Ping sighed, muttering under his breath about how he was delayed.
He raised his head quickly ready to scold the one who had delayed him.
But the words died on his lips.
He froze. His eyes widened.
The person standing in front of him – tall, poised, and radiating a familiar presence – was not who he expected.
The scent hit him first, clean. Subtle. Intoxicating.
Slowly, almost unwillingly, ping lifted his gaze fully.
"..... p'keng?".
The name slipped out before he could stop it, confusion clearly written on his face.
The man in front of him paused.
His eyes met ping's for a brief moment, the noise around them seemed to fade– the chatter, the footsteps – everything falling away until it was just the two of them standing there.
Keng looked at him for a long second,his expression clearly readable.
"Ping," he said quietly.
Just one word.
But it hit harder than anything else.
Ping stood frozen,his heart pounding violently in his chest.
A thousand questions rushed to his mind – why are you here? Where did you go? Why now?
The pain pressed heavily against ping's chest. So many words crowded his mouth – questions,anger,hurt but none of them made it past his lips.
Instead,he turned.
And ran.
His vision blurred as tears formed in his eyes,his footsteps uneven as he pushed past students who stared in confusion.
"Ping–!" Rain called, startled.Not understanding what was happening, Rain hurried after him.
"Don't tell me you're crying because of how handsome that senior handsome is?" Rain asked,half-joking, completely lost.
Ping stopped abruptly.
He turned to look at Rain, eyes glassy, stunned – by how weird and dumb his question was .
He didn't answer.
He simply turned away again and walked off, his shoulders tense, his steps quick.
Behind them, keng stood frozen.
He took a step forward instinctively, ready to go after ping.
But a hand grabbed his arm.
"Keng", Bank said firmly. "He's hurt and probably confused right now. You should leave him be".
Tao and jinn stood beside them – they had attended the same school,ping definitely didn't notice them because of the shock of seeing keng.
"Seems like our friend has a lot of explanation to do", Tao teased lightly.
Keng shot him a sharp look, his expression dark.
Tao raised his hands in surrender, but a small smile tugged at his lips.
"I've got goosebumps all over," he muttered. "You never look at us the way you look at ping.... So cruel".
Keng said nothing.
His eyes followed the direction ping had gone – long after he disappeared from sight.
Back at the dorm, Rain noticed how quiet ping had become after the orientation, he even told him a new gossip but he didn't react.
He didn't ask questions immediately. Rain was the kind of person who noticed feelings before words – who worried about others even when they try to hide it.
He walked over slowly.
Ping was sitting on his bed, staring at nothing. When he looked up,his eyes were already filled with tears.
Rain hesitated for a second,then opened his arms. "Hey..... Are you okay?"
Ping didn't say anything. He simply leaned forward, letting himself be pulled into Rain's embrace. The moment he did, the tears fell freely.
He cried quietly, his shoulders shaking.
"It's okay to cry", Rain said softly
"You don't have to talk now, you can talk later".
After a while, ping's breathing steadied.
He pulled back suddenly, wiping his face.
"I didn't know you had this sensible side", ping said, mocking Rain.
Rain blinked, stunned "Huh?".
His expression clearly said but I just helped you.
Ping stood up,lay down on his bed, and turned to face the wall.
Rain sighed and returned to his own bed.
After a moment of silence, Rain spoke again.
"You wanna talk about it?"
Ping didn't turn around. "You don't look trustworthy", he replied flatly.
Rain opened his mouth to argue,then closed it.
"Thank you", ping said suddenly.
Rain paused, surprised "you're welcome".
But ping was already asleep.
Rain didn't mind, he lay by, staring at the ceiling,a small smile tugging at his lips despite the worry in his chest.