Think Of Us; luwoo [DISCONTINUED]

|11|

"Lucas! You wanna come sit with us? Better than sitting alone." Hendery looked at Yewon who tried to cover up her laughter.

I couldn't do much but roll my eyes at them since I was warned about getting arrested in America. I tried to search for a different table, but my eyes kept going back to Injoon. He tried to make it look like he wasn't watching out for me, but he was. I knew I should apologize for snapping off on him like I did, but the memory of our conversation only brought me more anger.

Suddenly, Dejun appeared in front of me with his food in hand. It shocked me a bit since he was Mark's friend and Mark's friends don't usually have anything to do with me unless they're ignoring me. "Long story short, my friends chose not to come last minute."

This made me snicker. Mark doesn't surprise me when it comes to being a fake friend. "And you still call them your friend?"

The guy chuckled while lifting up the bread on his burger. "I'm Xiao Dejun." Should I tell him that I already knew that or would that be weird? "I came here with Hendery but he and his girlfriend have another agenda." We both turned our eyes to look at the couple making out in front of their shared sprite. "They're so gross."

"The only thing I'm getting from this encounter is that your friends left you so in order to feel less like an outcast, you talk to the guy your "friends" make fun of on a daily basis."

Dejun lifted an eyebrow in pure confusion. "My friends talk about you?" I nodded confidently. "I don't even know your name. I only came up because we were both alone."

If I could eat my words out of existence then I would. Now that this guy knows I hate him and whoever he stands with, it got awkward. "Oh, I just figured that Mark would have said something about me. You know... he and I used to be best friends. Really close. We haven't talked since we were sophomores though."

"Can you warn me about what tore you guys apart so I can have my guard up?" I looked at him closely and decided not to go through the last two years of my life with a guy a barely met. "Guess not. There is nothing wrong with making friends though. I'm not constricted to one friend group." I simply nodded as I tried to enjoy my food. "Also, I remember your face in the library. You were signing up for tutoring. I'm really good at faces and not so with names. Can you refresh my memory?"

"I don't remember telling you my name but, I'm Wong Lucas. And unlike you, I didn't come alone. I just detected my fake friends." My eyes railed over to Injoon who was staring straight at me. I hoped the sight of Dejun across from me would get him a bit upset. Instead, he went to laughing at something Jeno said, and at this point, I was getting fed up.

"Mark can be a bit-"

"Do you want to meet my fake friends? I think they want to meet you." I couldn't even wait for an answer. I was already storming over to their table. I just couldn't believe no one even tried to get me back. "I was over there all alone. Desperate for my friends to apologize for lying behind my back."

The table fell quiet as Dejun and I made our appearance. Siyeon tried to hide the look on her face by staring down at her food. Injoon simply stared straight at me while Jeno tried not to snap at me once again since his face was bright red with anger although it should be with embarrassment.

"If you want to talk about this more, it should be a private matter." His eyes drifted over to Dejun who smiled and waved. "Other than that, I will not apologize for carrying out someone's wishes. We all know he did what he did to make sure you moved on. Obviously, that didn't work. I'm not apologizing for that. It won't make you feel better. It'll only make you feel right."

Now was better than never to swallow my pride and take a seat at this table. Dejun followed right behind me since I did drag him away from whatever the hell we had going on a few feet away. "This is Xiao Dejun. He is our new buddy for this trip. His friends stood him up and I think it's only right we befriend him for the time being."

"Hi, Xiao Dejun," the table chorused.

"Hi. I know your name is Injoon. You're always doing the morning announcements and Siyeon. I saw you in tutoring sessions all the time before I stopped tutoring. Also, Chenle! We planned that trip in the student council!" Chenle nodded with bright eyes as if he just remembered he went on a trip a few days ago. "But I don't know your name."

Jeno looked away from his phone to see Dejun looking at him. Both the boys acted as if they didn't know the other was present. It was pretty annoying. "Lee Jeno. How well is your American?"

"Do you mean, how well do I speak English?" Jeno rolled his eyes at Dejun as if his question was obvious. "My first language Cantonese. I understand very very little English. Why?"

All eyes traveled to the American woman who their teachers told all the orders too. None of them knew good English aside from Chenle who refused to ask for anymore Colas due to the unhealthy calories. "We need someone to order us drinks and the teachers is too far away."

"I'm really sorry. I can't-"

"You guys know pointing is useful too, right?" I got up out of my seat and approached the woman behind the register. She smiled and said something that went in one ear and out the other. In my lame attempt at speaking English, she giggled in my face and pulled out her phone. She then types something into it before showing me the device. "Type it here so I can translate," I read Korean words out loud. In excitement, I started typing in our order but my finger slipped and her home screen appeared. My search to find the internet search came to a quick stop when I took in the picture on her background.

It was Jungwoo holding a small child and the same girl was in the picture. Almost like a family portrait right in front of my eyes. I could feel the color draining from my face and my hands shaking so hard that her phone fell on the counter causing her to jump back.

"I'm sorry. Thank you."

"What happened to our drinks!?" Jeno shouted as I came back empty-handed. "Shit. What did she say to you?"

Siyeo giggled. "He probably said the wrong thing in English."

"I just saw Jungwoo. He has a kid and he's married to that girl." We all turned to face the worker who was staring back at us with fear in her eyes. The sight of a bunch of foreign people staring me down would make me uneasy too, but I didn't care. She had someone I wanted and I didn't even know the words to tell her to give him back.