64 It Started When Our Eyes Met
**My University Days**
The first day of university that I had worked so hard for was a gloomy day with dark clouds. That didn’t make me look forward to my time at university any less that I initially did. After getting accepted into the business school of one of the leading universities in the country, it was an added bonus that one of my friends from high school also made it. It wasn’t exactly a surprise that she also made it because we had studied hard together in order to make it.
I had to say that I was pleasantly surprised that another girl from my class was aiming to major in business in university like I did. Perhaps it was common for girls in other schools but the girls in my school usually took the marriage route or attending major in the arts. Her name is Francia, and she had been attending the same high school as me; however, we did not get close to each other until we found out that we shared the same goal for university.
Although I would like to say that Francia was truly unlike the other girls from school who were crazy about men, that wasn’t exactly the case. The truth was that Francia had been dating an older guy for a while now with the approval and joy of her parents. If I wasn’t wrong, her boyfriend was two years older and had started university by the time that they started dating.
“I heard that you also want to study business at university. Is that true?” I asked excitedly.
“Umm...yeah. Did the teacher tell you about it?” Francia asked shyly.
Francia smiled shyly at me as her light brown eyes twinkled. Her long fingers started twirling a lock of wavy brown hair as she looked at me.
“Yes. The thing is, I share the same goal as you. Let’s do our best and get into university together,” I said enthusiastically.
“Really? That’s awesome. Let’s study together and let’s both get in. It feels better knowing someone else is sharing the same aim as me. Most girls are going into art...” Francia said with relief.
.....
“I know. Why do you want to get into this program?” I asked curiously.
“The truth is that my boyfriend is studying there now. So, I want to be with him...maybe we’ll get married after he graduates from university,” Francia admitted shyly.
There wasn’t anything wrong with that, but I had to say that I felt slightly disappointed. I thought that she would be vastly different from the other girls from our school but that didn’t turn out to be the case.
“Good luck! All the more reason to study hard,” I replied before flashing her an encouraging smile.
Finally, the first day of university arrived and along with it came the entrance ceremony. The campus was much larger than our school and there were many people here today. I had arranged to meet up with Francia so that we could go through the administrative process of the first day together. There were no classes on the first day and so the day ended quite early.
“Are you free after this?” Francia asked.
“I guess. Why?” I replied casually.
“I’m meeting my boyfriend after this, and I wanted to introduce him to you...” Francia said a little proudly.
“Oh, right. I haven’t met him although I’ve heard so much about him,” I said, feigning interest.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk about him all the time,” Francia said with a laugh.
Let’s just say that it isn’t uncommon for girls to show off their boyfriends. I kept a smile on as I pretended that I was interested.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m fine with tagging along but are you sure that I won’t be getting in the way of your date?” I asked, hoping that she might offer me an excuse to avoid the trip.
“It’s not really a date. Let’s go. We can eat out at a nice place too,” Francia said before tugging on my arm.
“Umm...if you say so...” I mumbled.
We arrived at the restaurant that was located not far from university. Probably because of the high price, the restaurant was almost empty, and it wasn’t hard to spot one of the very few tables that were occupied.
A man with short blond hair waved in our direction before calling Francia’s name. That must be Francia’s boyfriend, Philip. Francia literally dragged me by the hand as she hurried over to the table where her boyfriend was seated. I had to say that Philip seemed like a decent guy, and he seemed very sociable.
My evaluation of him was confirmed when he started introducing himself to me smoothly. Francia took her seat opposite her boyfriend while I took the seat next to here at the four-person table. When I sat down, that was when I realized that there was a man in the seat opposite me. Was there a man sitting next to Philip all this time?
Philip was still chatting loudly to me and Francia, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying at all. My eyes and mind were focused on the man sitting opposite me. The man had ash blond hair, a very fine complexion, very long eyelashes and the hand that held the book that he was reading looked so refined like it had never known a day of hard work. Truthfully, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.
Despite the fact that Philip was chatting away and the fact that I had just sat down opposite him at the table, the man didn’t even look up from the small notebook that he was reading. It was like he belonged in a parallel universe, and to him, we didn’t exist.
“Oh, sorry sorry. I forgot to introduce this guy here. Girls, this is my best friend, Brandon. Brandon, say hi to the girls...” Philip introduced his friend.
That was when I learnt that the man sitting opposite me was called Brandon. If Brandon heard Philip’s voice, he chose to ignore it.
–To be continued...
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