3 Chapter 2

It was around afternoon when Liang was awoken by the stray of sunbeams seeping through the windows from his left.

The class just ended and he felt awful that he dozed off without taking a single note. He looked around with half-lidded eyes as everyone slowly leaves, wondering whether to ask someone for a copy, or just message one of his classmates in the evening.

The latter won.

It's not as if he was an introvert; it was just that he never really bonded with anyone in the room considering that it was a general course. It's a mixture of people of different ages and majors, and only five of them were in the medical department. Even though regret and self-loathing was oozing from every pore of his skin, his mind was settled.

He stood on his feet, fixed his things, then bounded towards the football field to where he and Sam are supposed to meet up instead of the usual hard court; according to a text that was sent to him mere hours before his final course for the day.

The both of them are in the futsal team and they needed to train daily for the upcoming tournament in August. But then Sam had an errand to attend and he wanted Liang to be there too.

To be fairly honest, Liang wasn't really in the mood to practice so he agreed so he could stall it. His head felt like it was being crushed with so much pressure despite him getting an ample amount of sleep.

When he arrived, he spotted Sam by the shelters and he reached out a hand to him.

"Hey," He murmured to the other guy who whipped around instantaneously. Sam took one look at his face then frowned.

"Are you okay?" He asked, voice laced with concern.

Liang waved him off, taking the cold water bottle from his hand then pressing it to his temple. "I feel like I'm about to have a heat stroke."

"I'm not sure if you're exaggerating or anything, but should I give you CPR?"

Liang gave him an intense look of disbelief. "Dude, I can't believe you're taking pre-medical courses and be that dumb."

Sam playfully punched him on his arm. "You're the dumb one for not spotting sarcasm."

They both chuckled which ended quickly when a girl approached them. Liang looked away out of privacy as she and Sam started exchanging words about something he wasn't familiar of. He uncapped the bottle and was chugging half of its content when his cellphone rang.

He answered it almost immediately.

"Babe!" A quiet scream from the other line greeted him.

Liang pinched Sam to let him know he's moving somewhere out of hearing, then answered, "Hey, boo!"

"I'm really sorry I wasn't able to reply to any of your texts! I had a quiz today and I was too preoccupied to notice any of your messages."

Liang rolled his eyes even though he knew she wasn't going to see it. He could spot the lie dripping from her words but he chose not to say anything. "It's alright, babe. I knew you were going to be busy anyway. You've been babbling about that quiz nonstop." He paused for a second. "I was just worried."

"Like, really worried for me?"

"Yeah."

She laughed awkwardly and Liang had to swallow the lump that had form on his throat. He really dislike this. Whenever Elisa pushes something towards him and makes him believe even the most dumbest of excuse, he couldn't muster the courage of actually calling her out, afraid that he might lose her. But the pressure of always belittling him and making him look stupid was starting to boil.

He was just afraid to admit that he's losing feelings.

"Are you done for the day?" He asks in a different tone, clutching the water bottle back to his temple again as his head started pounding.

"I still have another class in the next hour and I want to immediately head home after that." Elisa tells him dejectedly. "But I'll call you when I get back."

"Alright," Liang turned his head towards the sky. His hold on the water bottle began to tighten and a visible scowl started to form on his face. "You disappeared out of nowhere and now you're ditching me."

"You're being over dramatic."

Liang tutted loud enough for her to hear. "Maybe that's the reason why you went for me, seeing as you're the queen of the drama club."

"Now you're being an asshole, you know I have far more important things to do than entertain you."

That was it. The little line of patience he had within him snapped into two. Elisa just had the best talent of provoking him.

"I'm hanging up now, this asshole has far more important things to do too."

Irritated, he abruptly ended the call and walked back towards Sam who was standing all alone, eyes following the back of the girl he was just recently talking to.

"Where is she going?" Liang asked him, bewildered; shifting his mood to cover up that he just had a recent fight with his girlfriend.

Sam shrugged and chose not to answer his question. "I wasn't expecting her to confess to me."

Liang's jaw slackened a bit and he shifted his weight from one foot to another. He didn't know how to react, but judging from the way Sam was being lethargic, he concluded that it didn't end well. They both watched quietly as she rounded the corner and disappeared from their sights.

Liang suddenly peered at him with a pair of inquisitive eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sam finally looked at him and slung his arm across his shoulders. He threw him a mischievous grin and gave him a playful punch on the chest. "Let's skip today's practice. It's Monday, we could always make up for it."

"Wait, why the hell should we-?"

"My head's too messed up to even function." Sam said. "Maybe a few chugs could fix it?"

"Oh, man." Liang whispered to himself, fishing his phone out of the pocket once again and sighing audibly. "I'll call the boys."

Sam gave a triumphant exhale, bending down to pick up their bags from the ground. "As they say, the more the merrier."