Her eyes meet Kai for the first time. She
kept on watching him. Though one day, he was no longer in her eyesight. Will
she ever be able to see the boy who her eyes have been watching?
I smile
wildly, secret doing a happy dance in my mind. Kai has just chosen to be the
student council president! He has produced a great speech, a great performance
on stage, including the fact that he already has a good reputation with
seniors, juniors and basically everyone. Because of that, I have quite a good
impression on him, but it’s not like I know him that well.
My
friends and I were practicing volleyball the other day, and Kai was also there
with a few classmates. Our volleyball rolled to Kai and his group of friends’
way, and he helped me pick it up. He smiled while pointing to another ball
rolling out of the court and onto the race track. I was clueless at that time,
so I didn’t know what he wanted me to do. And now I regret embarrassing myself
for my idleness. He just wanted me to get his ball for him to exchange with
mine. My face flushed a bright red when I found out what his intentions were,
but too late, he already tossed back my volleyball and went to get his ball
himself.
Around
time to time, I would stare at Kai as he passes the hallway, but never once did
he look this way.
Then one
day, he was gone. The news was everywhere. Kai has transferred to another
school, and leaving his student council position. It was extremely frustrating,
but the co-president took up Kai’s role and managed to quiet down the rants.
I sort of
understand why he’s leaving. With the entrance exam to aim for a better
university’s coming closer, he needs the best surroundings, somewhere he can
just study. But our school isn’t like that. We have variety of problems,
countless bad students that always ruin the atmosphere in class. Unless you’re
a very self-centered person or someone that’s good at blocking out noises, then
it wouldn’t matter to where you are learning. But maybe to Kai…He can’t stand
the ruckus anymore.
Which
hurts, even though he’s saying it indirectly that he dislikes all of us.
-
After a
semester, my mom intrigued me to go to cram school. I had no choice, it was
either I fail my studies or get help. It’s kind of fun really, it’s fun to take
transportations to the cram school. It’s far, and I like that, because no one
from my school goes there. I can avoid being compared.
Walking
up the staircase to the third floor of the cram school, I secretly wonder what
the cram school looks like. All I know is that they’re pretty famous. I’m here
to take a test, to see how much lessons I’ve remembered from the past semesters.
It’s a pretty big area you need to review, but if they wanted us to do well,
they would have told us earlier about this test.
Either
way, I’m up here. It’s luxurious, and the walls are all full of student’s names
and what university they got into and who got first place in their class. The
list is incredibly long.
“I’m here
for the PET test.” You tell one of the counter girls.
“Right
this way.” She leads me to the elevator. We wait for a little why before the
door slides open and she motions for me to step in. Then she pressed the number
ten. I wonder why we’re going to the tenth floor. “The PET test is taken on the
tenth floor, and don’t worry about your dinner. We’ve prepared it.” I smile politely.
Soon we
were up there, it wasn’t as fancy as the third floor yet I could less. The
counter girl leads me to another guy and he takes me into the classroom. He
asks for my name and then finds my participation card. He hands it to me before
asking me to sign my name on the seating sheet. I seat on third row on the very
left, the hall is right beside me.
As I walk
down the aisle, I spot something familiar. “Crap.” I couldn’t help but duck my
head and continue to my seat.
Kai’s
just two rows ahead of me. I can see him perfectly, because he’s a little to
the right and I stare at the side of his face for a while. It’s beautiful,
literally. I like how he focuses on the book he’s reading.
I wonder
if he remembers me, I wonder if he would say hi. I wonder if I should. We
barely talked before, and it was only me who was so clingy in our little
interaction. But…He must have seen me before. Just like that, he turns his head
my way and I freeze. I instantly look down and bury myself in my hands.
After the
six long hours of taking five subjects, including dinner hour, they finally
released us. I was dying, from boredom and tiredness. All I wanted to do was
sleep.
All of us
squish into the elevator, taking the ride to floor one. And as I wait for all
of them to leave, I noticed Kai was waiting for me to leave first. To avoid
another embarrassing moment, I left first.
Suddenly,
something grabbed onto my shoulder. I freaked out. It was eight, it was late, it
was dark, and I am alone. “Hey.” The voice says. It sort of calms me. It doesn’t
sound too harsh, but what am I to say? This may be a pervert with a good voice?
“…” I
turned around.
“I go the
same way; do you want me to accompany you?” He asks. It was only Kai.
I liked
taking the bus by myself, I love enjoying the cool night air alone, even though
I’m quite afraid of what might happen to me, I decline his offer. “No thanks.”
“But—you’re
a girl.” Kai stumbles on his words. “I can’t let you go home alone. Especially
in this kind of public order.”
“We don’t
even know each other. Why don’t you find some other girl?” I shrug. Seriously,
even if it’s nice to have someone protecting me, thinking about me, I’m quite
nervous of the awkwardness that might come if I accept.
“Because
you’re the only one I know that goes the same way.” He looks away while he
talks, but I don’t mind.
“Did the
cram school teachers ask you to go home with me?” I immediately retort.
“No.” He
looks back at me. “I wanted to.” Kai’s grip on my wrist got tighter; his palm
is sweating a little, too.
“Plus, I
don’t go home with someone I don’t know.” I hear myself say, so carefree and
positive. He must have been a little shocked to hear that. I can’t blame him. I
really wanted to say sorry, and we’ll go together if he wants, but I just can’t.
“You know
me. I know you do. So stop denying the fact that you want me to protect you.
What if I was some other guy that randomly put my hands on your shoulder? You
would definitely be scared then, knowing that it’s not just Kai.” He rolls his eyes as he talks.
“You
sound arrogant.” I purse my lips.
“If
arrogant is what makes you listen to me…” Kai shrugs. “Then I could care less.”
“But why,
are you…talking to me?” I question. “Give me the real reason and don’t lie.”
Kai sighs
and pauses for a long time. “I want to tell someone why I transferred and maybe
you can help me reduce the rumors going on in the school. My friends betrayed
me, because they thought I thought they were not good enough for me. I was
hurt.” He explains, a blush slowly forming on his face as I stare at him.
I frown.
He’s entrusting me with something so personal. He seems so vulnerable at the moment;
he really wants a good reputation with everyone and I can tell it bothers him a
lot. I turned around to walk away; hopefully he understands what I want him to
do. And I bet he did, because he came catching up with me down the long
staircases to the MRT station.
“Thank
you.” He speaks up. “I’ll assure you a safe trip home.”
I laugh
at that and was glad that he laughed along, too. This may actually be the start
of a friendship I never thought would ever happen. I was always the same me,
and even though he dropped from the top of the social pyramid, he hasn’t
changed his serene attitude.
Maybe, I
would come to love Kai one day, but that’s another whole type of story.
