There is no way he can call the guy 'ugly' because anyone who knows him would definitely object to the tiniest criticism on his face.

In the past, he let Gaele in on that little secret. What he didn't tell his online friend at that time is that among those people who would disagree is none other than himself. Not that he is ever going to admit it to anyone.

He doesn't know how to explain it exactly because descriptive words are not his strongest suit. Besides, he doesn't think there is a perfect adjective to define the guy's appearance. But if he has to do it in his own way, then he'd say that Eujae Nigel Castillo is like a male character who had stepped right out of an aesthetically pleasing anime.

Huh? Why does it feel like this is not the first time he had thought the same thing?

Poll hears someone clear their throat, snapping him out of his reverie. He straightens his neck to return his gaze forward and then winces, feeling light-headed at the sudden movement. Turning to his left where he heard the sound, he sees Cloud with a lopsided smile while looking at him. At them.

"Excuse me, you two," Cloud starts, brow quirking, as he looks back and forth between Poll and Eujae, "I don't really know what's going on here but I just want to remind you that you're in a public place. Can you tone it down with the PDA?" He grins, looking proud for being able to throw Poll's earlier words back.

Poll glares at him, before regarding their other friends. Aside from Cloud, they have all gone silent. Risa and Nick are gawking at them and looking as if they have seen a ghost. Tem has a blank look on her face despite the hard stare that she's giving them while Lia's expression is a mix of puzzlement and relief.

A chuckle comes behind him and Poll resists the urge to turn around and look at the person again. There is another light, quick touch on his head which surprises him. Embarrassed, he feels his face heat up. Why does the jerk keep doing that? It is as if he is being taken for a child.

Frowning, he whips his head so he can ask Eujae what is wrong with him but the guy is already rounding the table. Poll follows him with his eyes, lips sticking out in displeasure, until Eujae settles beside his cousin.

Their friends are still not saying anything. It seems as though they have forgotten about lunch as they have found something more interesting than food. Poll notices the ones across them staring at Eujae with bewildered looks on their faces.

Ignoring them, he gestures to the box of muffins and asks, "What's this?"

Eujae looks at him as if he just asked something stupid and answers in a deadpan, "Chocolate muffins."

"No shit, Sherlock." Poll narrows his eyes as Eujae puts on a straight face. He has always thought he can't stand that expression every time they get into an argument, but Poll finds it more infuriating now that they are not fighting and Eujae is behaving in a contradictory way. He can't figure out what exactly he is planning. "I was asking what these are for."

A smile slowly crosses Eujae's lips again, making Poll more confused. Confused by how the guy is behaving. And confused by how he feels about it.

"Sorry that it's late. I also planned to make a flan in a cup to make up for the delay and since it's easier to make than an actual crème caramel but I ran out of time last night so I was only able to make those. I still have the ingredients for the flan though so I'll make it for you next time." Eujae pauses and shifts his eyes sideways, looking as if he's trying to recall something, before returning his attention to Poll. "Oh, and it was my first time making sweets so please cut me some slack if it's not very good."

He failed to give heed to it earlier because he was too distracted with a lot of things to listen well, but now that he can hear Eujae better, Poll notices the hoarseness in his voice. Additionally, from this clearer angle, the guy's eyes look glazed.

There are many questions that Poll wants to ask Eujae but the first thing that comes out of his mouth is an awed, "You made these?"

Quickly, he tries to cover up his amazement by pursing his lips and glaring at the man in front of him as he notices him smirk. He clears his throat before speaking again. This time, his tone is gruffer, "You didn't exactly answer my question. Is there a reason why you're giving me muffins? And what delay? Late for what?"

"Ah, I never thought you're this forgetful, Apollo." Eujae places his left arm and right elbow on the table, and then rests his chin on his right hand. He stares at Poll, eyes glinting in amusement despite the faint tiredness in them. "Didn't you order me to bring you desserts, my king?"

Poll's eyes flutter. King. Oh, the King's Game. He did give that order but that was before he knew Eujae was holding the number he'd chosen to dare. After their run-in that day, he didn't think Eujae would still comply with it. Indeed, he has already forgotten about that dare.

"I even told you then, don't bother," Poll mumbles, looking down at the chocolate quick breads. He may appear and sound reluctant but there is no way he is going to turn them down since wasting food is not part of his vocabulary. Plus, free sweets are free sweets, and the muffins are chocolate flavored. Double chocolate at that. His top choice.

Poll stares at the paper case longingly. How he craves those sweets at the moment but he doesn't want Eujae to get the wrong idea. He doesn't want the guy to think he is delighted to receive something from him. Poll is not going to deny that he is happy for getting the muffins but that is all there is to it. He doesn't care much about who gave them to him.

"You can just take them as my peace offering," Eujae suggests nonchalantly, his voice slightly muffled by his hand. His gaze at Poll doesn't waver and it starts to make the latter feel awkward. As if reading the male twin's mind, he adds, "It's okay to eat them now, you know?"

"Don't make it sound like I am excited for them. I am not," Poll tells him defensively. "But well, I won't refuse sweet foods."

"Yeah, okay, if you say so." There is that flicker in his eyes again. Even with his mouth hidden behind his hand, Poll can tell that he's smirking.

Unable to think of any better response as the guy keeps baffling him with the sudden and notable shift of his behavior, Poll furrows his brows and mutters, "No seriously, what is wrong with you?"

"Yeah, that's what I also want to know."

At the sound of Risa's voice, Poll suddenly remembers where they are and whom they are with. He turns to his side and sees their friends watching him and Eujae quizzically.

"Oh, so you mean this really isn't something normal, right, guys? I'm still in my original world, right?" Nick murmurs while still gaping at the two, "Because I swear to God, for a moment there, I thought I got isekai'd into a parallel world where these two don't constantly fight like cat and dog."

Tem and Lia simultaneously turn to Nick and ask, "Isekai'd?"

"He means like when you get thrown into another dimension. Reincarnation, transmigration, but I don't think those are the right terms," Risa answers in place of Nick, "Whatever. Think of it what you will. It's not important because the more pressing matter is what's going on with these boys. So I did tease Poll about missing Eujae but I didn't think Eujae would actually appear like..." She moves her hand up, pauses, and then motions at Eujae, "Like this. Okay, Poll still acts like the sulky kid that he is–"

"I am not sulky," Poll objects but gets ignored.

"–so it's Eujae I am more concerned about. Why is he suddenly acting sweet and giving sweets to Poll? Is he alright? Why is he behaving strangely?"

"That's what I've been wondering since last night," Poll whispers and then immediately regrets it when everyone collectively asks, "Last night?"

Poll presses his lips together and tries to brush his friends' curiosities off.

"Speaking of which," Tem says, "Mom mentioned about Eujae dropping Poll off at our place last night but I didn't give much thought about it, assuming she was mistaken. I just thought it was impossible." She stares at Poll curiously before directing the look at Eujae.

Eujae doesn't say anything. He shrugs in response to Tem's silent question and then discreetly glances at Poll as if to ask for permission. Poll frowns, quietly answering in the negative.

Tem must have noticed them trying to communicate silently so she returns her firm gaze to her twin brother. "Poll." Just one syllable but it exudes a definite air of command.

Poll sighs, knowing he can longer dodge this conversation. "Okay," he begins despite feeling irritated. "Last night, I went to the supermarket, right? So there was this older sister who was... touching me and it made me uncomfortable. I asked her to let me go but she didn't. This guy stepped in. Another guy stepped in to take the older sister's side. A little argument happened." In his eagerness to get it over with, Poll talks without pausing. "Those people walked out, annoyed because this guy roasted them. And then he snapped at me–"

"I didn't."

"–even though I don't know what I did wrong for him to suddenly get mad at me. When I got out, he was there. I don't know if he was waiting for me but he suddenly offered me a ride and it caught me off guard too, okay? Even I didn't know what was going on with him. Even now, I don't understand why he's acting like this." Poll stops and inhales deeply, trying to catch his breath.

There is a short pause as everyone quietly turns to the female twin to wait for her reaction.

Tem knits her brows. "Wait, you said an older sister was touching you that made you uncomfortable. A stranger was touching you," she points out emphatically. "That was sexual harassment, Poll."

Rolling his eyes, Poll replies, "I know, okay. That was what this guy told those people too."

"So you got sexually harassed but you didn't even bother to tell us about it?"

"It's not like something's going to change even if I told you about it," Poll reasons out, "Everything was done. Nothing bad happened to me. And I don't wanna talk about it anymore."

Tem narrows her eyes at Poll. It is not every day that he sees that expression on his twin sister. It only means Tem is serious and Poll knows she is just worried about him but he doesn't like it when he's being treated as if he's a child who can't take care of himself.

"Nothing bad happened to you only because Eujae was there," Tem says. Poll wants to protest, tell his sister that he could have handled it just fine even without that jerk's interference, but chooses to keep his mouth shut, seeing that Tem is starting to get into a foul mood. He doesn't want to argue with her when she is like this.

Tem turns to Eujae. "I assume this stubborn kid has not thanked you for it so I have to do it in his place. I am grateful for what you did for my brother, Eujae. I am, but to be honest, I would have preferred it if you brought it to the police."

An unreadable expression rests on Eujae's face as he stares back at the female twin. After a brief moment of silence, he removes his hand from his face and puts it down. "I would if it got out of hand but the woman had walked away from us even before I could suggest it and it was not like we could just drag her to the police," he explains. He heaves a sigh and then a rueful smile forms on his lips as he slightly shakes his head. The expression is as if he remembers something that has made him feel regretful. "I have to be honest though, Tem, I wasn't that keen on bringing it to the cops for some personal reasons. I know it was the rightest thing to do but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't skeptical about it. I am sure you're aware of it too. The problem with our society is that a lot of people, sometimes even authorities, don't take those issues seriously."

Eujae's words are cryptic. It goes without saying that there is a story behind his sentiment but the group gets that it's not something that he wants to elaborate.

On his side, Lia looks at Eujae understandingly, the same apologetic smile on her face, before looking down at her food. Her reaction says she knows exactly what Eujae is talking about and shares a similar view with her cousin.

Taking the hint from the quiet atmosphere, Cloud directs the conversation back to the original subject, "So you mentioned the sweets being your peace offering for Poll, Eujae. Does that mean you two have made up?"

"No." It is Poll who answers. He pulls the plate of untouched food toward him, realizing he has neglected it since people kept on arriving and interrupting him earlier, and then stabs a piece of butter garlic pork bites with a fork. "Aren't you, guys, gonna take your lunch? Not my problem if you don't wanna eat but please stop talking about stupid things."

"Eh? But we wanna know what happened between the two of you. Why are you suddenly being chummy with each other?" Risa asks.

"Nothing happened, alright?" Poll frowns. He raises the fork with a piece of meat and thoughtlessly points it to Eujae. "And no one's being chummy with this guy."

He hears his twin sister grunt in disapproval. "Seriously, Poll, stop pointing stuff at people."

Poll blinks, confused, and then quickly turns in front of him only to realize that he is indeed almost shoving the pork bite on Eujae's face. Memories of the incident in the grill restaurant flash back in his mind, making him flush as he begrudgingly acknowledges his mistake.

Awkwardly, he starts to retract his hand but just as he is about to put it down, Eujae grabs his wrist and pulls it back toward him.

"W-what are you doing?" Poll asks, eyes wide, as he looks back and forth between their hands and those crystal blue eyes. Indistinctly, he notes how hot Eujae's hand feels against his skin and wonders if it is the guy's normal temperature. Is everyone always this warmer?

He doesn't get the chance to think more about it as he gets distracted when Eujae opens his mouth. Instead of saying something, Eujae takes the piece of food from the fork that Poll is holding and starts to chew on it while staring at the male twin.

"What the hell?" Poll mutters under his breath, staring at the fork and back to Eujae. He tugs his hand to slide it off Eujae's grasp but the guy won't let him go. "Let go of my hand." His raspy voice almost cracks at the end of his sentence.

Without breaking eye contact with him, Eujae swallows the food and then smirks. "Only if you promise me you won't throw this fork on my face, Apollo. This thing is more solid than the wooden chopsticks and would surely hurt if it hit me."

Poll looks at Eujae indignantly. "I–"

"So, do you think they're aware that we're still here?" Nick suddenly asks, reminding Poll once again that he and Eujae are not the only people in the cafeteria.

Lia giggles. "It seems like they have forgotten about us actually."

"Ah! I don't care anymore. I'd rather eat than watch fools flirt with each other." Risa stands up and slams her hands on the table.

"You talking about these two," Cloud wants to know, referring to Poll and Eujae.

"She's talking about you, shameless couple," Poll retorts, glaring at his friend. He turns back and aims his unamused look at Eujae. "I said let me go."

Risa shakes her head. "I'm talking about all four of you," she comments before walking to the cafeteria's counter to choose her lunch. Tem and Cloud follow her.

Eventually, Eujae lets go of Poll's hand to order his food too.

Poll spends his lunch, constantly getting confused and irritated by the man across him, what with his infuriating smile every time Poll looks at him questioningly.

After lunch, the students' day carries on as usual. They return to their respective afternoon classes, finish their routine once they get out of campus, and then go home.

The next day, Eujae is nowhere to be found at the University.