Chapter Text
“Saifah!” Tutor said crossly.
“Why'd you make Zon mad like that? Was it all because of that girl…” Tutor looked quizzically at Day, confused. Day scratched his head for a moment before slamming his palm down onto the table in front of them.
“Err…Faii, right?” Day said. Tutor nodded his head vigorously.
“Chai, chai… is she really that pretty that you guys got mad over her like that?”
Saifah avoided their eyes, only feeling the slightest bit guilty. The boy sitting at the opposite table was glaring murderously at him, frowning deeply as he mouthed "What are you looking at?" at Saifah, pulling his face into a sneer. Saifah just grinned and narrowed his eyes, silently challenging the other.
“Saifah!” Tutor waved his hand in front him, causing him to blink and reluctantly face Tutor.
“Your friend…” he jutted his chin sharply across the courtyard, pointing the angry boy out, “is annoying.”
Tutor sighed at his friends' petty feud and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He suddenly glanced suspiciously at Saifah.
“Are you sure that’s the only reason you fight so much?”
Day looked confused. “Wait… why would Saifah want to fight Zon? Wasn’t it actually Saifah who…” He trailed off awkwardly, making vague gestures with his hands.
“Okay, okay, we get it!” Tutor quickly said. Saifah grinned at them wickedly.
“It wasn’t my fault, the girl came up to me and started it, so I just went with the flow.”
Day laughed suddenly.
“What a gentleman.” he proudly stated to his friend. Saifah just smirked as Tutor just shook his head disapprovingly.
“If I was Zon, I’d react the same way he did.” Tutor gently reprimanded the two.
Saifah’s grin slowly slipped off his face as his gaze slid back towards the boy on the opposite table,
whose eyes were now downcast, his face sullen.
It was so easy to fight with him, to fight with Zon. Saifah thought back to when he and his friends walked up to Zon's table, how his face was already closed off and he looked so sad. Saifah just wanted to get a reaction out of him, see those eyes light up with challenge and fire instead of looking dejected, like a kicked puppy. He knew it was awful, but he couldn’t help the bait from slipping through his lips, teasing Zon until he was angrily standing up on his seat and trying to tower over Saifah.
He remembered looking up at Zon for the first time, his gaze sliding up the boy's form and coming to rest at his indignant expression, and he smiled. There was no way Zon could be intimidating, with his face scrunched up and his small, affronted stance on the bench.
Thwack
“Oi!” Saifah looked around crossly, rubbing his head. Tutor slowly put his hand down after affirming that his friend was no longer spaced out.
“So…” Tutor said, his eyes glinting with a light that made Saifah nervous, “Are you sure that's the only reason you fight so much?”
“Of course!” Saifah said quickly.
I mean, what else could it be?
----
Zon stared at his sister in shock. He ruffled his hand through his hair for a moment, and then dropped it down bonelessly. His sister smiled innocently at him, and he broke.
“What the hell is this!?” He yelled, waving wildly to her open computer. Zol stepped forward and snapped her computer shut, hiding the incriminating fiction novel from him. Then she started laughing.
“What do you think it is?” She said mischievously. “I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch…”
Zon scowled at her. “You’re crazy! I can’t believe you would do that to your own brother! No wonder everybody’s been trying to ship us…” He muttered.
Zol cackled. “See! Everybody loves it! If everyone thinks you would look good together maybe it’s something to explore.” She winked.
“You’re crazy.” Zon echoed with a firm nod.
Anyone who knew anything would know that he and Saifah would never work. They hated each other! He refused to even be friendly with someone that conceited.
Zon shuddered at the thought of it.
“No, I’m not.” His sister complained, rolling her eyes. “And anyway… it’s not like I got the idea from fiction," she said, while starting to grin maniacally. Something in her eyes made him uneasy.
Zon suddenly paled. “No… there’s no way she could have… no one was there!” he thought to himself frantically.
Zol grinned even more, and confirmed his worst fears in a sing-song voice.
“That day, during the evening I was strolling past building 3… and you wouldn’t believe what I saw!” She tried to suppress her squeal of excitement, and Zon’s face started burning with the force of his blush.
--(flashback)--
It was evening, and the hot summer air had just started to cool as Zon made his way to the bus station.
“Ai mung!” He thought furiously at his friends. They had gone to “study” in the library, but ended up playing around for the better part of 3 hours. Zon knew for sure that he was going to fail his English test tomorrow, and he was none too happy about it. But, he couldn’t just blame his friends... he had taken part in sneaking the cat in the building too, though they had all blamed Natee as usual.
His stomach grumbled loudly, and he decided to make a quick detour across campus to grab some snacks to eat on the bus. As he walked deeper into the darkening gloom, he heard scuffling up ahead.
The skin on his neck prickled.
Was there some sort of fight going on? Zon was about to turn back before he recognized the lanky form pressed against the building.
“Who is that?” He wondered to himself. “Tutor’s friend, right?”
The scuffling abruptly stopped as the shadowy forms became aware of Zon’s presence. The person turned around and Zon placed his name.
Saifah.
“Hey,” Zon greeted uncertainly.
With shock, he realized how ruffled Saifah looked, and he tried to see behind him. There was a girl with her back to him, who was quickly smoothing down all her clothes.
Zon’s face burned.
No… it was certainly not a fight he had walked into.
Saifah eyed him coolly. “Is there any business you have with me?”
Zon was about to back away, stuttering apologies, but before he could make his escape the girl turned around, annoyance on her face.
And froze.
“Faii?” Zon gasped.
He felt betrayed. “Faii I thought we were seeing each other! You’re cheating on me!”
Faii huffed and rolled her eyes. “You’re not the only person I’m seeing at the moment. It’s not like we’re really dating.”
Zon gaped at her. After registering dull hurt and anger, he rounded on Saifah angrily.
“Yes I have business with you, didn’t you know me and Faii were seeing each other?” He yelled.
Saifah looked bored and that made Zon furious.
“You jerk!” He pushed Saifah in the chest, which barely moved him an inch, but it conveyed his anger easily.
“Enough.” Saifah’s surprisingly deep voice commanded. “That doesn’t mean she can’t talk to multiple people at once. Didn’t you know I was seeing her?
Zon was baffled. “Of course not! Why would anyone see multiple people at the same time?”
Saifah smirked. “I’ve been talking to her for three weeks, and you already seem much too innocent for her.”
Zon grew even more furious. Somewhere in the midst of all the shouting he realized that Faii had slipped away.
“Besides,” Saifah stepped even closer to Zon, staring down at him. “Who would even want to date you anyway?”
Zon looked up into the brown eyes and he burned from anger. “Ai sat!” He swore. He drew back his arm and punched that smug bastard right in the mouth.
“Oi!” Saifah yelled, stumbling back.
Zon, still furious, followed him, trying to push him over. Saifah straightened up suddenly and in a heart-stopping moment both of their lips collided.
Both boys stilled, shocked.
Zon felt his entire mind stop, his brain only registering the softness against his mouth and the thump.. thump… thump sound of his heart beating loudly in his ears.
What’s happening?
Soft breaths were puffing across his cheek, and the warmth from the body in his arms suddenly seemed burning hot.
Zon felt his eyes widen in shock and suddenly time unfroze.
Then he was pushing himself off and pointedly wiping his lips as Saifah just looked at him, dazed.
They stood like that for a couple of moments that seemed an eternity long before Saifah shook his head a little, and turned around to disappear off into the gloom.
Zon stood there alone in the night, mind reeling, stomach empty, and hearing the bus he needed to take rumbling off into the distance.
--(end flashback)--
“So…”, Zol looked at him cheekily.
Zon put his hands over his face.
“It’s not what you think!” He exclaimed, his alarm seeping through the air. “It probably looked like- like a kiss from where you were standing, but it wasn’t!”
“I know you’re lying.”
Zon groaned. “Yeah, but it’s still completely ridiculous to think that we could ever be together… it was just an accident!”
His sister sighed. “Fine then… but I’ll only believe that you don't have feelings for him if you swear that you’ve never been confused about what happened, or kept it in your mind.”
Zon looked at her and gulped. He held up his right hand, sticking three fingers in the air, and promised.
“...and” his sister said slyly, “If what you promised is fake, then my fiction will come to life and your story in it will come true!” She winked and turned around, skipping out of his room.
“What?!” Zon yelled after her. “Zol! What do you mean?!”