The First Day We Met

Shit.

Today is Monday, and the class schedule is busy. The first hour of the course is at eight mornings. This time the lecturer is famous for being a killer, and now Taera is late. Fix, this will be a bad Monday for Taera.

She immediately threw down the blanket when she saw the clock on the cellphone screen, which showed 07.40 o'clock. Taera immediately ran to the bathroom and tried to take a bath as fast as lightning. Luckily the boarding house provides a private bathroom, so Taera doesn't need to queue to take a bath.

After taking a bath, Taera grabbed a white t-shirt and put on a pair of jeans. She then remembered that she was not allowed to wear a shirt on campus. Finally, she grabbed a plaid shirt with a combination of black and yellow on which his shirt was hanging.

Taera smelled the shirt. She forgot when she last wore it.

"Ah, it doesn't smell. I smell good," Taera said, then put on the shirt to cover the shirt without buttoning it.

As fast as she could, Taera put on a thin powder and put on lip gloss and round glasses.

"Damn, it's already eight o'clock," said Taera after checking the handphone.

She immediately grabbed any book that was on the table and put it in her bag. She did not have time to comb her hair neatly and only put it in a ponytail.

Taera immediately locked the room. Her room on the second floor took Taera long enough to pick up the shoes on the downstairs shelf. Quickly she put on her shoes and ran out of the boarding house. After locking the boarding door, Taera immediately ran to the parking lot and got into the car.

Hopefully, the lecturer will arrive late, Taera prayed to herself.

***

Notifications on this guy's handphone are endless. After the debate on the candidate for chairman of the Student Executive Board (SEB) yesterday, many people congratulated him. The reason is, yesterday he excelled in all aspects during the debate. He is sure that Ervan, his deputy candidate, will also be flooded with congratulations and enthusiasm for the election of SEB chairman in a week.

Ardilo put his handphone back in his pants pocket after replying to several messages. Then, he took some food for breakfast in the dining room. Ardilo's boarding house is luxurious because it provides breakfast to dinner with food quality above the average college student food.

Ardilo brought his breakfast to the living room. It turned out that there was Jefry, Ardilo's boarding mate whose room was near the living room. He's getting ready for college.

"Ardi, don't you go to college?" asked Jefry.

"I have class at one p.m," said Ardilo, then enjoyed breakfast while watching the news.

"Ah... it's great, Monday with afternoon schedule. It's perfect," said Jefry while tidying up his shirt.

Ardilo nodded while chewing his food.

Jefry was busy tidying up the books and putting them in a bag.

"Aren't you going to class at 10?" Ardilo asked when he saw that Jefry was now ready to go.

"Yes, I am. But I want to go to Jeje's boarding house first. I want to have breakfast together," said Jefry, then smiled.

"Yeah, a guy who has a girlfriend is different. How about me, single. What a pity I am," commented Ardilo.

Jefry laughed, "I think you shouldn't have a girlfriend yet. Just focus on choosing the SEB chairman. You have lots of supporters too."

"Yes. Just calm down," said Ardilo, then continued his breakfast.

"Yup, I'll go first," said Jefry.

"Be careful, bro."

***

Stefa looked back and forth towards the classroom door. Taera isn't here yet. She was the one who bothered the most when there was anything with Taera. They have been friends since entering this campus. The two of them became friends, especially after they in the same class since semester 1.

"You're almost late. Luckily the lecturer just came in," whispered Stefa welcoming Taera, who had just sat down and was struggling because she ran from the car park to her class.

"I'm late," Taera replied briefly.

"You stayed up late again?" asked Stefa.

"Yes. I'm having fun watching Korean dramas," Taera said while taking out a notebook, "You look sleepy too."

"Yes, yesterday I came home at night. After watching the debate for the candidate for chairman of the SEB," replied Stefa.

"Don't you think you want to watch the debate program?"

"Yes. I want to join SEB this year. So, I have to know who the candidates are."

"Who is it?"

"The first pair was Ardilo and Ervan. The second pair was Putra and Dino."

"Our classmate Dino? He becomes a candidate for vice chairman of the SEB?" Taera asked incredulously.

"Yes. You still haven't news about this. Just go home after college, never care about campus events."

"Yup... I believe in slang kids, hit kids, like you. I know that our Putra is our senior. Ervan, a friend of our generation but in management major. What about Ardilo? Which one?"

Stefa was annoyed, secretly took out her handphone to show Ardilo's face, "Here is the guy. Handsome, right?"

Taera just nodded, "We have different tastes."

Stefa hit Taera's arm, "He is handsome, you know."

"According to me, the standard is different from handsome, Stef."

Stefa and Taera were so busy arguing over Ardilo's handsome. Neither of them pays attention to lecturers who have started teaching earlier.

"Please don't be noisy. The ones who are noisy just come out," said the lecturer, who began to notice whispers of noise in his class.

Stefa and Taera fell silent. They become self-aware and start paying attention to their lecturers.

***

Even though Ardilo has a class at 1 p.m., now he is on campus. It's still 10 a.m., but he wants to photocopy some additional course material. Ardilo is known as handsome, smarts, diligent, kind, and activist. Once everyone hears everything he says. Once he smiles a lot of girls will fall in love.

Ardilo walked from the photocopy to the seat in front of the park. He was too focused on checking his photocopy, and then he bumped into someone.

"Sorry..." said the girl who was hit by Ardilo. She helped tidy up Ardilo's photocopies that were scattered on the floor.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for not seeing the road," Ardilo said as soon as the girl stood up.

Ardilo looked at the girl from the bottom up. About 163 cm is high. The sneakers with the shoelaces tucked apart neatly, jeans, a white t-shirt underneath a slightly wrinkled yellow and black checkered shirt, round glasses, and carelessly ponytailed hair. Even so, that girl still looked beautiful. As soon as the girl smiled with her sweet smile, Ardilo realized.

"Here. Sorry," said the girl, handing over the course material Ardilo had copied earlier.

"Thanks. Are you a student here too?" Ardilo asked.

"Yes, I'm an accounting major. Level two" replied the girl.

"Oh, a student from the Faculty of Economics too. I think you are a student from another faculty," Ardilo smiled. A smile that makes girls hit because of his good looks.

The girl just looked at Ardilo was smiling. It seemed she was blown away by Ardilo's smile.

"I'm Ardilo, management major, level three. What's your name?" Ardilo asked, stretching out his hand.

"Taera," said the girl and then shook hands with Ardilo.

"Ah... Taera. Greetings. Sorry I have to go to the office immediately," said Ardilo.

"Yes. Greetings too."

"Once again, sorry, I already hit you."

"It's okay. It wasn't on purpose."

"Okay, see you later," said Ardilo with a smile.

Taera just nodded. Then Ardilo walked away from her.

"So that's Ardilo? My candidate for chairman of SEB faculty? If the chairman of SEB is like him, I also want to register as a SEB team," Taera said while looking at Ardilo's back.