Engineering Moon and the Crazy Doctor [Completed]

8. This Gear

"Sorry..." His eyes are forlorn.

I have to show him that it's nothing so he wouldn't be sad anymore. I have a fault, too, because I am busy escaping from what I did to the librarian that I didn't get to notice him.

Anyway, It's been a long time since I have seen him. Last Friday, when we went out to drink with our moon friends, they said that Forth's faculty had an outing to a nearby beach for their last initiation rite. I don't really get their hazing activity. Last time, when we came to their building to look for the professor we had to interview for our activity, we saw them at the field. I even joked at Kit that they did a ritual to send away all the bad spirits lurking around the campus because of all the candles they lit. I know that if someone from their group heard me, they'd probably get enraged at me. It's sacred for them, though I really didn't understand why.

Going back to the person in front of me, I must say Forth has gotten a little tanner and bigger than before. But it only makes him more manly...appealing... sexier...and...

Wait!! Why am I assessing him?! I'm still more handsome than him, you know.

"What's up?" I just ask to change the direction this crazy mind of mine is going. "I heard you went to the beach."

"Yeah..." he answers but his face seems to be still perturbed as he stares at me.

"I saw you flirting with P'Prim," he suddenly adds. "She's married, Ai'Beam,"

What's with him?

"I know," I reply.

"But you still flirted with her?"

"So?"

Forth opens his mouth to, maybe, say a retort but he chooses to press tightly his lips. He's really getting weirder every time I see him. Even the way he gazes at me seems so weird that it makes me shudder.

"Oi, Forth..." I'm about to say something but he cuts me in.

"Do you really love flirting with everyone?" he queries out of nowhere.

The answer is obvious.

"Of course. I love flirting with everyone. Why? Do you have a problem with it?"

"Yes..." Oh, wait, did I step on his tail? "...Aren't you even thinking about your feelings, Beam or those girls' feelings when you flirt with them? Have you ever considered the word love?"

Those questions crawl on my skin, I just want to run away from this bizarre man. Is it the effect of the salted water of the beach? Or its brownish sand? Why is he asking me this? I feel so awkward at this moment. If it were Kit asking me those questions, I'd probably laugh my ass out. I'd even throw it back to him and see him cringed with it.

But he's not Kit. He's Forth! A friend from our drinking session who might be always joining our trip but, I think, must be taken seriously.

I'm almost in the panic mode. I hate being in this kind of situation, so I do what I'm always best at... Pretending that everything's normal, though it's not.

"Oh, come on, Forth! You know I love those women. They're my precious gems!" I reply in an exaggerated cheerful tone.

He only shakes his head and remains serious.

"Beam, if someone asked you to date... only date that person, will you do it? Can you do it?"

I could only knot my forehead to his another questions.

"Why are you asking me that? Are you trying to make me settled with my life?" (But I still haven't met all the women in this campus or in Bangkok!)