Child of Fire

Koala

Saint was absent on Monday. His friends Cass, Janis and Prae sent him text messages asking how he was.

Prae: Are you okay? I hope you are feeling well.

Janis: Are you avoiding me?

Cass: Did anything else happen last Saturday?  

His fever had gone down Sunday night but Nine wanted him to have an additional day of rest to make sure his fever would not make a comeback. Saint silently thanked Nine for his suggestion. He figured it would help his wound heal faster. Chen said the sutures will dissolve on their own in about a week so in the meantime, Saint should make sure not to get the area wet. Chen ordered Saint to visit him every other day so he could check and clean the wound.

To Prae: I'm okay. I'll be there tomorrow.

To Janis: No, of course not.  We're cool, Jan.  Don't worry about it.

To Cass: No, everything is fine. Glad to hear you guys got home safely. Sorry, I wasn't able to respond to your texts sooner. See you tomorrow! 

Saint spent most of his Monday on his computer, checking his emails, social media and YouTube channel. He hasn't uploaded anything lately but he still gets some notifications and responds to the comments when he has time. He got an email from Dr. Ainsley regarding the charity ball that they will be hosting in October. She asked if Saint would be willing to perform and put himself out there for his foundation. Well, technically Nine will giving a five-minute presentation about their plans so they could receive additional funding while Saint will be part of the entertainment. Other organizations have also prepared song and dance numbers by some of the beneficiaries. Saint responded that he'd be glad to perform and he'll make Dr. Ainsley proud. 

On Tuesday morning, Nine dropped Saint off at his university. He banned Saint from using his bike for a week and told him to take easy. 

"Behave yourself!" Nine ordered after Saint closed the passenger door of the pick-up truck. Nine was going to Trat to see to their affairs there. He's scheduled to be back on Sunday.

Saint responded by sending Nine with an impudent flying kiss. He saw Nine fake-gagging before the pick-up sped off.

When he got to his first class, he could feel that Cass and Janis looked at him differently. They seemed uneasy. Saint guessed it must be a bit weird to reconcile between their classmate who wore a pristine white long-sleeved shirt and black tie over perfectly ironed black slacks to the guy all dressed in black like he was some sort of international spy and escorted them out of a bar in a red-light district. Saint never really intended to adopt a different persona in school but he found less questions arise when you show people what they want to see. In school, he was a quiet and average student. He liked it that way that's why he didn't join any clubs or tried to stand out during student orientation. He's trying to perfect the art of blending in. So far, he's been successful. Although admittedly, his skateboard and his bike are not exactly what you call "normal" but those two things are non-negotiable. He can't give them up, not even for the sake of flying under the radar.

But he had grown closer to Cass, Janis and Prae these past few months and considered them his friends. Even though he's not the type to butt in to other people's business, he figured being friends entailed a degree of intrusiveness. So he decided he would address Cass and Janis's uneasiness during lunch. Fortunately, Prae wasn't around because she was busy with rehearsals for the Star contest.

The three of them were unusually quiet as they sat down on the table with their lunch trays. As usual, the cafeteria was full of students talking and eating leisurely. Snippets of their conversations were mostly about the grand finale of the university's Moon and Star contest. Saint and the girls had picked a table on the farthest edge of the open air lunchroom where it was less noisy and where they could talk to one another without raising their voices.