Freshman forthbeam (copied)

No More P'F

"Oh? Same dorm as Beam?" Forth raised an eyebrow.

"Same dorm, same floor." Wai nodded. "At least that's how it seems."

"What do you mean seems?" Forth was confused.

Posh and Wai froze. They stared at Forth and then at each other.

"He doesn't know." Wai said.
"I know!" Posh was surprised too.
"Why?!" Wai was confused.
"I don't know!" Posh was more confused.

"I already said you guys are cute. No need to act cuter." Forth said. "What's the thing I don't know?"

"Beam moved out of the dorm." --- Wai.
"Beam dropped out of Engineering." --- Posh.

Forth was shocked. "Moved? Dropped out?"

Both his juniors nodded.

"Then where is he now?" Forth asked.

"Back to his old life." Posh said.

Forth blinked. The image of Beam having two girls in his lap at the bar corner flashed in his mind. "With the girls?"

Now even Wai stared at Forth unimpressed. "We..." He pointed at Posh and himself. "... were concerned about his life and education when Posh said he dropped out of Engineering, and again, the old life you're worried about is his Casanova behavior?"

Forth shook his head. "Uh... Just... Worried that he'll get into trouble again. He's not an Engineering student, which means he won't wear the blue jacket... And he doesn't have his gear... So how..."

"What do you mean he doesn't have his gear?" Posh interrupted.

"He gave it to me," Forth said. "He mocked my old leather bracelet and just..."

"Where's yours?" Posh cut in. She was on the verge of hitting her senior.

"At my place. I keep it safe."

"Aaah." Wai and Posh nodded in understanding. "So that's why..."

"Hm? What's that?" Forth asked.

"I can't believe P'Kongpob entrusted us to this super dumb orientation leader," Posh said to Wai.

"Indeed," Wai nodded.

"Hey!" Forth frowned.

Posh and Wai stood up. "Up to you, P'Forth. It's already 7, we're late for the morning class."

"Damn!! My quiz!" Forth rubbed his face and ran out of the dim sum place towards his class.

"Why do we have a dumb King?" Posh asked Wai.

"Because he doesn't have his Queen with him," Wai replied.

"Ah! Makes sense."

***

Forth stared at his phone. The quiz had ended, and he was still waiting for Beam to reply or at least read his last message.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Lam asked.

Forth turned to him. "Hm?"

"The quiz. It wasn't that bad, was it?" Lam added.

"No... It's not about the quiz," Forth said.

"Then what is it?" Lam asked.

Park just looked at both of them. They were now walking to their next class. He prioritized Lam's attention to Forth all the time.

"Beam moved out of his dorm and dropped out of the Engineering Faculty," Forth said.

"He what??!!" Lam's eyes widened. "It's only the third day!!"

"Let's think about it, he's been missing since yesterday. The freshmen had lunch outside yesterday," Park said.

Forth sighed. "What made him run away this time? The numbers?"

Lam pressed hard on his forehead. "Now we don't have a Moon for the freshmen."

"Of all things, you're thinking about that?" Park laughed. "Man. He always joked about everything. Now even his education... What did he do..."

Silence spread along with their halted steps.

"It won't be the same without Beam," Park suddenly said. "As annoying as he was, Beam made the freshmen complete. He brought color." He sighed. "He always pushed my buttons, but I'll definitely miss him." He added.

Lam blinked. He looked at Park with an unreadable expression.

Forth shook his head. Was Beam really gone? Did he ever take anything seriously?

He was about to think further, but his eyes caught the sadness in Lam's eyes in front of him.

Lam almost said something but then he closed his mouth again and continued walking first to their next class, leaving Forth and Park in the corridor.

Beam stared at the unanswered call from Forth. And still, no message read from him either.

The notifications hit him harder than they should have.

1 missed call from P'Forth.
1 unread message from P'Forth.

Beam bit his lip with a pain in his heart.

There would be no more P'Forth there.

It wouldn't be okay to keep holding onto that caller ID for any longer, would it?

Just a little longer...