October 25, 2024. It was a normal sunny day at the University of San Eunosia, Xenia Campus. All students went to their school’s lecture hall to take down their lecture notes, and so did I.

“Today, I will assign you a project to do with your classmates. Please make sure you submit it on time. This project is called ‘Project Green’. I will send you all the email about the details and my expectation of what I want in this project,” the professor assigned us a project to do.

Ugh, what a pain. Luckily, Zeph, who is my only best friend in this university, was sitting next to me, so I asked him,

“Zeph, do you want to work on this project with me? I have some ideas for this project.”

“Yeah, sure. As your only best friend, I will help you.”

“Thanks, bud. I love you,” I gleamed.

“Z, please do this to your crush.”

“But he’s in a different faculty~,” I said, whining.

“Fine, fine... I’ll let this slide for only this time,” sighed Zeph.

“Which means forever~,” I chuckled.

“Whatever,” Zeph sighed heavily.

“Ding!” An unknown number sent me a message while I was talking to Zeph. When I looked at the number, I had no idea who it was, so I showed it to Zeph.

“Whose number is this?” I asked.

“Well, I also don’t know whose number that is. Anyway, the lecture is so important,” Zeph shook his head.

Seconds passed; the bell rang at 12:00 PM sharp.

“Come visit me in Room 202,” I muttered to myself as I read the message the unknown person texted me. Who could that be? A stranger? A professor? How did they get my number anyway? As I was walking to Room 202, my heartbeat raced faster and faster each time. When I reached the room, I breathed in heavily before opening the door.

“Hello?” I yelled inside the room, only to hear my own echo. I slowly walked inside, feeling scared.

“Guess you didn’t expect me here, huh,” said a guy with a familiar voice, and suddenly, the light turned on. My heart skipped a beat when the light turned on by itself. In the end, I fainted from hyperventilating.

Once my consciousness was back, I was shocked by the people who woke me up.

“Are you-” I was stunned to speak.

“Yes, it’s me, your crush,” replied T, who is my crush.

I gasped loudly and moved back as soon as I could. I slapped my face extremely hard. Ouch, it hurts. Wait, does that mean this is real life? T looked at me in shock, asking himself what I was doing.

“Did you just slap yourself to see if this is real life?” T asked curiously and added, “If you think this is real life, yes, it is. I’m here, in front of you.”

I quickly moved backwards as if I were escaping a monster. T was confused by my action, so he said,

“Hey. If you’re going to move backward like this, keep going. I won’t stop you at all until you hit the furniture.”

I was stunned by what T had said. Is he really T? I’m not delusional, right? Anyone please tell me I’m not delusional. I slapped myself again, and again, and again. Then, T grabbed my arm to stop me from hitting myself.

“HEY! I’M REAL! OKAY? YOU’RE NOT DELUSIONAL! YOU’RE NOT DREAMING TOO!” T yelled loudly, waking me up from my deep thought.

I ended up crying. T released my arm and lowered himself down, checking on me.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” T said and started to sob.

When I saw T sobbed, it made my heart shattered into million pieces. Oh god, what have I done… Why am I being such a fool and so stupid that never believe that T was in front of me. Why oh why Oh WHY!? I feel like I should apologize to him. So, I did.

“H-Hey, T. I’m sorry for not believe that you were in front of me earlier. I’m such a fool, yet so stupid,” I apologized to T with my tear-streaked face.

“It’s okay, Z. It’s fine. If my crush appeared in front of me suddenly, I wouldn’t think that he’s real too,” T replied with his calm voice.

“Wait, he? Not she?” I asked with a questioning face.

T did not answer but instead nodded and smiled at me with his signature grin and asked, “Do you wanna know who?” which made me curious and want to find out who’s his crush.

“Fuck yea- I mean yes. Yes, I do want to know,” I replied out of curiosity almost swear at my crush when I replied to him, making T burst out laughing loudly.

“Come on, don’t be shy. I swear a lot too. You should ask Zeph about it,” T said to me after he calmed down from laughing and asked me again for confirmation, “You really want to know who’s the one that I have my heart with?”

I nodded, confirming him about my curiosity.

T sighed before revealing his answer “It’s you, Z,”

The silence started to become louder and louder each second, after knowing that… T also had a crush on me.

“Are you for real?” I asked to confirm him to break the silence, only to get an answer from his extremely flushed face. I then added, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

T nodded after my words. I can hear my own heartbeat louder and louder each time. Is it a confession from his side? Is it a panic attack? Is it the beginning of the love story?

T broke the silence by asking me casually, “Do you want to become my boyfriend?”

His question made me stunt for a while before my brain decided to compile the code then run it and process what he said properly. Once I got my answer, I replied to him, saying, “Yes, YES! I will!”

I then jump to T and hug him tightly. T wrapped his long arms around me in return, comforting me back.

“Z, what should I call you now? Just Z, Z-Bear, Baby, Honey, or, sugar mommy?” T asked and chuckled at his own question.

“You can call me with any name that you feel like it, and you want me to be. I love all of them,” I replied to him with a smile on my face.

I looked at my watch, checking the time. It was now 12:58 PM. Shit, I got another class at 2:00 PM. I should go eat my lunch now. Wait, I can ask T if he’s free next hour. So, I asked,

“Hey T, are you free the next hour? I haven’t had my lunch yet,”

“Yeah, we can go get a lunch outside,” T replied with his smile that etched on his face.

“You know the mall next to our campus, right?”

“Yes, why? You want to eat there?”

“Yeah… kind of. I feel like the canteen is already closed so that’s why.”

“Alright, I can give a ride,”

“Thank you, T,” I gleamed.

“You’re welcome,” T chuckled and smiled at me.

“Should we go now?”

“Yes, let’s go,” T stood up and hold my hand for me to help me get up.

We walked to the parking lot and get on T’s car. His car was a high-ended luxury saloon with a beige leather and wooden panels. It was gorgeous. I stood in awe and check his car for a while before T asking me,

“What are you waiting for? Come in!”

His words snapped my thought and I quickly got into his car for the first time.

“It’s just that… I only take public transport. I never sat on a luxury car before. It must be nice owning one, right?”

“Well, to be honest… no. The maintenance fee is high like hell, and it just comes with shit tons of problems. You must be lucky to own a normal Japanese car. It’s durable and nice too,” T sighed.

“Erm… Our family doesn’t have a car. We take public transport to everywhere we go… including airport,” I sighed heavily, ranting about my life.

The engine was become louder for a while and then T broke the silence in the car again by saying, “It must be sad huh… it’s quite easy to go around by public transport, but it’s quite hard to go to a specific place by public transport too, right?”

I nodded back to him and sighed softly at the same time. Man, poverty hits hard.

Approximately five minutes later, we arrived at the mall. T quickly parked the car like a pro and stop the engine.

“Let’s go, Z. We’re here,” T called me.

I quickly got out and closed the door as softly as I could, terrified of scratching or damaging anything. Man, imagine I scratched his car. I probably need to sell my kidney or some shit to pay back. T, however, had a very different approach.

“PUCK!” The sound of T slamming the door echoed like a thunderclap, and the car wobbled slightly. I stood frozen, staring at him in horror.

What the fuck? Did he just do that to his own car? That beautiful, expensive car?

Meanwhile, T seemed entirely unbothered, striding toward the mall as if nothing had happened.

“You’re not coming?” T called me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Oh yeah, sorry! I’m coming now,” I said, quickly shaking off the mental chaos.

T and I walked into the mall together. We passed a variety of food options in the food court, but my eyes immediately landed on my favorite restaurant, nongzeph’s Fried Chicken (NFC). It was right in front of us.

As always, my stomach rumbled loudly. I was starving. Fuck, I think I should eat something else. It’s quite expensive, I thought to myself, trying to resist the temptation.

“Should we eat here?” T asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“No, we should go to another place. This one’s pretty expensive,” I replied softly.

“Come on, let’s go inside. Just use your boyfriend’s money to buy something,” T said confidently, grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the entrance.

Once inside, T placed his order: an original chicken sandwich, medium fries, and a cup of iced lemon tea. That fits his name, I guess.

“And what about you, Z?” T asked kindly.

“I’ll just get one coleslaw. That’s all,” I said, making T’s eyes widen in shock.

“Do you eat spicy food?” he asked suddenly.

“No. Why?”

“Well, I’ll double my order. Thank you,” T said, placing an extra order for me before I could protest. My jaw dropped.

Without hesitation, T pulled out his card and made the payment. “Let’s go,” he said, taking my hand as he grabbed the receipt. We walked over to an empty table and sat down, waiting for our food to arrive.

After a moment of silence, T turned to me and asked, “Why don’t you want to order more things?”

I hesitated before replying. “Well, I don’t want to bother you that much. I usually only eat NFC when I’ve saved enough from my part-time job or for special occasions.”

“Don’t be afraid of that,” T said, leaning closer. “Come on, we’re lovers now.”

“For real?” I asked, still unsure.

“What do you mean, ‘For real?’” T replied with a grin. “It’s real this time. Always has been, isn’t it?”

What the fuck is wrong with you, Z? Think! THINK! He confessed to you earlier, and so did you!

“Right. Haha.” I chuckled awkwardly, trying not to make things weird.

We ate quickly as time seemed to tick faster and faster. The minutes felt like seconds, and before I knew it, the clock was pushing us forward. Ugh, can’t it slow down? I can’t even swallow fast enough, damn it!

I sucked down my beverage in record time, nearly gasping for air, when T tapped my shoulder lightly and said, “Calm down, will you?”

After we finished our meal, we quickly walked back to the car and drove to campus.

“Alright, see you soon, my baby,” T said as he turned off the engine. Before I could react, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, turning my whole face red.

“S-S-See you then… w-when’s your last period going to end?” I stuttered, barely able to form words.

“No, let me ask you—when’s your last period going to end?” T teased with a playful smile.

“3 PM. My lecture will end at 3 PM,” I replied, trying to calm down.

“Got it. Mine ends around 5 PM,” T sighed heavily, looking as though the thought of not seeing me until later was unbearable.

I quickly ran to my classroom, spotting Zeph already waiting for me.

“Have fun dating?” Zeph asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Fuck you,” I muttered, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“You should thank me for that,” he teased.

“I know. You made me faint, idiot.”

Zeph just sighed, shaking his head.

To be continued…