Chapter 2

“Unbelievable I tell you, there can never be a lecture as boring as that! I swear, watching my toe nail grow is twice as accomplishing,” rolling his eyes, a handsome young man spoke in a mocking tone. He had a pair of sparking eyes, adorned with double eyelids and long, curved lashes. As he spoke, his larynx bobbed in synchrony, accentuating his masculinity.

“Hell, yeah. Lucky thing I brought my wife here to entertain myself. Andrew, would you hold my wife for me for a sec? I’m desperately urgent,” said another more average-looking guy, as he pushed his Toshiba laptop to his friend.

“Sure, you go do your thing while I get familiar with your wife,” Andrew replied, a mischievous smirk formed on the handsome face as he flashed his eyebrows.

Turning to a dazed comrade standing beside him, Andrew swept his open palm in front of his friend’s face and said almost exasperatedly, “Hey? Hello? Can you wipe that weird smile off your face now? You’ve been grossing me out for the past half an hour.”

“Hey dude, I was in the middle of my most erotic fantasy and you just totally demolished it. Why don’t you go disturb someone else for a change?” the guy looked around for something, “And where is Gabriel?”

“He went to relieve himself. What? You want him to accompany you to the washroom?” Andrew sniggered and pointed in the direction of the gents, “There, he’s done. Man, he’s fast for someone who’s desperately urgent.”

“It’s called superior plumbing my friend. Ah, I see Daniel’s not smiling to the air anymore. I don’t know what you did but I sure am glad it worked. He’s been grossing me out for the past half hour,” Gabriel laughed.

Andrew burst out laughing and when it died down enough for him to speak, he patted Gabriel on the back and said, “Spoken like a true brother. Come on, let’s go get my Biology of the Body text from my locker before we get lunch.”

“Hey, I’ll just wait for you guys here, it’s too far to crawl,” Daniel said.

“Alright, then hold my wife for me,” handing his laptop to Daniel, Gabriel suddenly pulled it back into his arms and continued, “Don’t let me see you drop it again or I’ll-“

“Crucify me. Yes, I get it,” Daniel said dryly.

Gabriel followed Andrew up the stairs. Daniel sat sown at the study table and placed the laptop by his side. He smiled incredulously to himself. He had known Gabriel for a long time but he didn’t realize that Gabriel was a man very protective of his treasured possessions, for Gabriel had always been a mild-tempered guy. His temperament had always been as calm as a sheltered lake, gently rippling in sync with his circadian rhythms.

Indeed, he had never seen Gabriel get angry or upset over anything at all. It seemed like nothing could move him. Yet ever since Gabriel bought that laptop, he had been unfathomably attached to it, and his emotional tides rose and fell according to the welfare of his “wife”. Daniel wondered if his friend would show the same devotion to his future girlfriend. It would be such a sight to behold, he was sure of it.

In fact, he was also absolutely certain that the Andrew-in-love would be equally, if not surpassingly, phenomenal. He could almost imagine Andrew teasing the hell out of his girl, balancing her thinly on the verge of crying and laughing. He could scarcely believe how any girl is able to handle a guy you can love and hate at the same time.

Daniel could hardly suppress a grin as he pictured his friends holding their girls and gazing tenderly at them. He mentally added himself to the picture, but he needed a girl.

What kind of girl? A face began to solidify in his mental sketchpad. Long hair, fringe delicately caressing her brows. Eyes as innocently pure as a newborn child’s, growing more sparkling with each blink.

Daniel smiled as he replayed the girl’s smile in his mind for the hundredth time. He had seen her on the first day of school, clasping her phone in both wavering hands and looking around anxiously. He remembered they were all waiting for their turn to be matriculated and there was a massive crowd outside the halls. People were standing with their cliques and chatting excitedly.

And then he saw her, backed to a pillar by a stream of people alighting from the shuttle bus. He remembered how her head was lowered in a rather defensive manner, flinching every now and then when someone brushed past her, frowning ever so slightly. She only managed a flicker of a smile when a senior handed her a can of coca cola. Daniel breathed a sigh of amusement when he recalled how cute he had thought that lip-nibbling girl was at that time.

He never figured out what hit him but when he saw her again at the library, he was mightily surprised. There has got to be forty to fifty students in there, yet he had spotted her the instant he stepped in.

It was almost as magical as the time he saw her on the first biochemistry lecture, amidst the three hundred faces.

“Hey!” a really loud voice shattered Daniel’s daydream and ear drums.

“What?!” Daniel snorted vindictively. This guy was always interrupting his blissful thoughts in the most destructive of ways.

“What what?” Andrew was taken aback by the hostility, “I’ve been calling you for like three, four times?”

“Oh, sorry. I was just trying to recall if glycine is an acidic or basic amino acid,” Daniel said lamely, “Where’s Gab?”

Gabriel tapped his shoulder from the back and Daniel jumped. Gabriel picked up his laptop and hugged it to his chest, “What’s wrong with you? You haven’t been yourself the whole day. First that creepy smile, now this out-of-body experience thing. Don’t tell me you’re thinking about….” Gabriel contemplated his words for a moment while Daniel held his breath in suspense, “what to buy for me for Christmas already?” Gabriel beamed.

“Er yeah, I was thinking of getting the anti-wrinkly moisturizer for your wife. She needs to conceal those scratch lines, “Daniel retaliated.

“She does not!” Gabriel scrawled very much insultedly.

“According to my professional analysis,” Andrew spoke in a deeper than usual voice, “there can only be one reason why Daniel is acting as if he is in love, and that is he hasn’t been getting enough sleep and vitamin C.”

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with me!” Daniel denied vehemently, “Now let’s head for lunch, no more funny business!”

They weaved their way through the unusually crowded canteen and procured for themselves a table, littered inconsiderately by its previous occupants. But they were desperate in the race against time to be picky.

Queuing for his food in an impossibly long queue, Daniel let his eyes wonder around the buzzing of the canteen. There was order in the chaos, and it was almost entertaining to watch people follow the “traffic rules” in the crowded canteen.

Suddenly, he caught sight of the girl he had been sort of thinking about today. He tried not to stare, but found himself do the look-don’t look-look routine every three steps she took. He took a step forward in the moving queue and turned his eyes back to the girl.

He let out a silent gasp when he saw her glance his way and they exchanged eye contact for a split of a second. And then, it was gone. She fleeted her eyes away as naturally as if she had just locked eye contact with a stranger.

I think she still doesn’t remember me; Daniel thought rather hopelessly and gave a most disconcerting sigh.

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