"Why the f**k am I still working here?"
Sunny slammed the register drawer shut a little too hard. A few coins jumped like they, too, were tired of being part of his daily misery. He leaned over the counter with a scowl, muttering to himself.
"I'm a goddamn model. For real. I pose for f**king fashion brands now. People pay to put shirts on my face. And I'm still bagging bread for aunties who can't count change?"
Daniel, sitting on a stool across the counter, popped open a soda and nodded solemnly. "Tragic."
"Don't 'tragic' me," Sunny snapped. "Do you know what it's like to strut down a marble runway with lights and cameras and—two days later—mop up someone's spilled chocolate milk off the linoleum floor?"
"You didn't even mop it."
"I emotionally mopped it."
The store's door chimed.
Lehya walked in, looking like she hadn't slept but still had enough energy to kill someone with a pen. "Wow. You're still here?"
Sunny didn't even lift his head. "Yes."
Lehya snorted. "Aren't you like… a model now?"
"Thank you. Finally. Someone acknowledges my suffering."
She rolled her eyes, then looked at Daniel. "Aren't your finals next week?"
. . .
And just like that, the air went cold.
Daniel froze mid-sip. Sunny blinked twice.
"Wait, what?" Daniel asked slowly.
"Yeah," Lehya said. "Next Monday. You guys seriously didn't—?"
"Next. Monday?" Sunny repeated like he just heard his execution date.
In the background, Isac—who had been silently checking expiry dates for fun—just nodded.
"Yeah."
Daniel let out a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a dying frog. Sunny stumbled back like someone had shot him in the leg.
"Oh my god. Oh my god I have nothing ready. I haven't even touched my books! Where are my books?! Do I have books?!" Sunny started pacing in the same three-foot space behind the counter like that would somehow summon a solution.
Isac calmly placed a juice box back on the shelf. "We could study."
Daniel turned to him like he had just spoken in alien.
"…Now?"
They ended up at Sunny's apartment.
Technically, Sunny said no. Very clearly. Three times.
"You can't just come to my place," he told Isac, standing firmly in front of the door like some kind of half-hearted bouncer.
Isac blinked once.
Then opened the door and walked inside.
Sunny stood there, stunned. "Hey—HEY! YOU CAN'T JUST F**KING DO THAT!"
"I just did," Isac replied, walking in like he paid rent.
Daniel trailed in behind them, trying not to laugh. Sunny muttered something about boundaries and calling the cops but didn't actually kick anyone out.
They studied for two hours.
At least… they did.
Sunny, after exactly forty-five minutes of pretending to care about physics, leaned back on his floor pillow and stared at the ceiling like it owed him money.
"I'm gonna f**king die," he declared.
"No," Daniel said, flipping through his math notes. "I think you're doing okay."
"I haven't learned anything. I just wrote 'energy equals MC hammer' and now I don't know if that was a joke or a mistake."
Daniel snorted.
Isac was quietly scribbling notes beside him.
"Hey," Daniel leaned toward Isac. "Can you explain this part to me again? I still don't get this history sh*t."
Isac nodded and leaned in, his voice quiet but surprisingly patient.
Five minutes later, Daniel blinked at his notes.
"I still don't get it."
"I can repeat it."
"Will I still not get it again?"
"Probably."
Sunny peeked from the floor. "Maybe if you pretend the Battle of Plassey was a rap beef, he'd understand."
"I'd definitely understand," Daniel said, completely serious.
After two hours, Sunny sat upright.
"…If I study another minute, I'm throwing myself off this balcony."
"You're on the first floor," Daniel reminded him.
"Then I'm throwing you off."
Skip. Exam week. Hell week. Gone.
They survived.
Somehow.
As they walked out of school after the last paper, the three looked like survivors of war.
Sunny stretched and yawned like he just woke up from a thousand-year nap.
"That was easy," he said.
Daniel turned to him with wide, manic eyes.
"Easy?! ALL THAT CAFFEINE! ALL THAT F**KING CAFFEINE!! I HAVEN'T BLINKED IN FOUR DAYS."
He was not joking. His right eye twitched a little.
Isac just patted his back like one would pet a traumatized hamster.
"Let's go hang out," Sunny said, ignoring Daniel's caffeine-induced breakdown.
They ended up walking near the plaza, grabbing cheap ice cream and teasing each other over who probably failed what. Daniel felt good. Tired, but… okay.
That was rare.
He liked these days. The ones that felt like they actually happened, instead of just being survived.
They found a place to sit under some shade—just a low wall near the street, concrete warm from the sun. A breeze was drifting by, and things were quiet.
Peaceful.
And then—
A voice.
Low. Calm. Quiet like a knife being unsheathed.
"Hey."
Daniel's blood froze.
He didn't even turn to look.
He didn't have to.
He knew that voice.
Something in his chest cracked open. Not loudly. Just… softly. Like the quiet panic of someone waking up in a place they swore they'd never return to.
His hands tightened around his knees.
He turned slowly.
The man standing there wasn't like the others.
Tall. Sharp. Something dangerous sitting behind his eyes—but not the kind that screams or swings fists.
The kind that waits.
A predator who knows they don't need to chase.
He was smiling. But it wasn't a greeting. It wasn't warmth.
It was recognition.
And Daniel's mouth went dry.
"Long time," the man said.
No one around noticed anything strange. It looked like a normal conversation.
But inside Daniel's head, everything screamed.
He couldn't breathe. Couldn't move.
His legs felt nailed to the ground.
In the distance, footsteps approached.
Sunny and Isac were just walking back from the public toilet nearby, casually talking about snacks and whether Sunny should bleach his hair.
Isac stopped first.
His eyes locked on Daniel. Then the man.
Something shifted in his gaze.
Sunny was already stepping forward when Isac held an arm out.
"Don't," he said, quiet but firm.
"What?"
Isac kept his eyes forward. Watching. Waiting.
"It's his past. He needs to face it. If we interrupt it now, he'll never stop running from it."
Sunny clenched his fists. "What if that guy tries something?"
"He won't," Isac said. "Not today."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm watching."
Back in front of the wall, Daniel didn't say a word.
The man didn't touch him. Didn't raise his voice.
He just stood there. Letting his presence poison the air. Letting Daniel feel what it meant to be prey again.
It was a test.
It was always a test.
But Daniel didn't break.
Not this time.
He didn't speak. But he didn't run either.
Eventually, the man stepped back.
Still smiling.
And walked away.
No words. No threats. Just silence and a cold trail of fear behind him.
Daniel didn't move for a long moment.
Then, slowly, he stood.
His legs were shaking.
But he stood.
Isac watched him from a distance.
And finally… nodded.