4
"This thing drained me almost beyond reason—were it not for my end-of-year project, I would never have gone through the trouble of getting it." (the words of a frustrated Mike).
Hey! Mike "How are you doing?" (Kelvin's words as he saw his friend Mike).
"I'm doing good, Kelvin. What about you?
What's up?"
"Kelvin," Do you know that the professor had changed the end-of-year project from a single project to a group project and that we would be working in teams?
"Mike was caught off guard, flustered in the moment, unprepared for the sudden shift he never saw coming."
"Why?" I asked.
"Kevin," I don't know if you are asking me.
"Nevertheless, working in teams should not be as demanding as working alone, especially since the effort—and even the costs—can be shared among us."
The following day as I and Kelvin went to class to meet our new team partner, I found out that I had been matched up in the same team as Carlos, which at the moment wasn't a bother to me.
But one shouldn't decide his tomorrow today because today's shadow doesn't shape tomorrow's light.
Later on that day Kelvin invited Carlos to come and have lunch with both of us on a journey of discovering one another, peeling back the layers, and in time shaping a sense of familiarity between us."
which wasn't such a bad idea, to be very honest.
In the light of day.
when I, Kelvin, and Carlos met up for lunch.
"As we spent time getting to know each other, sharing moments of laughter and joy, Carlos, maybe by instinct, placed his hand on me.
At first it seemed harmless, but the touch immediately reminded me of something familiar—something I feared. What should have felt casual instead carried a weight, bringing back the very feeling I had tried to escape."
As I recalled whom that touch belonged to, I immediately ran and excused myself to use the toilet.
While I was using the toilet, I kept trying to wash off the area where Carlos' hand touched me, vigorously scratching my hand, trying my best to get rid of that touch.
I raised up my head and saw myself in the mirror. I saw my eyes, and there it dawned on me that I had seen this expression somewhere.
"Mike's mind"—yes, I remember now; this was the same look that Gracey gave me when we were together, and right there and then, it didn't just sink in—it crashed through that in that scenario, no matter what anyone may have said, I wasn't the victim.
After taking a few minutes to recalibrate, I came out and told Kelvin that due to some reason I wasn't feeling too well.
I had to excuse myself, and I left the cafe and didn't look back.
But to me I found it funny how we beg the stars for what we want, then flinch when it lands in our hands.
As I reached my dorm, I immediately started to reminisce on what had just happened.
Thinking about what my new plans are because I knew one thing for sure: there was no way I was going to be able to work with Carlos.
The next week, I went to our class professor, and I pleaded with him about whether there was any way I and Kelvin could get a new partner, and the professor told Mike that the only way he and Kelvin could get a new partner is if Kelvin also expressed the same feeling of wanting a new partner, which I knew was an impossibility because of that lunch.
Kelvin and Carlos,
Those two had literally become inseparable.
The professor, seeing how distressed I was now, told me that there is another option.
That he could remove me instead of Carlos and I and put me inside a new team.
I then thought that the professor's idea was also another reasonable solution, even though it wasn't the one I desired.
"I changed teams to perform better and to make sure my end-of-year group project went smoothly, without any drama or issues.
Everything seemed set until an unexpected and inconvenient surprise appeared—I had been placed on the same team as my ex-girlfriend, Gracey.
It was certainly an unusual way for us to be reunited, and not exactly the kind of reunion I had anticipated."