To be honest, it had been Denny's luck that Clover hadn't come in, because if she had Denny in front of her asking her out on a date she would have been much more rude and ruthless than usual, which would have dropped Denny’s already very low self-esteem by a lot.

In fact, she was nervous, tired, and with an incredible desire to punch someone. Unfortunately, before going to the gym she necessarily had to participate at least at the end of that special meeting.

It had been a stressful morning for studying. And the family lunch, arranged because Blossom, one of her older sisters, was returning to her home in another city, had been even more devastating.

Two and a half hours when her father had teased her, Aloe, the eldest daughter, had taken his side, and her mother's attempts to divert attention towards Blossom, the presumed protagonist of the morning, had been useless, since she was always set aside.

The icing on the cake, halfway through lunch, Richard "Dick" Choi, her ex, whom the father always tried, in every way, to bring back into the life of his younger daughter, had joined them.

In short, the day absolutely could not have gone worse than this.

She sat down at the table, in the place previously occupied by Denny, without even saying hello, and immediately called Sonja, the closest waitress.

“Bring me a coffee as black as my mood right now!” she ordered, almost aggressively.

“Immediately, miss” the new waitress nodded with enthusiasm, and a little fear, darting into the kitchen to deliver the order.

“Hey, don't treat Max's future girlfriend badly” Amabelle scolded her, making her roll her eyes.

“I’m not in the mood to be polite. It was the most stressful lunch of my life” the girl muttered, rubbing her temples. She was so busy being angry that she hadn't even noticed the new face, nor remembered why it was imperative that she showed up.

She remembered when that new face spoke, chuckling to himself.

“I see that you are very determined in your resolution, Amabelle” noticed in fact a voice familiar to Clover, belonging to a boy next to Amabelle, who was observing the kitchen door in what would have almost seemed like an attempt not to turn his gaze towards Clover, if that made any sense.

But it didn't make sense, since Clover had never seen that man in her life… or at least, she didn’t think so.

Even if he had something extremely familiar.

She began to eye him, trying to remember where she might have seen him. Maybe at the gym? Or at the university?

“Oh, speaking of…!” Amabelle seemed to realize only at that moment that Clover had finally arrived and it was time to make the official introductions.

“…Speaking of?” Diego repeated to himself, looking at her worried.

“…Clover, this is Diego Flores, who I would like to integrate into the group. Diego, this is Clover Paik. The last member of the group that you haven't met yet” Amabelle introduced them to each other, with a twinkle in her eye.

Diego finally looked at her.

And the realization struck Clover like a bolt of lightning.

Diego Flores?

Diego Flores Fierro!!

She hadn't seen him in years! What was he doing there? When did he go back? Why hadn't he contacted her? How had he met Amabelle?

She was seriously about to ask him all those questions, with a rather resentful tone, but he was quicker than her.

“Nice to meet you, Clover. I'm Diego” he gave her a nod and a courtesy smile.

Wait…he didn't remember her? No freaking way! He couldn't have forgotten! Maybe he wanted to ignore her? Of course, that was what he had been doing for the last fifteen years after all! Well, two could play that game.

She gave him the widest, most false smile in her repertoire.

“Nice to meet you, Diego,” she said, feeling a knot form in her stomach.

Well, the day had officially gone worse!