S. F. - 04

***

New.

I scowled as he placed, no scratch that, dumped, he dumped a pile of papers in front of me which almost blocked my sight.

"Uhm, what am I supposed to do with these?" I asked politely. As much as I wanted to roll my eyes at him and protest about him making me his assistant for a whole month, I tried my best to keep my cool.

I heaved a deep breath as I reminded myself of the reason behind of all of these.

It's just a month, New. Just deal with it. It's better than being stuck in your room talking to the walls and cobwebs and going to school on limited budget.

"Those are essays by the other class. You check for any grammatical errors and misspellings."

He casually replied as he rolled the sleeves of shirt and sat down on his seat.

"Wait, what? Come again?" I asked in utter disbelief. Not that I didn't hear him but his words just didn't sit right with me.

"You're asking me, a mere student to check for such errors when I barely passed my English exams?" I exclaimed completely forgetting the polite act  that I had to pull off the entire month.

"It's your fault for not studying hard enough. Now start working on that or you'll have to explain to your parents why you came home late."

I huffed and glared at him whilst he wrote something on his notebook.

I grumbled as I picked up a piece of paper from the pile and started reading them.

I massaged my temple as I went through them, randomly encircling what I thought were errors without even making sure if what I was doing was right. But who cares? That would actually work for my benefit because he might cancel this whole student assistant thing if he didn't like my work.  

I mean, have you ever tried fighting the urge to retaliate to your teachers out of, shall I say respect or fear? 

I huffed as I grabbed another answer sheet and encircled random words.

I glanced at the clock in the faculty room. It was already six in the evening. My classes had ended at 4 and we agreed (I mean he set that up) that I had to spend at least an hour helping him.

"Aren't we supposed to be leaving?" I decided to throw the question I had been wanting to ask for aside that it was already late, my stomach was also starting to protest for I hadn't eaten much for lunch.

"Are you done with those?"

"Not yet, but...I mean, I can just finish this tomorrow right? And besides, I've been here for two hours already."

I was expecting him to say no as he always did but it surprised me when he started packing his things into his bag.

"Aren't you gonna fix your things?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow at me. 

"O-oh, yeah. I'll start packing already," I said and hastily fixed the papers on the table before grabbing my bag, swinging the strap on my right shoulder.

"Uhm, I should go ahead Sir," I bade him goodbye but as I was about to grab the door he called me out.

"Eat with me first. I know you're hungry. Your stomach's been rumbling ever since you came here," he said flatly before going ahead of me. 

***

We both settled by the table in a restaurant just a few blocks from the university.

"We aren't supposed to be seen together. I mean, they might get the wrong idea," I muttered as I glanced around trying to spot some familiar faces. 

"Why? What is wrong with you eating with me?" he asked nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on my face as I shifted on my seat. 

"I mean, you're my professor and some might accuse me of getting to you just to pass my grades," I scoffed but he just dismissed me by casually looking at the menu.

"You don't have to be guilty if you're not doing anything wrong," he replied as he signaled for the waiter. "Order whatever you want. It's my treat to you for returning my phone."

He was not looking at me when he said that but I could sense the tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

"Okay, you said it," I mumbled and grabbed the menu in front of me to look for the most expensive meal on the list. 

***

"I heard you have quite a reputation at school."

I lifted my head to look at him as he just casually sliced a piece of meat on his plate.

"Is this guidance counseling 101?" I smirked.

"I've just been at school for a couple of days but the news I heard about you are quite...you know.."

"Tsss. Don't lecture me about what I should do and shouldn't. I'm trying my best to finish uni unscathed okay. The-the one with your phone is the last one. It was just a dare. Nothing more."

"If you say so."

I sliced my meat a little harder than usual to project my irritation for this human being in front of me whilst imagining the meat to be his face. 

"Stop murdering me in your mind."

I glared at him but he just casually munched his food like he didn't say something infuriating 

"I'm a good boy, remember?" I plastered the fakest smile I could pull off on my face as I stared at him with wide eyes.

***

"Holy shit!"

"No cursing New!"

Gunsmile beamed at me as if he didn't just slapped the back of my head. 

"What the fuck! Are you trying to snap my neck in two?" I hissed at him whilst massaging my neck to ease the stinging pain from his slap earlier.

"Singto is throwing a party tonight. It's his birthday," he sat on the cemented table and faced me. 

If he was inviting me two years ago, I would have immediately said yes. But the situation now was different. As much as possible, I didn't want to get on my father's bad side or he'd probably beat the living daylights out of me. 

"You know I can't. My father's gonna kill me."

"Oh come on, don't be such a chicken."

I scowled at White who just came. He was carrying burgers on both hands while a bottle of cola was in between his armpits.

"Are your parents starving you at home?" I retorted as I gave him a disgusted look.

"Well, at least I'm not being a chicken. Bah-gawk! Bah-gawk!"

I glared at him as he started making chicken sounds whilst Gunsmile joined in his buffoonery, flapping his arms as if they were chicken wings. 

"Bah-gawk! Bah-gawk!"

"Can you two stop? You're so annoying!" I glared at them but they just continued whatever they were doing. 

"Bah-gawk! Bah-gawk!"

"Oh shut up! You both know I'm trying my best not to get on my father's bad side. I just wanna graduate uni in peace, okay?"

"Goodness, New. So much for trying to be the good son. We all know how you really are. Just enjoy the last months in uni. We're about to graduate. And besides, you can always tell your parents you're working on some requirements for graduation," White chugged down the soda he had between his armpits earlier before continuing. "Come on. We already did this before and your father didn't suspect. So what's with doing it again?"

"Are you teaching me how to be a good liar?"

"No, we're teaching you to enjoy your last moments in uni," Gunsmile raised his eyebrow at me, a mischievous grin on his face. 

***

I parked my car outside of Singto's house. Not that I wanted to be there but Gunsmile continued bugging me on the phone earlier. 

Luckily, I didn't had to do a lot of lying as my parents had to fly to Singapore for some business convention. 

I fished my phone out of my pocket and sent Gunsmile a text message telling him that I had already arrived. 

We're already inside. Come in.

I pocketed my phone after reading Gunsmile's reply and went out of my car. 

"Ohooo! There you are our good boy!"Gunsmile's voice hollered above the loud party music before grabbing me into a loose embrace. 

"Hey there New!" Singto beamed at me and handed me a red cup, obviously containing beer. 

"Happy birthday, bud."

"Thanks bro. Come. Just enjoy the party, okay. We have lots of food and drinks, and of course your favorite, giiirrrlllsss!"

All the boys huddling near us shouted as Singto raised his cup.

"Thanks bud. Will do," I quickly dismissed Singto's ideas but I wouldn't deny that I got pretty hyped up. 

Well, it had been months since I got into a relationship and I must say, my buddy down here hadn't been in action lately.

Gunsmile tapped my shoulders and guided me towards the bar counter. 

"Oh, Singto's house is quite fancy for having areas like this," I commented as I drank the contents of the cup Singto handed earlier.

"Tss. That guy's hella rich. Good thing his parents are always abroad or he wouldn't be able to throw a party like this," White snickered as he handed me another cup.

"Tsss. This drink is for losers. Come on, let's get something stronger. Vodka please," Gunsmile asked the bartender who immediately handed him three shots of vodka.

"Gunsmile, we still have classes tomorrow," I grabbed his arm before he could take the shot. 

"Oh come on. We won't get drunk, okay. Just enough to get us all funky and kinky," White chuckled before taking his in one go.

"Come on, just drink it New."

Gunsmile pushed the shot to his chest urging him to drink it.

"Okay, fine, but we're not getting drunk tonight, okay?" I said with conviction as I drank the shot. 

***

My knees wobbled as I stumbled my way to look for the nearest comfort room. My eyesight was already becoming hazy and my head heavy from all the alcohol we'd consumed earlier. 

I squinted my eyes to get a clearer view of the hall I was walking and grabbed the wall for support. 

I shook my head to remove the heavy feeling in my head before entering the restroom but almost lost my shit when I realized that I entered the wrong one. 

 I cleared my throat as I stared at the back of a naked man who currently had another man squirming and moaning underneath him. 

"Holy shit!" the man screamed when he realized that I was standing by the doorway and immediately covered his body with the blanket. 

"I-I am sorry," I apologized and was about to close the door when the man on top of him, turned around to face me. 

"N-New?"

I stared at Mr Tay in utter disbelief as he immediately went off the bed and covered himself. 

"I'm sorry for interrupting you two," I quickly closed the door and continued walking down the hallway to look for the restroom, and surprisingly my eyesight was no longer hazy.

***

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I sat in front of a pile of answer sheets. I could feel Mr Tay's eyes boring holes on me but I didn't dare look at him, not after catching him having sex with another man. 

"I'm bisexual, okay. If that's what you wanna ask," he announced out of the blue. 

We were the only ones left in the room as usual so maybe that was why he blurted out such controversial news. 

"I'm not asking anything," I pretended to sound uninterested but deep inside the scene was still vivid in my mind, the way he thrusted against the other man and the way he sounded as he moaned while doing the deed.

"But I know you're dying to know."

"Tsss. You're sexuality's none of my business, Sir. So please stop telling me things that I don't have to know." 

He didn't say anything so I just continued checking the answer sheets though I didn't understand a single thing I was checking. The scene just kept replaying in my mind that it was driving me crazy. I massaged my temple as another wave of headache hit me, both from the hangover and the fact that I just discovered accidentally.

Shit. I'm not drinking ever again. 

***

Hi there bubs. How are you doing?  Hope you're doing just fine. I'm sorry if this chapter's pretty lame as I am still trying to get my head around this story but I do hope you'll enjoy this. Please do leave your comments and suggestions. 🤗

Be safe always. 💙

-ladycrookshanks