Chapter 31: December 18, Saturday– Hypothetical boyfriend (Chapter .23)

During the second week of December, it snowed for the first time in winter. Road maintenance, of course, was unprepared for the sudden change of weather. The fastest and most reliable way of transport was limited to walking or taking a car.

Arriving at school in the morning, Sae witnessed Shum Deil hauling his bicycle to the storage shed. He thought, How unfortunate that the academic paper peddler couldn’t travel to school on his newly seized moped.

How fickle the lives of everyday people were, even if someone was a genius.

Sae had arranged to meet with Emi in the library. End-of-term exams were almost around the corner, so for the time being, the little girl stayed more and more at the library, studying with determination. Her grades also showed rapid improvement.

When Sae arrived, it started snowing again. Before going inside the library’s building, he shook the snowflakes from all over his winter coat. He did not bring a hat, so his hair was full of cold white powder and a little wet.

Inside, the cloakroom employee checked in his coat, giving out a plastic tag with a barcode. Emi had told Sae to meet at one, but he arrived fifteen minutes earlier. He went through the anti-theft detectors and passed the indoor cafe that belonged to the library. The library had strict rules about the consumption of food or drinks, so if anyone wanted to take a break, they had to go out to the lobby.

Sae passed another gate and entered the reading room. His face heated up thanks to the warm and dry air. In the midst of taking off his hoodie, he spotted Emi before she saw him. Emi was talking with someone at one of the tables. Sae stopped mid-motion, the soft material of his sweater obscuring his line of sight. He pulled the cloth down so he could see better.

Sae only partially saw Emi between two sections. She looked up at someone at a slanted angle while talking. The person she was talking with seemed to be about ready to leave. Bundled in a coat and jeans, he leaned down, propping one hand at the table next to her. It was obviously a boy, his upper body covered by the shelves before Sae. Could it be the hypothetical boyfriend?

Sae felt that what he was doing equalled some kind of atrocity. Like in a bad film, he spied on a little girl. But on second thought, the library was a public place where he got invited to meet with Emi.

After a small internal battle, Sae made it to the corner just as that boy turned around and left. All Sae could see was the back of a head with nothing special about it, a coat and… sneakers? In wintertime, in snow… with jeans that let the ankles show. Huh.

Sae pulled off his hoodie and made his way to the tables.

Emi’s hand was still up in the motion of waving goodbye. Sae stopped behind her and put his hand on top of her head. He gently wobbled it.

Emi looked up, “Oh, you’re here!”

“I’m late, sorry,” Sae pulled a chair out and sat down, on the lookout for Emi’s reaction.

“Ah, I didn’t notice,” Emi said, turning to him. “Why are you late?”

“Ran a little late?” When talking, Sae tried to suppress his voice. He had always been conscious in spaces like this, always hesitant, lest he annoyed someone. That was the way he perceived libraries. How anyone could study in an atmosphere like this was doubtful to him.

Emi checked her phone and shook her head at him. “I don’t think so.”

Sae stared at her face for a minute.

“What?” asked the little girl.

“Who was that just now?”

“Who?”

“That person with you.”

“The one that left?” Emi’s face was devoid of emotion. She did not panic, nor did she seem confused.

Sae nodded his head. “Mnm.”

“Dunno.” Emi turned back to her book, writing something on the margin after circling some words. “Just a person who sat at this table.”

Sae lowered his eyes and gave what Emi was working on a once-over. Looking at her books and notebooks, Emi did study diligently. Would she spend her dates doing homework?

Sae’s expression stirred. He got hit with the realisation that the more time he spent with Teo, the number of brain malfunctions like this could multiply. Someone with a cart full of books passed behind them. Sae shuffled his chair out of the way, and Emi mirrored his movements.

“Check this out,” she jabbed him with her elbow, pushing her phone under Sae’s nose. The screen lit up with an announcement notice of upcoming tour dates and venues. “It’s happening in the spring. Here.”

Sae tapped at the screen, enlarging the venue listings. Next spring, the girl group Emi loved to death would be touring no farther than an hour’s ride away from B city. “Hmm, do you know how much it’ll cost?”

“There’s no info on that, but since they announced the tour, ticketing will start in two to three weeks.” There was a sparkle in Emi’s eyes, doing a poor job of hiding her excitement. “Last time it wasn’t that pricey, like fifty-sixty~”

“Thousand?” Sae was baffled. “That’s not expensive?”

“No, it’s really not,” Emi yawned despite her eagerness to discuss the topic. She folded her arm and pillowed her head on it, looking at Sae from the side. She straightened a finger, pointing it at the ceiling. “There are early entrance tickets,” she stuck out another finger, “Meet and greet, events, all kinds of various VIP packages. Those are expensive, like super expensive.” By the time she finished, four fingers stood at attention beside her face. She furled all but one finger, pointing at the phone screen, “This is the basic ticket price.”

“Mn.” Explained like this, Sae understood it better. Still, he felt like sixty thousand was pricey, no matter how one looked at it.

“And look at the dates,” the little girl scrolled up the screen. “There’s one for New Year’s Eve! You like this group. We could go together. Na? Naaa,” she whined.

They were starting to get looks from others trying to read, so Sae shushed her. “Do you have that much money?”

“No,” Emi admitted and tugged at her hair. “Don’t remind me. I’m still not over how much your Grandad extorted from me last month...”

Sae laughed. “You wanted to play with him. That wasn’t your first time witnessing Grandad suck us dry. You know full well that’s the price of playing cards with a swindler.”

“Yea, but I didn’t think he’d take my money too.” Emi huffed. The choppy bangs on her forehead flew up in disarray. “You are his grandson, after all. Am I not a precious daughter of another family?”

“So precious…” Sae nodded. “Don’t you think I’m a precious grandson to him? He takes my money nonetheless. I can never beat him.”

They shared a smile before Emi started whining again. “Aggh, I want to go! I could save up or something, or…. I could get it as a present. Like there are these games or raffles beside the regular sale.”

“Mnm… I thought you were serious about the finals, but now you want to do what, exactly? Playing raffles and whatnot.” Sae gave her a look. “Emi, I know how much time these things take. You’ll be stooped in front of your phone for half a day, on twitter, on fancafes or forums trying to get more information.”

Emi took a deep breath, a bit crestfallen. “It’d be perfect, though.” She rubbed her eyes, looking a little lazy. “I–”

“Why are you so out of it?” Sae interrupted her. “Came to the library to crash so easily?”

“No,” Emi denied it. “But I’m exhausted. I study all day, then go home and study again. It’s getting harder now. How do you manage it?”

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“Hmm,” Sae thought it over front and back. “I guess I just read a lot? It’s not that difficult to remember stuff we’ve already covered in class. Read through them at home and do the homework. Read something else before I sleep. If I’m stuck somewhere, I revise it in my mind until I find a solution.”

The little girl listened, half leaning on the desk. She pressed her eyes shut, then opened them wide.

Sae asked, “What time do you sleep?”

“Dunno, sometime near midnight.”

“You should sleep before midnight and wake up a few hours earlier. You won’t be that tired first thing in the morning… or, I guess, dawn.”

Emi scratched her arm and straightened up. “How early do you think I should get up?”

“Depends on what subject you want to cram and how much time it takes,” Sae said, “One or two hours should be enough. Start with 4.45. If it’s not enough, cut back to 4.20.”

“Hmm, okay. I’ll try that.”

Sae nodded and pinched Emi’s face. She let him squish her round cheeks, then said, “Two more weeks and I’m done.”

Sae nodded. The finals were so close now. It was about time Emi started to feel the pressure. Last year, she had still been in her first year, but now, with every final done, she neared the time to decide: where and what she wanted to study in high school. Emi was clever but seldom put any effort into academics. These past two months, though, she started to prepare for the end-of-term examinations more seriously. Even now, the place they met was a library, a place previously almost unknown to her.

“So,” Sae asked after a few minutes, “why did you want me to meet you here?”

“Ah,” Having finished a paragraph, Emi closed the notebook, taking another one from her bag. She threw that one before Sae and grinned, her upturned eyes curving with mischief. “Help me with sentence composition!”

---

 

After Deil finished his tutoring lesson, he went to his aunt’s academy. These past months, he had rekindled his relationship with his aunt. Now, they reached a level of closeness where he could walk into her office as long as the door wasn’t entirely closed.

Deil sauntered into the room and fell back into one of the armchairs, letting out a sigh. His aunt finished a call on the internal phone. “What’s your deal, kid? Dashing in as soon as you see an opening? I was still on the phone, you know.”

“And I stayed quiet, didn’t I?” Deil grabbed his own phone and started tapping away. “Just finished my last lesson for the week. Aunt, praise me.”

Aunt Illa was quite exasperated but went on with this little play. “Very well done. How many sessions do you have until break?”

Deil looked up from this phone screen, a contemplative expression on his face. “Two next week, then another three. We may squeeze in another one sometime over the weekend. It all depends.”

“How’s that girl you’re tutoring? H Junior High will conduct its finals in two batches this year. You think she’ll rise in the ranking?”

“She’ll definitely smash them all,” Deil replied without fussing about it. “I mostly worry about the boys.”

All in all, Deil tutored three junior high students. The two Year 7 boys were a bit challenging since their school was a specialised one, but they improved well, considering the amount of time that passed since they had started.

“Well, I’ve only heard good things about you,” his aunt said, “Could it not be my worst idea to collaborate with you?”

“Thank you.” Deil’s voice was flat.

Aunt Illa lifted her gaze to scan him. “You need anything? A drink or… have you eaten?”

“I haven’t, but you don’t have to worry about it. You told me I need to check in once a week, so here I am.” Deil pocketed his phone, then stretched, standing up from the chair. He made his way to the bookshelf drumming his fingers over the spines of fancy leather-bound volumes. “Will I get the payment earlier this month since there’ll be no lessons during winter break?”

“Don’t you want to eat something with your aunt? We don’t have to go out; you can come to my house.” Aunt Illa paused, giving him a once-over before she continued. “Your father told you about the offer to stay with me for the weekend, right?”

“He did,” Deil said without turning around. “But I can take care of myself, no problem. I’m sure Aunt would find it a bit uncomfortable, suddenly having a teenage boy living at your home. It’s okay, really.”

She asked, “When did your father leave?”

“Today. In the morning.”

Using a calm tone, Aunt Illa inquired, “Did he try to...”

“Convince me again to go meet Mum?” Saying it out loud, Deil could not help but feel all sorts of things. “Yeah, he did, up to one hour before he left.”

Aunt Illa said, “Try to understand him a bit. You recently got into a fight again.” Even though Aunt Illa had threatened Deil to fire him if he fought again, Deil’s face looked alright by the time he had his tutoring session. All she could do was nag him a bit, then throw a bottle of concealer at him to hide the rest of the evidence. Now she looked like she wanted to get out of her seat and come to Deil’s side but thought better of it. “He’s worried about you… and not just about leaving you alone.”

Deil gave no answer, blankly staring ahead.

Lines of distress appeared between Aunt Illa’s brows, but both of them knew Deil was rather irascible about this topic. Changing the course of her speech, she retreated, pretending to talk about a simple trip out of the city. “It’s only another metropolis. You won’t miss anything by not going now. There’ll be time to go in the future.”

Deil snorted. “Yea. So about the schedule...”

His aunt sighed. “Call in when you’ve made the decision about that extra lesson. The other times will happen as planned. I’ll wire you the money before the month’s end, alright?”

Deil nodded, shouldering his bag, and made to go.

“Deil,” his aunt called after him right before he left. “If you want someone to eat with and not just this weekend, you can call me, alright?”

“Okay,” he said, ready to get out of the room like the roof was on fire.

Before he could make it out of the door though, his aunt continued, “And I’m going to check on you two days from now. Don’t look at me like that. Bro literally makes me do it.”

Of course the professor did. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be his father.

Deil heaved a sigh, shouldering his way out of the office.

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