(28) Gears in motion

Ren likes to think that he is an over-all a good boyfriend, not too good but definitely far-cry from the worst. He meets her after classes, promptly replies to her messages, takes her out (his treat of course) and be the kind of boyfriend he thinks she would like. He seemed doubtful at first, feels like he isn’t doing enough for her to which Keith counters him, saying that he treats Nina better than he could ever treat his own girlfriend, and that their double date last Sunday only made her cynical of him, wonders why he isn’t treating his girlfriend like how Ren treats his.

Officially being a couple honestly isn’t all that different from how they usually are since in the first place, Nina has always been the kind of girl who likes to cling to him, and sweet talk him, and feed him and all those things 'official' couples do. In hindsight, they were probably already a couple way before.

Keith gives him a look, “you just realized that?” he asked, incredulous.

It’s not that everything remained as is, it seemed more like the rules just changed a little. That now he has this banner over him that says he belonged to her, and it goes without saying that no other girl could approach him just as easily as before. He felt like some kind of a trophy and it irks him a bit, but seeing how happy it made Nina he decides to drop it, thinks that the feeling isn't worth standing up for.

He first had a glimpse of his responsibility as a boyfriend where, one time while waiting for Nina by the station, he was chatted up by an upperclassmen in college who happened to pass by. It was just some friendly, harmless chat and the girl didn’t really give any impression of flirting with him, and legitimately asked about his classes (since she was also taking them). When it was time to part ways however, he ended up being lightly pecked on the cheek after being deceived (she asked what time it was). The girl only smiled appreciatively and walked away.

He doesn’t know if it was coincidence or not but by some chance, Nina had just arrived and witnessed the whole spectacle. So, needless to say, it was an awkward first date where it was just them walking around in an amusement park. It was during their ride to the Ferris wheel where he decided to first bring it up, explaining his side and that it was an accident, all the while assured that she’s been with him for so long, surely she’d understand, he encourages himself that it was okay, with deep understanding of her personality. And besides, she had seen worse, after all.

As he anticipated, she smiled and nodded, back to her usual self. He smiles back, pleased that they had just overcame what he, at first, perceived as their likely first fight.

This, he thinks, this is the result of their close-knit friendship. He thinks that they have a good relationship built on trust that fostered since high school, that they know each other so well that some things didn’t need to be said. What could be more ideal than that?

So, when she retracted her words and told him not to help with the school festival instead, it was against what he expected. He asked why and it was the first time he didn’t understand what she was thinking. He tried pressing on but she stubbornly refuses to answer that he had no choice but to drop the subject before it becomes a full-blown fight. He conceived defeat and painfully obliges.

Keith cheers him up, says something like that’s just how women are.

It was the first time it struck him what the difference between being friends and being a couple are. He guesses that it wouldn’t be that simple after all, despite their deep understanding of each other.

When he broke the news to Zoey though, he was hit with a pang of guilt. “You said she'd be would be okay with it,” she reminds him of the assurance he had offered her earlier and he apologizes again, says that he’ll find someone to replace him. Zoey stared down, despondent and disappointed.

He adjusts the bag on his shoulder, “extend my apologies to Airi, okay?” he says and headed the other way.

She stops him, “about that help, how soon can you give an update?”

“I’m not sure, I, I’ll see what I can do,” he replies. The desperation on her voice is apparent.

She breathes, “okay,” she seems to soften at his words, it somehow only made him feel how frantically in need they were.

She thanks him and walks the other way. He could only nod in reply and walks off to his next class. He says he’ll see what he can do but honestly, he doesn’t know who to ask. Nina is a definite no and the others would just ruin more than they could help since they all had a score to settle one way or another with Airi.

That only leaves him with one person. Although, to be honest, even that is a bit of a stretch.

_____________

The door clicks open and a woman lazily enters her apartment, her bags drop with a loud thud and she leaves it by the entrance, preferring to head to her bed instead of hanging it up. She climbs on the bed sluggishly, deciding to change and eat dinner later. Her upperclassmen warned her the last two years would be the most hell she would ever experience in university. And she believed it for the most part, taking it with a grain of salt because she knew in herself it couldn’t be that bad.

She likes to believe that she’s just a bit (being generous) smarter than everyone else, evidenced by her being consistently in the top ten students in middle school and high school. But damn, she should have taken more of that salt!

They weren’t kidding, it was literal hell on earth with all the trainings, projects and exams (not to mention the amount of money involved) here and there and what’s worse is that she still has one more year left! She looks around and sees her room a mess. Up until last year, she could still clean her room and leave it spotless, now she could barely see the floor with all these books and papers lying around. She curses, she forgot to take out the trash today.

She shifts in her bad, her back against her mess of a room, taking out her phone. It was the first time she's opened it since phones aren't allowed during training. There was an unread message.

Now that’s a name she hadn’t seen in a while, she thinks.

It was an invitation to a festival, a university’s founding festival, to be precise. It didn’t take her long to decide she isn’t going to go. Not that it was far, but because she isn’t exactly in the mood to go and party with the exams coming just around the corner. However, she can’t exactly just flat out refuse this precious underclassman of hers, after seeing how polite and carefully drafted her message was that seemed to take her a long time to make, and probably a lot longer to send.

She was about to reply, promptly refusing the invite when she receives another message, saying that she won’t regret coming. Airi goes to my uni, the message adds.

It certainly did catch her attention, after all, she had a score to settle with her. But honestly, so what? There were more pressing matters she needs to attend to, like the thesis resting on her table as we speak, glaring daggers at her.

She hadn’t exactly moved on from what Airi did, it still haunts her to this day. But she should probably make it seem that she did. She wants people to think she’s a lot kinder than she leads on, she believes it’s easier to get what you want that way. It worked in high school, after all.

She composes a message, replying to her that she’s too busy to come, in the kindest way a person could be in a message. And anyway, she doesn’t have that much free time to torture a little devil she met briefly in high school. If she had told her this last year, it would have been a different story.

There was a reply. It was almost pleading, from sweet words like how she is being terribly missed to the regret of not being of help to her as much that time in high school and she just groans. At this point, she doesn’t care anymore, not to mention that she probably wouldn’t even be as much help either. Back then, there was only one person who could help her.

She starts to type another reply, turning down her invite again, at this point her underclassman starts sending messages one after another, stating different reasons for her to go, it was getting annoying. She forgot that she was this kind of girl.

When she reads however that Ren and Nina go to the same university as well, she pauses.

“Oh.” She finds herself smiling, an idea forming in her head. She starts to delete the entire message she was composing.

“Well, that changes everything.”

Only forty-five days remain before the school festival.