Four To Two [Elisop]

Chapter 12

Hair tied back, glasses off, gym clothes on, Naib was running on the university's athletic field with the other members of his club. Warming up was one of the most important things to do to avoid unnecessary injury, so he took it very seriously. However, today he seemed somewhat distracted and his pace was not as steady as usual.

"Are we daydreaming Subedar ? That's not your type." a female voice called out to him.

Naib turned his head to see the owner of that familiar voice, Martha Behamfil. Martha was the manager of the club and was older than the young man by two years. She was strict but not mean, anyone could see that this club was very important to her and she considered the members as her family. The young woman ran at the same speed as Naib, giving him a smile.

"Sorry..."

"Did something happen to you ?" she asked.

"Nothing important."

He speeded up after saying that but stopped when he saw that Martha also stopped. He gave her a curious look as she approached him and threw her water bottle at him, then put her towel on his shoulders as she passed him, ruffling his hair at the same time. Naib looked at her with big eyes wondering what she was playing at, he didn't like being treated like this as if he was a child, the fact that he was short was already enough.

"If you need a shoulder to cry on you know where to find me !" exclaimed Martha.

"I don't cry like a girl !"

The young man's cheeks flushed slightly as he opened the bottle to take a sip. Martha laughed and hurried back to the benches to get her things and head for the gymnasium. Naib didn't notice the time passing as he was lost in his thoughts but the warm-up time was already over and it was time for the real exercise. 

_______

A few days passed and the university decided to hold a festival to welcome the new students. Currently, despite being the same age as Eli, Aesop had skipped a year when he was still in high school, making him a sophomore and the boy's senior. As such, in addition to being the top student in his department, he was in charge of the exhibition offered by the art students.

The festival was an annual event to improve the relationship between newcomers and older students in the same department so that they could help each other. It was also a way to start off the year and relax a bit. This one was a week away and there was still a lot to do. The group of friends were each busy helping with preparations for their section.

Norton and Eli, who were in the same department, were planning to build a kind of mini-museum in one of the lecture halls. Luca, with his class, was creating an application made for that particular day to show the different activities that were going on. Naib was still practicing for one of the main activities, the basketball tournament. Their schedules were quite busy with all this. 

And speaking of events, Eli's birthday happened to fall on the same day as the festival, October the 31st, which was also the day of the Halloween party. It was a lot to take in on one day. The festivities lasted late into the night so they probably wouldn't have time to celebrate with their friends...

He was a little disappointed but at the same time, it's not like he was going to spend the day alone either. The students weren't going to be forced to stay the whole time to monitor their project, of course not. They had schedules to relax and take care of their department's business. If possible, he'd like to see the art student exhibit. Aesop was quite secretive with his work and never agreed to show him anything so he was rather curious about his artistic talents.

Eventually, the preparations went smoothly and the long awaited day arrived...