Page 16

Now

Time had apparently begun to slow. It felt like years until Saturday came, and until then, every waking hour was spent thinking, scrutinising over the plans Seth had.

Plans that involved him and Nina finally hanging out beyond their train rides home.

Frustratingly enough, Jae was nowhere near half as nervous as Seth was.

“Do you know what you’re going to wear this Saturday?” Seth asked Jae during their lunch break on Wednesday.

Jae had shot him a strange look then.

“I don’t know, am I meant to think that far ahead bro?” Jae said, with a scoff.

God, were they two helpless boys. Boys in 22-year-old bodies, who by now, should have had loads of experience dealing with girls, and dates, and everything in between. Yet, during Seth’s occasional hook ups (it wasn’t occasional, perhaps seasonal), he never worried this much.

Seth gave him a sceptical glance. Huffing, Jae ended up showing him the photos he’d taken of numerous outfit ideas.

Seth would’ve laughed, if he didn’t come to the realisation that Jae’s wardrobe was so much cooler than his own. How did this guy manage to look like a walking art palette?

That very same night, which was only two nights away from the “friend” hangout slash date, Seth scoured his closet in disappointment. He realized he had no affinity for buying clothes with at least a smidge of style.

And it wasn’t even because all he owned were monochromatic plain colours of blues, blacks, greys. Jae could make them look good. It was the fact that the jeans he owned wouldn’t look good paired with any of the shirts either.

As an insult against his pride, Seth found himself sliding down the wall in dismay over his poor fashion sense.

That very same night, his Dad caught Seth scouring his closet.

“What are you doing?” his Dad asked at the doorway of his walk-in closet, startling Seth. Tossing aside his ego, Seth begrudgingly revealed a watered down explanation, being that he had no fashion sense and wanted a change.

At this, his Dad enthusiastically chose some outfits that may or may not have looked a little too blue collar for a 22-year-old going on a friend's hangout.

Respectfully, Seth declined.

On the night before the fateful hangout, Jae reluctantly offered to lend some of his own clothes to Seth.

Jae lived a little farther away from Seth, in a suburb called Newtown which was much closer to the city than the west. Newtown was also considered a fashion hub.

Everywhere Seth looked, there were lavishly dressed people.

Jae lived in a small apartment nearby a bus station, which he shared with his older sister, who worked in the city.

The both of them had moved here from South Korea to study, with Jae having lived here for almost 6 years now.

As Seth stepped foot into Jae’s apartment, he smelt the sweet aroma of home cooking.

Slipping off his shoes, he peered around at the compact space.

Seth had never really been inside fully before.

Whenever the two studied together, it would always be at the UTS library. And as for hanging out outside of uni, they usually did at Seth’s place. The only time he’d dropped by Seth’s apartment was to drop by a borrowed item of his in the first year.

On a pan atop the stove, was a freshly cooked serving of japchae, glass noodles which he’d seen Jae bring for lunch before.

“Sorry about the mess, by the way,” Jae said, waving around at the pristine space.

Jae led him toward his room, toward the wardrobe that would save him. Sliding open the wardrobe door, Seth was hit with an array of various options and styles before him.

“What kind of vibe were you going for? Monochrome? Flashy? A little grunge, like bad boy style? Or more soft boy?”

Jae threw out these terms as if Seth’s brain would understand any of them. He soon seemed to realise that Seth was hopeless, and decided to pick out an outfit for Seth instead.

He pulled forward a black polo top (that definitely looked so much more stylish than the options Seth’s dad presented to him), along with a pair of black trousers, and a belt to go with it.

Even if it was a fully black outfit, it looked much better than whatever Seth was going to put together. And quite formal. As Seth took the clothes, he suddenly felt unsure.

“It isn’t…too much? For a casual hangout?” Seth asked.

Jae raised his brow, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

“Seth, you and I both know that for both of us, this isn’t just a casual hangout.”

10am, at the station. That was their agreement.

Yet, Seth was there at 9.30am. He’d woken up two hours before, as well. Ate a good hearty breakfast, rather than his usual apple and cereal fished from the pantry. He’d spent extra time this morning in the bathroom too, obsessing a little too much over the growing pimples on his chin.

Why was he even getting pimples? Wasn’t that only reserved for teenagehood?

Usually, Seth didn’t pay much attention to his hair. It wasn’t important for him to care over it, besides the general brush and comb through.

This morning, however, he’d taken the extra time to apply some sort of hair product - mouse, was it?

Or maybe it was wax. Either way, it had made his hair appear a little slicker.

He’d also raked it away from his forehead.

He wasn’t used to looking this way. To looking cleaned up (come to think of it, he wasn’t used to feeling this way either).

Seth couldn’t remember a time when he’d cleaned himself up this way for a casual hangout.

Not even for his dates had he styled his hair this way.

Nor wore clothes this stylish. Shaking away the thought, Seth deduced that it was time he had his glow up, anyway.

Not all of this was for Nina - no, it couldn’t.

He simply just wanted to start…feeling nice. Looking nice.

He simply just wanted to -

“Seth!”

Nina was walking toward him. Her short hair was half-tied up, with stray strands of it whipping across her forehead from the wind.

She was wearing this maroon dress that reached her ankles, paired with a shirt beneath it. Her cheeks were painted the slightest hint of red, and Seth couldn’t tell if it was because of the wind, or if Nina had applied it herself.

For him. For this.

A tint of gloss, however, coated her red lips, complementing her features.

Nina was waving at him, lips stretched into a wide grin. For him.

He stood there motionless. A classic fool.

She looked like the type of beauty that writers agonised over.

“Have you been waiting long?” she asked as she reached him, huffing slightly.

He shook his head, remembering how to move.

“Well, that’s a relief. Actually, you’re here a bit early, it’s still 10 minutes to go,” she pointed out, as she peered at the time projected on the train station screens.

He should say something witty. Something bantery. Instead: “Yeah.”

Nina chuckled softly. It was then she took the time to take him in, to, dare he say it, check him out. Her eyes raked over his figure, her eyebrows perking up.

“I love what you’re wearing today,” she said, clearly impressed. Seth resisted the urge to blush, and even harder the urge to smirk. “And wow, look at your hair.”

Before he could comprehend what she was doing, she had reached up and felt the strands of his hair between her fingers. The sensation sent shivers through him, as if he was cold, even though all he felt was heat.

“You look good,” Nina said it like she’d come to a conclusion, nodding in approval, with a thumbs up.

He laughed. “What?” she asked, her smile wide.

“You’re acting like I’m a project or something. You look good, with a thumbs up and everything,” he said.

Nina rolled her eyes, punching his bicep.

“You know what I mean.”

She was blushing. He realised she was blushing. That little detail, one he could’ve easily missed, enlightened something in him.

Maybe.

Maybe this was their second chance. A rewritten story, one that slipped from them in high school.

He had to remind himself that it was only a second chance, because he hadn’t grasped the importance of the first.

If only…