“How are you Mr. Hungover?” Jun snickered beside him as they walked towards the class.

“Ugh. Shut up.”

Of all the things that could be said to him, his recent drunken adventure was the last thing he would like to hear. As it turned out, the rustling of papers he thought he heard in his dream was the sound of his classmates answering the exam. Because he got drunk with Zy the night before, he was so sleepy that he actually fell asleep during the exam.

“Ugh,” he rubbed his eyes, harder than he should have. He was sure that he flunked the exam. He did not want to know his grades.

“Wait,” Jun grabbed his arm and pointed at the bulletin board. “Look.”

He pointed at a white note on the board with Aki’s name on it. The more Aki read about it, the paler he got.

“The Dean wants to see me?” He stared at his friend, wide-eyed.

Being called at the Dean’s Office was a lot worse than just receiving a bad grade.

Jun clamped a hand over his shoulder. “See you in class.”

Aki stared at his friend and nodded. He knew that this was a path only he could take.

As he trudged along towards the office, a lot of things went through his head. None of them were good. In all of his years as a student, this was the first time he was called in the office. He could not be more embarrassed.

“Come in.”

Aki poked his head first before going inside.

The Dean was a middle-aged lady who treated every student in the department as her children. Aki liked her. He used to attend her classes and despite being strict, she was good at explaining abstract ideas and theories.

“Do you have any idea why I called you into my office?”

Aki shook his head.

She stared at Aki, worry clouding all over her features. When Aki remained silent, she pulled out a piece of paper from her drawer.

“Here are your last sem’s grades and here’s your exam last time.”

Aki glanced at the papers in front of him and looked back down. He knew those numbers too well. He would be lying if he said that he was not expecting those results.

“Your grades had a drastic change. You were once one of the department’s top student.”

Aki bit his lower lip.

The Dean studied him for a while. “Is there something wrong? Do you… have problems at home?”

“No, maam. Nothing like that.”

The Dean knitted her brows at Aki, which made him want to dig a hole and bury himself. She was a great professor and Aki did not want to disappoint her.

After a while, she sighed and took out another piece of paper.

“This is the list of students who got a scholarship for this sem,” she paused for a while and studied Aki. “Sadly, yours got decreased to 50%.”

Aki looked up at her with a start. She only stared back.

He wanted to say something. To protest, say it was unfair or whatever. But deep down, he knew it was his fault. He knew this was ought to happen. It was not Zy’s fault or anyone. Only him.

“Aki, you can turn this around. Many students want that scholarship. You know how expensive the tuition fees are at this university. Just… please study harder.”

Once they finished their talk, Aki excused himself. As he walked towards his class, he vowed to take back that full scholarship. He did not have that much money to begin with. He could not rely on his parents about this. After all, he brought this to himself. If he could get the scholarship once, he could get it back again.

_________________________________________________

“Someone’s really studious today.”

Aki smirked at Jun. “Of course! I’m going to take that scholarship back. Just wait and see.”

Having a talk with the Dean really sparked his motivation.

Eager to study, he placed his bag over his shoulder and made his way to the door. “Are we studying or not?”

Jun laughed and followed right away.

But just as they were about to reach the doors of the library, his phone buzzed.

Aki took out his phone and read the contents.

I have something to tell you.

His steps staggered. Jun, who was walking behind him, bumped onto Aki’s back.

“What the---?”

Aki turned around but no words came out of his mouth. He gaped at his friend with his mind going it can’t be it can’t be it can’t be.

Jun just glanced at the phone on his friend’s hand as he raised his eyebrow. “I thought you’re going to study harder?”

“I will… tomorrow!” Aki shouted as he jogged away.

His mind thought of all the possible routes that would take him fastest to where Zy was. As he planned his route, he remembered what Jun said about the gate at the back side of the university where one could have easy access to the closest bus station.

He passed through rows of buildings. When he was near the gate, his jog turned to run. But he heard voices that made him stop.

“I like you,” a female student with red highlights said.

He glanced to his side and saw two surprised and very confused people staring back at him. It seemed like he came across a confession!

“Sorry, you can cont--,” Aki said.

“I already have someone I love. I’m sorry.”

Both Aki and the girl gaped at the guy. His handsome face looked familiar to Aki. Just then the same face with a bright smile flashed through his mind.

But when Aki looked back, he saw that the guy was watching him instead. Flustered, he urged himself to take a step and get out of there.

Ah darn it, this is no time to be thinking how good-looking and cool he was!