There’s something going on between Kaylah and Christine as I watch their interaction. I turn to Tony to tell him something when his phone rings. “Oh hey man, you missed the match, maybe next time, am about to bounce with my friends..oh, you are here? Well the more the merrier!! come join us!” He puts the phone down and tells us his friend will be joining us any moment. I assume it’s one of our colleagues and turn to ask him when I see a slim medium guy heading towards us waving his hand to which Tony waves back. One word suddenly pops in my mind- David. He s half jogging, half walking while never breaking his eye contact on Tony. I feel a cold shiver run down my spine. I don’t like this guy. When he gets to us, he throws himself onto Tony who catches him before he falls down on his face. “Whoa whoa there, you okay? Guys, this is David, the guy I mentioned before. He just moved to town. We met at the gym. Don’t be too wary when he clings to you, he was raised like that. He is half Irish and half Swiss” Tony introduces him. He clings on his shoulder like a puppy which makes my stomach cold. We all exchange looks. It’s so obvious he said that as an excuse to cling onto Tony who is annoyingly dense as usual and believes him. I pull Tony’s arm from his grasp and extend my hand at him.

“Nice to meet you David, I’m Seo-Jun, Tony’s best friend. It seems you two are not that close as you think since he has mentioned you to us today.”His smile falters slightly but he replaces it so quick I almost think it was my imagination. He shakes my hand back. “well it’s to be expected since I just moved here this month, but I intend to change that.” The last part he whispers to only me. He hooks his arm on Tony and smiles at him.

I am beyond frustrated, before I can say anything more Kaylah holds me back. Tony just looks at us oblivious to what has just happened. “Can we go eat now? Any more second here and I might just trade my brother over here for being a clueless idiot.” Christine sighs loudly and starts walking away to which we all follow.

“ I came here as fast as I can , am a little tired so let me hold on to these strong arms, okay buddy?” David tells Tony with the most innocent eyes and smile he can master. I roll my eyes with disgust.

Kaylah nudges me on the side “you are going to make matters worse for yourself. Let it go for now.” We find a restaurant and all go to eat something. Tony is sited between David and me while Christine and Kaylah sit across one another. We each take our orders and makes small talks mostly about gym, sports, work and life in general. I learn that David used to live in the village with his parents and moved to the city center after getting a job as a dance instructor in a studio.

He tells us all there is to know about his family, pet lizard, his dog and his journey and passion for dancing. At this point, I’ve lost my appetite and contemplating if I should just leave and go get some air when I feel Tony’s hand on my forehead. My face heats up immediately. “Are you okay? You don’t look good. I can take you home if you want to.” he tells me clearly worried. The thought that he actually pays attention to what I am feeling makes me warm inside. David doesn’t seem too happy about this and strangely that makes me happy. I hold his hand and squeeze it lightly. “ I'm good. Must be the heat. Cold glass of water should do the trick.” I tell him which he proceeds to signal the waiter for the whole table. He doesn’t remove my hand and it seems he doesn’t realize it’s there until David ruins the moment. David coughs to get his attention to which he takes his hand away. For a moment there, I felt that we had connected more than friends but maybe it was just my imagination. The food arrives and we all eat while engaging in small talks. Afterwards , we go to the parking lot and I turn to give my farewells when Tony beats me to it.

“Mind some company today? It’s been awhile since we hanged out, got any plans?He asks behind me. I try not to sound too happy but from the less amused face of Kaylah I know am not fooling anyone just Tony. “Of course not, I was about to ask you what you had going on after this. If not, you can come and hang out, we can watch some movie or cook” I laugh lightly. “Sweet! Count me in!” Tony says and we start going to my car. David runs and grabs Tony’s arms, “I thought we made plans today , just us...i mean I haven’t finished unpacking those big boxes?” He tries to act cute and pitiful. It’s annoying how he throws himself at him. I was happy at the thought of hanging out with Tony but now am not too sure.

“ha ha , next time buddy, I need to catch up with him. I feel like I’ve spent very little time with him so I have to make it up. Besides, we go to the same gym every Saturday so we can always hang out after the session.” David doesn’t seem too thrilled to hear that and is about to argue when he stops abruptly and smiles sweetly at him. He is weird - I think to myself. He instead, stand on his tippy toes and plants a quick peck on his cheeks. “Alright, see you next Saturday. Stay safe and don’t miss me too much.” He leaves quickly before Tony can tell him anything.

Wow. We all stare at him leaving. He has guts , that I’ll give it to him. Tony laughs and just shrugs it off. I turn to ask Kaylah if she and Christine are coming too but Christina holds her arm. Without breaking eye contact with her she yells back. “Nah, you boys go and have fun. We are good here.” I look at Kaylah who just nods and tells me to go ahead.

We get in the car and drive off leaving Kaylah and Christine behind.