Kian yawns and stretches. He quits his game and puts his laptop and gear back into his bag. Kian gets up from the chair and table setup beside his mother's bed in the ward visiting hours are ending soon; looking at his mother in front of him, fast asleep. They had a nice conversation in the afternoon after she woke up from her slumber. He updated her on his tries to find a team that will take him in as well as his unluckiness in that aspect. All she did was give him her tender smile; she didn't speak much but Kian knew she was listening. He was also getting better at controlling his anger due to the fact he was forced to remain quiet at all times during his visits.
Kian looks at the girl's bed but it was still closed by a curtain. He sighs. It's been four days and they haven't opened it for him to take a look. His mother was going to be discharged tomorrow so if there was any interaction to be made it had to have been the past few days. He just had to know whether it was her or whether that green jacket was merely another one in a sea of green jackets.
Kian scoots out of his setup and walks towards the exit while adjusting his hoodie when he suddenly hears something plastic drop on the ground within the ward. He looks around and finds a pen on the floor near where the girl was warded. He walked over towards the pen and picked it up. The curtains around the bed were closed and he didn't know if he should enter or not.
"M-my pen please." The girl's voice was heard past the curtain. It was soft and timid, and there was a tinge of a Chinese accent in there.
Kian was stunned at the opportunity he was given. This was his chance. "Um, should I...come in?"
"No, please. Just..." The voice stopped. Clearly even the girl didn't know how she was going to get the pen back.
Kian cringed at what he said. Maybe he shouldn't have been too transparent with his intentions. After all, it could be another girl altogether. He scratched his head and looked at the pen in his hand. It was one of those cheap Faber-Castell pens you would find in any bookstore. Maybe she was doing some drawing or writing something down? "I think I need to draw the curtains a little isn't it?"
"Y-yea..." The girl said. Kian stepped forward towards the curtain.
"I'm drawing the curtains, ok? Will the bedside table be this side?" He pressed through the curtain so the girl can hopefully see where he was.
"I-Its there. Don't open the curtain too much. I'm kind of...exposed."
Kian felt blood rush to his face. What the hell does exposed mean? A few mental images crossed his mind but being the innocent boy he was, he suppressed them and shook his head. Kian draws the curtain closest to the wall a little using his right hand and tries to peer in with one eye without looking at the bed.
He looks down and sees the table, placing the pen in his left hand onto it. The temptation to look at the bed creeped over him like an ugly shadow but he quickly draws the curtain close and turns outwards to the ward.
"Thank you." He hears from the other side. There was a slight shuffling and some wincing and then it was quiet once more.
"You...You're welcome." He puts his hands in his pockets. Suddenly, there was silence with an awkward air filling the space between himself and the curtain. He wanted to ask her whether it was really her. It's me! The guy who promised to play with you again. The one who wants to correct the abrupt ending they had. The one who wants to know you for who you really are.
"You should go. Visiting hours are ending soon." The girl says from the other side of the curtain.
"Yea I-" Kian says stopping for a while, seeming to find words to say, before continuing. "I'll see you."
And with that, Kian walked out of the ward.
▶
Kian looks through the list of participants while sitting at one of the tables on the netball court. He removed his cap and flipped his hair backwards once more before putting the cap back on. The list was satisfying to say the least, they got the number of participants they wanted and what's better is that Noel and his girlfriend, Kayla decided to support his event as well.
"Kris," Meng walked up to him holding a clipboard. "The second participant done already. Three shots out of eight. Next is who?"
"Oh, ergh," Kian looked at the list. "Next is...Kayla from Group Ults Unite."
Meng nodded and walked towards the line of participants by the fencing calling out for Kayla. Kayla took off her sling bag and picked up one of the balls.
Kian observed the participants, most of whom were girls but there were also one or two guys there as well. He didn't see Noel anywhere near the court, must be preparing for the gaming section tonight. Although he doubts it should be a problem since Noel is an arcade racing champ.
"How's it going, gamer?" Alexis suddenly leaned on Kian's table as he was looking around.
Kian looks up at Alexis. She was wearing leggings and a baggy Adidas t-shirt which hid her toned body. "Not much, to be honest."
"Yea, well. The event was even simpler than I thought."
Kian puffed his lips. "Not unless you're paying 800 Ringgit for the racing setup."
Alexis looked wide-eyed at Kian. "How much?"
"Eight hundred."
Alexis puffed her cheeks as well. "Not so smart there eh, gamer? My club didn't even pay a cent for this."
Kian glared at Alexis who quickly noticed. "What? It's true."
Kian shook his head. "Either way, at least we got this event underway in time. If you guys delayed it by a week, my club would have been toast."
She finger-snapped and pointed at Kian. "Ah, I should have done that."
Kian glared at her again. Alexis looked at him and giggled.
"Why are you so bent on making my life miserable?" Kian looked at the list of participants again.
Alexis pouted. "Gaming club president can't handle jokes either, huh?"
"I'm being serious, Alexis. Every time I'm with you, I always have the feeling something bad is about to happen to me."
"And yet you're still determined as ever." She says under her breath.
"Come again?"
"Nothing." Alexis looked at Kian and shot him a sarcastic look.
"Tsk, dah lah you. Annoying me only." He takes out his phone and starts scrolling through it.
"Kris! Third participant done," Meng walks over. "All shots in."
Alexis turns to Meng. A shocked look covered her face. "What? Are you for real?"
Meng was startled by Alexis' reaction. "Um, yea. She made all shots."
Alexis looked over at the line of participants as well as the ones finished on the court. She looked back at Meng. "Bring me to her."
Meng looks puzzled at Alexis. "O...k? Let me get the name of the next participant first."
"Su Ming." Kian looks up from his phone.
"Thanks, Kris," Meng looks at Alexis. "Follow me."
The both of them head off towards the group by one of the hoops. Kian decides to put his phone down and observe Alexis. Meng brings Alexis over to Kayla, who was just a few centimetres shorter than Alexis, but still taller than the average girl. Alexis seemed to be explaining something to Kayla and Kayla was responding pretty well. Suddenly, there was a visible hesitation in Alexis' face as Kayla crossed her arms. Alexis' round eyes were looking all over the place, as if trying to find an excuse about something.
What's going on then? Kian thought. The only other time he saw her like this was when he asked for her phone number.
Alexis tilted her head and gave a worried look to Kayla who uncrossed her arms and took something out from her sling bag. It looked like a pamphlet and Kayla started explaining something to her. The worried look on Alexis' face stayed as Kayla walked off the court and out of the fencing. Alexis looked around before brushing her fringe and walking towards her bag.
"Hm, strange." Kian says to himself, resting his chin on his palm.
Alexis looked up as she put her bag down and noticed Kian staring at him. He quickly shook his head and looked at the guy shooting the netball at the moment. Kian's heart raced. I can't keep staring like that.
▶
There was a small crowd gathered at the main lobby of the computer science faculty tonight. The crowd, which consisted of the participants of the event as well as a few computer science students spectated the final racer of the night, Noel, speeding through the circuit on the racing game. Kian stood at the side of the setup, just looking on unsurprised. He knew that Noel was a professional at racing games and was definitely going to win this section. He also knew Kayla was a former basketball player in high school which explained her really good shooting in the netball section.
"AND HE ROUNDS THE FINAL CORNER," Meng shouts into the portable mic. "NOEL SETS THE FASTEST TIME OF THE EVENT."
The crowd clapped as Noel got up from the setup, smiling from ear-to-ear. He looked over at Kian and winked. Kian just smiled and shook his head.
Meng wrote something down on his clipboard and then took the mic up again. "This means that the ultimate winner of this event is ULTS UNITE! Give a big round of applause for the winners."
Everybody clapped as Noel and his girlfriend hugged each other and went up towards one side of the main lobby. Meng mentioned the second and third placed groups as they walked up beside Noel and his girlfriend. Rui Wen took out some hampers and vouchers from beside the vending machines.
"And now, we invite the gaming and netball club presidents to hand out the prizes." Meng looks over at Kian while the spectators started clapping.
Kian looks around the room. Huh, where is Alexis? He walks up to the groups while scanning the lobby, trying to find any sign of a tall girl but there wasn't any.
"You may now hand the prizes over to the groups, Kris." Meng points with his hand at the hampers.
Kian hands over each prize, posing for a photo taken by Rui Wen with every group. After he takes a photo with Noel's group, Noel brings him over to one side as the crowd starts to dissipate.
"Congrats on the event, bro!" Noel pats his friend's shoulder with one hand as he holds the hamper in the other.
Kian smiles. "Thanks. And there's a gaming point card in there too by the way."
"Woah, damn cool sia! I'm definitely voting for your event later on."
Kian shakes his head. "This is a small event compared to what you guys at the hiking club are probably doing."
Noel waves the statement off. "Ah, nothing one lah. Heh, thing is the reading club actually very difficult to work with too you know?"
"Really?" Kian laughed a little. "I'm surprised."
"Aiyo, you know them lah. All indoors only like you all. Luckily managed to make a compromise." Noel then tries to take something out of his back pocket. "Speaking of which, there's something I wanted to ask of you."
"What's this?" Kian took a pamphlet from Noel.
"It's my club's event," Noel readjusted the hamper in his hand. "We're going to hike up this hill in Perak which so happens to have a library café on it. So cool, right? Even I never knew it existed."
Kian looked at the front and then flipped it over. The pamphlet showed the café on the hill side as well as the location and the time of the event which was set to be during the semester break.
Kian looked up and gave an awkward smile at Noel. "Thanks Noel, but...I don't know whether you should be asking me. I'm not really into this outdoor stuff."
"Please, Kian? We need to fill up our quota on this event."
Kian rubbed his neck. "I don't-"
"Baby!" Noel's t-shirt sleeve was tugged by Kayla. "I want to go makan already. So hungry." Kayla pouted.
Noel chuckled a little. "Okay baby. I want to say bye to my friend first."
"Okay." Kayla gave him a peck on the cheek and then turned to walk out of the faculty.
Kian really did his best to hide the look of disgust on his face when he saw what happened right in front of him.
"Kris, I supported your event. Why not support mine, huh?" Noel smiled at him. "Just attend. That's all I ask of you."
Kian looks at the pamphlet then at Noel again. "I'll...let you know later. Ok?"
Noel nodded. "Sure, man."
Noel turned to the doors of the faculty. Kian hurriedly goes to the doors and opens it for Noel who thanks him. He goes outside and sees Noel off before feeling a sense of relief.
The event is over. He managed to face the trials and tribulations of working with the netball club, who he hopes to never work with again, and his club is still alive. He can finally go back to his everyday life, climbing the rankings of his game and trying out for teams. Maybe even join a tournament or two along the way if he was lucky.
"Kian," A girl's voice came from behind him. It was Rui Wen. "I'll send the pics to Goh for the report later."
Kian nodded once. "Ah, thank you, Rui Wen."
Rui Wen then walked past him. "I'll be going now."
"Um, Rui wen," Kian calls out. Rui Wen looks up at him from half way down the main stairs. "Where is Alexis?"
Rui Wen shrugged. "No idea. But it's typical of her. She doesn't like crowds."
"Ah, I see."
Rui Wen tilts her head. "Is that all?"
Kian nods slowly. "Yea, and thanks again for your club's effort."
Rui Wen gave a slight nod and walked away.
She doesn't like crowds?
GAME OVER: CHAPTER EIGHT