Nuer was driving his car out of the faculty parking when he spotted a familiar figure walking ahead, head bowed and eyes fixed on the phone.
Nuer blinked. Then he honked at the guy to get his attention. It took him three attempts at ear-shattering honks to get the job done and the guy finally stopped to look around and realize that he was blocking the entire road.
Frowning, Nuer slowly drove up to stop the car by the side and slid the window down. "Hey, Kuea!"
Kuea blinked, scratching his ear in utter embarrassment. "Eh, h-hey, I'm sorry for holding you up"
"That's alright" Nuer said, eyeing the guy thoughtfully. "Are you okay?" he asked. "That could've been dangerous"
Kuea made an embarrassed face again. "I know... sorry..."
Nuer stared at his face for a moment longer, seeing him puzzled and worried, then he looked around with searching eyes. "Em, how are you going back? Where's your bike? Is em... your fiance picking you up?"
And at the mention of the name, he noticed Kuea visibly shrinking and looking uncomfortable. So he sighed. "If you like, I can drop you home. I think you're quite done for the day" he said rather seriously and for a moment, Kuea just stared at him, contemplating before breathing out nodding, walking around to get in the passenger seat with a thanks.
Nuer shot the guy a sideway glance before breathing out and starting the car. "Okay then, here we go" and they drove away.
During the drive, Nuer kept glancing back at Kuea who felt his gaze and turned to look back, only to have Nuer smile at him. "You kinda need to tell me where to drop you" Nuer said and Kuea, gasping in realization, blushed.
"Oh, sorry!" he said in embarrassment and took Nuer's phone to pinch in the location of his place. "I'm sorry, my head's not exactly all there..."
Nuer chuckled. "Well, no shit there" he offered Kuea the best of a friendly smile. "Happens to the best of us. But I do hope you get through it, at least, before you end up minced under a car hood! That would be one huge inconvenience to the driver, don't you think?" he joked and smiled wholeheartedly when Kuea let out a hearty chuckle.
"Ah, I'll keep that in mind, not wanna inconvenience drivers!" Kuea joked back before sighing, smiling after the whole day of stressing out. He stared sideways at Nuer, just looking at him with thoughtful eyes.
Nuer blinked, feeling his eyes on him and turning his head to shoot him a brief, questioning look. "What?"
"Thanks..." Kuea said softly, causing Nuer to blink and just stare at Kuea before looking ahead with a subtle nod.
"No problem" They sat in comfortable silence afterward, till Nuer stopped outside a modern little, single-story house in a somewhat remote area uptown, one that surely didn't belong to Lian Wang, causing Nuer to frown and eye Kuea who shot him an uncomfortable smile and thanked him for the ride. So Nuer thought against confronting Kuea and just smiled back.
"No problem. You know... you can always ask for help if you need it" he said with a smile and watched a silent Kuea get off before driving off. And by the time he reached home, he'd realized one thing for sure, something he'd already been contemplating over. He was sure that though he felt concerned for Kuea today, he wasn't exactly bothered to care or even thrilled to have Kuea in his car with him!
##
"Nonuayy! Nonuayy, cowm pway!"
"Let me work, little demon!!" he sighed as he went through the mess of papers, going through Syn's worksheets and calculations. Though he'd agreed to help Syn silently and not tell the others and even though he got why Syn didn't want to involve them, just thinking how Syn had been carrying such a burden since freshmen year, he felt bad for the guy. He even felt a bit mad at him. No one should be that nice. "You foolish, foolish little, raccoon"
