The use of past tense was immediately noticeable, but Donovan chose to keep that observation to himself instead of dwelling too much on word choice, taking the silence that followed to have a few more bites of chicken. He barely knew Kyu-Sik and worked with Mi-Ho, but never even seen the two of them interact to have any sort of idea of their relationship dynamics. Trying to insert himself in any possible problems between them would be uncomfortable and not really his place.
Just as he resolved not to push the issue, Kyu-Sik had continued and Donovan frowned at his own stubborn curiosity, trying to figure out if this was something that the other might actually want to talk about. With him. It was odd, because Kyu-Sik didn't seem like the type wanting to share any of his worries, although they were obviously there. So either he misunderstood and Kyu-Sik was more open than he came off, or he trusted Donovan for some reason. Donovan didn't think he was properly sympathetic a few days ago when Kyu-Sik had expressed his disappointment in not getting into the school he wanted, but he supposed Kyu-Sik wasn't looking for an actual shoulder to cry on.
"Not by your choice, then?" Though not sure what [i]weird[/i] entailed, he had an idea of what it felt like to be cut off from somebody that you previously thought was the one person you could rely on. He preferred to spare himself from getting too close to anyone now, the feelings of betrayal still too fresh in his memory. "We get along, somehow. But I wouldn't say well, no." It was difficult to explain Altan without making it sound like he was insulting the other man. "He doesn't get along with anyone."