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‘Oh, boba.’ He nodded. ‘I keep messing up the A and the S.’

‘I think that calls for a break,’ I said, taking a sip of my bubble tea. I looked around the shop and admired how well-designed it was. I took in the ambience it was putting out—with its bohemian theme decorations and potted plants occupying one of the other corners.

‘So why did you decide to learn ASL?’ Colton asked, taking my attention away from the shop and to him.

‘I don’t think there was a concrete reason, to be honest,’ I told him.

‘I’ve always found sign language fascinating and when I was registering for my classes during my freshman year, I saw they had offered ASL as an elective.

I just had a feeling in my gut that wanted me to take it.

I know the class wouldn’t be anything advanced, but I figured it was a great place to start. ’

‘Freshman year?’ Colton arched an eyebrow.

‘Yeah. I wanted to take the elective since my freshman year, but my other classes always clashed with the ASL class time. So, when I could finally take it this semester, I jumped at the chance and here I am now.’ Then I added in a playful tone, ‘stuck with you as my partner.’

He chuckled lightly. ‘What do you mean when you said you find ASL fascinating?’

I took a moment to mull over his question.

‘I think there’s something beautiful in communicating without words.

I mean, I know learning ASL is a necessity for some people.

But I don’t know,’ I shrugged. ‘People always go on and on about the beauty of different languages, but ASL is a language too. And I just don’t think it’s appreciated as much as it should be.

To me, communicating in ASL feels like you’re talking to another person in secret, where you don’t have to utter a single word. ’

The silence that followed was a bit unnerving, so I kept my eyes down to my bubble tea, worried I might have scared off Colton with my random ramblings. But when I finally dared to glance at him, he had a genuine smile on his face.

I could feel my cheeks start to heat up with the way he was looking at me. ‘Anyway, enough about me. What’s your ASL story?’

He took a long gulp of his bubble tea—that he was already close to finishing—before he started narrating.

‘I’m not sure how much you know what entails if you’re on the college baseball team, but as long as you’re a part of it, you’re required to attend a few charity events here and there.

You know, to keep up a good public appearance? ’

I nodded for him to continue.

‘We attended an event last semester for kids. Just teaching them how to throw, catch a baseball, and how to swing a bat,’ he said to me.

‘And I noticed this one boy sitting in the corner all alone. So, I went over to him to say hi and started talking, but he just waved back at me and stayed silent. I thought he was just shy, but then one of the volunteers at the event told me that the kid was Deaf.’

His voice started getting softer as he continued telling the story.

‘And since no one there knew ASL, the kid pretty much glued himself to the corner. I asked one of the volunteers for a notebook with some pens and we just used the notebook to write down whatever we wanted to say and pass it to each other to communicate,’ he continued, his face wearing a tender look, matching his soft tone.

‘Eventually, he wanted to try swinging a bat, and I ended up just spending the entirety of the event with him. When I got home that day, it got me thinking that ASL might be something I want to try and learn. So, when I saw it was being offered by the university, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to start.

I know I won’t be fluent but I’m hoping I’ll at least learn a few sentences to use for future events.

‘And here I am now, stuck with you as my partner,’ he finished off with a smile, throwing my words back at me.

I gave him a smile of my own, while internally trying to calm down the chaos that had been going through my mind at that very moment.

I knew there was a chance I’d be tempting the curse, when I agreed to us being partners for this class.

But I had also relied on the fact that my crush on Colton would be gone once I learned he’s nothing like the Colton my infatuation had built him up to be.

Nothing like the fantasy hero version of him I thought about.

Turns out the real Colton was much better.

A small part of me had been hoping for him to say he took the ASL class for the sake of fulfilling the requirements, and that it was the only one available. This would have tremendously helped me dissolve this silly little crush that I had on him to overcome the curse.

But, instead, he was telling me he had decided to take ASL so he could talk to Deaf kids?

I think my crush on him had just grown.

The curse really is cruel.

‘That’s very thoughtful of you.’ I finally said, after a beat of silence.

‘It’s the least I can do,’ he shrugged.

‘What was his name?’

A fond smile tugged on his lips. ‘Phillip.’

‘Well, I think he deserves a toast from us. What do you say? To Phillip?’ I raised my bubble tea, which he laughed at before tapping his bubble tea with mine.

‘To Phillip,’ he replied as both of us took a sip of our drink.

As I was chewing down the boba, I couldn’t help but think whether I wanted to hug Phillip or strangle him for unintentionally being the one to bring Colton into my life.

I internally sighed at the thought.

Guess we would have to wait and see.

This area of town had always been the hub of anything and everything for the people living here—whether temporarily or permanently.

Rows and rows of restaurants, small shops, boutiques, and bars filled up entire streets, with the occasional apartment buildings smacked in between.

I might have lived there for the past two terms, but new shops had always been opening every time I returned after the summer break.

Once we had decided we were done with our ASL practice for the day, we finished up our drinks and left the shop. The girl working behind the cashier waved us goodbye.

Colton’s car had been parked a few shops away from the bubble tea shop, so it was quite a walk, and I took the time to admire the slow bustle of the street.

It might have been a college town, but there was a certain air to it, which made you want to live in the present moment, rather than hustle at every second.

As we were walking in the direction of his car—Colton standing in the middle between the road and me—I noticed there was a grocery store across the street from where he had parked. Buckets of flowers carefully wrapped and neatly stacked covered its front.

‘Hey,’ I stopped him from opening my car door. ‘Do you mind if I go take a look at the flowers over there?’ I pointed to the grocery store.

He looked at where I was pointing. ‘I don’t mind.’

I assumed he would have waited for me in the car, while I headed over there and looked around. But he surprised me by locking his car instead, and said, ‘Let’s go.’

We made sure to look on both sides of the road before crossing.

Once the roads were clear, I felt a gentle push coming from my back.

I turned my head slightly to see what it was, finding Colton standing by my side, his hand at my back and guiding me while we crossed the road.

I couldn’t fully feel his touch with my backpack in the way, but I could imagine how warm it would be.

I quickly shook that thought out of my head. ‘You don’t have to come with me, you know? And again, I can just walk back to my apartment. It’s not that far,’ I reminded him once again as we reached the opposite street.

‘It’s fine,’ he told me, pulling his arm back to his side once we reached the sidewalk.

‘Are you sure? I don’t want to make you late for practice or anything.’

Colton turned to me, putting both of his hands on my shoulders, and stared straight into my eyes. ‘Yes, I am sure.’

I wasn’t fully convinced, and he must’ve seen it from the look on my face.

With a small smile on his face, he said gently, ‘Practice doesn’t start in another hour, and campus isn’t even a ten-minute drive away from here.

I already have everything I need in the car.

So yes, I am sure of this, and I am driving you back home. Stop doubting me.’

‘Okay,’ I replied, giving him a small smile of my own. I appreciated Colton for using logic to back up his reasons, and it did help settle a part of my guilt. Since we were already on this side of the street, I might as well take a look.

A sweet scent filled the air the closer I got to the store. The beautiful flowers took up almost half of the sidewalk, while the radiant colours of the petals welcomed me in their embrace once I was close enough to fully admire their beauty.

Colton stood patiently by my side as I took my time looking at them. My hands gently caressed each of the flower petals that I had passed by.

I was admiring the red tulips when I heard Colton ask, ‘Do you have a favourite flower?’

I tilted my head at him and caught him looking at the gardenias, his hands reaching out and touching the petals softly with his fingertips.

And I couldn’t take my eyes away from him.

My crush on Colton had been superficial, I would freely admit to that.

It was shaped by seeing him from afar in the stands, as he scored points for the baseball team, fully living up to his reputation of being a star athlete.

But at that moment, he had just seemed like nothing more than another guy, admiring flowers with a fond look on his face.

Colton’s eyes met mine and I instantly looked back at the tulips, a rush of heat filling up my cheeks. ‘I don’t really have a favourite flower. I just like whatever looks pretty,’ I answered him. ‘Bonus if it’s in pink.’

‘So pink flowers then?’

‘You could say that.’

I finally got to the section of flowers that had first caught my attention from across the street. The pink roses.

Looking at the flowers, I thought about whether I should bring some home. Nina and I had never really put flowers in our apartment before. But I was pretty sure we had a vase somewhere that I could put on the coffee table in the living room to brighten up the space.

‘What are you thinking hard about?’

My head snapped up, seeing Colton standing closer to me than he did moments before. Close enough that our arms had almost been touching.

‘I’m thinking about whether or not I should get some flowers for my apartment,’ I told him, my mind stuck in a dilemma.

‘Go for it,’ he urged me.

I raised a brow at him. ‘You think so?’

‘Why not?’ He shrugged. ‘I mean, if having flowers in your apartment makes you happy, then why not get them? Isn’t that a good enough reason as any?’

I couldn’t fight back a smile even if I tried. ‘You’re right, that reason alone is enough.’

And before I knew it, I was walking back to the car with pink roses in one arm.

Colton opened the passenger door for me and offered to hold my flowers while I climbed into the car. I thanked him as he passed them back to me, closed the door, and made his way over to the driver’s seat.

When we arrived in front of my apartment building, Colton parked his car at the drop-off spot and once again stepped out of the car to open my door for me.

‘Thank you.’ I smiled at him. ‘I’ll see you next week then, partner?’

He gave me a nod. ‘Next week it is, partner.’