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A year ago, college student Sarawat was swept off his feet by a mysterious stranger at a concert. Suddenly that guy, Tine, has burst into Sarawat's life with a wild request: pretend to be Tine's boyfriend...
After talking with Green, I assumed my thoughts of Tine would be stimulating enough to keep my brain alert and my body awake during my Political Theory class. I was still processing everything Green had revealed to me, and I thought I was ready to start planning how the next few encounters would go. But as the professor's low and monotone voice barely registered in my ears above the calming hum of the classroom air conditioner, my lack of sleep from the night before began to wreak havoc on my ability to concentrate on anything, including Tine. Within the first thirty minutes of the three-hour lecture, my eyes strained to stay open. My head bobbed as I tried to fight off the sleep that was gnawing at me. Before long, I was asleep with my chin resting on my chest. Occasionally I would jolt awake and pretend to pay attention to the professor, then I would nod off again. When class was finally over at 12:30, I could barely walk out of the building.
I considered taking a nap in my car. My brain was shutting down and my body was running on an empty tank of energy. However, I lived only a mile from campus, and sleeping in my own bed outweighed any other option. It never took me a long time to get home. University Street, also known around school as "UCircle", surrounded the entire campus in a complete circle, and it connected to Avenue C, on which I lived. As I turned out of the Political Science Building's student parking lot onto UCircle, I heard someone yell my name.
"Hey, Sarawat! Wait!"
I was about to slow down when out of the corner of my eye I saw a black bicycle racing alongside me. Tine, frantically waving at me to lower my window, looked adorably awkward trying to get my attention while also working to stay balanced. I slowed my car down just enough for Tine to comfortably ride side-by-side with me.
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Before any words were exchanged, I stole a glance of Tine. Although our encounter the day before had been a catastrophe, it didn't negate the fact that I longed to see him all the time. Being around Tine – even having him riding a bike next to me as I drove – made me both ecstatic and anxious. I was in love with him; I could feel it in my quickening heartbeat. My desire to stare into his eyes was palpable. And the lump in my throat reminded me of how shy Tine made me. I reminded myself that I wasn't supposed to show any positive reactions to him yet. I suppressed my smile as I lowered my window and glanced at Tine dismissively.
"What?" I asked flatly.
"Aren't you gonna stop or slow down?" he asked, to which I gave him a mean sideways look. Tine caught the hint and pedaled faster. "I need to talk to you!" he wailed, his puppy-dog eyes causing a little of my coldness to melt.
"I don't talk to strangers," I declared, turning my head to watch the road in front of me, and to also avoid Tine's eyes.
"Stranger my ass!" he yelled. "Yesterday you said you would kiss me until I dropped!" Tine's reminder of what I had said made me want to hide my face in embarrassment. Still, I remained stoic and seemingly unmoved by Tine's presence and words.
