The Last Group Study
The closer the entrance examinations came, the quieter everyone became.
The excitement that had filled the first few days of study holidays had disappeared somewhere between stacks of practice papers and sleepless nights.
Nobody talked about university anymore.
Now, conversations revolved around formulas they couldn't remember, chapters they hadn't finished, and the growing fear that time was moving faster than they were.
It was Rui who finally broke the silence.
"We're getting absolutely nowhere."
Kai looked up from the Physics paper spread across the table.
"What do you mean 'we'?" he complained. "I'm suffering the most."
"You've been suffering since the first year."
"Exactly."
"So nothing's changed."
Kai clicked his tongue dramatically.
"You know what? I don't appreciate this friendship anymore."
Dev laughed from where he was lying on the floor, an open Chemistry book covering half his face.
"You never appreciated it."
"I appreciated it before exams."
Chen looked up from his notebook.
"Then appreciate it after exams too."
Kai let out a long sigh before throwing his pencil onto the table.
"I swear these exams are trying to kill us."
Rui didn't even bother looking up from the Biology notes in his lap.
"You'd fail even without exams."
Kai stared at him.
"...You know what?"
He grabbed the nearest worksheet, rolled it into a tube and tossed it across the room.
Rui ducked instinctively.
Before the paper could hit him—
Chen reached out without looking and caught it neatly in one hand.
The room fell quiet for a second.
Chen blinked.
Then calmly placed the worksheet back on the table.
"...Focus."
Dev burst into laughter.
"I don't know what's funnier."
"The fact that Kai threw it..."
"...or that Chen caught it."
Kai folded his arms.
"I was aiming for Rui."
"I know."
"You ruined the moment."
"I prevented property damage."
"It's paper!"
"It still belongs to someone."
Rui finally looked up.
"...Mine."
Kai sighed dramatically.
"I need better friends."
"No," Rui corrected.
"You need better grades."
Another burst of laughter filled the room.
For the first time that morning, the heavy pressure hanging over everyone seemed to lift, if only for a moment.
As expected, the group had gathered at Jian's house.
His mother had insisted there was enough room for everyone.
The living room no longer resembled a living room.
Books covered almost every inch of the floor.
Physics.
Chemistry.
Mathematics.
English vocabulary lists.
Past entrance examination papers sat in uneven piles beside half-empty notebooks.
Coffee cups stood forgotten near the window.
Three empty tea glasses had somehow migrated beneath the table.
Snack wrappers lay crumpled beside Kai, who insisted they were "study fuel."
The ceiling fan rotated lazily overhead, barely disturbing the humid summer air.
Outside, cicadas sang without pause.
Inside...
only pencils moved.
For a while.
Then—
"...Does anyone remember this equation?"
Kai held up his notebook helplessly.
Rui glanced over.
"You skipped two steps."
"I skipped understanding."
"That explains a lot."
"I hate all of you."
"You've said that six times today," Dev muttered without lifting his head.
"And I'll say it seven."
Chen quietly moved closer.
"Show me."
Kai slid the notebook across.
Chen studied it for a few seconds before writing another line beneath the equation.
"You forgot the conservation law."
Kai stared.
"...That's it?"
"That's it."
"...I spent twenty minutes on this."
Chen smiled.
"You'll remember it now."
Kai buried his face in his hands.
"I wish I didn't."
The room fell quiet again.
Only pages turning.
Pens scratching.
Someone sighed.
Somewhere outside, a dog barked.
The hours drifted by almost unnoticed.
By early afternoon, the exhaustion had settled over everyone.
Kai had begun making mistakes he normally wouldn't.
Dev spent nearly five minutes staring blankly at the same Chemistry diagram before realizing he hadn't read a single sentence.
Even Rui's usual sharp remarks had become slower.
Only Chen remained impossibly patient, explaining the same concepts over and over without showing the slightest irritation.
Jian quietly reached across the floor toward Wei's notebook.
He circled a calculation.
"This should be negative."
Wei glanced down.
"I already know."
Jian looked at him.
"...Then why's it wrong?"
Wei opened his mouth.
Closed it again.
Then rubbed his forehead.
"...I just missed it."
Neither of them said anything after that.
The room became oddly quiet.
Not because they were angry.
Simply because they were tired.
The kind of tiredness that made every correction sound harsher than it was meant to.
Jian nodded once.
He didn't argue.
He simply returned to his own paper.
Five minutes passed.
Maybe ten.
The only sounds were pencils moving and pages turning.
Then, without a word, Jian slid another worksheet across the floor toward Wei.
One problem had already been worked out.
Every step was written clearly in Jian's neat handwriting.
Wei looked at it.
Then looked at Jian.
"...Thanks."
Jian shrugged without lifting his eyes from his own book.
"Don't make the same mistake twice."
"...I won't."
That was enough.
Whatever small tension had appeared disappeared just as quietly as it had come.
Neither of them had ever been very good at staying upset with the other.
By late afternoon, everyone's concentration had finally collapsed.
Kai stretched both arms above his head before letting himself fall backward onto the floor with an exaggerated groan.
"I quit."
"You can't quit," Rui replied.
"I just did."
"The exam won't accept your resignation."
"It should."
Dev copied Kai immediately, lying flat beside him and using a notebook as a fan.
"I vote for a break."
Chen looked around the room.
"...Probably a good idea."
Wei set down his pencil.
"My head hurts."
"Mine stopped working an hour ago," Kai mumbled toward the ceiling.
Jian stood.
"I'll get drinks."
"I'll come," Dev answered immediately.
"And snacks," Kai added.
"You've been eating all day."
"I study better when I'm eating."
"You've also been studying worse."
"Details."
The room slowly filled with laughter again.
Someone suggested bubble tea.
Someone else argued for shaved ice instead.
Within minutes, Physics had been replaced by an entirely serious debate over desserts.
It felt...
normal.
For the first time all day.
When Jian and Dev returned, everyone's books had been pushed into untidy piles to make space for plastic cups and paper bags of fried snacks.
Kai grabbed food before anyone else could.
"I was protecting it."
"No," Rui said.
"You were stealing it."
"Same thing."
Chen shook his head with a quiet smile.
The conversation wandered from exams to old teachers, then somehow to childhood stories nobody remembered correctly anymore.
Nobody noticed how naturally the afternoon had slipped into evening.
Kai suddenly looked across the table.
"...Wait."
Everyone paused.
He frowned thoughtfully at Wei.
"Where have you even been studying these days?"
It was an ordinary question.
Asked without much thought.
Wei answered just as casually.
"At Jian's."
Immediately.
Without hesitation.
Without explanation.
The words left his mouth before he even realized he'd spoken.
Silence.
Kai blinked.
Dev slowly lowered the cup in his hands.
Even Rui stopped halfway through opening another bag of snacks.
Across the table...
Jian looked up.
His eyes met Wei's.
Wei blinked once.
The realization arrived a heartbeat too late.
He hadn't stopped to think.
Hadn't searched for an answer.
Hadn't considered saying home.
The words had come naturally.
At Jian's.
As though there had never been another answer.
Neither of them spoke.
The room remained suspended in that quiet moment.
And somehow...
the silence said far more than either of them ever could.