He smiled at her, looking at her face. On her lips exactly. "You’re welcome.” Then his eyes traveled to Blue and his friends on the counter.

"I noticed you were looking at them earlier. Are you close to them?" he asked.

“Yeah. Kind of." Irani answered. "My Cashmere is Blue's younger sister."

"How about Red? Are you close to him? I noticed he always talks to you every time you two see each other." Drei probed.

Irani almost laughed at Drei's question. "Oh, no! Red and aren't even close. Not even a bit. In my dreams, maybe." she said. "He just really likes to annoy me. How about you? Are you two close?"

Drei shook his head. "No, we're not. He’s always serious in practice.”

Irani frowned. "Really?"

They spent almost an hour in the coffee shop before Drei bid her goodbye. He said he would still need to drop by the mall and do some groceries.

Irani found out that Drei was really enjoyable to talk to. They mostly talked about school stuff. He also talked about his little siblings to her. And before they parted ways, Drei took her number.

Instead of going home, Irani decided to go back to the university and went to the library to borrow some books. She went to the English literature section of the library. She stilled when she noticed a familiar guy seated on the floor and leaning on the bookshelf. His face was covered by an open book. Even if she couldn't see the guy's face, she was sure it was Red.

Irani glanced at her wristwatch. The library was almost closing. She wondered what he was doing here? Was he sleeping?

She crouched in front of him. "Hey, Red," she said, trying to wake him up.

She slowly removed the book covering his face. She was welcomed by Red's handsome face. His eyes were closed and his lips were shut tightly.

Irani found himself staring at his face. She examined every feature of his face.

From his thick eyebrows to his straight nose, to his long and dark lashes, then to his lips. His lips were pink, thin on the upper and full on the lower. He was really the most handsome member of Flying Colors.

She unconsciously touched his forehead with her palm. He wasn't sick. His temperature was normal.

"Red," she called him again as she gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Red stirred. He then slowly moved and opened his eyes. His lazy eyes met hers. "Irani?" he said in a hoarse voice.

Irani stilled. Something was wrong with Red, she noticed. He didn’t call her shortcake.

Irani cleared her throat and looked around before her eyes went back to Red. "The library's almost closing, Red.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Then why are you still here?"

"W-well, I borrowed a book," she answered. She didn't know why she suddenly stammered.

She wasn't used to seeing a serious Red. He was always smirking at looking at her with a teasing smile.

"Well, then I'm going now," she said before leaving him.

Irani was already at the library door when Red caught up with her.

"Hey, shortcake..." Now he was back.

Irani rolled her eyes. "What?" she snapped at him.

The smile on the monkey's face was back. But his eyes... His eyes...he looked lonely.

"Are you going home now?" he asked, both of his hands inside his pocket.

"Yeah," she answered.

Red gave her a small smile. "Let's eat first. My treat. I'll bring you home after."

Irani blinked.

Red then sighed and looked at the sky. It was already getting dark. "I just don’t want to go home yet," he continued in a small voice. He looked at her. “But if you don't want to, that’s fine—”

“Okay…” Irani answered, nodding at him. She didn't know why she suddenly agreed to him. Maybe because his eyes were looking sad as he looked at her.

“Okay?” he muttered, looking shocked that she just say yes to him.

Irani pursed her lips. "Yeah. Just make sure you're the one paying."

Red was unusually silent while they were in his car. Irani wasn't used to him that way. She kept on looking at his side to check on him.

I don't want to go home yet. his words earlier kept on playing inside her head.

She wondered what Red's problem was. Maybe he got rejected by the girl he likes?

Stop thinking about her problem, Irani, she said to herself.

"Red?" she couldn't help but call him.

“Hmm?” Red said, glancing at her before his eyes went back to the road.

"Did some girl reject you?" she asked with pursed lips.

"Rejected?" Red muttered back. The car stopped when it hit the red light. Red turned to her again. Slowly, a familiar grin formed on his face. "Do you really think that someone would reject this face?” he said.

Now, he was back. Irani thought to herself.

Irani rolled her eyes at him and fanned herself using her hand. "Wow, someone here is really conceited, huh? I can feel the super typhoon Red beside me," she said in a sarcastic voice.

She then turned to Red, and she saw the amused smile on his face. Irani couldn’t help but smile. And she didn’t know the reason why.

Red’s phone on the dashboard lit up. He didn’t pick it up, instead, he ended the call and put his phone in the drawer.

“Why didn’t you answer it?” she couldn't help but ask him.

Red just shrugged at her. “I don’t answer calls when I’m driving,” he simply said.

The Emoticafe.

That’s the name of the cafe where Red brought her. The design of the café was emoji inspired.

There were posters of various emoticons. There were also pillows with emoji designs. The place was cute and Instagrammable. But got Irani, nothing still beats the unicorn theme cafe they went to the last time.

“Why do you know a lot of cafes?" she couldn't help but ask him. "Do you always bring your girls to this kind of place?" she continued to ask when their order arrived.