𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 • 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑊𝑖𝑛

22|𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑜 𝐵𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡'𝑠 𝑃𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑤𝑖𝑛'𝑠 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔

•BRIGHT CHIVAAREE•

June 2011

It's another semester for a sophomore like me, and just what Off said from before that he will be leaving me pretty soon - he did even before the end of the semester. These days, I have been walking and wandering around the school all by myself, and I never actually thought that it would be this lonely without the guy. Though I was able to actually make a couple of friends through Off when we went out drinking one time through his friends, and we've been sticking to each other ever since that one fateful night.

"Bright!" Mike chimes and Boss parrots him making me look up and wave my hand which is then reciprocated with them smiling like adorable dorks.

"Mike. Boss. Don't you have class today?"

"I have Sir Chueamanee for my second period today, and I am already sweating buckets just knowing that he's going to give us a pop quiz! Why can't we have the usual introduction?"

"Don't you think introductions are a little too late now? Besides, it's not the first day of the semester that we'd have some meet and greet with the professors anyway," Mike pipes before extending his hand out for my camera which I offer to him with a slight smile.

These days, Mike had been quite obsessed with the pictures that I take because according to him, it makes him feel at peace except when he sees Mike in the gallery - and that will ensure total chaos.

Mike is a sophomore taking up business because he said that he wants to make a start-up business one day that would probably take the world into a tornado. I mean, with his pleasing personality and the way that he handles people, it is not inevitable to pursue such dreams. Aside from that, Mike is very much dedicated to whatever he is doing, that even if he is not that fond of photography - he joined the club so he could pester me non-stop. Boss, on the other hand, is taking up culinary since he is very much passionate about cooking, plating, and everything that is in relation to the kitchen. Most probably, it is because of his parents' influence on him who are both known chefs in the industry - and among the three siblings, it is only Boss who found his heart with such masterpieces.

For me, I am taking up business not by force and definitely not by choice, either. To be perfectly honest, I don't have any sight of my future for now because I am living each day of my life. From a financial point of view, it isn't a good idea for we do not know what will happen in the future without any direct plan, or backup plan but I guess - I am just not that interested in anything that much. Perhaps, once I graduate, I will be working in a company and be a slave for them until I turn old and grey - and retire with enough money to live by every day of my life. Or, I could handle our family business abroad which is not really that enticing on my part because I think that my step-brother is much better at handling it than I am.

Yes, my mother re-married after three years and I am grateful for that since I am able to see her smile nowadays even though we just video chat each other. And my step-father is very much welcoming to our little family that he even bought me an apartment near the university so that I don't have to stay in the dorms - and have curfews.

"Ah, there's your favorite masterpiece with his usual blue drink," Boss interrupts my thinking and the three of us stare at Metawin who is sitting at the next table, probably waiting for his friends.

Since I am a kid, I have been very much attracted to anything that is pretty and beautiful, and I always had this urgency to touch those things - or people. When I was in middle school, one of my classmates borrowed a pen from me and I fell totally in love with how slender and neat his hands and nails were. I wanted to feel it, touch it, and engrave that feeling in my memory but it would be weird because it was a boy - and boys don't do that to other boys. Since then, I have thought of million ways to capture those ethereal things without anyone being suspicious of me, or my weird habit - and that's when I started to do photography.