"You know what they say. Guys and girls can't just be friends." The blond guy who stood next to Mizi told, his head downcast and brows furrowed.

Mizi's eyebrows raised, her mouth innocently curling to an 'o' shape, yet her collar color shone red, conveying her discomfort with the conversation. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. Apparently, we can't just be friends either!" He laughed out, finally looking up from the ground to meet Mizi's gaze, a blush coating his face. "A male and female are bound to end up falling in love, and end up mating. And as a male... I'm quite..."

"Oh." Mizi's face dropped, her next words coming out bluntly. "That's kind of gross-"

Slap.

Mizi's whole body jerked as she was slapped by the guy, her glasses flying off her face. A red mark quickly deepened on her cheek, her eyes locked on the ground for a moment before lifting to look at him, his body angrily looming over her.

"Don't give me that face. As if you're all oblivious and clueless." He spat out, staring at Mizi, his hands balled up in fists. "I know you're aware of everything."

A hand gently went up to touch where she had been slapped, wide eyes stuck on the blond in front of her.

"So easy for you with that pretty face, huh? Just a little smile and everyone loves you. Must be nice, right?" He rhetorically questioned, his arms angrily moving up to gesture with.

He ranted on, yet his words all merged together, a jumble of "You knew all along," "You have every guy over you." She wasn't paying attention, all she knew was that she was subjected to getting hurt. She had begged for her owner Shine to send her to Anakt Garden, but not for this, she wanted to finally be the one to crush someone else, she didn't want to keep getting hurt, she wanted to be the one to do the hurting.

"You disgusting girl. You filthy, damn-"

"I'm sorry." Mizi's apology interrupted the guy's rant, tears welling up in her eyes, quickly falling. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to upset you! But I have no idea what I did wrong. What did I do? Well, I should go to see Sua now. I'm really sorry, okay? I'll see you later!"

"...Hey!" The guy reaching out at Mizi quickly turned the other way, her movements almost frantic, a smile on her face as she cried, shouting another "Haha, sorry!" as she ran.

☆-

"I told you he was off. I was right, huh?" Sua softly asked, a neutral expression on her face, yet she was content with Mizi.

"I'm sure I did something wrong. He's not a bad person." Mizi replied, looking forward to the girl who lay adjacent to her. "And right now, I'm just so happy because I'm with you, Sua! Sooo happy!"

A beat of silence crossed them, Sua responding in a dull tone. "...I don't know. I'm not sure if I can say the same. My mom kept me for hours again. She said we're running out of time, since we'll be going on stage soon. The entire time, all I thought of was getting to see you. That helped me keep it together."

Sua sat up on the ground they were lying on, arms crossed over her knees, a dry smile on her face. "At least you don't get dragged around like me. Must be nice, right?"

Slap.

It was like Mizi's hand moved on its own, she didn't even realize what she was doing until she processed the widened eyes of Sua, holding onto her cheek which was just slapped. This should've been what Mizi wanted, right? She was finally the one causing the harm. And she hated every second of it. She didn't want to hurt Sua, she never would, and yet? She did.

Tears started streaming down Mizi's face once more, her hands partially held up as if wanting to reach out to touch Sua. "Oh... S-sorry…"