Enraptured

Chapter 7 : The Aftermath

Saturday evening, Weizhou, Wang and Liang were in Wang's place cramming for an upcoming chemistry test.

"Ok next one?" Wang read. "Balance the following equation using minimum integral coefficients: NH3 + O2 NO2 + H2O" He stared at the other two. "The stoichiometric coefficient for oxygen gas O2 is:"

"Mmmmm wait. I need to recheck this one." Liang muttered staring at his answer.

"Ugh why do I always have to read the questions out loud? Why can't you guys take turns?" Wang complained lazily turning to look at Weizhou.

Weizhou had his head propped up on one bent hand as he laid horizontally on the bed. His focus was on the book with his mind elsewhere while he kept chewing one corner of his pen. Wang was sitting near the foot of the bed. Having not received any response, he playfully nudged Weizhou. "Hello!"

He was startled for a second. "Which question?"

"Grrrrr question 13!" Wang whined.

"Oh it's 7." Weizhou read his answer.

"Yes! That's what I got too." Wang exclaimed. "Hey why don't I just keep reading only the question numbers?" he suggested.

Weizhou nodded.

"No!" Liang responded. "I've told you, reading them out loud again helps to memorize the question structures more."

Weizhou nodded again.

"Which side are you on ha?" Wang nudged Weizhou again.

Weizhou rested his head on the bed. "Shall we take a break?"

"But babe we got like 37 more questions left." Liang touched his hand from the other side of the bed.

Weizhou sighed in frustration.

"Okay I'll go check if my mom has made us something to drink." Wang said getting off the bed.

Just as he left, Liang inched closer to Weizhou. "Did you pull an all-nighter again?"

"Sort of.." Weizhou muttered with his eyes closed.

"Well... sleep early today." He ruffled Weizhou's hair.

"Hmmm..." Weizhou drearily placed his right hand over his forehead.

"Zhou.."

"Yeah.." Weizhou answered with his eyes still closed.

"I noticed that you haven't been wearing that bracelet these past few days. Did it break or something?" Liang asked casually.

Weizhou's eyes shot open. If his wondering eyes was anything to go by, it was clear that he had no idea he wasn't wearing the bracelet in the first place.

"What's wrong?" Liang asked.

Weizhou tried to remember a time he actually took it off, but no such instance came to mind.

"Oh I actually took it off last night before taking a shower. Forgot to put it back on." He explained quickly. I must have probably dropped it on my bed. He thought. Given the haze his mind was in since the previous night, he did not even realize that his answer was plain dumb.

"okaaay.., but you weren't wearing it last night either.., or the day before." Liang voiced his observation.

Weizhou uneasily got up and sat. He feared meeting Liang's eyes.

"Pretty sure you didn't even realize you weren't wearing it till I pointed out." Liang added bitterly.

A sound of laughter interrupted them. Wang entered the room followed by his mom, carrying some juice. Upon noticing the looks on the other two boys' faces, Wang realized that they just walked into something serious.