About

You, my assigned seatmate since the first day of the first semester, were quite the chatterbox. From the first semester to the second, there wasn't a single day you didn't talk to me. To be honest, having you talk to me every single day was annoying and sometimes irritating, but it wasn't bad because I wasn't lonely. But around October, when it started getting chilly, there were about five days when you didn't come to school because of the flu. At first, I didn't think much of it. Sure, you could miss a day. But when you didn't show up on the second day, then the third, I started to get anxious. On the outside, I pretended I wasn't anxious, but inside, I was a complete mess. I couldn't focus on class, I spaced out often, and I even started biting my nails, something I'd never done in my life. After repeating that for five days, today, you finally came back. The moment I saw you, I was happy deep down. My face felt a bit hot, though. I didn't let it show on the outside. You sat down and, just like any other day, started talking to me naturally as if you hadn't been sick at all. Stories about being sick... about eating nothing but porridge for five days... about how nice it was to rest for five days... the words poured out of you as if a dam that had been closed for five days had suddenly burst. . . . I waited for you for five days, but I guess you didn't feel the same.