"Did you dump Liam?" she said, impatience coloring her tone.
Aki blinked not understanding what was happening nor feeling like he deserved the attack he was getting. "Hang on. You got it wrong."
The flurry of verbal attack was forming in her mouth when a guy with curly black hair pulled her behind him. "Karen stop."
"But--"
She gripped his arm and tried to get in front of Aki again. To Aki's relief, the guy managed to keep her behind him.
"Stop attacking people like that. You're being rude," the guy said.
Karen stopped fighting and crossed her arms. "He hurt Liam."
"That's their problem. Not ours."
Karen glowered. The guy sighed. "Leave it. Liam won't be happy."
"You don't want Liam to be like 'that' again, do you?" She hissed at the guy then flipped her hair and move away without giving so much as a second glance to Aki as if he was not even worth her time.
Aki watched their exchange, his eyebrows lifted. He was amused and baffled by their conversation. He decided to be amused for now. After all, it's not every day you see someone who can handle Karen.
The guy turned to him. "Sorry. Karen is really protective of Liam. So," he said as he sat beside Aki and leaned closer.
Aki flinched with the 'so'. He was not going to like what comes after it.
"You're the rumored boyfriend." The guy extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Chris."
Aki took his hand tentatively and felt like he was forgetting something. "Aki." Then he added, "I don't think I see you at the campus so how...?"
Chris's smile widened and picked up at the unspoken question. "You're pretty famous, you know? Imagine, Liam's boyfriend. That's big news so even the usual crowd from Liam's hang out spots caught up with it." He looked behind him as if waiting for someone to come through the door. "Is Liam here?"
"Uh, no. I don't think so."
Chris ordered a beer and took a swig as he formed words to his thoughts. Aki silently drank his beer and waited. But whatever Chris thought, he did not say it and Aki was left hungry with information. He blamed the alcohol for being inquisitive, something he would not really do when sober.
"What does Karen mean?" When Chris raised his brows as if not understanding the question, Aki added. "About Liam... being h-hurt... and all that."
"Well..." The silence went on far too long and Aki was starting to regret ever asking. "You see, Karen and I have been with Liam since high school. We've seen things," he caught Aki's eyes, "heartbreaks and all that."
Aki emptied his glass. They sat in silence, letting Chris's words hang in the air. After a while, Chris rose from his seat when his new glass of beer arrived.
"I'm gonna go back there. Karen's shooting daggers at me." Chris gave him a lopsided smile and stood up. "Please take care of our friend." He clasped Aki's shoulder, giving him a little squeeze.
Aki watched Chris's back and realized belatedly what was wrong. He scratched the tip of his nose and turned back to his drink. "I'm not his boyfriend, though..."