“Oh my gosh Dawn, be quiet, he’s right there.”
“Whatever. After how he treats her, what he said about her, I don’t care if he hears.”
Seth grew rigid at the comments, but stayed in place, sipping at his water bottle, as though he couldn’t hear them.
“But you’re right, Ethan is so much better than Seth. Nina deserves so much better.”
“Way better. She’s too good for Seth, and always has been.”
At that, Seth stood up, dropping his water bottle onto the grass this time, and ran back onto the field. He continued with the game, but he didn’t play as well as before. He kept missing the goals. He told himself, back then, that it was nothing. He was just tired, and the sun was much too bright that day. The heat was muddling his brain.
Yet, he couldn’t stop glancing over at Nina and Ethan, who were sitting under a tree, talking.
As the term passed, nothing ever eventuated from Nina and Ethan.
Seth remembered feeling glad about it.
Her heart is still mine.
21
Now
The train rides returned, as though it’d never stopped. Seth and Nina fell back into their rightful routine, like nothing had changed.
For the first couple of days that they met up again, Seth got there extra early so he could get her favourite mint hot chocolate at a cafe nearby the train station. He wanted to show her just how serious he was about his apology. To amend what he’d done, and truly make up for it.
Nina was surprised, and insisted many times that it was nothing. But deep down, Seth could see how much she appreciated the gesture.
Their conversations fell back into its steady pace, interchanging between recalling vague memories from high school, to chatting about their mundane lives, to discussing pop culture likes and interests.
It continued like that, for the rest of May, when the leaves from April’s autumn finally gave in and coloured the ground with its shades of orange, maroon and brown. During the last couple weeks of May, Nina had excused herself from their train rides, because of her end of semester exams.
Seth had noticed how she’d started to chew her cheek more, and pick at her nails.
He kept assuring her that she’ll do amazing, that she’s the best person at English he’d ever known. Nina laughed it off, claiming that he only knew that from her reputation in high school.
On the morning of her exam, Seth texted her beforehand.
Seth: Good luck! You’re going to smash it :) Text me as soon as you finish
She replied only half-an-hour later.
Nina: I’m so nervous…ahhh! But thank you :) I will!
For himself, Seth kept on working hard at the internship, while also chipping away at his capstone project. Somehow, making up with Nina again had fuelled him. Inspired by her drive and passion for her course, he himself spent one night in May expanding on his brainstorm points that he’d done back in April.
Inspired by his love for horror games, he decided on the idea of a first-person, puzzle and action driven narrative set at a research facility of sorts. It was still hazy, but it was something.
Finally, June rolled by, along with the full blast of the cold, winter weather.
Seth, himself, still had to come into uni, but Nina’s first trimester was already complete. He actually dreaded having to catch the train by himself, and tried not to dwell on how much he missed her presence.
After all, he couldn’t let himself think about her as more than a friend right now. Not while she had someone else in her heart. It wasn’t fair tohim, or to her.
Or their friendship, which was becoming one of the best parts of his life.
It was on a Wednesday night, in the first week of June, that Nina managed to slither her way back into Seth’s daily routine. After having dinner with his family, and having no brain energy at all to work on his capstone, he texted Nina to ask what she was doing.
