bChapter /bb32 /b

Valencia

“Hey” I said as he pushed his hand into his pockets.

“What happened?” I asked, and he shrugged it away.

“Nothing, just a paper cut,” He mumbled, but I wasn’t convinced.

But it was not so important, so I switched to the more important topic.

“Listen Thomas, I am serious. You don’t have to do this. You are a really amazing person and a good friend of mine

I began but he let out a humorless chuckle.

“Really? Am I your good friend, Valencia?”

I was taken aback by the sudden change in his tone.

“Uh, yes, Thomas.” I answered, but he ced his elbow on the table and bit on his knuckle nervously.

“bWhat /bare you doing, Thomas?” I asked band /bI could hear him shaking his leg nervously.

“Nothing, I am alright” He said and chuckled again.

I only waited for him to say something but then he grabbed a tissue, wiped his face with it and then rolled it before throwing it up

In the air.

That rolled tissue fell behind his chair.

“So, you say we are friends, right? So tell me, friend, what do you know about me?”

He drummed his fingers on the table and looked up at me,expectantly.

“Uh”

“I mean, you should know everything about me, right?” He asked and pped his hand on the table.

“Thomas, are you okay?” I asked, and heughed nervously again, his legs shaking and his shoes tapping against the floor incessantly.

“Yeah, yeah. I am fine.”

He said and put his knuckles in his mouth again and then looked up at me tough again.

*So, can you answer me?b” /b

I blinkedb. /b

“Friends don’t have to really know everything about each other, Thomas. Friendship is not just knowing what color you like.”

I tried to exin.

$13.08 SEb, /bb23 /bAug. Er D

Thomas reached for the tissue box and grabbed a tissue to wipe his face again. The new tissue paper roll joined the one he threw

before.

“And I don’t think you are feeling okay.” I added, but he pped his hand on the table a bit too hard.

I was taken aback and scooted further back into the seat, and Thomas realized I was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and

fear.

“No, no, no, no…” He got up from the seat and raked ba /bhand through his hair.

*Please don’t be mad at me. I get a little nervous when things aren’t going the way I hoped and my nervousness increases.”

When I didn’t react or reply, he looked at me worriedly and added,

“You think I am a lunatic, right? Shit, man, I feel awful to see that look on your face.”

I took a second to collect myself, but bcleared /bmy throat and replied, “It’s okay. People get nervous all the time.”

But then he walked beyond the seat and came to stand in front of me and got down on his knees.

“Thomas, what are you doing?” I said in an rmed voice as he linked his hands together as if he was praying to me.

*Please, please don’t be mad at me. I am a little entric and behave oddly at times but trust meb, /bI really really like you, Valencia, and I don’t want you to hate me.”

*Nobody is hating you, Thomas,” I said in a reassuring voice and I could swear I saw tears forming in his eyes.

“I know you have very high standards and I dont look bas /bsexy or cool as the hot men that girls typically crush over but I am really willing to try. You know I also enrolled in a gym. I am going to bulk up soon and have a six pack.”

I wondered what to say to that.

“Just get back in the bseat/b, Thomas. Don’t sit on the floor.”

-Just g

But he shook his bhead /bvehemently.

“No, I deserve this. I wanted this to be a special day, but look, I have already ruined it and now you hate me.”

Igently grabbed him by the shoulders and made him sit back on the chairs.

‘For the second andst time, Thomas, nobody hates you.”

He reached for another tissue and sneezed in

“I am sorry for making you feel ufortable”

“And you also need to stop saying sorry

I reached for a ss of water band /bgave it to him. He took it from me and gulped the entire ss in one go.

ny more awkward,

To not make it any

“Sophia told me that you are high school friends.”

49%2

At that he bgave /ba nervousugh again and corrected me.

She was not my friend. She was just a batch mate. And she kept ignoring me for weeks, thinking I was a scammer until i sent her our graduation pic in which the entire batch was standing together”

I made a sorry face at that..

“Yeah, yeah, I get that look too many times. I should have known better that pretty girls like you don’t think of me as a boyfriend, but just a friend.”

“No Thomas, it’s not like that-

Before I couldplete my sentence, the food arrived.

Thomas just raked a hand through his hair and looked at me,

“I mean, if you don’t want to sit with me and eat, you bcan /bleave.”

Meanwhile, the waiter was oblivious to our conversation and brought the food and began cing it on the table.

She then leaned close to Thomas and whispered something in his ear.

“Do you want us to bring the violins and the singer now?”

However, I had heard it already.

“No, no. That n is canceled for now.”

I felt utterly miserable and guilty as they walked away, and Thomas looked at me awkwardly.

I didn’t want to make him feel any more bad, so I grabbed my spoon and fork and said instead.

“Bon Appetit”

He looked up at me nkly and I put on my best cheerful smile.

“I am hungry, Let’s beat /b

His face brightened, and he nodded.

“Oh, sure, sure. Of course, let’s eat”

The food was delicious. Even if he had asked Sophia about my favorite things to eat, I appreciated the efforts he took in organizing this lunch.

The food was really tasty, and I wanted to leave on a good note. He was also my colleague and had already helped me once by sitting in the basement with me all bday/b.

lowed it to him.

So we ate happily, and I tried to talk about the office and work, some light conversation because the silence between us was growing awkward.

b“/bSo do you live here with your family? Or a bachelor like me?”

13:09 Sat, 23 Aug to

He munched on his mashed potatoes as he answered, “Just me and Gran.”

LLS 49% D

When I looked at him in confusion, he added, “I mean me and my grandmother. It’s been just the two of us for as long as I can.

remember.

“Oh, your parents?”

“Got divorced and dumped me on Gran’s door to go their separate ways. They both got married and started a new life. So they forgot about me.”

Shit

I should not have asked him that.

“Well, you are not the only ones with absent parents,” I bsaid/b, and he looked up at me with concern.

“Oh, yours left you toob?/bb” /b

“No, I left them.”“”“

“Why?” He probed on.

I shrugged. “Let’s just say I wanted a bit of freedom.”

He seemed to wonder more about it but was interrupted when his phone rang. And I saw ia /ifamiliar name sh on his screen.

Mrs Bripes.