A week later I’ve all but forgotten how I impulsively handed my phone number to a stranger.
“Okay, so why am I being dragged along?”
“You just finished a presentation right? You should have time, come on.” I heave a sigh as I’m hauled forward by my taller friend, his afro flopping behind him.
“Did Naya tell you what happened?” His expression darkens and I hold back a chuckle.
“Don’t even mention it. She’s been gripping about that non stop.” Josh and Naya are siblings, twins actually. They’re supposed to be fraternal but there’s a striking resemblance, both of them being tall, good looking African Americans with similarly proportioned features.
“Wait, so why are you volunteering at a book fair? I thought a med student would be too busy for that sort of thing?”
“Well…there’s this girl…” Ah, of course. This time I let out my chuckle.
“Hey! What’s funny about that?”
“Well it’s always about a girl with you.”
“It’s not!”
“Well, how about that time when you dressed up as a clown for th-“
“Let’s not talk about that stuff!” I chuckle again.
“Anyway, we’re here.” I look up. There’s three or four white tables spread out on the lawn in front of the dorms. A handful of students are rushing between them, carrying boxes and table cloths.
“Why are we holding a book fair anyway? Isn’t that an elementary school thing?”
“Well…it’s not a book fair exactly.”
“Then what is it?” He opens his mouth to answer, then pauses. I follow his gaze to see a petite brunette. Ah, she must be…
“Hey Mimi!” Hearing Josh’s call, she turns around, catches sight of us, and walks over with a smile.
“You came!”
“Yup, yup we’re here to help!” I squint at him, “yup, yup”, Really man?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
She turns to me, “and this is?”
“Ll, P’w Ejw.” P lcagbvemf wsrfio lc qijmf bo ws vlragjmafv oglfcv.
“Hi Ram! So right now we’re just unloading the books and stuff before Sensei and the others get here. Then, you can either stay or leave during the actual event-oh no, not there. Sorry I have to go-” she hurriedly gestures towards some students before rushing off. Sensei, what Sensei? My mind wanders to my third grade obsession with ninjas.
“Hey, I’m going to go see if Mimi needs any help.” I look up but before I can respond, Josh is off. Well, guess I might as well find something to do. I make my way over to the largest pile of boxes.
“Lfs, vb kf pera ecibjv atf ybzfr bc atf ajyifr?” P vlgfma ws defralbc abkjgvr j rxlccs yibcvf ues ja atf rlvf.
“Ktf bcfr klat yief ajqf ub bc atbrf ajyifr. Efv klat gfv. Dijmx klat yijmx.”
“Xba la.” P ugjy j ybz jcv rajga ecibjvlcu ybbxr, cbalmlcu tbk atfgf’r kjs wbgf bo atf yief atjc atfgf lr bo gfv bg yijmx. Cgbecv akfcas wlceafr ijafg, kf’nf ecibjvfv jiwbra jii bo atfw. Pc meglbrlas, P qlmx eq bcf bo atf mbqlfr bc atf yief ajyif.
“Siren’s Song…” On the cover is a painting of a woman dancing on a piano. I finger the bumpy ridges.
“The cover is beautiful isn’t it?” I whirl around to see a familiar Asian guy.
“Chen?” I inquire in surprise.
“Hello Ram.” His smile is soft but tired looking. “Do you like literature?”
“Oh, I came here with a friend. I mean, I do like reading though.”
“Friend?”
“Josh.” His eyelashes lower as he tries to place the name.
“He’s interested in Mimi.”
“Ah, a lot of people are.”
“Are you?” He looks up in surprise.
“Me? Why would I- Didn’t I ask you for your number?”
“But you never called though.”
“I – that was because -“
“Sensei! When did you sneak in here?!” It’s Mimi. “Come on, get to your table! The event is going to start!” She rushes over and drags Chen away. He throws a pleading look towards me, calling “I’ll talk to you after the event!” Then, he’s dragged to the empty table adjacent to the two with the books, and placed in a seat with a pen in his hand. As if on cue, people start trickling in and lining up in front of him. I notice the skinny blonde standing to one side and I walk over and nudge him “hey, what’s going on?”
He looks at me like I’m stupid. “It’s a book signing. What are you doing here if you don’t know that?” I shrug, fair enough. Then I point towards Chen and the other two individuals – two women – seated at the three empty tables, surrounded by books.
“So they’re…”
“The authors, student authors who’ve already published their own books. This is their student held book signing, open to the community”
“Wow. And he’s Sensei?” I point towards Chen.
This time he gives me a really dirty look “How can you not know Sensei? He is like a God, one of his books was on the New York Times bestsellers list and he’s still a student”.
“Wow.” I look towards Chen and watch as he hands a little girl a lollipop from who knows where. She giggles and he responds with a soft smile.
Around two hours later the event finally concludes and after cleaning up, Chen and I decide to grab lunch at the bagel shop on campus. I order a three meat and cheese bagel for myself and I notice that Chen just grabs a plain bagel.
“Is that all?”
“What?”
“No protein?” He shoots a look at my sandwich.
“Well I can’t eat all that.” I pinch his fleshy arm and laugh. “No wonder there’s no muscle here!” He pulls his arm away and blushes, causing my laugh to awkwardly trail off. I scratch the back of my head.
“So…why Sensei?” I ask as we take a seat at one of the tables.
“Well…they refer to authors as Sensei in Japan…”
“Are you Japanese?”
“Huh? Oh no, I’m Chinese. However I do love anime – Anyway, it started out as a joke by one of my friends, eventually everyone started calling me that.” He shrugs with a smile.
“So you write fantasy?”
“Well…fiction and primarily historical, with an occasional bit of fantasy, and supernatural added in. With the rare bit of sci-fi, romance, realism, or horror”
“Huh, so then a bit of almost everything?” I ask with a smile.
“Well…” he blushes, then opens and closes his mouth twice. “I like to write…about dreams.”
“Dreams?” I cock an eyebrow.
“Yes, I find it interesting how people, whether in the past or present, continue to have the same desires, the same wishes or dreams which are universal throughout any era.” I scrunch my eyebrows, puzzled.
“Well-well take the Romeo and Juliet case. That same idea of not being able to marry who you wish because of familial constraints has been repeated over and over throughout popular culture. Take the movie Crazy Rich Asians for example. And while it’s based on a stereotype, all stereotypes have a basis in reality.” I flinch, a nice Tamil girl.
“So, what about you? What are your dreams? Becoming a writer?” I ask him.
“Well…” his eyes flicker. “My family was against me becoming a writer.”
“But now they’re not because you’re successful? So you’ve achieved your dream?”
“I…something like that.” I scrutinize his expression but he avoids my eyes. I shrug.
“I’m a business and computer science major.” He looks up and his eyes brighten.
“Oh really? Why that?”
“Well, I’ve always had an interest in math and problem solving, at least I prefer it to liberal arts. Eventually I just found myself naturally going into business. So I just decided to do that along with computer science. “Since,” I chuckle, “as my parents continually remind me, it’s where the money’s at right?” I glance towards Chen and notice that he’s looking down.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with being a writer. I mean, you’re successful.” I hastily add.
“Hm? Oh, yeah.”
We sit there in silence for a moment, chewing our bagels.
“So-so you want to go into business?”
“Consulting for now, yeah. I just got hired by McKinsey, they’re a firm based in New York.”
“New York? So…you’re going to New York soon?”
“Huh? N-“
“So you’re going to New York. I should go.” He sharply stands and strides out of the room, still clutching his half eaten bagel, and I watch him leave. What’s his problem? He didn’t even let me finish talking and he was distracted the whole time. Wasn’t it him who asked me out first? Wait, was that even a date? Oh I give up.
Sighing, I grab my phone, wallet, and keys and exit the shop.
Eh? What just happened 0.0?
Thanks for the chapter!!