A SECOND CHANCE (BrightWin AU)

Part II

It's an early Wednesday morning and Bright is fifteen minutes ahead before the class starts. So, he takes his time as he walks down the hallway, strolling and letting the sound of his music temporarily flood his mind. He strolls right to his classroom and plops in a seat while letting out a huff of air. After that, he just sorts of scrolls through his phone, still listening to music as he plays a game for the remainder of the period.

Not long into the game, Bright feels his right earbud get pulled out and he looks in the direction the pull came from with a slightly opened mouth and with eyebrows creased in annoyance. However, before he can curse the culprit out, he sees it's Win and he somehow manages to calm down immediately, another thing he hasn't been able to get rid of.

"A tap on the shoulder would have been just as sufficient in getting my attention," Bright said to the boy as Win sat at his self-assigned seat which was two seats away from Bright's.

"Yeah, but that would have been boring," Win replied with a smug smile painted on his lips, glancing back at Bright as he pulled his notes from his bag. "And you know I don't wear boring well."

Bright huffed and quickly raised and lowered his eyebrows.

"Oh shit!" Win cursed out of the blue, laying his hands flat on his backpack as Bright looked at him. Win turned around to face Bright before asking him, "Hey, did you do the homework in Immunology? I kind of forgot to..." Bright raised an eyebrow at him. "What?" Win said with a little, offended whine in his voice. "I honestly forgot about it. I had it out on my desk last night but I was tired and I fell asleep before I could."

"And somehow you being too tired to do your homework is my problem because...?" Bright asked.

"Because you are a nice person who likes to help the people, he calls his friends, that's why." Win replied.

Again, Bright huffed and just stared at Win. That's exactly Bright's problem, the fact that Win only thinks of them as friends now. Win just doesn't see that.

But still, Bright gave in and searched through his backpack quickly, pulling out the piece of paper and handing it to Win silently. "Thanks, Vachie." Win cooed with gratitude.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Bright replied with a scrunched-up face. "You know how much I hate it when you call me that ridiculous nickname."

"Liar! You liked it before when I called you that," Win protests. "You said it made you feel all warm and fuzzy when I called you Vachie. Oh, Bai, too. You loved it when I called you Bai instead of Bright."

Sighing, Bright points his eyes down at his desk.

Called, liked, loved: they are all in the past tense because it was then and not now.

Time goes on and Bright glances up at Win every once and awhile as he copies down his homework. Their professor walks in the class and greets the class, prompting Win to quicken his writing pace to finish copying down the last answer before handing it back to Bright. Bright puts the paper away in his backpack for later.

The professor is just about to begin when the classroom door at the back opens and another student comes sneaking in, bowing apologetically to him as he scurries over to his seat. "Let's try to get here on time, Mr. Jirawat," the professor said and Dew bites back a chuckle before apologizing.

Dew says hi and sits down next to Win. The action has Bright staring with narrowed eyes that are filled to the brim with jealousy, invalid jealousy. Win's not even his anymore, so why should he waste his time feeling jealous? Because in his mind, Win is still his and no amount of time or past tense verbs can change that.

"Okay, class," their professor says toward the end of the period. "Before we end for the day, I'd like to give you all a research project for the finals. It's nothing big or impossible to do, so don't worry. I'll be pairing you up with someone you haven't worked with yet this year and together, you'll make a PowerPoint presentation on a topic about autoimmune diseases. I'm talking things like lupus, AIDS, etc." He turned around after pausing and grabs a stack of half sheets of paper to pass out. "I'm having you learn the material this way because standing up here and talking at you isn't going to help you understand the concepts, I want you to understand," he goes on, glancing up at the rows and counting out the correct number of papers.

"You have to dig for this information, find it on your own, and share with us what you discovered. It'll teach you some real-life learning methods while giving you what you need to do well on the final exam." He finishes passing out the papers and lays them back on his desk, turning to face the class afterward.

"Alright, let's do it this." their professor slightly muttered as he scans over the students with his eyes. "You two will have Organ rejection. You and you will have Lymphoma, but be sure to include symptoms and treatments in your presentation as well. You two will get Allergic asthma, you guys on Lupus, and lastly, you two back there will research AIDS." His fingers are pointing directly at Bright and Win, who just sort of glanced at each other, Win smiling faintly while Bright's face remains expressionless.

"You have tomorrow in class to work on it, but that's the only work day I'm giving you, so I highly suggest you begin, if not finish, your research tonight so that you have less to do over the weekend," he says, now standing up again. "This is due first thing Monday and no later. I will accept early online submissions, but you do not have to send it to me as long as you have it saved on a flash drive." The clock hits 12:00 PM moments after their professor finishes that sentence and says goodbye to the students after gathering his materials and before leaving.

"So, we're partners, huh?" Win says as he turns back around and faces Bright.

"Looks like it," responds Bright, who raises his eyebrows as he speaks. "I can look up stuff tonight and bring it in tomorrow. I have nothing going on."

"Or..." Win says, dragging out his voice a little, "we can actually work on this as partners. I can come over and we can do the research together. If we really stay focused, I bet we can get it done and so we can just relax for tomorrow."

Bright sighs, wanting to oppose with the deepest parts of his heart for the sake of his whole heart, but he ends up nodding in agreement. "You can come by any time after school," he says.

"Alright, I'll try to text you when I'm on my way," Win says, nodding a little and then turning back around to talk to Dew before Bright even has the chance to reply. But it's not like Bright would have reply with anything but a nod.

What else is there to say to the person you're not over but who's over you?

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A/N: What do y'all think of Part II? Do you guys think Win have really moved on from Bright? What would you choose, BrightWin or DewWin?

If you have any comments, suggestions or violent reactions, don't be shy and let me know. Also, don't forget to VOTE if you like/enjoy the story. 😘

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EDITED (10/09/2020)

Did y'all saw Dew's post on Instagram? It's a photo of him and Win 😍