Staring at Micheal's warm smile, I recalled why I disliked being around him.
His warm and sunny amiable presence instantly overshadowed the gloomy atmosphere caused by the sleep deprived me.
Sometimes it pissed me off and made me feel inferior, and other times I'll just bask in the warmness of his presence.
But this time I just felt like doing the latter, because as I said earlier on, I was bored out of my wits and it had been a while since I saw any of my friends.
Plus, I didn't want to lose any of them.
I stood up from my seat and slowly approached the stunned Micheal.
Micheal took a step back in fear, wondering why I was approaching him.
He was very observant and smart, so he naturally noticed my slight aversion to him.
But sometimes it was there and other times it was none existent, but now, he wasn't sure.
"Si…l?", Micheal called out hesitantly and took a small step back.
I stopped, and sighed before speaking.
"Micheal it's been a while, how are you doing?"
I stretched my hand out for a handshake but…
"O-oh, I'm fine.", He said strangely and suddenly seemed moody.
'Did I do something wrong?', I wondered.
Micheal shook my hand in a daze, his sad gaze fixated on our hands.
'Does he not want a handshake? I guess it does make sense to give hugs.'
But I did not respond and instead pulled him into a hug. Micheal was startled and remained still.
I towered over Micheal by a few centimeters, and patted his back as I said.
"Haha, it's nice to see you again"
I smiled softly, and Micheal's worries eased as he returned the smile.
"Yes you too"
…
We sat at a table and both remained quiet due to awkwardness.
Due to my complicated feelings towards Micheal and Micheal's caution towards me, we weren't the best of friends. But we were good friends who had known each other since middle school.
Ronald was my best friend in high school, Derrick was a childhood friend who constantly traveled abroad and back home.
Micheal was a friend I made at middle school, but we got out of touch with eachother for some reason I can't remember. But we later met again at an international competition in high school, which we unfortunately didn't win.
Camila is Derrick's close friend, they were long distance friends since middle school.
Jackson and Camila were childhood friends, having been raised together by their families, who had been long-time friends.
And Awesome was a mutual friend to everyone but an online friend to him.
When they found out they all got into the same university, this person did that, and that person did this which caused all of them to create a friend group.
The six of them somehow clicked with this or that person, and we gradually became familiar with each other. But the distance between Micheal and I didn't become wider, it just became more awkward to face that distance.
But…! I just realized that I'm at the risk of losing all my friends, therefore I need to make efforts to keep them. But let's start with Micheal, my closest and longest known friend.
"Uh… by the way how is aunty?", Micheal asked awkwardly as his deep green eyes moved about.
"She's fine", I replied simply because there was nothing I could say about my aunt. After all the last time I called, she said she was fine and I shouldn't worry about her.
"Ah. I see.", He replied robotically and just stared at the menu in front of him.
I noticed his gaze on the menu and spoke up, "Is there something you want? You can order it first, I'll pay for it separately alongside my tea."
I suggested, but Micheal quickly refused as he was uncomfortable with receiving things from me. Not like I actually knew that or anything else.
"Ah no no, don't worry. I can pay for it myself I wouldn't wanna bother you!"
He said hurriedly, likely unaware of the words he said, or the meaning they convey.
"Oh okay, I forgot. You can take care of yourself", I said somewhat coldly.
And that was the problem between us, the reason we fell out in middle school. Micheal's pity and severe goodwill.
But then, how did I befriend such a troublesome person?
I might not understand my reasons for doing such now, but I'm sure there was a reason back then. But, what was it?
…
While I struggled financially with my aunt, I was still a good student at school so I wouldn't really worry her.
Back then I didn't really get along well with other students because of my tight schedule, but I found Micheal, a classmate I rarely interacted with, crying at the back of school with a bruised face.
He was being bullied by a bunch of kids who took his lunch money away for distribution. But he recently hadn't been bringing any money because he told his parents he'd rather bring snacks and food to school. So they accused him of lying and one viciously slapped him multiple times.
Now he was too scared to go home because his parents might find out and cause a fuss.
And that was when he met, no saw Sil, and interacted with him for the first time.
Sil said nothing, and wanted to walk away, while Micheal held his cries in, in hopes he won't be discovered when Sil who was taller than him by a wide margin had already discovered him.
He was familiar with this bright and sunny kid in their class who was always smiling, and he didn't like him for that. I mean, what reason was there to smile and why would you do it every time.
But now that bright kid, was holding in his tears so pathetically. Sil didn't want to be involved but still walked up to him and asked him what happened. Of course Micheal wouldn't talk, so he threatened to report him to the teacher it was then he confessed he had a fight with his friends.
"Why?"
"Pardon?"
"Why did you fight with them?"
"Ah, well I uh broke my promise! Yes, that's what happened."
"So they beat you up this horribly", he looked at Micheal, up and down then reached out and touched his cheek. That slight touch stung Micheal who quickly yelped but hurriedly covered his mouth.
"Hm hm", he shook his head. Then opened his mouth to say his well prepared lie, "Well that, no this, this is because I fell"
"You fell?" , Sil asked blankly.
And his expression made Micheal uncomfortable but he forced himself to continue his lies. "Yes, I fell during the fight."
"That's unusual, a fall that's supposed to affect your head- hm, or maybe it did. You're being bullied right?"
"No! That's not it, I really broke my promise!"
"You didn't want to give them your money today or you decided to stand up for yourself… " Sil kept speculating and making poor gestures while at it.
It was either due to his laziness, lethargy, lack of energy or he was simply mocking Micheal. Only Sil knew the reasons for his actions back then.
"No! I just don't bring money anymore!"
And Micheal unwittingly confirmed his guesses.
After spilling that out, his tense gaze met Sil's relaxed and near indifferent one.
They exchanged gazes for a moment, and the discomfort he felt around Sil relaxed a bit.
"Come on, get up let's go to the nurse's office.", Sil stood up and stretched a hand out.
Micheal withdrew his hands even further in, then muttered, "I can't, it might show on the records."
Sil watched him for a moment and resisted the strong urge to turn away and pretend like nothing ever happened.
'What is this?! I knew it was going to be troublesome, but I intervened anyway. Ugh, it seems that arrogant ball of recycled energy has rubbed off on me'
"Alright, get up. Let's go to my place then, I have a first aid kit and I'm quite proficient with it."
He snapped out of his thoughts, and stretched his hand out again.
Micheal stared at it, and hesitated.
'Was it really okay for him to go to a classmate's house without permission?'
He wanted to deliberate on the question, but Sil's impatient gaze made him know he had no time to deliberate, hence he took his hand and stood up.
With that Sil began to walk, and he struggled to catch up.
"Hey hey, can I ask you something?", he asked while limping.
Sil hearing the grunts in his breathing, slowed down for a bit but didn't reach out to help.
He was already inconvenienced by poking his nose in someone's business, and definitely didn't know how to go all out to help for his discomfort.
"Where's your house?", Micheal asked inquisitively as it was the first time he was going to the house of someone his parents didn't know.
"It's a little distance from the school, we can walk it.", Sil said then stopped to think.
"Okay…"
Micheal thought he was waiting for him, so he walked faster and nearly stumbled but Sil caught him and gazed at his face, and that action made Micheal feel flustered.
He sighed then brought out his water bottle and gave it to Micheal.
"Wash your face before following me anywhere, or those weird aunties in my street will think I did something weird again."
"Ah okay.", Micheal collected the bottle water and stared at it for a moment. It was a brand he didn't recognize, that either means it's super expensive or something he's never seen before.
Hmm, but he can use a first aid kit so he must be trained. And that means, it's the first one! But let me ask before I make the wrong conclusion.
"Hey sil-"
"Sil."
"Hm?"
"Call me Sil instead, it's a nickname, but it feels more homey than my full name."
He said with a thoughtful gaze, Micheal didn't know what he was thinking about. But he didn't need to be a genius to know it was about his name.
For the first time that afternoon, Micheal saw Sil smiling, and his gloomy gaze warming up.
'Hm, he looks more better? Human? Alive… Yeah… he looks more lively when he smiles like this.'
"You wanted to ask me something?"
Sil asked, his good mood evident by the smile on his face, and the initiative he took to continue the conversation.
"The first aid kit…"
"What about it?", Sil frowned, changing the air around him. It didn't revert back to it's original gloomy state, instead it gave him a certain vibe.
'What a weird person.'
Micheal turned away from the ambivalent Sil and finally asked his question, "How do you know how to use a first aid kit?"
He played with his school bag and stared at the ground while waiting for sil's answer.
Sil stared at his reflection in the opposite store, as he absentmindedly thought about Micheal's question.
"I learned with time", He mumbled out in a barely audible voice, but Micheal who heard him subconsciously uttered, "Huh?"
"Had a lot of opportunities to learn how.", Sil smiled at Micheal who immediately turned away from him.
Doing something you rarely did had an odd effect on people, especially the chatty ones.
Sil concluded in his mind as he peeked at the flustered Micheal. At this point he's forgotten about his wounds and worries.
And although it wasn't intentional, he still answered whatever questions he threw at him, so he could completely forget about it.
Micheal was alright, but they unfortunately could not stay friends.
He couldn't afford to accommodate more people in his life. The consequences could be disastrous, and… unbearable.
He had subconsciously tightened his grip on the returned water bottle.
Micheal turned to him when he heard the crackling sound, and tapped him.
"Yeah…?"
"Umm… I know you're waiting because of me, but isn't it about time your chauffeur comes to pick us up?"
He asked hesitantly with an earnest gaze. Sil met his resilient gaze and chuckled slightly, stifling a laugh.
"We're not getting picked up by a chauffeur, sunny."
"Who's sunny?"
Micheal's questions were ignored, and Sil just pointed at the streets, his finger on the passing yellow cars.
"We're taking one of those, and consider yourself lucky, because I usually walk."
"Why would you walk when you have a chauffeur?"
Micheal looked at him as if he were stupid, but the gaze directed on Micheal was even more stronger.
"It's because I don't have one.", he said simply.
'What? Really? why wouldn't his parents give him a chauffeur?'
"Why did your parents take them away from you?", Micheal continued to ask.
He couldn't understand Sil's situation since his parents had always emphasized it was for his protection.
"I don't know, maybe it's because they wanted to use it themselves.", Sil answered nonchalantly and walked towards the cab that had parked in front of them.
"Ohh, that makes sense! You really like your chauffeur huh?, so much you wouldn't even want to ride another car without him driving it."
Micheal concluded and Sil who was stepping into the cab almost stumbled.
Amidst laughter, he said to Micheal, "Yeah whatever, now get in if you don't want my chauffeur picking you up instead."
"Ah okay, but I wouldn't mind being picked up by your chauffeur"
"Hm, I noticed."
"Oh and Sil"
"Hm"
"My name's Micheal not sunny"
"I said that out loud? My bad. Micheal, it's nice to meet you."
"Likewise, I hope we become great friends."
"Ahh it's- "
He paused midway and just shook his head.
"Yeah me too."
Micheal smiled brightly at Sil's positive response, and completely forgot about his problems and worries, but that's a story for another day.
As the two boys were driven to Sil's neighborhood, with Micheal looking outside excitedly and Sil doing homework with full concentration, showing off his ability to multitask by answering Micheal's weird but inquisitive questions, and solving near pointless equations.
…
'It had really been a while since then.'
I thought as some memories of our time as friends in middle school flashed through my mind.
Still in my thoughts, I accidentally meeting the gaze of the quiet Micheal.
He flinched and hurriedly looked away, then after some silent words of encouragement, he turned back to meet my gaze.
'What a silly kid.'
"And your project? I asked about it on the group but you didn't reply", Micheal said breaking the tense silence.
"It's fine", I said expressionlessly, still in a daze.
"Ah I see."
He pressed his lips into a bitter smile then suddenly uttered.
"I did something wrong again, didn't I?"
"I don't know.", I looked away from him, sipping my tea.
"You're behaving this way, so I'm sure I did something wrong. I'm sorry…"
He said softly, but I didn't reply nor did I look at him.
I was thinking.
Normally, I'd ignore him to the very end or half-heartedly accept his apology. But now, I didn't know what to do, so I was just thinking.
Of course I was annoyed by his words and attitude, but what could I do, he was raised that way.
But was I?
This wasn't how my aunt raised me, instead she'd…
…Want me to be happy.
She'd definitely want me to do whatever it was that made me happy.
Micheal was staring at me with sad eyes, and appeared stunned when I finally turned around, but he hurriedly shook his sad expression off and apologized again.
"I- I m, sorry! I should've been more thoughtful"
He said.
He seemed to have thought things through, and figured out the problem. But my lack of response caused the slight sadness in his eyes to intensify.
"It's okay. I'm the one who should apologize for being thoughtless and hesitant."
I said softly.
He must have been so excited when I hugged him, he probably deserves the happy go lucky title more than Ronald does but…
"What shall I do with you, it's really been a while since we last met up."
I smiled warmly at Micheal who had visibly brightened up, since I accepted his apology.
He's really not a nice guy, in fact he's a little stupid. But it can't be denied, it really is nice to be around him, The nice one.
Ding
Wrri----- inng
Bam…