THE next day, Mal and Felix were walking hand in hand through the hallway of the school, causing everyone to stare and whisper about them. Mal noticed that some of the girls were staring at Felix, which made her only slightly annoyed. She knew that he was incredibly handsome, so she couldn't blame them.

"Will you go out with me after school?" Felix asked suddenly as he turned to her, his voice a little lower than usual.

"Of course, sunshine, it'll be a huge honor," she replied, hugging him tightly. Butterflies filled her stomach as she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks, baby..." he kissed her cheek in return, then the pair began to walk over to Mal's locker.

"By the way, I wanted to ask you something." she paused for a minute, giving him time to answer with a small 'okay', "Did someone move into that third apartment in your building?"

Felix was taken aback by the question, as he had a confused expression on his face as he wrinkled his eyebrows. "I-I don't know, why?"

"When I was leaving last night I thought I saw this light coming from behind the door," she explained, taking a few books from her locker and closing it, which made a loud thud.

"I don't know, baby, I haven't seen anyone. But..." he turned to her with fake enthusiasm, throwing his hands in the air, "New neighbors!"

That made Mal giggle.

"Good for you, but when you see them, actually walk up and say hi. Maybe you'll end up making friends."

He let out a groan, smiling nonetheless. "I know, I know. At least they probably won't try to kill me."

Knowing that he meant Griffin, Mal giggled again. "Sorry about Griffin, by the way. I know he makes you uncomfortable. It's the same for me."

He nodded, then held her hand again.

"I know, baby. I'm sorry. I know it caused you a lot for us to be together, but..."

"Babe, no. Don't say that. If the people around you love you from the start, then they're going to stick around. They'll be happy whenever you're happy. Some people can't tell if your happiness is separated from theirs, and that's how relationships fall in the first place."

He faintly smiled at her wise words. "You're right, Mal. You're completely right."

She sent him a sincere smile. "Thanks, sunshine."

They left the locker a few minutes later, then headed over to the cafeteria. Mal offered Felix the seat next to her since she didn't want anything to happen like the day before. The two had their trays of food in front of them delivered after a few minutes.

"I... Damn, they forgot my juice." Mal groaned. Felix, who knew that she loved to have juice with every meal, turned to her right away.

"Do you want me to go get it for you?"

"No, no, baby. It's fine. I'll get it myself." he glanced at her with a desperate look, suddenly feeling as if his chest was too tight. He knew that he couldn't be in a cafeteria, alone, without her, with everybody watching his every move.

"Mal, please be quick. Please."

She nodded at that, rubbing his shoulder reassuringly before she left. Felix continued to stare at the table, trying to keep a low profile as he took an anxious bite of his fries.

He couldn't do this.

People staring at him like that made him uncomfortable.

He knew that he became so dependent on Mal over the past month, but that was only because he knew nobody at the school to make him feel the way she made him feel.

And he knew that he would gladly not know anybody except her at that place rather than the other way around.

As he took another bite, he heard the sound of metal hitting the bare table, suddenly startling him. He looked up, expecting to see Mal again, with another tray of food for some reason, but to his dismay, he saw another girl standing before him, with two girls standing by her side as if they were her sidekicks.

The girl was extremely pretty. She had wavy blonde hair, sea-blue eyes, and a slim figure. Felix could, however, only understand that she was there to make him uncomfortable, much like Griffin.

"Hey, sexy." she greeted. Felix scanned the cafeteria to look for Mal, but she was nowhere to be found. He assumed that she couldn't find the juice anywhere and was looking for the lunch lady.

"Um..."

"Wanna go on a date?" she asked. "To be honest, you're kinda hot. But, you know, unless you're seeing someone."

"I have a girlfriend," he murmured, avoiding her piercing gaze. The urge to leave filled his insides, making him more anxious than before.

"What's that?" she asked in a louder tone.

"I-I said I have a girlfriend."

"Yes, he's with someone. Me!" Mal exclaimed, hurrying towards the table, a carton box of mango juice attached to her hand. "Can you please leave?"

Sabrina stood up, slightly offended. "It hurts that you can't even stand me. What would you even say if I was here to talk to you?"

"Um, I wouldn't say anything because I know you're not here to talk to me," she replied, mocking Sabrina's statement. "Also, please tell Griffin to stay away from Felix. Griffin makes him, and me, uncomfortable. I don't want to talk to him right now, or any time soon."

"Okay, I can't tell Griffin that because we're not together anymore. How about you tell him?"

Sabrina smirked, then turned around to make her dramatic exit, clicking her fingers together to motion for her sidekicks to follow her. That made Mal roll her eyes as she took her seat next to Felix once again.

"Are you okay?"

He gathered his courage slowly, glancing anxiously at her. "Y-Yeah, I just feel... A little uncomfortable, I guess. I think I'm just happy that you're here."

She wrapped her arm around his waist, bringing his body a little closer to hers.

"I'm sorry, about all of this. You said before that I had to sacrifice a lot for us to be together, but... I honestly think that you sacrificed a lot more." she muttered in Korean. Felix was taken aback for a few moments, as he didn't know she spoke Korean before.

"No, I didn't. Name one thing." Felix shrugged, replying in Korean, a little sarcasm in his tone.

"Um, a normal lunch for example."

They both giggled at that.

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