Purple Lilacs: The Glimpse of Sunset

Chapter 6: "Fancy Meeting you here, neighbor."

Steven, while answering his examination with an unfazed look on his face, still reminisce about his summer 10 years ago. However, one thing still bother him while remembering his past. He thought to himself, "Why can't I remember that girl from the picture?". These question continues fill his mind until he finished answering. He stands up and gives his answer sheet to his professor standing in front with his folded arms. The professor looked surprised as Steven approaches him. He asks him "Done already? You still have thirty minutes to re-evaluate your answers.". Steven answers him. "There's no need." As he hands his answer sheet to his professor. Some students answering their exams looks at him with admiration, yet most of them gave him an envious look as they click their tongues. He comes back to his seat and rearranged his things as he sets out of the room. It was still noon. The sun shone brightly and the heat seems so unbearable. Steven, however, when he realizes he forgot to bring his umbrella, decides to head to the café again to cool his skin.

While the cashier lists Steven's order in a piece of paper, a group of students enters the café from the entrance. The quiet aura turned into a loud, ear-piercing, noisy room not long before they entered the premises. They walked towards the cashier to fall in line behind Steven. The group consists of two girls, and three boys. One of them starts to ask about the indecent experiences they've had. Steven paid no heed to the group behind him. For about five minutes, Steven received the iced tea he ordered a while ago. The group of students behind him still continues to chatter, unknowingly they were next in line. The cashier raised her hand to signal one of them and just as Steven was going to take his order to his seat, one of the students accidentally bumped into him while moving backwards carelessly, making Steven slip his beverage from his hand and stained his uniform. They were all surprised, but after a moment, one of them starts to laugh at him. This caused them to react in the same way, rather than to help Steven from the carelessness of their friend. "Look at him, he just wet himself." The guy said as he points his finger towards Steven. There was portion of the beverage left in his cup. He picked it up, and throws the liquid to the face of the one who bumped into him. "Sorry, you just wet yourself." Steven said to him with a smug look on his face. The laughter from the group turned into anger and shock. However, one of their friends laughed at him and said "You just got wet by a nerd, dude". The guy who bumped into Steven glared at his friend, telling him to shut up. He looks at Steven and asked him "What the hell is wrong with you?". Steven, still wearing a smug look, asked "Shouldn't I be the one to ask that? I can't stand people like you. Prideful. Only thinks about themselves, and when you accidentally hurt someone, your pride takes over. Well, there's nothing I can do if you guys are as stupid as the monkeys in the zoo, can I?". The group were shocked and starts to back off from the scene. However, their friend still hasn't had enough. He pushes his friend's arm pulling him from behind and runs towards Steven with his fist swinging in the air. Just as when he is about to hit him, he got pushed back from his left, making him lose momentum and hit the ground. The guy looks around, and tries to find out what caused him to be in an embarrassing state. "You okay, man? What were you doing?" One of his friends asked him as he offers his hand. He then thought that it was his friend who pushed him. He grabs him from his collar and asks with an angered tone, "Why did you push me for? I thought we were in both sides!". His friend looked confused and said "Huh? I didn't push you man, I swear. Maybe you just stumbled into something, man. And we need to get outta here before anything gets out of hand.". He looks around and finds the customers and the employees glaring at them. He stands up, and he and his group quickly left the premises. Steven gave off a huge sigh of relief. "Guys really are prideful beings. If I wasn't here, you'd already been beaten up." A girl from his right said to him. He turns his head and finds that same girl who broke in inside his apartment. The girl waved her hands and greets him "Fancy meeting you here, neighbor."