Right now, I am hanging out with Darrel along with our other friends. We are at the porch playing mobile legends while there are foods in the middle of the circle we had formed using our sitting arrangement. As much as we tried our best to win the game, we failed. The game ended with groans of frustration, looking at the screen as we lose one star. Suddenly, Darrel yelled, "Hey, wanna join? Five man, ranked game."
Curious, I glanced at the direction where Darrel is yelling. I stare in awe at the girl, standing in the balcony of the house just across us. Her mother is a good friend of ours who is very friendly to the people in the neighborhood, just like his brother who is actually with us in the circle. However, this girl seems to be an antisocial. She barely goes out. When she does, she is with her mom, buried in her oversized hoodie and her pretty face hidden underneath a black face mask. Some of my friends would talk to her mom, and that was when she would stand behind her mom as she waits for the conversation to finish. She would wait in patience, I'm not sure if she is listening to the conversation or not, because often she has earphones on.
Some would say hi to her or wave, she responds minimally. Sometimes her mother would force her to communicate and that's when she waves a hand first. I am not outgoing as my friends so I just look at the scene while I observe her. Not a single time her eyes landed on me, she is always looking down or checking her phone. But this time, I caught glance of her eyes on mine. I see no emotion.
She replied to Darrel, "Okay, invite me to the game. I'm online."
I am impressed at how good she plays. We won five times then she told us she has something to do. Since that day, I found myself checking their house. Hoping to see her, even just a glimpse of her shadow. Maybe I am a good observant that I have come to memorize some of her routines. At 9pm, she would walk around the house with earphones on, deep in thoughts that she wouldn't even notice eyes on her. When she finishes that ritual, she would go inside their house to play mobile legends. I open the game too, hoping that she invites me. Sometimes she does, sometimes she does not.
There are times she goes out. As her brother told me, it is for educational purposes. I once waved at her, but she didn't respond because she didn't look around. She went straight to their house the moment her foot landed on the ground as she exits the bus. As someone who hangs out a lot with friends, I don't know how she manages to live without social life. So I added her on social media. I am wrong. She has a lot of friends, they even tagged her on a lot of memes. Her timeline looked like it was her friends' because she rarely posts. So I thought maybe she doesn't like the people in the town.
Until one day, I saw her at the beach with her brother, Toby. They are playing mobile legends together. I said hi to Toby. We started talking, hoping she would join, but she did not. She just listened in silence and focused on the game.
Time came and I no longer see her. Not even her 9pm ritual was accomplished. I never asked Toby where his sister is. It just came up while we were playing our usual game when Darrel said, "How I wish Nadia was her to play with us." Hearing what he said, I just stared at the offline status of Nadia's game account. Right, she hasn't been online for one month.
"She's away for college," Toby answered, looking unbothered with his sister gone.
Then summer came and a bus stopped right in front of their big house. There came down Nadia, her hair now long and dark brown. Her skin paler than the last time like she hasn't seen the sun for the time being while she was away in the city. Her eyes landed on mine for the second time, still no emotion was shown. Not seconds later, a handsome guy came out from the bus as well. He has that city vibe that my friends admire. And that's when her hazel eyes sparkles, smiling sweetly at the guy.
I have always been denial of the way I feel for her. Now seeing her with someone else confirms that I have always been in love with her. Here I sat at the porch of Bryce's house, looking up at the balcony where she is talking to the guy. His name is Walt, as what Toby told me. The statement made me smile for my name is Walt as well.
credits to google for the images
