09 : Whims
JULIAN
Hindi ko maintindihan, pero sa hindi ko maipaliwanag na dahilan, naging natural na lamang ang mga pag-uusap namin. Tila may sariling daloy ang mga araw namin, hanggang sa... naging bahagi na siya ng normal kong routine.
I kept telling myself not to overthink it. Hindi ko na pinapansin ang ideyang unti-unti kaming nagkakasundo. But deep down, I knew I was wrong. I realized something undeniable—I had somehow befriended Damien King, one of the campus heartthrob.
The room was a slow-moving blur. The teacher's voice dragged on, and my thoughts wandered far from the equations on the board. I tapped my pencil absentmindedly on the edge of my notebook, trying to keep myself awake.
At sa tabi ko... was Damien, which seemed to be unusually quiet, though I could feel his presence like a weight in the air. I was about to let my head rest on my desk when something shifted on the edge of my peripheral vision.
Then it happened. A slight nudge sent my eraser tower swaying precariously.
"Seryoso?" I whispered sharply, glancing at him.
Damien leaned back, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips.
"It was already unstable," he teased.
Napanguso ako at hindi na sinubukang itago ang inis. "Ang kulit mo," I muttered under my breath, keeping my voice low enough not to attract the teacher's attention.
Instead of looking guilty, his grin widened, eyes sparkling with a mischievous glint. His notebook, which was precariously perched on the edge of his desk, caught my eye. Without thinking twice, I nudged it ever so slightly closer to falling.
His eyebrows raised in mock disbelief. "You're playing dirty now?"
I shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "Fair game," I said simply, though I could feel the corners of my mouth moving upward.
And so, it began—a silent, petty war in the middle of the most boring class of the day.
Each time our eyes met, his smirk only deepened. There was something so infuriating yet oddly satisfying about the challenge. Parang kahit hindi kami nag-uusap nang malakas, alam namin pareho kung paano haharapin ang bawat galaw ng isa't isa.
The minutes ticked by, though I barely noticed. At some point, I found myself stifling laughter as I watched him fail to balance my ruler on top of his pen tower. He looked up at me with his serious expression, and I had to bite my lip to keep from bursting out.
"You're ridiculously competitive," he muttered, leaning slightly closer.
"Ikaw kasi ang nanguna," I shot back in a low voice, giving him a glare.
The bell rang, jolting us out of our unspoken battle. I hurriedly packed my things, but I couldn't ignore the grin plastered across my face. Damien lingered, his movements slow and deliberate, as if he had all the time in the world.
As I slung my bag over my shoulder, he leaned just a little closer, enough for his voice to drop to a teasing whisper. "You know, for someone so serious, you're pretty fun to mess with."
