Memories

Since the moment Zack left Andrey's mind has been distracted completely immersed in the thoughts of separation which will soon become a reality. He still vividly remembered the time when Jacob first approached him in the eighth standard and couldn't help but reminisce over that time once again.

….

"Don't you get bored all by yourself?" A voice entered Andrey's ears while he was immersed in reading some theorems in his physics book.

"Nope, I like being alone," Andrey replied in a short and dry manner with his eyes still plastered towards the book on his desk.

"Well, that explains why you've not interacted with anyone since the time you came to this school. How long has it been?...yeah 2 weeks. Godd! I can't even sit in silence like you for half an hour and here you are doing this for 2 goddamn weeks!" Jacob whined.

"Skill Issues,"

A snide comment came immediately from Andrey's side. He had expected that Jacob would distance himself from him because of this rude comment but what happened was just the opposite.

"You're right haha, I truly admire this skill of yours. So how about it?" Jacob asked.

"Huh? About what? " Andrey finally turned towards Jacob and the first thing he noticed was his huge biceps that seemed to be almost on the verge of tearing his shirt's sleeves because of how chiselled they were. He suddenly started to regret making that rude comment earlier.

"About becoming my friend?" Jacob replied without a second thought.

"Oh…Huh? Wait what?" It took Andrey a while to take his gaze away from Jacob's almost protruding biceps and interpret what Jacob had just said to him.

"You heard that right. Be my friend." A cheeky smile appeared on that handsome face as he bent down to look into Andrey's blue eyes leaving just a few centimetres between their faces in a well-practiced manner.

Andrey distanced his face away from Jacob's the moment he closed in on him "Are you trying to kiss me or what?"

"No, why would I?" Jacob furrowed his eyebrows after hearing Andrey's question.

"Then take that face of yours off my face!" Andrey exclaimed as pushed Jacob away from his personal space.

Seeing this Jacob became even more confused and after stabilizing him couldn't help but mutter, "That's weird…whenever I asked the girls to be my friend in this manner, they all agreed without a doubt…"

"That's because they are all girls you dumbass! If you shove that handsome face of yours in front of their face, I doubt that any of them would refuse to be friends with you! Don't you have any male friends or what?" Andrey just couldn't believe what came out of Jacob's mouth and asked the last question even though he had seen him interacting with plenty of boys in the class.

"No, I don't…" Jacob replied though the tone of his voice was a lot less cheery than earlier.

"Huh? What are you talking about? You interact with almost all the boys in the class," It was Andrey's time to furrow his eyebrows as Jacob's words just didn't make any sense to him. He had long lost interest in the physics book he was earlier focused on and was now fully focused on Jacob.

"How does talking to them make them my friend? Besides, you think I don't know that most of them bitch about me to the girls behind my back?" Jacob's voice carried a hint of irritation as he talked about this.

'So he knew,' Andrey thought to himself. Andrey had only arrived two weeks ago in this new school and Jacob had indeed left a very deep impression on him. He was very famous with all the girls due to how fit and handsome he was but that made many boys in the class who couldn't pull in the girls despise him for it and talk bad about him behind his back.

Seeing that Andrey was still silent Jacob continued, "So, will you be my friend Andrey?"

"You want to be my friend…and what makes you want to befriend me? The fact that I'm not interested in talking with others and won't back bitch about you like the other boys in the class?" Andrey asked as he looked straight into Jacob's eyes to figure out what exactly he was thinking.

"That…well that indeed is part of the reason but the main reason I want to befriend you is because of this strange and new feeling that I got when I first saw you," Jacob let his thoughts out.

"What feeling? Do you realize how gay you're sounding at the moment?" Andrey looked towards him with a straight face. He had no intention of changing his sexual orientation and was making it very clear to the person standing in front of him.

"Cut with that gay thing bro I'm trying to be serious here ok? What I mean is that you have a certain aura around you…and I believe that this aura suits me so I'll be inviting myself in it whether you like it or not hehe," Jacob joked as he slammed his hand on Andrey's shoulder.

Resisting his urge to groan in pain because of the sudden attack Andrey replied, "What if I refuse?"

"It doesn't matter, I'll keep trying until you become frustrated enough to accept me as your friend," Jacob said as a matter of fact.

"Well, Good luck with that," Andrey remarked in an exasperated manner as he focused his attention back on his book leaving Jacob standing there like he didn't even exist. Jacob wanted to further convince him but the school bell rang and along with it, the teacher entered the class forcing Jacob to go back to his seat.

Looking towards Andrey who was attentively listening to each of the teacher's words as the class went on a grin appeared on Jacob's face as he muttered to himself, "My luck has always been good,"

Andrey wasn't always this unsociable but after his mother's death a year ago he slowly started preferring to keep things with himself. This led to him being isolated and when Andrey's father got to know about this matter from Andrey's teachers, he shifted the neighbourhood and admitted Andrey to a new school with the hope that he would be able to make new friends once again.

But alas, Andrey was still the same with no intention of interacting with anyone. However, Andrey's cold nature didn't affect Jacob's intention of befriending him even a bit as he continued to pester him each and every day from that day henceforth.

"Good morning Andrey!"

"Can I borrow a pen, Andrey?"

"Cool cap you're wearing Andrey,"

"Wish I was smart as you Andrey…"

"Hey, Andrey! Stacy says she'll go out with you if you build some muscles!"

"Wanna grab an ice cream together bud?"

"Hey I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now…do you watch anime?"

"The fight scene was so epic dudee you really should watch anime I swear you won't regret it!"

.

.

.

Unbeknownst to Andrey, Jacob slowly became an integral part of his life and by the time he realized what was going on he had already accepted Jacob as his one and only friend.

…

Ring Ring

Andrey was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. It was his father's call.

'Why is Dad calling so early?' This thought had only entered Andrey's mind when his eyes went towards the time that was being shown on his phone.

"It's ten already!" Andrey exclaimed to himself. He just couldn't believe that he had been sitting like this lost in his thoughts since seven in the evening but the growl that arose from his stomach quickly made him believe that it was indeed the case.

He immediately pulled his attention back onto his ringing phone and picked it up.

"Hey Dad," Andrey's voice sounded out.

"I just got the news that you've been selected and here you are sounding like a broken clock," His father replied after hearing Andrey's voice.

"It's nothing…I was just thinking about some things," Andrey said not finding it unusual that his father knew the results.

"I didn't know that my son was so brave to accept the new testing method, I'm glad that I gave my consent at least now I'm aware that I have a courageous son," Andrey's father said in a joking manner but there was a trace of pride hidden in those words.

"Huh? What consent? They also asked me for my consent and made me sign a few papers," Andrey asked in a confused manner

"Oh, it was a double consent. The confederation was asking both the parents and the children for it because of how risky the process was. If some accidents happened and the parents weren't asked for their consent then do you think that the parents who are warriors themselves would let the matter rest? Hah! Some even called me crazy for giving consent for your test but I just wanted to let you make your own decision so I let it be," Andrey's father explained.

"Double consent?... I see, that makes more sense," Andrey said as he thanked his father for allowing him to make a choice.

"I only did what I felt right besides I'm glad that everything went well for you and you succeeded despite the high failure rate, I won't be taking much of your time cause I got some work to do, good night son and congratulations,"

"Thanks, Dad," Andrey replied as a smile formed on his face as the call was disconnected.