2023

Noah woke up to the familiar sound of his alarm. His morning routine was always the same as he entered university. Wake up, go to school, stay up till 3:00 am doing homework. As soon as he finished changing, he went downstairs and grabbed an iced coffee from the fridge. 

When university started, he felt so free. Free from his parents, free from basically everything. Although after so many years, he still walked to school. It wasn't that far anyways. And, he didn't mind.

Upon arriving at school, he was greeted by one of his friends, Zhang Hao. "There are only 15 students in our class this year." He stated. There used to be 20. Zhang Hao was about to say something, later to be drowned out by the revving of engines. Noah was too familiar with that sound.

There was Shen Quanrui, or Ricky, his childhood best friend. Well, ex childhood best friend. Ricky always arrived on his motorcycle in the morning, gathering the attention of so many people. Noah rolled his eyes. After Ricky had moved to the U.S, they grew apart. Ricky said he would call, but he never did. Noah tried to keep in touch, calling him and messaging him, but nothing worked. When Ricky moved back this year for university, he acted like he didn't know Noah. It was either he pretended, or he didn't recognize him. It was the latter. And this hurt Noah to the core.

When they passed in the hallway, not even a single word was exchanged between them. Noah hated that. 

What happened to the promise?

Noah would always tell himself to not make promises he couldn't keep. "Noah!" He jolted. Zhang Hao snapped a finger in his face. "Mr. Daydreamer. We better hurry if we wanna be early! We'll meet the others there." Noah nodded at Hao's words, walking with him towards the classroom.

On his way to the classroom, it was almost like chance. He had bumped into someone, dropping all of his books. Noah groaned and looked up. Great. He thought to himself. He found himself face to face with Ricky. Flustered, he quickly gathered all of his belongings and ran to his class.

He was greeted by 2 of his other friends, Taerae and Jiwoong when he arrived at the classroom. "Woah. What happened to you?" Taerae asked, gesturing to the out-of-breath Noah. He shook his head. "Just bumped into someone..." He muttered. Noah walked inside, pushing past students and taking a seat at his desk. 

Class went by in a blur. Noah was about to walk out of class when he heard his teacher call his name. "Noah?" She asked. "Yes Ms. Aiki?" He turned to his friends, telling them to go ahead without him. He walked back into the classroom. "You're open to tutoring, correct?" She asked, organizing a stack of papers on her desk. "Yes ma'am." He replied, looking awkwardly at the floor. "Good. I've assigned you to be Ricky's tutor." Noah almost choked on his spit. Ricky? Out of all people on this Earth. He was snapped out of his trance as Ms. Aiki continued to speak. "I trust you can handle that? He's been having trouble in mathematic and I'm afraid he'll fail." She asked once more. He nodded. "You're dismissed." And with that, Noah left the classroom with a feeling of dread.

NOTES

just a little angst for you :D

sorry if the chapters are kinda short lmao TT