4 The Unchanged Me

"Dorami!!! Good morning!"

"Good morning, Raho." I stopped and greeted back to Raho who was running from the bus stop to catch up to me. He reminds me of a puppy sometimes.

Raho is probably the only one I talk with the most at work and the least would be Mr. Nowin because I only nod to whatever he says, otherwise he would sulk like a kid. I'm not good with handling the childish type. Okay, sorry, I was just kidding. Mr. Nowin is laid back and doesn't act his age at times but when it comes to work, he has a solid leadership and does his job well. He is easy to talk to and gives great advices too.

Talking about childish, I remember Kenyu acting childish a few times back in middle school too. I wonder if he still does it.

"Isn't today a good day? Dorami is actually smiling so early in the morning... The sky is beautiful too..," said Raho while looking at the sky. He made me surprised. Was I really smiling?

"Wa- was I?"

"Cute."

Cute, he said. I looked at Raho who is now walking in front of me. He usually makes random comments like that whenever we talk and he just stops our conversation right after. Cute, huh? Wait…, don't tell me, does Raho like me? Ugh, if I get conscious of him, it will get awkward between us. I'm already so stressed about my problem. I don't want to feel pressured with another coworker. Wait, why am I assuming about another person's feelings again? I really hate my over-analyzing habit.

"Good morning, Dodo." And there my problem came, uninvited. I'm not sure why he has been dropping by the engineering office so many times. Doesn't have he have any flight?

"Good morning. Mr. Nowin is not here at the moment. He will be back in the afternoon so please come at another time." I greeted him briefly and processed to go out to the main hangar to perform my duty.

Sorry, Kenyu. I know what Jo-Ee said is right. I should be nicer to you if I want to be friends with you again but I'm still freaking awkward. Please give me a bit more time so that I can talk to you with ease. I'm afraid that if I'm not prepared enough, I will just run away again.

"Why are you following me?!" I didn't intend to shout at him but my nervousness took the better of me. I saw him blinking a few times and he looked confused, then what he replied made me want to bang my head on the wall next to me right at that instance.

"I'm going to the flight training simulator building. It's on this way too, or it isn't? Hmm, I might have gotten it wrong then."

I really want to bang my head now.

"Sorry, you are right. It's on this way. You just have to turn right over there."

"Okay, thank you, Dodo. See you later!"

He smiled and ruffled my hair, then left. How could he be so relaxed and act like everything is normal? While I am the only one affected… What professional, I can't even control my feelings when I'm near him. Ha… I want to die.

"Don't die on me."

I jumped when someone whispered next to my ear and almost hit him with my box file. What the hell, it's just Raho.

"I'm not going to die. I'm still young."

"But you just said you want to die."

"I did not." I denied and continued walking.

"You just did."

"I did not."

"You did." He is not going to give up, is he?

"I didn't."

"You did," and he laughed.

I stopped and glared at him. He is like that younger cousin who would keep annoying you when you are not even in the mood to play with him. How come he becomes so immature only when there are the two of us? I don't want to do this at a workplace but he really deserves a kick. When I was going to raise my leg, I saw Kenyu walking back towards us so I stopped. Crap, I almost showed him the unsightly part of me.

"Sorry, could I talk to Dodo for a few minutes?"

Kenyu asked while looking at Raho. What does he want to talk about?

"Okay. I'm going to the hangar first." Raho told me. He looked at Kenyu briefly then left.

"You two look close." Kenyu said.

"I work with him as partners for some tasks. He is a good colleague but I'm not sure if we are really close."

"You really haven't changed at all. You can't tell if you are close or not close with another person. The categories of human relationship are still hard for you to differentiate, aren't they?"

I looked at him, straight into his eyes. I don't know what he actually meant by it. I'm not sure if I should be happy or upset when someone like him says I haven't changed. From the sound of it, did he mean I still haven't matured enough because I don't have much knowledge about human relationships? I'm not happy if it's like that but I think he might be right, and that's what makes me more upset with myself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean anything bad by it."

He apologized. Then, what did he really want to convey?

"Alright, don't look too much into what I just said. I'm just happy that you are still innocent regarding the matter. No, sorry, what I really mean is-"

"I don't really understand but let's say I kind of get it." I stopped him from saying anything more. Yes, complex conversations like this are troublesome. I don't want to deal with them.

"So what did you want to talk about? I need to hurry to the hangar."

It's true, I need to hurry to finish my tasks. I don't want to work overtime because Jo-Ee will complain if her food is not ready on time. No, actually, standing beside Kenyu and hearing about how he is happy that I haven't changed and such, is not really good for my heart. I want to run to the hangar as soon as possible.

"Is tomorrow your day off?" He hurriedly asked too.

"Yes. Why?"

"Mine too. It's been a long time since I last came back to this city so let's go on a date to explore it together."

"Huh?"

Huh…? Huh? HUH? Is he asking me to go on a date with him? HUHHH?