Frustration and beginning.

2-1

"Sorry, but I won't be able to help you."

Everyone seems to be surprised by Thomas's response, honestly it can make our work very difficult. Eric lifts his arm to speak.

"Could you tell us why, Thomas?"

“I will be preparing for an art exhibition that will take place at the end of the month. If I want to keep my scholarship, I need to represent the university at some event.”.

Thomas starts to sort some peas in the corner of his plate.

“When an artist belongs to an area, he is isolating himself from others specialties.”.

He then spoons the peas and adds some rice and sauce.

“If an artist wants to learn something new, animation for example, he needs time to understand it and be able to apply it in practice, it takes time and studies. Unfortunately, time is something I don't have right now.”

Eric is very thoughtful, he probably feels out of options, or he is trying to think of a viable one at least.

"So how about you just do the coloring?"

Hina looks at Thomas who adjusts his ridiculous bottle-bottom glasses.

“It's an option, but there could still be complications along the way...”.

Eric breathes a sigh of relief.

"If there is someone in charge of coloring, it will be of great help, so I’ll be able to focus on the Animation”.

To be honest, he seems more involved in this project than me or Hina and this it's weird... At least from my point of view, he has nothing to gain from it, perhaps he wants to approach me?

That's not something I'd like to imagine about Eric, but there's been a few times where this happened before, as a result, bad rumors started to spread in high school, but that ended up being resolved over time.

"So all that's left now is the Soundtrack, isn't that right Eric?"

“Yes, this is the hardest part, to be honest, the script and the soundtrack are the most complicated part of the project.”.

"Seriously!? I got the hardest part!?”.

"They're the ones which will give soul to this short film, the story can be neither too long nor too short and needs to present something clear, even professionals have a hard time with that.”.

He's completely ignoring me, does that mean I'm screwed!?

"Ehhh.... Eric, you do remember that I don't understand anything about writing, right?"

"Relax, this project from what you told me is just to see what we can do, my art and Thomas’s will compensate for your script, even if It turns out to be weak”.

Atlas's art... making up for a flaw in my script!? No way, I'll make you swallow those words Eric, I won't let Thomas overshadow me! I won’t accept losing to someone who looks so careless!

“Weak script? You better remember these words when my script ends up standing out more than anything else!”.

“It's nice to know you're motivated, but keep in mind that we'll only be able to start our production when you finish your script.”.

“Don't worry about it Eric, next week, no, later this week I will hand you the full script, just wait and see! Especially you A- Thomas! I refuse to lose to you at all cost!”

Hina approaches Thomas' ear to whisper something, but it's impossible to hear.

"I have no idea.". Thomas replied.

"But as I was saying, we need someone responsible for the soundtrack, It will have a strong emotional role. I don't have contacts with anyone in this area, so does anyone have any contact?”.

"I have.".

Hina is surprised by Thomas' response.

“Thomas? I didn't know you knew anyone. In elementary and high school you didn't hang out with a lot of people because you had to prepare for competitions and exhibitions, no?”.

“Yeah, you and Ash were pretty much my only friends back then, but I also made some friends online, some I got to know in person too”.

“Ah! I think I remember you mentioning it once.”

“After all, we are in luck, one of these friends of mine is a veteran in the music course, if you want I can ask him for help, as I already had arranged to meet him at some point."

Eric is excited by Thomas' information, even Nian who wasn't involved was excited.

"It would be great! What do you think of It Hina?”.

"Yes, it would be great, would you be able to talk to him tomorrow?"

"No problem".

Drake claps three times.

“Guys, I know you're getting excited and all, but the food is going to get cold and I won't heat it again"

After dinner and a lot of discussion about the project, we decided to rest. Hina is sitting on the porch distracted by the stars. As we studied at the living room table, it would be nice to build a friendship with her.

"What are you doing Hina?"

"Oh, hi Dina, I'm enjoying the night breeze a little, I like to do it sometimes before bed”.

“I get it, but tell me, why do you like movies so much? Like, you made it to the point of even wanting to work with it”.

I take a seat next to Hina.

“Since I was little my parents always liked movies, every weekend we went to the cinema when it was possible, from the good movies to the bad ones, we saw them all. I remember that at that time it was like playing the lottery to see a remarkable movie, however, it was very fun”.

Hina smiles as she talks about it as her face bathes in moonlight.

“My parents got a little busy, so they couldn’t keep watching movies over time, but my older sister kept taking me. I think Thomas helped me to notice how much I wanted to produce my own movies, he simply told me: ‘If you like watching movies with your family that much, why not make one yourself? Your parents would definitely see’. It's funny to think about it now.”

"Hina, do you happen to like Thomas?"

"Me? No, I've never seen him that way, plus I have a boyfriend.”

"Seriously!? Is he from our college?”.

Hina tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and gives a sweet little smile.

"He didn't go to university, he decided to take over his grandfather's restaurant, even though It is a modest business it receives a lot of customers”.

Owner of a modest restaurant? Hm... as long as he is decent for a girl cute like Hina, but what would my dad think about such a relationship... he would probably think It has no future, just like me…

"How did you meet your boyfriend?"

“He helped Thomas when some guys tried to bully him in the school. If I remember correctly, Thomas accidentally spilled juice on one of them”.

Hina takes out her cell phone and starts scrolling it.

“Remember when Thomas said he only had two friends during middle and high school? One of them is Ash, we started dating in high school”.

"Oh, he's really cute, good job Hina!"

Hina gives a very sweet and discreet smile.

"Thanks!".

I stand up and start to stretch my back.

"I think I'm going to take a nap soon, what about you?"

“I'll stay a little longer”.

"Okay, good night Hina."

"Good night".

2-2

When I was just four years old, I lived a life surrounded by spotlights, I didn't understand why, the blinding flashes of multiple cameras, the suit my father wore, the photos of my mother on magazine covers and a house unnecessarily large just for me, this was my daily life, my “normal” life.

I was very well taken care of by the employees, all my needs were met in the best possible way, all dresses, shoes, food, everything was of the highest quality. It was like my existence was a jewel, the dinners I went with my parents were full of compliments and looks directed at me and my mother.

I felt like my father's pride, a precious gem. Sometimes when my dad had time we would talk and many times he would tell me the same thing as he patted my head.

“Diana, my dear daughter, the world is a place where you have to offer something to people, you are only valuable that way. Beautiful people are the ones who have the most value, appearance and beauty is fleeting, but it gives many opportunities, so keep beautiful Diana, because only then will you still have value.”

It was very difficult for me to be able to play with other children my age. There was only one time I was able to play, thanks to the driver and the head maid. I remember it was a lot of fun, the children who used to think I was boring saw a new side of me. It was so fun, so tiring, so refreshing, I had a whole open space to run and play like in my house, but it was different.

That time I got a little dirty at home, my mother was present and was surprised by my condition, the head maid tried to apologize, but my mother just said:

"No need to apologize, kids sometimes need to play and have fun with each other, getting a little dirty is not a bad thing, but it's good for her to clean up before my husband arrives."

I went to take off my dirty clothes, but I heard my father's voice coming home, so I just ran to greet him with a hug full of euphoria and anxiety to tell you how much fun my day was. I jumped into my father's arms, who was immediately surprised:

"Diana? You're not a girl to greet others in such a way.”

My father was a man who values ​​appearances above all else, only what was beautiful could offer something and improve his image, so I always needed to walk tidy, be smart, clean, polite and impeccable to everyone's eyes. When my father noticed the stain on my face, he asked:

"Why is your face dirty?"

“I played with some friends today after school, it was a lot of fun, Mom even thought it was cool”.

"I see daughter, you could go take a shower, then you can tell Daddy how your day went."

Despite saying this, he just took a cloth from his pocket to wipe his hand. While I was taking a shower, I could hear the discussion between my parents. That was the first time I took a shower without the head maid and after that... I never saw her again.

I'm sure that from the moment I started taking a shower alone, I could see how much my parents argued, my father screamed things like:

“Stop disturbing our daughter's education! You as a model should know the value of beauty more than anyone else!”.

My mother ended up screaming back.

"You only think about that! How shallow can you be?! You weren't like that when I met you! Me and my daughter are not statues or display jewelry! All we want is for you to see us for who we are, not just how we look!”.

My mother always told me not to just look at appearances and enjoy the company of others. My father asked me to always take care of my appearance and just demand the best and what was worthy. As I grew up he always showed images of ugly kids, toothless, full of scars or other defects, and asked if this type of person was worthy to be with me.

All this made my head fuzzy, what was more valuable? What was it to have value? Before I knew it I had learned what my father told me, however, not entirely thanks to my mother, but as a result my father abandoned us, he just left my mother for another woman like it was nothing, my mother was devastated and I felt abandoned.

My mom managed to move on and get married again, have a family, but what about me? Am I just a bad reminder to her of her old relationship? I just wanted to make my parents proud, but I had to choose a side. Even though I stayed with my mother, part of me wanted to be with my father, I just wanted to be able to live happily with them, I just wanted to keep admiring them.

Do I need to be beautiful to be of value? Do I have to be perfect to be happy? The looks... Since when did they start bothering me so much? The pressure, the anguish... I need to be perfect! I have to be impeccable! Admirable! Lovely! If I can be all that one day... I can be happy. Will I have value, father?

2-3

Early in the morning I sigh down the hall of the residence.

"Ah... I had a really bad dream tonight, I think I'm going to take a shower to change my mood a bit."

As the residence has an open corridor to the flowerbed, it is easy to see the street outside, the wind ventilates the place and the sun illuminates everything, as it is spring everything is very refreshing.

To my surprise I see Thomas sitting on a stool drawing on a panel, what is he drawing? I don't think it hurts to try, I've never seen someone drawing on a board before, not to mention that I couldn't see it the other time because of the whole situation.

"What are you drawing?" I ask as I approach to see the painting.

"Ah, good morning Diana."

I ended up being rude without meaning to...

“G-Good morning Thomas, you can call me Dina like the others”.

"Okay, but to answer your question, I'm just practicing a little bit, I don't know what I'm going to draw for the exposition at the end of the month, so I'm at least practicing."

On the panel you can see some sketches of the flowerbed with potted plants.

"How long have you been drawing?"

"Ah, I woke up about an hour ago, Drake had also woken up, he had to go shopping."

"So you basically woke up at five and you've been drawing for an hour!?"

"Yes, I came to draw as soon as I had coffee, classes start at seven o'clock, but I want to have some time to practice before that."

“But the university is not even full time, not to mention that they have help rooms for students to work in the afternoon, why wake up so early just to practice and you can do it later?”.

"Because only I can do this, each person has their own way of seeing the world and only I can express what I'm able to see."

"Expressing... what only you can see...".

“Besides, you said yourself yesterday that you were going to create a script that would overshadow Eric's and mine, didn't you? I don't intend to let it happen that easily.”

I feel like an idiot... I just let myself get carried away by the fear of disappointing Atlas and acted smug as if I could easily overcome years of effort and hard work from two people who know what they want to do with their lives.

I may be pretty, have money or even great grades, but I have always felt lost, but at the same time immersed in my own pride, in the meantime, how hard did the people around me try?

"I see, I'm going then, I need to prepare myself, see you later Thomas".

"Until later".

I feel ashamed and frustrated, I couldn't even say anything back to what he said, but I don't want to lose to him! No way! After brushing my teeth, completely lost in thought, I see Drake arriving in the kitchen with his hands full of bags.

"Hi Drake, good morning."

“Good morning Dina”.

I don't want to be stuck either, I need to start doing what I can for this project!

"Can I ask you a favor?"

...

After some long classes in the morning, lunchtime finally arrives. During classes I took as many notes as I could. I want to go back home this afternoon to read the book Hina recommended to me earlier. I may not have any experience with script, but I can at least try... Drake will be busy today, so we won't be able to talk about what we discussed in the morning…

I can only study for now and try to find inspiration in some way, the problem is... how do I get inspiration!? Maybe I'll order something to eat, so I'll go straight to the residence.

Distracted by my thoughts, I end up bumping into someone in the hallway.

"I'm sorry, I was distracted and didn't pay attention... Thomas?"

"Dina?"

"I'm sorry, are you going to lunch?"

“Actually, I just had lunch, I was supposed to meet my friend”.

"Oh, the one you mentioned yesterday?"

"Yes, do you want to go along?"

"Hm... maybe, if it doesn't take a lot of time, it would be good to know what it looks like right away, so it's easier to work."

"That's true, should I call someone else to go along?"

"It would be nice, but Drake is busy, looks like he's joined a dish creation group, Eric works after lunch and Hina said she'd go straight back to the residency to do some planning and deadlines for the project."

"Got it, so let's get going."

"OK".

When we reach the music room, we are surprised by unexpected news.

“Oh, are you two looking for Danilo? I'm sorry to say, but we got word that he had an accident in the morning before he even came to college, it looks like he had slight fractures in his left arm and right leg.”

"What!?". The news is so sudden that Thomas and I both scream at the same time.

“How come you only found out about this now Thomas!?”.

"But he didn't even call to let me know, and besides, he was perfectly fine yesterday, how was I going to guess that?"

The guy in front of us answers our question.

"Apparently he was using his phone on his way down the stairs, so when he fell the phone broke."

Is this serious!? So we came here for nothing!?

“What do we do, Dina?”.

“D-Don't look at me, don't you know another musician friend?”.

"Not...".

We're screwed, without someone on the soundtrack we're lost, Thomas is already sitting in a chair in the corner of the room like a boxer who gave his all in a fight, but ended up being defeated overwhelmingly...

A male voice comes from the corner of the room.

“So are you Danilo's friends? From what I could hear, you guys need help."

The guy who stood in front of me and Thomas had a great look, In fact, he was very handsome! From his clothes to his undercut haircut, everything screamed style and confidence in this guy!

"My name is Kenny."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Diana".

“Mine is Thomas”.

“But then what did the couple want with Danilo?”.

Thomas gets his ears reddened.

“C-Couple!?”.

"We're just acquaintances, we live in the same house with other people, we're working on an animated short and we need help with the soundtrack."

“Th-That's right! I'm a longtime friend of Danilo's so I thought he could help with the soundtrack, but as he was suddenly injured, we were left with no options."

"Hm... your situation seems complicated... What is the deadline for the short film?"

"Until the end of this month." That's what I replied.

"Oh my! Now this is quite a situation hahaha, but if it's just to compose a simple song, then I don't see any problem in helping”.

Kenny then raises his indicated finger.

"But I have a condition."

A condition? Let's see what might turn out to be...

"And what would your condition be?"

"A date".

I knew it...

"I want a date with you, Diana."

"Ok then".

Thomas sends me a worried look.

"Are you sure about this Dina?"

"Yes".

Kenny then lets out an impressed whistle.

"I see you are a very confident woman, it's good to know you accepted my proposal."

Kenny wasted no time taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

“Give me your number and then we can set the date for It”.

"Of course, but I have a condition."

"And what would be?".

"It will be a group meeting with other couples present, take it or leave it."

"It seems that in addition to being confident you are also smart, that's fine then."

I write my number down on a paper sheet and hand it to Kenny.

"The date will be this Thursday afternoon, you choose the meeting place and it's best not to be late."

"Don't worry, I'll make a point of arriving on time."

So I just left the sound room with Thomas.

"Are you sure you really want to do this Dina?"

"Yes and you will come along".

"What!?".

2-4

"What!? A group date this Thursday!? And you want me to take Ash with me!?”.

I take a sip of my coffee as Hina jumps up from her chair.

"That's right Hina, there was no other way to get that guy to help us."

"It was just looking for someone else or trying to convince someone there."

"Everyone looked busy, not to mention that this guy volunteered on his own, which means..."

“What does it mean?”.

"That we can use him!"

"Your face is looking like a villain from some cartoon...".

“Anyway, this guy thinks he might end up having a chance with me during the date, we can use that against him, I can just fool him into thinking I'm falling for It, then I can pamper him a little for a month with my Money and then when we finish the project, I'll kick him in the ass!”.

I try my best to hold back my laugh as I try to imagine the silly face that smug idiot will make when that happens.

"I definitely don't want to be your enemy... You know this date is practically the day after tomorrow, don't you!?"

"Yeah, I know it's just around the corner, but we don't have much time to do the project."

Thomas is at the side of the table eating some grapes and then asks:

"And why do I need to go too?"

“The more people the better, the plan was to call Eric and Nian, but they wouldn't be able to make it, let alone Drake, so it's just you. I already talked to Kenny about picking up a girl he knows. "

“Are you sure about this Dina? Thomas has never been in a situation like this...”.

Hina looks worried about Thomas and I understand just looking at him, he doesn't look the best, plus his clothes are pretty tacky and almost always have some ink stains, if we don't fix it, he can spoil the mood of the date.

"Okay, Hina, tomorrow we're going shopping with Thomas after university."

“But I need to make the plans…”.

“You will have to do this tonight and tomorrow when we get back from the mall, that date is important! And unfortunately we don't have a choice.”

I point to where Thomas is sitting.

"You! I don't want to see any ink stains on your clothes tomorrow, get ready!”.

"O-Ok...".

“Okay, now it's for real! I'm going to my room to finish reading my book”.

"H-Hina...Dina is kind of scary sometimes...".

“I agree with you Thomas…”.

...

Finally! Shopping day has arrived! That's what I like! I'm sure it will be a great shopping day! Hina seems to be a little distant from me for some reason.

"Y-you look really excited today Dina hahahah...".

"YES!".

"You're too close...".

No, wait, I'm not the one shopping today! I need to be calm, remember your goal, Diana, we have to at least straighten up Thomas's ridiculous appearance and make him presentable for the date!

“It wasn't bad Hina, I ended up getting kind of excited”. I pull back a little so I don't completely smother her.

"Y-you really get excited about shopping hahahahah...".

I take a look at the clock and start tapping my foot on the ground real quick.

“Anyway, he's late! How dare he keep us both waiting! ”.

"Calm down Hina, maybe something happened along the way."

"I hope he has a good excuse to keep us waiting for 10 minutes, we should have all come together instead of making a date...".

“Oh Dina! Look at Thomas over there! ”. Then I look in Hina's direction, see Thomas pathetically late and sweating, if this was a date it would be the worst possible... In fact if my dad was seeing me right now, I bet he'd be fighting with me just for hanging out with this guy.

I can even hear him talking in my head something like 'Would you by any chance give a dog jewelry? Do you think they know the value of something so beautiful? At most they would just sniff and walk away.’ and blah blah blah.

I sigh and put my hand over my face to hide my disappointment.

"Okay, let's get going, and wipe off all this sweat."

"O-Ok".

Maybe I'll buy him a perfume too to mask the sweaty smell since he's going to need to try on some clothes, plus it would be good for him to wear it on tomorrow's date.

We entered the first perfume store, after smelling the fragrance from a variety of bottles Hina and I came to a consensus.

“The one with the wine-colored bottle is really good, isn't it Hina?”.

“Yes, but It's very expensive...”.

"Relax, I can buy it and as a bonus I can even buy you a perfume as a gift."

After all that's the power of my black credit card!

"Serious!?".

"No need to hold back."

Thomas stands with his arms crossed completely excluded in the corner.

"Eh...girls, we're forgetting something."

Hina lifts her shoulders.

"Ah... it's true, we need to go soon Dina".

“I'm sorry, I got excited too”.

We finally made it out of the perfume shop, I was almost carried away by the shopping. I need to keep calm, especially in the clothing stores. I already have so many clothes that they don't even fit in the closet...

After trying on clothes from numerous stores, we finally found one, or rather some clothes for Thomas. As much as I try to hold back, I ended up choosing several clothes for Thomas, as a result he is carrying a ton of shopping bags around the streets.

I grab my phone to see what time it is.

"Okay, now what we have to do is go back home, how about we get something to eat?"

When I look at Thomas and Hina I see them completely exhausted on the bench at the square. Thomas was the one in the worst condition, he even seemed to mumble things like 'shopping is tiring, women are scary, I want to go home, draw, rest, sleep, draw...', I think he was already delusional. As for Hina, she could barely raise her hand to answer me with a ‘Yay~’.

I probably took it too far, but I'm sure they'll be fine after eating something and resting at home, maybe... The important thing is that everything is ready for tomorrow! I hope everything works out.

2-5

Everyone is finally reunited for the date, the afternoon is quite busy for a Thursday, Thomas looks decent and not a single ink stain on his new clothes and Hina has just arrived with her boyfriend.

"Hi Hina!"

“Hello Dina! This is Ash.”

"Nice to meet you".

"Pleasure".

He seemed very nice to me and his aura is of someone very mature. Kenny, on the other hand, exudes confidence like someone cocky, fussing his hair and throwing kisses at himself every time he sees his own reflection somewhere. The girl he brought to partner Thomas introduces herself:

“My name is Liza, nice to meet you”.

“Okay guys, let's get going, I'm in the mood to unleash my voice in a karaoke!”.

Okay, looks like Kenny has just taken the lead post, oh that's great... As we walked to the nearest karaoke machine I noticed something, Liza clearly wanted Kenny's attention! I can feel her annoyed look, but it makes sense since this idiot hasn't let go of my foot and has isolated me from talking to Hina.

So the only match for Liza was Thomas, but she seems to have no interest in talking to him. And it only gets worse at karaoke, Kenny just wants to be glued to me, and his perfume doesn't need any comment... He seems to have quite an ego, not that I'm the most humble person in the world, but I'm about to punch him in the stomach.

I sigh and stand up.

"Hina, I'm going to the bathroom, want to come?"

"Okay".

As we wash our hands in front of the mirror, I say something that is bothering me.

"Hina, that girl Liza has been bothering me a little bit."

"I noticed, she seems to be pretty angry too, clearly she's jealous of Kenny...".

Hina sighs.

"We better get back."

When we get back to the living room it looks like Liza started a fight with Thomas.

“What's your problem, are you retarded!? You spilled all the soda on my dress!"

Thomas didn't know how to act, his frightened expression indicated his discomfort.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to do this."

“Then pay attention! What should I do now!?".

How many sighs today until this date is finally over?

"Would you rather go to a clothing store?" That's what I suggested.

Liza seems to be trying to calm down.

"No, I'll just clean up in the bathroom...".

The atmosphere gets a little weird after Liza goes to the bathroom, apparently this will be a long date...

From then on, things only started to go downhill from there when we went bowling. Kenny on top of me all the time is stressing me out more and more. Maybe Hina was starting to notice my stress somehow. "Dina, do you want to go with me and Ash for a snack?"

"OK...".

The stress is corroding me, I've been on a few other dates before, whether it's an ex-boyfriend or someone from high school I took a chance on, but this one is definitely the most stressful. When I get to the counter I see several drink machines and a variety of snacks, this helps me to distract myself, seeing so much candy is like seeing a pond in the desert at this point.

“Dina, how are you? Kenny has been glued to you since the beginning of the date.”

"It's definitely been pretty stressful, but I'll be fine."

“You don't have to put up with all this just to help the project, we can solve it in some other way or even when we have the animation ready”.

"We have a very short time to leave this problem for later, in the worst case, we may end up not getting anyone in time."

"OK...".

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

To be honest, even though I say this to Hina, I feel that at any moment I might end up unleashing all my stress on someone, so I need to calm down somehow. I think something sweet might help, maybe some chocolate bar... After we buy some snacks, Ash calls our attention:

"Hina, Dina, what's going on over there?"

Hina and I look to where Ash points, it looks like again Liza got into an argument with Thomas.

"Are they arguing again?"

Hina starts to get annoyed, it seems she has also been putting up with a lot of things in silence.

Kenny suddenly gets up and grabs Thomas's collar, it gives a shiver down my spine.

“No, it looks like the situation is worse than before! We need to stop them!”. Ash sprints ahead of us to break up the fight.

Hina and I leave things on the counter and run there, Ash enters at once in the middle of the discussion already separating Kenny from Thomas.

“Let him go! What are you doing, want to start a fight here!?”.

Kenny lets out a furious scream and points at Thomas as Ash holds him back.

"That retard was trying to look under Liza's skirt."

Hina is enraged, but I hold her hand to stop her from doing something stupid, since Ash seemed to be trying to understand the situation calmly.

"Is this true Thomas?"

"N-No, I just tried to get my phone that fell under the table."

“Do you still have the courage to lie!? You disgust me!".

Liza hides behind Kenny holding his shoulder.

“Calm down Liza, Thomas is not like that!”.

Thomas looked scared by the whole situation, I haven't known him for a long time, so I don't know how much I can trust his justification. He's just been shaking with fear the entire time, which in a way is so…pathetic. And I thought he was an amazing person before I met him...

I'm already tired, I can't take it anymore, people are watching, I'm embarrassed, why do I have to go through this? Couldn't this date have just gone better!? Maybe if I hadn't brought Thomas...

Kenny simply wanted to ignore what Ash was saying, while Liza was in the corner looking disgustedly at Thomas, she eventually noticed us.

“Why did you bring this dumbass!? Wasn't there anyone better!?”.

So I just took one last breath that exhausted my patience as I listened to the whispers of the people around me.

"Enough! Let's go, this date...was a mistake."

I get my things and before I leave, I stop in front of Liza.

"If you want to be with your idiot friend so much, It’s at your disposal."

Kenny tried to hold my arm, however, I was totally done and I slapped his hand.

“Get off me. You're worse than a tick, have you ever thought about sticking on that idiot? She would be a great match for you.”

When we return to 'Plateful', at the entrance, Hina says goodbye to Ash who takes a taxi to leave, Thomas and I also say goodbye, before we enter, Thomas looks discouraged with everything that happened on the date.

"I-I'm sorry about today...".

Hina puts her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, it wasn't your fault, the date has been going bad from the start, isn't it Dina?"

"Yes, but Thomas…You were pathetic."

Hina and Thomas are taken aback by my statement.

“How can you make such beautiful drawings and behave so mediocre? Even your appearance, you walk around with your clothes covered in ink stains all the time and you don't even take care of your own appearance, aren't you ashamed of that?”.

Why am I saying this to Thomas? The date went wrong from the beginning like Hina said, but why am I taking my anger out on him!? Why am I feeling so humiliated and embarrassed after those stares at the bowling alley!?

“In elementary school I even saw one of your paintings in a youth exhibition. I had expectations that you could be an amazing person, but in reality, you were a complete disappointment from the start!”.

Hina slaps me with her eyes full of fury but at the same time full of tears.

“Why are you taking it out on Thomas!? He didn't do anything wrong!"

“And how will I know!? I just met him this week!”

"That 's enough!"

Thomas's scream simply silenced us.

"This meeting...let's just forget about it, we need to think of what we're going to do about the soundtrack, we also need to talk with everyone...". Thomas simply goes through the entrance door of ‘Plateful’.

Hina and I... we just fell silent.