Gusto's World

Connection

Yet another day to spend with a bunch of children who call themselves adults. I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock, no matter how many days I wake up disappointed to reality where either I am stuck in a university boy's body or my surrounding people have their timeline stuck at their teen days. I don't know which one is worse.
I changed into one of my many yet similarly styled v-neck cardigans with slacks. Lastly, I spent some minutes settling my hair in front of the mirror and wore my watch.
I went downstairs, my eyes landed on the empty kitchen counter with a chair that I have never used. All of a sudden, what Valencia said started ringing in my ears.
It's true, my parents left me high and dry, but having them or not having them doesn't make a difference in my life now. I was all on my own when I was a kid and will be all alone till the day I die. Nobody lives for you; you only got you, so treat yourself with respect.
Then I stopped and picked a pair of sneakers. I took out my shoes from the cabinet outside.
I was miserable cleaning them yesterday after a boy stomped on one and then stomped on the other while apologising. It was definitely some sort of bullying, but I couldn't care less. I don't have the energy to fight and then go home and clean them. If I have to clean them either way, I'd rather shut my mouth and do my job.
Today was an easy drive, maybe because I left before the peak hour. I arrived early, but now the problem was how do I spend time until the lecture starts? I thought about the library, but when I reached it, it was closed. It wasn't going to open until another hour. Figures, the library doesn't open till seven am, and by then I'll have my lecture. This hour was getting difficult for me to spend. I sighed outside the closed doors. I don't like the dining hall of the university because it's too loud. I was just thinking about my next destination when I heard a familiar voice.
"Gusto, you came early too? What do you plan to do until the lecture?" I looked at Valencia, and somehow she understood the internal turmoil I was in.
"Then let's go, there is a nice place I want to show you. It's my hideout, but you can also use it when you don't know where to go..." She kept on going on and on about her secret place that nobody comes to, so I followed her.
Sincerely, I liked observing, and she was the perfect person to be observed. We reached her secret place, and it was really better than the library; open air and peaceful. We were sitting on a bench nearby the geese, and I realized why nobody comes there: because the geese are really aggressive. If it wasn't for Valencia, I wouldn't be here, but somehow the geese softened when they saw Valencia; they all came running to her. While I was too scared to move before deciding to run away, they were all enjoying being patted by Valencia as if the geese had decided that they were pet dogs and nothing less. This lady never fails to surprise me. While I enjoyed the peaceful clean air near the lake, Valencia took some bread out of her bag, tore it into small pieces, and fed the geese. I was very thankful that they didn't mind an extra human being here.
"So how is the place?" she asked.
"Just as beautiful as the person who discovered it," I replied, smiling at her.
I wasn't doing anything that my principles did not allow me; I was being sincere and also spilling my heart so it didn't overflow.
It would be a problem if my mind was her abode. Things won't go very smoothly for me then because she was very problematic. But the more I thought about how abrupt and problematic she was for me, the more I realized maybe I like problems in my life, and on the first day when she talked, I realized she was a big problem that I really needed.
She spoke again, "Oh, you mean Zen, our classmate. He discovered this place, but the geese didn't welcome him."
After she stopped talking, I realized I just called another guy beautiful when I didn't even mean it. See, another example of how problematic she is for me. I quickly got up, brushed my clothes off in embarrassment.
"I think the lecture will start in about fifteen minutes. I'll leave first; I have to go somewhere."
I took my leave from this venture and left as soon as I could.