Hold on Tight

9. Wildfire

>> BEAM <<

The night passed by like a breeze and before we knew it, Kit, Pha and I found ourselves at the nearby pub after the competition ended. It was the pageant's afterparty since it concluded on such a high note, the room was still buzzing with happy chatter about the earlier event.

And guess what?

Phana won!

Yes, he did.

Ai'Pha alongside our faculty's star won both titles. The medicine faculty was at an uproar when the emcee announced the results excitedly through the microphone; the screams wouldn't stop even after the awards were given out. Phana looked shocked when his name was called, like he hadn't expected to win the crown at all. Even though he kept telling Kit and I that he was sure that he would win since he was that handsome, Phana might have felt it was impossible especially when the Engineering faculty had proven themselves to be a force to be reckoned with during the entire duration contest.

I was happy for them to be honest, proud of our faculty and my best friend even but there was unsettling feeling on the pit of my stomach when I watched Phana being crowned instead of Forth. I couldn't help but frown when the awarding came and the Engineering Moon was forgotten by the crowd in favour of the newly hailed Campus Moon.

Ai'Forth won first runner up. He was smiling happily when he came in front to claim his prize, he even congratulated Phana by nudging him playfully on the shoulder when they stood beside each other as their photos were being taken.

It wasn't too bad, yes, but I sort of thought he would win since not only his talent portion was better than Pha's but also his overall performance.

Damn, this is so fucked up. I feel like such a bad best friend for having such thoughts.

Everything was chaotic after the pageant, even when we went backstage to fetch Phana so we could go to the bar together. I secretly wanted to bump into Forth so that I could personally congratulate him. But there were a lot of people in the said area, Phana was mobbed by his crazy fangirls. Thankfully, Kit grabbed him by the arm and pushed all of us out of there and hurriedly headed to our cars before his fans had enough time to reach us. Sadly, I didn't even have a chance to talk to him or anything. But oh well, Forth was probably going to be at the party anyway. I could congratulate him then.

So, there we were. The pub was packed with students from our university. There was music, a ton of alcohol and a lot of body action going on in the middle of the dancefloor. I was enjoying myself with my friends. The moons and us occupied one big table close to the bar. For most of the duration, I was talking to the other stars at the opposite table. Kit was happily drowning his third drink of the night while Phana was conversing with his new-found friends. The night progressed quickly.

No matter how hard I tried to forget thinking about it, I kept unconsciously looking around, searching for a familiar face in the crowd but to my dismay, he wasn't there. He should be here, I kept telling myself every other minute.

It was past midnight when I checked my watch and he still hadn't arrived yet. I was getting anxious with worry but did a very good job at concealing my emotions. "Excuse me, ladies," I politely said as I stood up from my seat. I could hear them make protesting noises, but I just smiled and told my best friends that I'll freshen up for a bit.

No, I wasn't drunk. Far from it actually.