EXCHANGE OF HEARTS [BL]

CHAPTER 8

Early Friday morning, Atlas was outside the campus where Race studied.

Yesterday, he hardly left his room because he still couldn’t accept what he heard from his personal doctor.

He kept telling himself that ‘he's not in love,’ what he feels when he's near Race is just nothing or maybe a symptom of heart disease.

He'd rather believe he has heart disease than be in love with Race.

Race is just his friend!

He doesn’t believe he's in love; not everyone who gets nervous or whose heart beats fast when near someone is in love right away. Maybe there’s another reason?

There's another reason why he feels that way whenever Race is around.

He'll find that.

He'll prove that he's not fucking in love with Race. There's no way he's in love with Race!

“Hey,” a girl approached him, it’s Bridgette, Race’s crush.

Fucking crush.

“You're Atlas, right?”

“Yes.” He retorted.

“You're friends with Race, right?”

So many questions. Atlas tried not to roll his eyes.

The girl wasn’t doing anything to him, just asking questions, but he was annoyed with her, especially when she mentioned Race’s name.

“Best friend.” He corrected.

Bridgette smiled. She's pretty, and Race told him that Bridgette is smart, which is why Race adores this girl.

But I'm smarter than her.

“Did you... see him? Or did you talk to him yesterday?”

Atlas couldn’t help but frown.

“Why?”

The girl arranged her book. “He didn’t go to class yesterday. I’m worried that he might not attend today either.”

Why are you worried? Don’t be worried. Who told you to worry about Race? Are you his girlfriend?

Atlas brushed away his thoughts.

“He didn’t go to class?” He repeated.

Bridgette nodded. “Yes. Although this isn’t the first time he’s been absent,”

“He often skips class?” Atlas asked, surprised.

Wow, a good student often skips class.

“He doesn’t always skip, just sometimes. Sometimes he's absent for a week, and sometimes for three or four days.”

Now he's worried.

I have the right to be worried about his well-being. I'm his best friend after all!

“He's not the type to skip class. That's why I'm worried about him, especially since our exams are near.”

He grimaced at the girl. She kept saying she was worried about Race, which annoyed him.

“Do you know where he lives?” He asked.

“No one knows, he’s not the type to share, and Race is very mysterious.”

He nodded in agreement. Bridgette was right; Race was indeed mysterious.

“He likes you,” he said, deliberately mentioning it to Bridgette to see her reaction, though he didn’t really want to say it because it annoyed him.