The Indulgence to Desire (SPG)

Chapter Three

Chapter Three | New Friend

I made a point to ignore that night in the following days. I told myself I was just randomly emotional that night, that I was just stressed, or that my monthly cycle was coming up. Kahit ano, I just don't want to think about it. I don't want to confront my thoughts, for that matter.

Because this is all really weird. But I just have to push it back, and I'll hopefully forget.

Hindi rin nagsalita si Valen tungkol 'don. The morning after that, he heated the soup for me, which we ate in silence. He teased me about my messy hair, and I laughed. And then everything went back to normal. He probably thought I was annoyed at him that night, kaya siya nag-sorry. But... never mind that.

The days rolled so quickly. I spent the last two days of summer at my parent's house in Consolacion, and it was pretty uneventful. I'm an only child, so it's bound to get boring. Hindi nagtagal, first day of classes na. Valen and I bought highlighters, pens, and binder notebooks the day before. Fortunately, 'yun lang naman ang kailangan namin.

USTC's Law building looked the same. Ngunit sa araw na ito, dahil first day, the hustle and bustle of the students were quite evident. After a few days, the noise is going to settle down, and the building will be eerily quiet again.

"Lars!" Boses ni Colette ang una kong narinig pagkababa ko sa elevator. 

Nakangisi kaagad siya sa akin. I stuck my tongue out at her, and she laughed. Bago pa ako maka-sulong kay Colette, warm fingers intertwined with mine. I shifted my gaze to Valen, who looked quite bored, and to our intertwined hands. I ignored it.

I pulled Valen with me papunta kay Colette. Hindi makatakas sa mga mata ko ang tingin ng mga tao sa paligid sa amin. Kay Valen. Probably first years. I laughed inwardly at the thought of a new batch of freshmen pining at him.

Sorry, girls. I think he only dates men? 

"Huy! Wala na talagang chance for IR?" Tanong ni Colette.

I tore my hands from Valen to give her a hug.

I shook my head, "Nope."

As soon as I broke away from the hug, Valen's fingers automatically found mine. Dahil sa fourth floor ang rooms for the International Studies students, kaming dalawa nalang ni Valen ang nagpatuloy.

"Room 303 tayo, diba?" I asked Valen, whose gaze was somewhere else. 

I followed his gaze and it landed on a cute guy. Soft eyes, eyeglasses, strong build, tall frame. I'm pretty sure that's his type? And the guy looks super into him, too, because he was staring right back at us.

I shook my head and laughed quietly.

"Huy!" I snapped a finger at him, "Room 303 tayo?"

Valen's gaze shifted to me. He's not even listening. Ugh! I tore my hands from him to check my phone. The last thing I want is to end up in the wrong classroom. I logged into my account on our university's online website.

Sakto,  303. I checked the class list for this section. Hm, nag Legal studies pala si Jyn Robles. And Roman Tiu. Hm, he's quite cute.

I scanned the list for my name and del Sol, Valentius Estephan C. 

I checked the last name on the list, and my jaw dropped.

"V-Valen?" I called out to him. 

I was shocked to see that he was already looking at me. Akala ko ay busy pa siya sa next boy toy niya.

"I... We enrolled together, didn't we?" I asked.

His forehead creased.

"Bakit?" Aniya, at lumapit sa akin to see my phone.