Chapter Text
It was a hot, steamy day at Universidad de San Juan, a busy school that lingers in the Philippines where hallways erupted and buzzed in chatter, laughter, and gossip. As students walked to their classes, one student was left, Namping Yui Napatsakorn. He woke up late amidst the chaos and barely ate using the excuse of "eating at school", in which he didn't do. Namping ran across the school and barely made it to his classroom seemingly out of breath apologizing over and over. The professor was unbothered and just pointed at Namping's seat signaling him to sit down.
That was the first time Namping saw Keng.
Keng was quiet and reserved. He had eyes and looks that could kill, he was always keeping to himself and unlike most people you couldn't tell what was happening behind his eyes. That day was different, Keng looked calm, composed, almost like he didn't care about anything at all as he stared outside the window feeling the breeze and letting all his thoughts pour out freely. Namping had tried hard not to look but Keng noticed. Keng thought to himself "He was just like any other student" but this time he felt something different, something more. After what had felt like an eternity in Namping's words their class got dismissed. Namping and his bestfriend Jani Amille Khemjira, a student in Namping's class who was known to be calm and friendly. They walked across campus and made it to their younger friend, Leizel Sharmaine Garcia. She had been waiting for the both of them and was so glad they arrived.
"Where were you guys" Leizel said pouting "We just got dismissed ugh" Namping replied and soon they were chatting like there was no tomorrow. Namping saw Keng in the lunchroom they were in and felt an urge. He's never felt it before but he had an urge to greet Keng. Namping excused himself from his friends and made his way to Keng giving a polite wai and greeting him. Keng was confused as to why Namping had suddenly decided to talk to him, he gave a polite wai back and replied "Hey.". They had never talked before which made it awkward for them but they still managed to converse. As soon as they became comfortable with eachother Namping's friends Jani and Leizel drag him away to eat. Namping sulks and complains about it being "the wrong time" and kept pouting throughout the whole day.
Leizel asks Namping "Ping are you friends wiht Keng?" Namping was confused with the sudden question but answered "Yes" and began describing their interaction detail by detail. Leizel replies "Oh okay." and the conversation switched to another topic.
THE NEXT MORNING
This time, Namping arrived early. As soon as he stepped in the room he immediately noticed only 6 people were there. Then Namping caught it, Keng was there, same spot, staring at the same window, the same everything. This time Namping didn't bag a seat near Jani, he sat next to Keng, Keng thought it was a nice friendly thing so he didn't mind it. Jani arrived with the professor and noticed the tension but didn't say anything. The professor began discussing but during the discussion Namping and Keng were smiling and giggling like there was no chance for them to do the SAME THING, tomorrow. Jani thought it was strange because they had never talked and remembered their small interactions yesterday. Jani thinks to herself "Why are they laughing like that" and smirks to herself, thats when it clicked for Jani. She knew way before them that what they had would soon bloom into something big.
After another so called "eternity" to Namping class ended. He stood up following Jani as he waved goodbye to Keng, their eyes locked and lingered in the air longer than it should've but it broke as Jani screamed at Namping to get over here. Namping rushed while waving goodbye to Keng not noticing his smirk that he had looking at Namping. Jani teased Namping about the laughs and smiles shared earlier and Namping shoved it off like it was nothing, but Namping though to himself "What if it turns into something". This starts their story of something deeper or just what they have on the surface.