"ARE you okay?" Angel detects the absence of the MiLLion DoLLars Smile ... / I never fail to put on whenever we meet.

"I'm okay. Just feeling a little unwell." My reply is as cold as ice.

"Oh... Garf, I have something to tell you. I wanted to tell you this some time ago, but I could't bring myself to talk about it as I was afraid it might spoil our day. But I have to let you know now..."

"I know what you want to say. So you have been hiding this from me all the while?" Displeasure begins to surface.

"How do you know about it?", Angel is quite taken aback, "Oh, you met Turk and he told you about it?"

"Of course I know! So you finally admit!" I yell at the top of my voice, upon hearing the name Turk.

"Why are you shouting at me? What did he say to you? And what 'admit'?"

"No, I didn't see him....oh yes, I saw him... errr.. no...", I find myself stumbling with gaggled words, "Okay okay, why don't you just simply tell me what you want to tell me, rather then ask me what he told me."

"Are you okay today, Garf? I'm totally lost. What do you mean by 'I finally admit'?"

"Don't pretend, please. I saw you with Turk this morning..."

"Yes, we were having lunch then. So?"

"So? All the way there for lunch? You are in Science and he's in Comp Science, mind you! Just trying to avoid being seen right?"

"What are you talking? We are just having lunch!" She raises her voice.

"Then what about the yolkless mooncake stuff? You are here to tell me we are just friends and all the BLAH BLAH BLAH right?"

"I don't understand what you are talking about. What yolkless mooncake? Garf, you are too worked up now. I don't think this is a right time to tell you yet. Maybe we talk some other time, after you have simmered down."

I watch her cross the road and vanish at the turn of a corner. I have thought of running up to her, but I hesitated, and then, I lose sight of her.

A week has passed. I begin to regret my rashness. I must have been too harsh on Angel that day, for she has not called me since then. I am getting increasingly listless. Should I apologise? It's not an easy task. Pride is at play. Ego at stake. To apologise amounts to condescending oneself. Furthermore, I rationalise that apologising is useless, afterall she was suggesting a break off and hence would most probably want me to just leave her alone.

"...Please love me more... I have been singing this song for the past one week. It was written by an old classmate of mine some years back, when his girlfriend forsook him for another guy. How sad (*sigh!*). The song says that all things will be fine when the next sun appears; let bygones be bygones — it's easier said than done. It leaves me wondering, is it more fortunate to love or to be loved? [Author: sigh]

I haven't been to campus for a couple of days. If not because of the IS203 project meeting, I wouldn't want to leave my hideaway. I guess it's high time to tidy up my locker, I say to myself. I open the locker door and find a plicate sheet of paper. Who slipped it in there? I unfold the paper. Inscribed on it is a short computer-printed note:

"I am really sorry about what I said last week."

I am relieved. She dissolves the quandary I was in — the dilemma of deciding whether to hold or to go. She saves my ego. Now I have no fear of losing face as she is the one who made the first move to apologise. I see that as an invitation to relive our good old days. My days will no longer be cut and dried as they are now. Efflorescence will be the gift of our future.

I pick up the phone and dial the number. The familiar voice comes from the other end.

"Hello."

"Helloooooo Angel, Garf." I try to sound as sweet as I can.

"Hi...is there something you want to say?"

"Yes, I have got your note. No hard feeling."

"What note?"

"The note you left in my locker."

"No, you must have got it wrong. I didn't write you anything."

"... Why are you denying? You left a note of apology in my locker. Are you implying that I'm a liar? Or are you resorting to such trick?"

"Garf, I didn't write you anything. Anyway I don't owe you any apology. I'm not the one at fault, you are. You are getting unreasonable. You'd better check your attitude. I don't want to argue with you anymore."

She kills the line, and along with that, she kills my hope.