"Now class, remember to submit your thesis by the end of this month. Class dismissed."
"Zen? Zen?"
"Huh?" Zen was startled awake by a finger poking her continuously on her back. She jerked her head up from the desk, wiped off the non-existent drool from the corner of her mouth and turned around. A meek-looking girl with neck-length hair and enormous spectacles was waving at her from behind.
"Lin?" Zen acknowledged. Lin was her classmate, and also the only classmate she conversed with in class, and to think it had been three years since she attended this university. She was such an outcast.
Lin was the first person who approached her in freshman year. That was how their friendship blossomed over the years, though it just remained nothing but a platonic classmate relationship than friends. They got along well, but Lin's meek personality didn't appeal to Zen's overly dominant one. Lin was far too gentle for her taste. She was, by appearance, a very cute and strangely quiet person who seldom talked to people but definitely not a loner like her.
Lin was the type of girl that wasn't fun to hang out with during parties and group outings, that irritating kind of person who couldn't stand up for herself, and no matter how many lectures on self-confidence and personality development she took, she would never learn. But one thing about her was that she had people who'd stand up for her. She gave people the - desire to protect her - kind of vibes. That, to Zen, was the only good thing going for Lin.
"Class is over," Lin said, her voice so low Zen had to strain her ears and read her lips to be able to understand what she was saying.
Flipping her head to the side, Zen caught a glimpse of someone in a pencil skirt and black heels closing the classroom door. She was so deep in her sleep that she didn't notice the professor leaving. She turned around and returned her gaze to Lin. "So, what'd I miss?"
"The teacher told us to submit our thesis by the end of this month," Lin softly replied.
"Ah, I see. Thanks for the info."
"Zen?" Lin gave her a worried look.
"Hm?" She looked at Lin, raising her eyebrows unattentively, asking her to continue.
"Are you okay? don't look good today."
"I'm good."
"You almost didn't make it for first period's roll call today. You even skipped the second lecture session, too."
"I woke up late today," Zen replied, brushing a hand over her head, pretending to dust off some foreign particle that did not get caught in her hair.
"To be honest, this was the first time I saw you doze off in class," Lin continued.
"Must've been quite a shock for you." Zen chuckled.
"It was. Even Kai is sleeping in class today. I wonder what's wrong with you guys. Is it the weather?" Lin muttered to herself, glancing over to her right.
"Kai? Who?" Zen followed suit. Her gaze was drawn to a figure seated three rows ahead on the outermost corner, which was aligned next to a double-glazed window in the classroom. The person was hunched over his desk with his head pressed down. "That's Kai?"
The name sounded strangely familiar to her, yet she couldn't quite put a finger on where she'd heard it before. But one long and hard glance of the said guy's physique from the back was enough for her brain to connect the dots. She knew that guy, in fact, she had often seen him attend lectures a few times, more often than not.
The section of the classroom and the position of his desk made him look like he was some main character in an anime world. The window seat in class were always reserved for the main characters for no particular reason. Outside the window, the sight of swaying leaves accompanied by a swift spring breeze added to the dramatic image she was visualizing in her mind. Perhaps Kai would make a nice male lead for a short story she was planning to write in the future.
"Zen? Don't you know Kai?" Lin whispered to Zen.
"Of course, I know him," Zen answered awkwardly. She wasn't lying when she said she knew him. She genuinely did. More than that, she'd overheard majority of the girls in her class obsessing over how good-looking he was. In no way would she allow herself to call it nosy, but she'd heard hot gossip about him, stories of his private life, his ex-girlfriend, even the colour of the juice he preferred to drink, everything but his name.
When it came to remembering names, there was no denying her friends when they said she suffered from short-term memory loss. She couldn't come up with an explanation for why she forgets people's names way too soon. She could recall faces, alright, but names were a bit tricky. She even forgot the names of professors from her subject department let alone the names of most students in her classroom. A name like Kai was no exception.
When it came to Kai's looks, though, even Zen couldn't deny how strikingly attractive he was in a benevolent kind of way. Tall, with dark medium-length hair and cerulean blue eyes, he was like a forbidden fruit dangling from a heavenly tree, impossible to possess yet guilelessly tempting others to pick it.
Like the single, unclaimed, damsel-in-waiting, yearning for a thrilling romance erupting out of the blue type of woman she was, would have fallen for Kai's dashing looks - that had probably broken the hearts of half the female students in the University - if it weren't for his popularity. She would rather save herself from this frivolous way of wasting her time over a moronic love relationship she wouldn't even dream of by doing nothing than risk being viciously lynched by a mob of hungry deranged fan-girls.
"Are you really okay?" Lin's concerned voice reached her ears once again.
"I'm fine. Don't worry." Zen smiled, observing her friend's thin untrimmed eyebrows knitting in worry, and praying she wouldn't pry any further than what she thought would be necessary. Zen saw Lin open her mouth to speak something she knew she wouldn't want to answer, but thanked all heavens when Lin instead gave her a feeble smile.
It was obvious her entire department knew of her being unceremoniously ejected from the dorm, and Zen was no fool to not notice the number of stares she'd received from the hallways as she ran to class that very day. The only reason nobody approached her was that she was an unapproachable person by nature, and anybody, meeting her for the first time, would deem her severely introverted and reserved, causing them to be unduly cautious around her. Although, the reality of her personality was entirely different from what people imagined to be.
She was an introvert, but to say she didn't open up to people would be a big fat mistake. But then again, not everyone was like Madilyn or Nadia, who were born extroverts and had the power to bring sunshine during a storm anywhere and at any time. She might even consider destiny brought the three of them together - three crazy fools to be more precise - and she assumed the role of a weird but loyal, easy to get rid of annoying pet they inadvertently found on the street and decided to adopt.
"So anyway, Lin. Are you done with the thesis?" Zen asked Lin who had been patiently waiting for her to speak for quite some time.
"No. Actually, I still have a few more pages left to write," Lin answered, adjusting her glasses nervously.
"Take it easy. I won't steal it from you," Zen joked, and frowned instantly when Lin did not get the joke. The next few seconds went silent and awkward between them. "I'll go for lunch now," Zen quickly broke the uncomfortable atmosphere and without waiting for a response from Lin, stood up, trashed her bag with notes from the previous lecture - notes she knew she would never take out and read until the date of the semester exam was fixed - and rushed out of the classroom.