8 8) HUG

The first group basketball competition ended with a score of 60-40. It was obvious that the winner was the Black Panthers. In that game, Noah was like a dark horse. None had expected such performance from Noah. They also knew his all good performance was to impress someone special. The teammates of the Black Panthers were really happy. They wanted to pray in gratitude to Noah's crush for coming to see his game. They also thought they must play hard in the next game so that all the spotlight wouldn't be stolen by the junior.

After the game ended, all of the players were resting in the locker room except Noah who ran out of the room carrying his sports bag. At the corner of the gymnasium hall's door, he saw Cecil standing with the bottle in his hand. Noah smiled feeling pleasant. He was walking towards Cecil but some girls surrounded him shouting excitingly.

Listening to loud noises coming from his back, Cecil turned around. He saw Noah surrounded by lots of girls congratulating him. Yes, that's where Noah belonged, surrounded by lots of people and being popular. Noah was already the most popular boy in class before but after today, everyone admired him. He was limelight. Cecil didn't know if he should feel happy or sad. He was really becoming selfish because he wanted Noah all to himself.

Noah saw Cecil standing alone looking at him. Noah gave him a helpless look. Cecil also smiled and signalled him he would be waiting in their class. After that Cecil turned back and walked away. Seeing Cecil's stiff back and lone figure, Noah's heart tingled in pain. Noah tried to push everyone away from the crowd but wasn't successful. He finally called the senior for help and managed to escape.

Noah immediately rushed towards their class. As he reached the class, he saw Cecil standing near the window looking outside. It was already autumn. The surrounding trees had turned yellow, red, golden and brown. The slight cold breeze was blowing. Cecil had shoulder-length hair which was flowing like a river along with the breeze. He couldn't clearly see Cecil's eyes because his specs were reflecting the light. But he still knew Cecil's eyes were really beautiful.

Noah slowly walked inside without making any sounds from his footsteps.

"BOOH!!!!"

Noah shouted near Cecil's ear but Cecil was neither terrified nor surprised. He turned back and gave Noah a bottle of glucose water.

"Congratulation, Noah."

Noah extended his both arms sideways and said, "Only congratulation?! Give me a hug."

For a moment, Cecil thought he heard wrong. He asked, "W-What?"

"I said give me a hug," Noah said walking near Cecil.

They were the only ones in the class. Before Cecil could react and do anything, Noah himself hugged Cecil tightly. Cecil had a small body than Noah so, he was wholly embraced by Noah. Only at this time, Noah felt content and satisfied. Cecil also smiled and wrapped his arms around Noah's back.

Who knew when he could hug Noah like this again? He would take every chance to be close and to touch Noah. The rays of the sun were falling on their embracing bodies. The whole atmosphere was pleasant and beautiful. It looked like a beautiful painting. Cecil felt like they were the only one remaining in the whole world. He felt like he had won the world. He didn't anyone to disturb this pleasant atmosphere. His heart was feeling peaceful.

After the game, Katherine and Samaira were searching for Cecil but couldn't find him anywhere. They searched the gymnasium hall, cafeteria, soccer field but couldn't see him anywhere. They finally gave up and went to their class. Before Katherine could enter, Samaira signalled her to be quiet and to take a look in the class. Katherine almost vomited blood seeing two persons hugging intimately inside the class without the care of the world. She didn't even have the heart to knock on the door and disturb them. She had already lost, right? There was not any chance for her since the beginning. Fate was with Cecil since the beginning. Seeing the satisfied smile on both of their faces, there was really no place for the third person.

Katherine pulled away Samaira who was also staring at them and was almost trying to knock.

"Why did you pull me?" Samaira asked.

"Don't disturb them," Katherine answered.

"Don't you like Noah too? Are you going to give up?" Samaira stared at Katherine.

Averting Samaira's piercing glare, Katherine answered, "Let's talk about this later. For now, let's go. My heart is bleeding, please."

Katherine pulled Samaira with her and went to the table tennis hall to see the next competition. Meanwhile, at the class, Cecil and Noah finally moved away from each other hug. Noah was embarrassed while Cecil was already red. There was silence for a while. Noah felt Cecil really looked cute when he was red and bashful. Noah couldn't resist pinching Cecil's nose. Cecil surprisingly raised his head as Noah pinched his nose. Noah laughed patting and shuffling Cecil's hair and said,

"Let's go to see a table tennis competition."