From Something To Everything (Bounprem)

25. Exam

“Sammy, what happened to Prem?” Sine asked worriedly.

“I have no idea. But it seems serious.” Sammy sighed.

“Guys, I think you are overreacting.” Rin joined the duo. “He is just taking his time.”

The trio looked a Prem who was inside the exam hall seriously answering the paper.

“Still, I have never seen him write so much for any exam,” Sine said.

“Me neither. Most of the time he will be the first to hand over the answer sheet and leave the hall. In case he couldn’t he would rather sleep than write anything. But look at him today, he is writing like he is running a marathon.” Sammy was completely surprised by Prem’s ‘odd’ behaviour.

“Is it really a big deal, guys?” Rin chuckled.

“It is, Rin. Did you know that Prem even asked for additional sheets today?” Sine was freaked out. “I couldn’t even fill a few pages. And he filled the whole booklet and even took additional sheets. God, I can’t believe it.”

“Chill guys, I took additional sheets as well. This time’s paper had a lot of essay-type questions.” Rin said feeling puzzled.

“Rin, you are different. You are a nerd he is not.” Sine pointed at Prem who just came out of the exam hall.

“Hey Prem, how did the paper go?” Rin asked cheerfully.

“It was not bad. But, this I had a doubt about this question in the D section.” Prem and Rin started discussing the answers to the paper they just gave.

Most of the questions were answered correctly by Prem.

“Prem.” Sammy pulled him to face her. “Prem, are you okay? Are you running a fever?” Sammy touched his forehead. Feeling nothing, she turned Prem left and right. “Prem, did you go somewhere weird? Did you get possessed?”

Prem shrugged off Sammy’s hands and sighed at his friend’s dramatic actions. “I didn’t go anywhere. Nor am I possessed. I just stayed at home and studied.”

Sine and Sammy eyed him suspiciously. “Tell us the truth, Prem. What did you do?”

“I am telling the truth. I didn’t do anything.” Prem pushed the two who were blocking his way and joined the queue to order food from the canteen.

Sammy and Sine whispered to each other as they stood behind Prem in the queue.

Collecting their lunch, they sat at the table where Rin was waiting for them.

Just as Prem was about to start digging in, he was stopped by Sammy and Sine, who held his hands on either side.

“You better tell us what you did,” Sine said in a threatening tone.

“Ho…” Prem was done with his friends. He slung their hands away. “I already told you I did nothing. Why can’t you guys just believe me?”

“How can we believe you when we see you acting all weird? You didn’t even come for the combined study session and you seemed to have answered the whole paper.” Sine said taking a seat on Prem’s right side.

“Prem, you can tell us. We won’t tell anyone. Did you steal the question paper?” Sammy whispered in Prem’s ear.

“What the hell, Sammy? How can you accuse me like that?” Prem was literally shocked by Sammy.

“I was not accusing. I was just asking. You have been sleeping in the class all the time and you are not the kind that is very good at studying. And all of a sudden you changed so much. I was just curious.” Sammy pouted.

“I had someone tutor me.” Prem dug into his food.

“Someone? Who? You hired someone to tutor you?” Sammy asked.

“No. Hia is someone from work. He helped me study when he found out that I was having trouble catching up on the syllabus. He prepared notes for me. And also analyzed the previous year's question patterns and predicted the questions that may come this year. Most of his predictions were right.”

Sammy’s and Sine’s mouths were wide in an O shape.

“God. He must be ‘god’ in human form.” Sine suddenly stood up.

“Prem, how did you find him? How much did you pay?” Sammy asked eagerly.

“I told you. I met him at work. Remember that photo shoot I had to do for P’ Benz’s brand, Hia was my partner in that. He is a model”

“He just tutored you for free?”

“Not for free. I had to help him with something in return.” Prem wasn’t completely lying when he said that he was ‘helping’ Boun. He was indeed helping Boun fulfil his physical needs. Just that it had nothing to do with the tutoring session. He would have done it even if Boun hadn’t offered to tutor him.

“Prem…my dear friend… we have been friends since childhood…” Sammy massaged Prem’s shoulders.

Prem got goosebumps seeing Sammy act this way. “What do you want?” He wryly eyed her.

“Prem…” Sammy tugged her hair behind her ear acting shy. The next moment she was kneeling on the ground holding Prem’s hand. “Can you please share the note and the questions with me?”

“Me too.” Sine joined Sammy.

“Me three.” Rin too was interested in the notes.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Prem looked around. His friend’s weird actions had attracted the attention of everyone in the cafeteria. “Come on get up.” He tried to pull his hands away.

“No, we won’t get up. Not until you agree to share the notes with us.” Sammy wiped her fake tears.

“Okay, okay. I will share. Now get up. You guys are embarrassing me.” Prem said turning to his food, almost burying his face in the plate as he ate.

Having achieved their goal, the three sat next to Prem and finished their food.

After lunch, Sammy followed Prem back to his condo.

When Sammy entered the condo, she noticed a few extra additions within the condo.

There was an extra pair of slippers, a new coffee mug and even towels.

“Since when did you start wearing such clothes.” Sammy picked up one of Boun’s shirts that were hanging on the clothes stand.

“Oh, that’s not mine. It’s Hia’s.” Prem said searching for the notes for the upcoming exam.

“He is staying here?” Sammy asked.

“Yeah. He is mostly busy with work. He can only tutor me in the evening. By the time we are done, it will probably be really late. He will be too tired to drive back. So, I suggested that he stay over for the time being.” Prem said finally finding the notes.

“Oh, then he is the guest Pa Xu [1] was talking about.” Sammy nodded in realization. “He has a good fashion sense,” Sammy commented.

“Of course, he is a model.” Prem bought the notes over. “Here you go.”

Sammy took the notes and flipped through them. “I will take the photostat of these and pass them to Sine and Rin.”
Prem nodded in agreement.

[1] Pa Xu- the lady who cooks food for Prem.