Altered: Win and Team

Now

Loving is not owning..

There's a reason
Why we are together now
And we don't care if it's not forever now..

We love each other now..

- Now by MYMP

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Team

I snapped a photo of Hia beside my car. We were already at the dorm but we've decided to hang around the parking lot while trying the new camera with sounds blaring in the car.

Shift+F2 was playing in the background. I like the band's catchy genre which is a mix of metal, pop, punk and rock. Hia said they started underground and were a hit when he was a freshman. They've gone mellow according to him when they began mainstreaming.

"It's business. They need to appeal to a bigger crowd to sell.", Hia told me.

I guess almost everybody needs to conform to fit in. We need to compromise to get what we want sometimes. To the band it was for fame. To me, it was to give way to Hia.

Any cheap camera would've been just fine but he insisted on getting the best even though he ended paying for most of it. I'd hate to know about the future. It may mean nothing to him to indulge me with things and his attention but to me it was magnanimous.

I admit that I grew up being spoiled by my family but it was to pacify me. To make up for their shortcomings as absent parents. With Hia, it was different. He gives because he felt I deserve it.

I twirled the camera in my hands as I was lost in my thoughts. Hia kept on talking about marriage in the early stages of our relationship when I haven't really given it much thought.

I don't like to look at the future. I never liked thinking ahead. I prefer now. To live in the moment. To take pictures of him. To make memories that I can save. That's why I wanted to buy a camera.

I took another snapshot of him and stared into the screen. I've captured something that could be long gone in a blink of an eye. I always have that feeling that I'd be left alone again. It's always easier to leave than to be the one left behind. It's the same old story. Just when I was getting used to it. To have someone to rely on.

"Bright said they have a gig this Oktoberfest. We can watch him and his band. You can even meet them backstage.", Hia suddenly told me.

I grew excited at the thought of meeting the vocalist and forgot about my foreboding thoughts, "Khang wai khap, Hia. What do you mean exactly by 'Bright said'?"

He just shrugged when I asked him to hold on and placed his hands on his pocket, "We were buddies in highschool and we still catch up from time to time."

My eyes grew wide at the knowledge. I was even closer to my idol than I thought. I've been fan boying over the vocalist and his band secretly to avoid any jealous fit from Hia. The gig could be an opportunity of spending more time with him through our common interest and getting to know Shift+F2.

"But I'd be busy by then with the meet.", I suddenly felt sad as I joined Hia and leaned on the car.

He placed his hand on my head and messed my hair with endearment.

"We'll find ways and time, Nong. Chang meng. I'll make it happen for you.", Hia gave me a reassuring smile when he said I shouldn't worry as I looked at him.

I smiled back at him with the orange light of the lamp post enveloping his warmth towards me.

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