Chasing the Sun

032

"Goodluck on your exams today, ace it!"

"Of course I will. You taught me remember?"

We bid farewell to each other as we went to our respective rooms come Monday. Tawan's exam would start after classes, so he'd probably stay the whole day inside the school. We wouldn't be able to see each other during lunch too as I had to discuss a project with my classmates.

I went home right after the classes ended as I had nothing else left to do. When I got home, I checked my things to see if there's a schoolwork I missed doing or anything that needed to be passed at a later day. As I searched through my bag, I saw the notebook where I wrote all of the things I wanted to do before. Now that I thought of it, I haven't looked at it ever since Doi Mae Salong.

I grabbed the notebook and opened it, scanned through the random notes that I wrote as I flipped through the pages. When I reached the page where I wrote my bucketlist, I realized I've achieved more than half of them. The list, which I initially wrote with the intent of fulfilling alone were slowly being completed, but with Tawan beside me. I never knew my last year in high school would be filled with such a surprise, but I was so grateful that Tawan entered my space. If it weren't for him, the list would remain nothing but a list, not a treasure of memories I'm bringing with me in my next life.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts in the middle of reading my notes. It's past nine in the evening, and I wasn't really expecting any guests. I made my way to the door and opened it to the sight of Tawan, still in his uniform standing right outside me unit.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

His face looked exhausted from all the questions he answered from the tests, and his hair wasn't even combed neatly. He looked like he completely ran out of strength from answering the exam. He looked drowsy like he drank alcohol, but there were no signs of him being drunk aside from being sleepy.

"There's a streetfood stall right outside the building, can you eat with me?", He said as he rubbed his eyes and yawned. He looked so sleepy and yet he still wanted to grab a bite.

"Okay, let me get my wallet first.", I said as I turned around only to be stopped midway my tracks by Tawan's hand reaching for mine.

He pulled me into an embrace that shocked me, again. We stood still for a few moments as he rested his head on my shoulder, his breathing faint and slow. The moment he was able to his head on my shoulder, I felt his body limp.

"What's wrong?", I asked, still embracing Tawan. His body felt really warm, and emitted a hot feeling. It wasn't the usual warmth he exuded, but rather a warmth that made me feel he's really fatigued.

"Nothing...I'm just tired. Don't bother taking your wallet, I'll pay for everything."

After a few more moments of standing still as we embraced, we finally boarded the elevator to go down and eat. He remained quiet the whole time we walked, his mind wandering somewhere far. We had already passed the streetfood stall he was talking about, but he still walked like he had nothing on his mind. Finally, I grabbed his hand and shook him out of his absent mindedness.

"We already passed the stall.", I said as I pointed my finger to the stall that's already a few blocks away from where we stopped.

"I'm sorry, my mind's floating I lost track of where we're headed."

I smiled, completely aware that he's not his usual self tonight. As much as I anted answers as to why his head is in the clouds that night, I figured it would be best if we talked about it when he feels comfortable enough. We walked back towards the food stall and sat, made our order and waited for the food to come.

We sat in front of each other just beside the road where countless of cars were passing, the night life pulsating as the other customers talked. Tawan, still with his hair mesaed up was looking at the skies.

"Is there anything to see in the sky tonight?"

He didn't reply, but instead turned towards me and gave me a worried look.

"Haven't you wondered why we only met now?", He asked, his face still worried.

My mind grew in confusion as he asked the question. Thinking about it, I've never really seen him during my past years in school. Though I was never the type to mingle with others, my school wasn't really big to miss out a single person, let alone Tawan.

"Maybe it's because we're on different sections. I'm really not the type to talk with students from other classes so meeting you just this year didn't really bother me."

For a second he drifted his gaze to the skies and turned back at me as he reached for my hand. His hand was incredibly cold, and it was the first time I felt his skin become freezing.

"I just transferred this year. That's why we never met each other until now."

Just then, a server came with a tray of food and placed it on our table. He let go of my hand as the woman placed the food, blocking my view of Tawan as the server's arms moved. But when she left and all the food had been placed, I saw the guy opposite to me biting his fingernail as he anxiously looked at the road, his eyes red from trying not to cry.