Daishun (Together at Last)

chapter 4

I woke up in the morning with a pounding headache—clearly a hangover. I tried to piece together what happened last night, but my memory was foggy. I couldn't remember how I got home, but I assumed sham must have dropped me off. I went downstairs, where my mom was preparing breakfast. She looked angry, probably because of what happened last night.

"Good morning, Mom."

"Good morning… How are you feeling?"

"A little headache…"

"I told you not to drink."

"I'm sorry, Mom, but this was the last time…"

"You know I was worried last night?"

"I'm really sorry, Mom."

"Who was he?"

"Who?"

"The person who dropped you off last night…"

"Sham, right? You met him before."

"No, it wasn’t Sham."

"What?"

"He said he was your friend…"

"What was his name?"

"I didn’t ask…"

"What did he look like?"

"Tall and handsome."

"I have no idea who that could be."

"Maybe you know him but just can't remember."

"Maybe…" I replied, confused.

I thought it was Sham, but my mom said it wasn’t him. Then who? I tried to remember but couldn’t. After breakfast, I headed to college.

"No, Sham, I really can’t recall."

"It’s okay, don’t stress about it."

"Yeah, I don’t want to dwell on it anymore."

We were chatting, but I noticed a senior walking by. He didn’t look at me. He’s usually nice to everyone, but with me, it’s different. Why is he ignoring me? No eye contact. Is he doing this on purpose, or is he just busy? Wait, why do I even care if he looks at me? Am I sure I’m straight?

"What’s up with him?" Sham asked.

"How would I know?" I replied.

"Doesn’t he seem different today?"

"Yeah, he does."

"Let’s head to class."

"Yep, we don’t want to be late."

After our classes, I decided to go to the library to read. I love getting lost in books. As I was reading, I saw the senior again. He was talking to a girl. Of course, he’s popular—he probably has plenty of options.

"Hi…" I don’t know why, but I found myself walking over to him and saying hi.

"Hi… What’s up?" he finally responded.

"I need help with something…"

"What do you need help with?"

"How do I solve this?" I asked, pointing to a random question in my book.

"You know this is from the second semester, right?"

"Oh, is it?" I tried to play it cool.

"Yeah, if you need help with something else, just make sure it’s part of your current course."

"Actually, I meant to ask about this one…" I pointed to another question I already knew the answer to. Why was I even asking him?

We didn’t notice when everyone else left the library. Suddenly, we realized it was silent, and the lights went off.

"What happened? Why did the lights go out?"

"I don’t know."

"Let me check my phone," he said, patting his pockets, but then he frowned.

"What, you don’t have your phone?"

"Oh, crap, I left it in my locker."

"What? Let me check mine…"

"Did you find it?"

"Yeah… let me call someone for help."

"Give me your phone; I’ll call the in-charge."

He called someone who said it would take about three hours for them to reach us. We decided to wait.

"Let me find some candles and a lighter," he said.

He brought back a candle and lit it.

"Look where we are now, all because of you…" he teased.

"It’s partly your fault too—you knew the timing of the power cut."

"Well, it’s your stupid questions that got us locked in the library!"

I didn’t say anything; I didn’t want to argue today. After a while, we sat at a table by the candlelight. He looked even more beautiful in the soft glow—the most beautiful boy in the universe. If he were a girl, I would definitely have called her stunning. But his pink, puffy lips… Stop thinking like this! He’s a guy, and your rival, not a girl.

He was reading a book, and then our eyes met. It wasn’t a normal glance, there was something different, something intense. I’ve never felt like this before. I tried to stay calm, but his presence was overwhelming.

Finally, someone unlocked the door, and we left. But a part of me wanted to go back to that moment when it was just the two of us, lost in each other's eyes.

        To be continued