after all . ohmfluke

aa.13

"Here," Ohm places two cups of coffee onto the table, and the lady across from him smiles as she takes one.

"Thank you,"

Ohm reacts with a small smile, sits down, and takes a sip of coffee. "Ah, so that's why you approached me earlier," He continues their conversation, which was interrupted when he walked to the counter to get their coffee.

After their meeting, the two agreed to go to a nearby coffee shop and talk for a while. They were able to share a lot of things about each other, making Ohm feel fascinated by this, as he's never felt so connected to a stranger before.

The girl's name is Fame, and she's new to the city. She's just been there for a month and sadly hasn't made any friends yet because, like Ohm, she's an introvert. She just knew Ohm was a nice guy the moment she noticed him, and because she was desperate for friends, she collected all of her courage to approach him.

"Yeah, did it make you feel strange?" She asks, and the other slowly nods. "I'm sorry,"

"No, it's fine... It would have been troublesome if I kept going back to the cashier for some book recommendations. So it's nice you approached me, I got to buy that," he says, pausing to point his chin at the book Fame recommended to him. "And now I also have someone I can ask about books related to that."

"But, if you ask me, you don't need to read books to know how to handle a relationship."

"...why is that?"

Fame pauses for a few seconds before she answers, "Simply because... I don't know if it's just me, but... it's just...  aside from some perfect characters don't really exist in real life, I just believe that imitating them and what they do won't seem natural. You may also lose yourself trying to do things you don't really mean, and that's something you don't want, do you? Also, Love... Relationships? No one really knows how to do deal with it. I mean, it's just too complicated. It treats everyone differently. Even if you read a thousand romance books, you won't find the right way to love someone. It'll just confuse you. It's as if we're placed in different scenarios in which we should act depending on our feelings or perspectives... It's not like a manual where everything is determined and every problem has a certain treatment."

Ohm presses his lips and swallows, "Then, what should I do?"

"You go and handle your own story together. Communicate. Ask your boyfriend and run your relationship in your own ways. I think what these books are trying to convey is just that relationships aren't always perfect, and it's fine to through rough times together... Sometimes it's actually better to fight since it'll show what you guys really want and expect from each other."

Ohm's corners of lips rise after hearing Fame's thoughts, he nods approvingly.

"...but you're still going to let me borrow the book, right?"

"Sure, but you fix things with your boyfriend first," Fame replies with a small laugh.

---------------

Six in the evening, the friends, Fluke and Ploy walk down to the parking lot together, the younger hugging her senior's arm.

When she notices his bothered expression, she frowns slightly.

"What is phi planning to do?" She asks as they both stop in front of the intern's car. The elder lets out a long sigh.

"...what should I do? Beg him to talk to me?" he replies grumpily. "I can't make him do that... I don't want to be that annoying boyfriend who's like... obsessive, something like that."

"So you're just going to ignore him till he approaches you?"

"Probably..." He pauses as he notices a familiar car coming to them. "...but tonight, I think I'll just drink this away."