook his head, lifting up his hand. "I'm not much of a video game person."

   "Lies." Daniel narrowed his gaze. "Try it out and we'll see."

   "Really, I—" he was dragged by the arm back into the living room without any further argument. He was sat down on the couch before Andrea sat next to him.

   "Player one!" Daniel called, raising up his hand.

   "Two!" Catalina followed.

   "Three," Andrea said and then everyone looked at Madeline and Jae.

   "Jae can play, you guys know I don't like video games that much anyways," Madeline spoke as she swirled her drink in the cup.

   Andrea shrugged and handed Jae his respective controller before Jae chose a game from the many he saw laid out before him. He was told everything he needed to know and they began playing. Just like Daniel had said, Jae was enjoying himself, he was getting competitive and genuinely laughing.

   "I thought you said you weren't much of a video game person?" Daniel smugly remarked.

   "I used to play lots of video games in high school but I thought I'd outgrown them."

   "No one outgrows video games," Catalina grinned. "You beat Drea, twice, and that says a lot."

   Andrea flipped her hair over her shoulder and grinned. "You're okay, kid, you're okay."

   Jae tried to stop his smile and he managed to do so. He could say that Andrea and him were very similar and yet not at all.

   "You won't beat me next time, snake." She clicked her tongue and pointed a finger gun at him.

   "Jae." Catalina stood from her chair. "How about we play," she tapped her finger on her chin, "truth or dare?"

   "That's so cringey!" Madeline whined as she shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

   "Yeah," Daniel nodded, "what is this? Some cliche teenage rom-com novel? No, we are not doing that."

   "Plus, what kind of dares would we do here? Jump off the balcony?"

   Catalina pouted. "Fine," she grumbled, "but how are we supposed to learn more about Jae and he about us?"

   "Asking questions, whenever they come up." Madeline shrugged. "That's usually how it works."

   "Okay then," Catalina smiled and turned to Jae, "have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

   Knitting his brows, Jae frowned. "What kind of question is that?"

   "The right kind of question!"

   "No, happy?" He deadpanned and the room fell silent. "I never needed one."

   "Right." Catalina opted to change the subject as Jae had soured up in just a question. "Okay, do you have pets?"

   "A husky back in Korea." He pulled out his phone and his demeanour changed in the blink of an eye once more. "Wanna see her?"

   The get together had ended on a good note, in fact, since Jae had been drinking, he stayed over at Daniel's for the night, while the girls were all picked up by Madeline's mother and taken home. The rest of the break week had also been quite fun, they all went downtown and were able to explore the city a tad bit. Catalina would admit that she had an amazing time the entire week and Paola was even able to meet Jae, she fussed about how cute he was and what good choice Catalina had made (even though she knew he wasn't really her boyfriend).

   Jae didn't particularly like Paola, as she was a little too high maintenance for him, but she was nice and he couldn't argue with that. She was also rather attentive and caring to Catalina.

   Jae and Catalina were sitting by the pier, since it was the last day of reading week and Jae had yet to see the lake, and Catalina offered to take him on the adventure. It was a wonder how he had not gone exploring in the three years he'd been in that university, of course he'd said it was because of not having any friends and trying to focus all his attention on studying. He'd already made it clear that it was hard making friends with his resting bitch face and his sometimes sarcastic attitude, it didn't help that he thought his English was garbage and he thought it was better that he remain silent.

   The day was actually quite warm for mid-October in Canada, so they weren't wearing many layers and Catalina's skirt danced lightly in the wind, since she decided it was a skirt kind of day. She was cashing in her skirt days before the harsh winter would get to her and she didn't want to so much as look at skirts for the next five months or so.

   "So, Philip?" Catalina closed her eyes for a second, leaning back against the bench and feeling the breeze hit her face, the sound of waves crashing against the pier calming her down.

   Jae's eyes shot up towards her, and he sat up straight. He'd been staring at the lake, eyes so focused on the ducks and geese while his mind had gone on about school and life, about his parents and Catalina. "Hm?" He blinked at her, trying his best not to show interest on the subject as he'd been trying to convince himself that he didn't quite like her that way.

   "I'm guessing you wanna know who he is, huh?" She leaned forward into her arms, not giving Jae a glance or even acknowledging him. It was as if she had been talking to herself and he wasn't really there.

   "Well." He bit the inside of his cheek. "To be honest, I'd be lying of I said I wasn't the slightest bit curious."

   "If you want to—"

   "Cat." He stopped her. "I only want to hear it if you want to tell me. If you're not ready to say anything, I understand, you don't have to force yourself to tell me."

   She gulped. "I think...I can only tell you a couple of things, I don't think I'm ready to tell you everything."

   He slowly nodded. "Then I'll listen to what you've got to say."

   Catalina took a deep breath, and leaned back on the bench, her eyes flickered towards the sky and she managed to look over at Jae, her face holding more confidence.

   "Again, don't feel forced to—"

   "Jae, just as you explained the situation with your parents, it's only fair that I keep you in the loop of things with Philip. To be honest, he...he was a horrible boyfriend. Or at least... I don't know..." She trailed, rubbing her arm and her previously gathered confidence now dissipating.

   "I was a completely different person before I met Philip, you know? I was...confident in myself, had high self esteem and was just...happier." She shrugged. "And I was happy with Philip at some point...somewhere along the line it just..."

   Jae hesitated but he followed through with his actions, he took her hand in his and gave it a short squeeze. "It's okay, you can stop."

   She blinked up at him and gently leaned her head on his shoulder. "He started to change, you know? I couldn't do this or do that and I was constantly worried that he was going to break up with me or if he was cheating on me since all he did with me was fight and argue." She lifted her head back up. "It'd been a year since I last saw him and a year and a half since our breakup and still I... I saw him and I just...I felt..." She narrowed her gaze at the lake.

   "You don't have to say it."

   Jae wasn't really expecting what she was going to say next, in fact he was prepared for anything but that.

   "I don't think I've gotten over him. I still...like him."

   One thing was not being over him and another was that she still liked him. From the little snip-its of what he'd heard, Philip ruined a perfectly good Catalina, and she knew this. How could she still like him?

   "What're you saying?" He asked, brows furrowing and an evident grimace on his face.

   Catalina shrugged. "I don't...forget about it, I'm just saying stupid things." Her demeanour then changed from pensive to upbeat. "Anyways!" She pushed herself from the bench. "We should be enjoying the lake! Not sulking here! Come on, let's go to the rocks!" She pulled on his hand and led him towards the huge boulders that were by the lake.

   Catalina proceeded to jump from boulder to boulder, occasionally looking over her shoulder and smiling at him.

   Jae couldn't help but smile at her as she turned back to jump. He was starting to feel a tightening in his chest when he looked at her being all silly and childish. Her short hair lightly dancing in the wind and shining like a ripe apple in the sunlight, her skirt fluttering about her like a flock of birds and her smile so sweet.

   He looked away, trying his best to take the image of her out of his mind. He thought he was acting this way because he'd never really been close to a girl before and since Catalina was so nonchalant, his heart just took it the wrong way.

   "Were you smiling?" He was caught off guard and nearly slipped off the boulder if it weren't for the fact that Catalina took him by the arm and helped him steady himself.

   There was a sly smile on her lips and she winked. "You were, weren't you?"

   Holding a hand over his chest to calm his breathing and heartbeat, he shook his head. "I wasn't, you must've imagined it."

   She shook her head. "I know when you smile and you just smiled. You know, you look cute when you smile, you should do it more."

   He pursed his lips, "Well, that's none of you concern now, is it?"

   She pouted her lips to one side and finally got out of his face before bouncing on the balls of her feet and shrugging. "I guess it isn't. In any case, I think we should stop and get ice cream, what do you think?"

   His features softened and he gave a curt nod. "Sure, if you'd like that." Maybe he'd been a bit harsh on her, maybe he should try to be less cold and reserved.