Can't We Meet?

1. Unknown Number

Krist POV

My phone has been ringing, no, buzzing non-stop over the last few minutes. Thank God I put it on silent mode, or Madam Karti will surely yell at me.

But now it's been buzzing in my pant!

I wiggle in my chair, feeling uncomfortable. I sigh in relief the moment it stops. But... not a moment later it buzzes again. I was tempted to pull it out and put it under my desk, but then the vibration will knock on the wood surface, creating another problem.

"Ai' Krist... are you okey?"

My best friend, Off, whisper at my side. I glance at him, signalling with my eyes, to look down on my pocket. My phone is still buzzing.

He glances a bit before turning his focus back to the lesson. While I... still wiggle in my seat feeling uncomfortable.

"Any second now..." I mutter under my breath.

Ring... Ring... Ring...

The moment Madam Karti step out from the class, I whipped out my phone and answer it.

"The fuck are you calling me in class?"

I bark at my phone, startling some of my classmates. My best friends are surrounding me, creating shield from others, while I handle this call.

I don't care to look at the screen to know who calls me. I know it wouldn't be my friends or family since they know I'm in school. Even if there were emergency, they would have to contact the school to get to me. So whoever this is, they better have a good reason for calling me during class.

The rest of my classmates start to go out, heading for recess. While my friends, Off, Roen, Gun and Thorn, are waiting for me.

"Well... if you are not going to speak I'll hang up now."

I threaten, as the one on the other side keep mum. I'm at the end of my limit now. It's hot and I'm hungry and I need my pink milk now. I stand up, beckoning to my friends to get going, before I make my way outside the class.

"May..."

I halt my steps as I heard the reply. It's a man voice. A soft but deep masculine voice with a hint of sorrow tingling at the end note. My friends turn at me, double jerking their brows, asking why I stop. I wave my hand to them, signalling them to go on.

"May... it's Sing. Singto." The voice continues.

"Look, mister. You have got the wrong the number. There is no May here and I'm definitely not May either."

"But... this is her number." The voice insisted. I can hear a tinge of pain from him.

"She might give you the wrong number then. Look... I'm in school and I'm not supposed to use phone. So, if you please... stop calling me during class. Okay?"

I hang up without listening to his reply. I rush to the canteen, take a seat at my usual table with my friends. They have already bought a cup of pink milk for me. As soon as I take a long sip of it, I sigh in bliss.

"Well, who was that?" Off question me.

Four pairs of eyes stare at me, demanding explanation. I shrug, pulling Off's plate of fried noodle, taking a bite on it.

"Wrong number. He wants to speak to May." I say between munching the noodle. "Hey... the noodle is quite good today. I'll go get some."

I get up to que at the noodle stall before heading back to our table. My friends are busy eating, ignoring me. I too soon lost in gobbling my lunch. I finish off with my pink milk.

Ahh... this is heaven.

Slurping the last of pink milk, Thorn hands us a small bar of chocolate each.

"Mae got these as souvenir. Have some."

"Ai' Thorn. Only one each. Give us more."

"Ai' Off. He might have been golfing it all by himself."

The table roar with laughter, hearing Gun's reply. I can see Thorn is huffing, threatening to take the chocolate bar again. All of us stuff it in our mouth quickly between our laughter.

A short vibration buzz from my phone. I look around quickly, pull my phone out and peek under the table.

"P' is sorry."

Huh? Who?

I glance at the number. It's an unknown number. Off nudge my rib, gaining my attention. I show him the message, earning knotted brows from him. The next moment, the bell starts to ring.

"Come on. Let's head back to class."

Roen is the first one to stand after he said that. Being the staidest and serious of us all, I wonder how he got stuck with us.

We head back to our class and get ready for the next lesson. But throughout the day, I can't seem to stop thinking about the message. I have a feeling that it was from the guy with the wrong number.

He is calling himself P'. Must be older than me then?

I vaguely remember how he sound so sad and pained when knowing he called the wrong number.

Why do I care about that?

I try to focus on my lesson but somehow I keep thinking about him. I'm feeling a bit guilty. I admit, I was a bit rude answering his call. The class continues as usual while I'm mulling over this.

At two, the lesson finally ends. By now all of us should be heading to our afternoon lesson. But since today is Friday, we don't have any extra- curricular activities. So we get to go home early.

My friends have been making plans to head to the basketball court in the evening. We go home separately on our bikes.

Along the ride home, I keep thinking about the call. I even wool gathering about it at the red light stop, earning me a blasting honking, as I didn't move when the traffic light turns green.

Gezee... The problem of being raised as a good and mannered boy, huh. The guilt will always eat you away.

I stop at the side, near a bus stop, pulling out my phone and start typing away. After I'm done, I start my bike again, throttle it hard, feeling satisfied.

"It's okay, P'. I'm sorry for being rude before."