Water and Fire (BL)

Chapter 36: Bloody Red Ink

Chapter 36: Bloody Red Ink

The day of the major exams finally arrived. All those weeks of studying will culminate in this dreaded period of trials and hardships.

What the actual fuck... David had his eyebrows in knots while his pen hover above the exam paper that was wrinkled in a thousand creases. He wanted to tear the paper to pieces.

What can you say about the business situation here in the country? Is it conducive for business? Relate this to the World Bank report on doing business in the Philippines. Write your opinion on not more than 500 words.

This is the question that made David's head turn. Twenty minutes had already passed since the exam on Creative Nonfiction started, and now, David still hasn't thought of a substantial answer to this gruelling question.

The fuck I know about business?! If I were my father I would have answered this paper in not less than seconds.

But he was not his father, and David couldn't do anything but sigh in frustration and clutch the exam paper violently.

This is like Gaokao exam...

He turned his head to the side and stared at Eric, as if looking at him will conjure answers in his head.

Eric was too busy to notice him staring at him. He just wrote endlessly on his paper. Or maybe he just pretended to not notice David.

After ten seconds, Eric finally looked at David's direction. He may have sensed David's distress because Eric's lips slightly turned into a firm smile and nodded faintly, as if encouraging David.

David turned back to his paper. Instantly, having seen Eric's face, a memory of Eric teaching him about writing came back to his head.

...express your true feelings, be honest, and don't be afraid to make mistakes...

He heard Eric's voice in his head, encouraging him.

David sighed, closed his eyes briefly, and began painting his white paper with his black ink.

Fuck it. I'm gonna write what's in my head. Who cares if I know nothing about the World Bank report? What's important is I wrote something.

When he was finished answering the questions, he held his paper in front of him like a prized trophy.

He turned to Eric and touched his shoulder lightly.

Someone cleared his throat.

When David turned, he saw their adviser with his gleaming eyeglasses, arms akimbo in front of him and Eric.

This creepy teacher drew himself closer to David and Eric with a stern face, then whispered "I've been watching you. Do you think I don't know what you're doing?"

"We're not cheating..." David said defensively.

"Hmph. This is an exam, you both. Stop doing questionable things. I'm teaching values in this school. Don't make me look like I don't teach you morals and values."

The teacher then gazed at Eric before walking back to his chair at the front of the class.

Eric didn't know why but all the gazes that their teacher gave him made him feel like there's something more in those gazes.

Maybe it's the fact that this teacher's eyes were always obstructed by the light on his eyeglasses, or maybe it's his quick to change temperament, that made Eric shiver in fear and feel an insidious foreboding that he couldn't quite equate with anything he's felt before, except during his nightmares.