"Zac, can you follow me to my office?"
Coach's demand came interrupting the lecture into a full halt and a complete silence.
All pairs of eyes came staring at me as I slung my bags over my shoulder and walked across the class along with a few distant whispers and dampen murmurs.
Every step that I took in the hallway was infuriating with questions and confusion.
I didn't do anything wrong, right?
Wait, did I kill someone last night? Pretty sure I buried him...
Anyways, I didn't win any award either...
Once he closed the door, I had the courage to ask him the reasoning behind the demand for my presence in his office. "Sir, did I do something wrong?"
"Absolutely not. I need some help." He replied nonchalantly while taking a seat leisurely.
"Of what?" I tightened the grip on the straps of my bag.
"I need to do this physical examination on the soccer team and my daughter got sick out of a sudden so I need to bring her to the clinic." He described while he pulled out a notepad with a few printed papers out of the drawer.
"Why me?" I glanced in his eyes.
He shrugged. "I already asked Thomas but he declined. You just need to write down their weights, heights, etc. You don't have to examine their urine or anything."
"Sir, with all due respect... I have classes." I tried my best to keep my voice as stern as possible.
He just waved that off like it's a small matter. "Don't worry bout that. I'll ask the homeroom teacher to let you skip classes."
"Can't you ask anyone else?"
"Zac, there are only two students here that are smart enough that they don't need any classes. One is Thomas and the other is you. Since Thomas already rejected me, so that leaves me only you." He reasoned with a smile on his face.
I swear to god...
"Can you help me?" He pleaded, his eyes almost looks like a sad puppy eye.
I sighed. "Do I have a choice?" Agreed to his suggestion albeit reluctantly.
"Great! I'll leave you here then." He slammed the table in joy and already on his way to the door.
He is surely too happy for someone that has a sick daughter in mind.
So here I am. Stuck with these hormonal virgins that somewhat annoying and expectedly dumb people. Fortunately, there are 18 people in total for today and unfortunately, I have to do this one by one.
All I have to do is just doing the same thing over and over again.
What's your name?
Did you have any surgery for the past months?
Do you have any severe illnesses?
Did you take drugs?
Did you smoke?
Please step on the scale.
And then I measured their heights and weights. Then, their pulse and blood pressure along with a few questions.
One person after the other, I figured that I can finish this before school end.
********
There's only one person left...
Then, the door was swung open and the person came barging in without even sparing a glance at me with his breath heavy and sounded like he came here running.
"Sorry Coach, Ms. Grundy wouldn't let me... whoa, Zac?!" His eyes were wide opened as soon as he saw me sitting on the chair instead of his coach. The smile on his face fell into a dark scowl.
Despite the sudden surprise, I smiled sweetly at him but with a great ambiance of sarcasm. "Hi, I'm here as a man of straw against my own will. So, please have a seat." I offered him the seat across from me.
He hesitantly sat down and let out a heavy sigh.
Observantly, I assumed that he came here in a rush as he's still panting. "Did you run here?"
Unexpectedly, he glared at me. "Why did you care?"
He crudely chucked his bag on the floor beside him.
"I ask you a question," I said between gritted teeth.
"And so did I." He had the gut to grin as he leaned on the chair.
The pen that was in my hand was pressed rather hard on the paper.
I pressed my lips together. "This wouldn't end well, isn't it?"
He crossed his arms on his chest. "Depends on how you speak."
I huffed the loose hair on my forehead.
"Fine. I'm sorry for my inappropriate attitude last night but in my defense, you asked a question and I just answered them truthfully."
Without hesitating a single second, he sat up straight and smiled widely. "Okay. Apologies accepted. Let's start this over, shall we." He held out his and I shook it appreciatively.
"Okay, what's your name?" I asked the first question with a rather soothing tone.
"I thought you already knew that."
"You said 'start over.'" I clarified and he chuckled sheepishly.
"Rafiq Damien Angel." He answered quite spontaneously with a quirk on the corner of his lips.
What a pretty name.
Once I finished jotting down his name, I raised my gaze to ask him the next question. "Do you have any severe illnesses?"
"Yes..." He placed one of his hands on the chest, creating a loud thud.
My eyes widened and he smirked.
"...my heart aches every time I see your face." He stared deeply into my eyes.
I was quite dumbfounded by his answer. "Right. I'll take that as a no." I mentioned emotionlessly. "Do you have any surgery this year?"
"Yes."
Oh...
"What type of surgery?"
"I got a bypass."
This time, it really shocked me. Someone as fits as him, had a bypass?
"Really? You have cardiovascular disease?"
"Yup, my heart stopped when I see your smile." He smirked triumphantly.
I tsked because I fell for that, scolding myself for being so gullible. "아이씨... 야, 죽을래??!!" I raised my voice through my gritted teeth.
(A/N: Goddamit! Hey, do you wanna die??!!)
"What?" He scrunched his eyebrows together in bewilderment.
I huffed and pointed to the scale. "Step on the scale."
I wrote down his weight and height without looking into his eyes.
He let out this startlingly attractive low chuckle. "You're cute when you're mad."
I clenched my jaw tightly. "Well, I'm about to get REAL ADORABLE!!!"
"Awww, don't be angry, little one. You'll get wrinkles." I ignored him as I dragged the chair and sit next to him.
I took his wrist to check his pulse but before I could even find his pulse, he suddenly tugged causing me to look at him.
"Are we holding hands now? That's quite fast." He smirked boldly.
I rolled my eyes, making sure that he can see it and muttered a low curse underneath my breath. "미친새끼..." I proceed to count his pulse whilst looking at my watch.
(A/N: Crazy motherfucker.)
"I know you're cursing at me." I could almost hear the grin in his voice.
"Well done, then." I snapped with an obvious sarcastic remark, eyes everywhere except on him.
"Is that Korean?"
"Does it matter?" Without averting my eyes from my watch.
"You're pretty smart so maybe you learned some extra language just for fun, am I right?" I could literally hear the smile in his voice.
"You're not wrong."
Pulse: 40 bpm.
Impressive!
"I'll take your blood pressure now," I mentioned as I dragged my chair closer to his and equip the sphygmomanometer onto his biceps. After pressing some buttons, I let the machine do its job.
"You seem professional at this. Did you ever did this?" Because of my fingers were still on his skin, I could feel twitching muscle as he flexed his biceps.
I gulped and my focus was scattered across the whole room. But my finger didn't leave his warm skin.
There was a slight pause in the air as he was waiting for me to answer him.
I blinked. "Hush. I learned a lot from my mother."
Then, there's a beep from the machine indicating that it's done.
118/71 mmHg.
Apparently, he's a trained athlete.
"I'm going to check your heartbeat so please don't make any sound."
I took the stethoscope on the table and placed the diaphragm on his chest. Because the tubing was quite short, I need to lean closer, up to the point that I could feel his breath on my hair.
His heartbeat was so slow and steady as if he's completely relaxed at the moment. I don't think I've ever heard anyone's heartbeat as slow as his.
To my surprise, I only saw people getting nervous in front of beautiful people in movies and novel but I never thought that it could happen in real life.
I don't know what's happening to me but suddenly my voice got stuck in the back my throat and I gulped involuntarily whilst still listening to his steady pace heartbeat. There's something weird about him that made him different from the others.
I dared myself to raise my gaze to look at him just to find out that he was staring at me the whole time. When our eyes were connected, his heartbeat changed.
It's like a new rhyme in a new song. They were a little faster than the previous one.
Realizing that I have been staring for too long, I averted my eyes to the floor while coughed to hide the awkwardness that I have caused.
"Are we done?" He asked before picking up his bag.
"Yeah, you can go now." I neatly insert the results into a file and cleaned up the table.
His hand was on the doorknob and he turned back before he could open the door. "Zac?"
"Yes?"
"I don't see any reason for checking my heartbeat since you're already checked my pulse. Plus, there's nothing written anything about heartbeat in the list." He snickered.
I was struck with loud pang inside my head.
Why did I do that? Most importantly, how can I miss that?
He opened the door and without even breaking eye contact. "See you soon."
********
The shrill ring echoed through the entire school, I exhaled a gasp of relief. Sounds of shuffling books and papers filled the classroom.
When all of the students left the room, I was only accompanied by the loud silence.
I miss him. The happy and the bright smile. The smiling and the laughing soul. I miss the old me. The 'gone' me.
Sometimes, the heart sees what is invisible to the naked eyes. Things that are deeper than the bare scratch of skin after a fight, a hint of blush in the eye of a lover or the sadness in the eyes behind the smiling lips.
Somethings that are only time can explain. The past of a saint or the future of a sinner.
Not everything is what it seems. Every soul had their own way of struggling.
One always had to take the hard path when actually there is just one path for them.
One always had to battle against themselves in order to appear normal like everyone else.
I don't know how much time has passed but with a deep breath, I gradually stood up from my seat. I glanced at my phone for any messages from Will. Usually, he'll text me when he's in front of my school.
The weather's quite cold today despite the winter's nearing to an end.
But before I could swing the door open, I heard some shuffling on the other side causing me to froze instantly with my hands still on the knob.
I waited for a good five seconds before I pushed the door open.
What I found next was something the last thing I would expect.
Rafiq was crouching down on the floor, papers scattered around him. He was frantically picking them up, one by one.
Assuming by the way he's too concentrated on the papers, I guessed that he was in a hurry.
"Are you in a rush?" I asked straightforwardly.
"Yeah, I've gotta go to work." Despite my reluctance, I crouched down beside him, collecting the papers.
Once they're all in my hands, I handed him the papers. He muttered a faint 'thanks' but I just waved him off. He stuffed them in his locker before slamming it shut.
"How much time do you have?"
"About 30 minutes." He heavily panting.
"Is it far?"
"N-no, not really. It's just like near the city."
"That's like 20 minutes ride if there's no traffic, which is highly unlikely. And you've missed the bus." I folded my arms on my chest.
"I'll run I guess."
"Lemme give you a ride."
"W-what?! No, no Zac. There's no need."
He argued before I grabbed both of his shoulders, causing our faces to be so close together and I could feel his warm breath lightly brushed my hair.
"Take a deep breath. Clear your mind, make a wise decision because it's snowing outside and I ain't gonna ask you twice." I stared into his eyes.
They almost look like the entire ocean was captivated in his orbs. Getting lost in his eyes, I realized that he had blue lines in those vast shades of cyan, further intensifying the intricate complexion of his beauty.
I cocked one of my eyebrows when he remained silent for a while as he was staring back at me.
He blinked a few times before glancing over his shoulder towards the window just to found it's snowing heavily outside.
He exhaled heavily with a scowl, which made me grinned triumphantly.
"Come on." I tugged the sleeve of his jacket.
We walked at a slow pace considering that both of us had a lot of time in hand. The sound of our footsteps accompanied us in utter silence as we strolled down the hall.
"What are the papers for?" I initiated the conversation.
"I need to catch up with something."
"I thought jocks never studied." I spat bluntly.
"Well, you thought wrong then. We do study."
"Forgive my insolence perspective of the stereotypical athlete culture." I teased him.
He chuckled lightly. "You're forgiven. Even though I don't understand half of what you just said."
"I know." I smiled triumphantly.
Silence came wrapping us again when we're at the parking lot. I stopped into a halt when we're at the bottom stair, checking my phone for Will.
He's 5 minutes late...
"Zac?" He gave a questioning look as there are no other cars left on the parking lot.
I averted my gaze straight ahead. "My driver's late," I clarified nonchalantly.
He mouthed a simple 'oh' and decided to stay silent for a while.
We stood there, awkwardly in front of the parking lot, waiting for Will.
I took this opportunity to studied his face. Trying to search for a slightest flaw but to no avail, I found nothing could make me internally gawked as how as he did to me. His eyes were a mixture of green and blue. Not knowing whether I would drown in those aqua oceanic depths or captivated by the lushes emerald casket, I felt my heart beats a little too fast. The pain that was dwelling in my chest slowly pried away from my consciousness and replaced it with a different feeling.
He noticed that I have been staring and a smile etched it's way back to his face.
He abruptly shifted to face me, amusement glistening in his eyes. "Are we friends?"
Okay, that came out of nowhere...
The reply was almost instantaneous. "No."
He cleared his throat before speaking again. "O-okay. Then... can we be acquaintances?"
I gave him a doubtful look. "You know nothing about me."
He smirked deviously. "That's not true. I know a little bit about you."
I turned to face him entirely. "Prove it."
"You're the number two in the ranks, you're rich and you really hate people."
My eyebrows raised on their own accords in astonishment. "Impressive."
"And you're really cold and mean. I experienced that first hand."
"You've been asking around about me?"
He didn't answer my question. Instead, he tilted his head to the side. "So? Can we be acquaintances?"
I huffed and slip my hands into my coat's pocket. "No... But we're associates."
"Really?"
"It was decided the moment I agreed to be your partner," I explained.
"Glad you took me in." He looks like he's about to blow up in excitement as he beamed widely.
The itching intriguing got the better of me. "Why are you so eager to be close to me?"
"You really wanna know?" He smirked.
I simply nodded.
He stared into my eyes as he leaned closer, closer than I had initially anticipated.
His breath tickled my ears, which I assumed were blushing pink from the warm sensation.
He chuckled very dangerously low, making me gulped. His baritone voice intimidates me.
My eyes frantically searched for a way of escape before he whispered enticingly.
"Because you're different."
********
"Where did you work?" I asked Rafiq after Will profusely apologized for being late.
"At a cafe." He told Will the directions before slumping back next to me.
His eyes were wide opened. "This is a very luxurious car."
He mentioned as he threw his eyes to every nook and cranny.
I only pursed my lips in response, not knowing what to reply. Glancing at my phone, I opened it and initially thought to call Mom.
But before I pressed the call icon, I recalled something.
It's 6 am now in Korea... Mom's about to go to work.
I closed it back and slid it back in my pockets before gazing at the window.
I guessed he realized this as he looked at me a moment afterward. "Who's that?"
"My Mom." I kept my gaze onto the scenery outside.
"Your mom's Korean?"
"Yes. If that wasn't obvious yet."
"No wonder you had beautiful skin." He chuckled with a tone that intimating amusement and astonishment.
"Thanks," I muttered.
"Why did you want to call her?"
I shifted in my seat to face him. "Looks who's being nosy."
He shrugged with a pout. "I just don't want it to be silent."
I folded my arms on my chest. "I just miss her. Turns out, it's 6 am now in Korea, she's about to go to work."
"What's her occupation?"
"She's a cardiac surgeon."
"What about your dad?"
"Well well well, looks who's interested in me today."
"I just want to know you better."
"My dad's a businessman and he's American, like you."
"Really? If he's American and your mother's Korean, how did you end up here?"
"I guess you never know what you never knew, right?"
Rafiq remained silent afterward, confronting his previous words of not being silent. I kept staring at him, questioning myself about the details of the stories behind him.
Without even realizing, I muttered something that I never thought of saying to a stranger.
"너 정말 잘 생겼어..."
(A/N: You really are handsome...)
"What was that?" He asked me with a shock expression.
Frantically, I cleared my throat as I struggled to think of something that was less awkward.
"What makes you decided to come here? Of all places?" I gulped the dryness in my throat.
Thankfully, he didn't suspect anything despite my prominently sudden anxiety.
He simply shrugged. "My mom decided it's time to start a new chapter."
I thought he's an orphan?!
Doubt wrapped my head, I decided to follow along. "What did she work for?"
"She's an entrepreneur."
"In what business?"
"I don't know. We're not very close."
"How about your father?"
"I didn't see him for a long time now."
"How come?" I asked lightheartedly.
"He's already..." He hesitantly trailed off before he pursed his lips.
Sadness in his eyes. Pain in his chest as he clenched his jaw, barely holding in his tears. He hoped that all of his weakness was hidden the way he stood up and smiling but I saw that all the way through.
It's strange but I don't feel guilt. Instead, I felt sympathy caressed my chest.
Instinctively, I gently stroked his back in an up and down motion.
"I'm sorry. It must've been so hard for you." I softly apologized.
He shook his head and he turned his head to look at me.
He smiled gratefully at me as our eyes met each other. I could feel his eyes giving me the shudder that could make my heart tremble. There's a brief of a silent moment between us.
The grey flowers in my mind slowly bloom in a dream that I never knew would come true. A route that I never remember where it begins.
For a split of time, I saw the reflection of my story in his eyes. For the first time, I heard the yearning wishes of my spirit behind his smile.
I kept on staring at him until Will abruptly spoke.
"Sir, we're here." He announced.
I took a glance at the sign of the cafe.
Fahrenheit cafe.
"You work as a waiter?" I questioned.
"No, a barista." He corrected me. "Hey, thanks for the ride. I owe you one." He opened the door after I gave him a nod.
"See you tomorrow." I smiled at him.
He has this mixed expression of amusement and happiness on his face.
"See you tomorrow, Zac." He then got off before closing the door and Will continued to drive away.
Wait, did I smiled at him?!
********