7: Romance Algorithm

“Alejandrino has decided to do his thesis alone. And Jeron will be teaming up with Terryl and Anthasia…” Professor Montey stated before starting the class’s next tasks. “Any concerns? Questions? Clarifications before we proceed to the next part?”

Some of them were surprised by Drino’s move. No one said anything until one student did.

“Why don’t Ashmille and Drino work as a pair instead?” a concerned male classmate questioned. He was sitting in front.

The professor looked at Ashmille and Drino.

“What can you say about it?” he asked them.

“Um, sorry, Sir. As I told you before, I would like to do it individually,” Ashmille answered.

“How about you?”

“No sweat, Sir,” Drino replied.

“Alright. That settles it.”

The class moved on to their next assignment. As discussed before in their last week’s meeting, they will now advance to developing their thesis ideas.

It took the professor about an hour to explain the lesson. Some students were listening attentively. Some thoughts are going nowhere. Some are getting bored and sleepy.

After the lesson, the professor gave them two hours to work with their groupmates.

Drino’s group went out of the classroom, just in front of it, to talk through something. The professor allows his students to go anywhere outside the room to discuss, such as the cafeteria or the library, as long as they return before class is dismissed.

“We could change our topic to the one you wanted. This is your last chance. We can still kick Jeron out of the group.” Anthasia convinces Drino.

“You don’t have to be mean, Anthasia.”

“Not literally, of course!” she scoffed. “What now? Are you in?”

“Look. Your idea, guys, is brilliant, especially since you got Terryl over there. I have no words of contradiction for it. And I am sure that you’ll nail it…” he paused for a second. “But it doesn’t resonate with me.”

“What? Don’t you want to work with us anymore? We’ve been together since we were freshmen.”

“Exactly. We’ve been working together in our college years, and maybe it wasn’t too bad to try other things.”

“So, you did admit that you don’t want to work with us.”

“It’s not like that. I love you, guys. I will always.” He assured her that nothing’s wrong with their friendship.

“We can adjust to having you. We’d love to work on the first topic, too. Right, Terryl?” she glanced at Terryl, who was standing behind her.

Drino looked at him. “Terryl, which topic do you choose?”

“Why me?” Terryl asked him.

“Be honest,” Drino remarked in a serious yet calm tone.

Terryl gazed at them. He gulped first before answering Anthasia’s question. “Like I mentioned before, the third.”

Anthasia frowned. “What are you saying? I thought we agreed on this?”

“It was just you. You never asked about my opinion.”

She looked puzzled. Now that she thought about it, she never asked Terryl’s opinion about his final thesis topic preference.

She turned to Drino. “Why are you being like this? If it wasn’t about us, is it really about the thesis topic?”

Anthasia wondered what drove Drino to make such a sudden decision. Their friendship seemed perfectly fine. If he just wanted to work on his own preferred topic, could that really be the only reason? Something inside her insisted there was more to it, but she couldn’t figure out what.

Drino was quiet for seconds. His face looked like Anthasia had hinted at something he was hiding.

“Don’t be too serious about this. We can always work together again, but this time, I’ll conduct it mostly on my own.”

“No, there must be-”

“Don’t sweat this thing up,” he said with a flat tone.

Anthasia froze. In that instant, she realized Drino wasn’t being nice anymore. He’s still considerate enough to calm her, yet he truly meant his decision. The firmness in his tone and the steady look in his eyes told her everything she needed to do. No amount of pleading or persuasion would make him change his mind. Those five words hit her. It silenced every argument she had prepared, leaving her with nothing but a heavy feeling.

She crossed her arms and glanced at Terryl. “What do you say, Terryl?” she asked his opinion this time.

She didn’t want to end their conversation without considering his feelings. It must be a group decision after all.

“I have no problem with Drino’s choice. So be it.”

Anthasia walked out. She went inside the classroom.

“Thanks, man,” Drino thanked him with a high-five.

“No prob. I got this.” Terryl smiled, saying he got this.

They both entered the room again. Drino sat in the same spot, but Anthasia separated his chair, a meter away from her and Terryl’s armchair.

Drino understands her behavior. He began analyzing his chosen final thesis topic on his own.

Some students consult with their professor whenever they like during class hours, while others prefer to work on their own first and wait a full seven days before meeting for guidance.

Not long after, the class ended.

“Hey, Jeron said he’ll be in charge of the research outline.” Terryl talks to her. “What about you?” Terryl questioned Anthasia about her contributions for next week.

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Why me?” He knows that she’s mad at him again, but it was truly about Drino.

“Because you recruited that guy to join us!”

“Now it’s my fault? It would be harder if it’s just the two of us.”

“Not that guy!”

“We can’t force Drino to stay with us. He wants to do it on his own. It’s nothing personal.”

“Yeah? I couldn’t convince him, no matter how hard I tried. And he’s acting odd for doing it.”

“He has always been odd… in a good way. That’s what makes him Drino.”

Anthasia remained silent. Her eyes met Drino’s. She rolled her eyes at him, picked up her shoulder bag, and left the classroom without saying anything to him.

“Gotta go. Good luck with your research.” Terryl gave Drino a fist bump and ran.

“Thanks. You too.”

Drino began organizing his things, carefully placing his school supplies into his backpack. As he shifted, a pen slipped from his hand and rolled under his armchair. He bent down to retrieve it. When he stood up, his eyes caught hers. He handed the pen back to the girl sitting across from him.

“Thank you,” Ashmille said with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” he replied.

Ashmille packed her stuff too.

“You should try writing that pen first.”

She glanced at him. “Hm?”

“I mean, your pen might not work after it fell. They’re high-quality pens. But once they drop, there’s a chance they could break.”

“Ah, yes. You’re right.”

She wrote something on a piece of paper with the pen she dropped.

“Glad it’s still working,” she stated with joy.

They both finished fixing their stuff and were ready to leave when Drino called her.

“A-Ashmille.” Drino stuttered, sounding unsure if he called her by her correct name. He approached her. “Sorry to interrupt you.”

“What is it?”

“Do you remember what Sir Montey suggested? Maybe we could help each other out.”

“Sure, that would be a great help for both of us. Oh, I didn’t mean it was a good thing that you broke up with your team,” she clarified her intention.

“It’s okay. We’ve cleared things already… Speaking of which, what’s your social media account? From what I remember, we’re not yet connected to any platforms.” He grabbed his phone and let her type her name on a specific social media platform. “So, we can talk about our thesis online.”

She typed her account name on his phone. “That’s me.” She handed his phone back to him.

“There. Request sent.” He sent a request to her account.

“Okay, I’ll go now.”

“Wait. How about your contact number? In case of an emergency, when there is no internet. So, we could still communicate, right?”

“Sure,” She typed her cell phone number on his phone and gave it back to him. “Done”

“Awesome,” he grinned.

“Just let me know that it is you who will text me.”

“Noted, Ma’am”

“Bye,” She waved goodbye at him.

He put his phone in his pocket and waved his two hands, “See you next week and talk with you later.”

Drino has secured his communications with Ashmille.

2 days later

It is Wednesday night. Drino is lying in his bed, thinking about his thesis. He isn’t the type to overthink about this stuff, but since it will be his last two terms in college, he would like to take this seriously.

He starts typing on his phone.

Drino: Good eve! When could we meet to talk about our thesis? :D

He initiated their first online conversation just like how he approached her in their last meeting. He would prefer to start it as early as possible.

Without a second thought, he sent the message on a social media app. He waited 30 minutes before receiving a reply from her.

Ashmille: Hi. Are you free tomorrow at 1 PM in the library?

Drino: Yup, see you there! :D

Ashmille: See you

Drino: Good night!

Ashmille didn’t reply but responded with a smiling emoji to his last chat.

Drino got out of bed and stretched a little before heading to his study table. He sat down on his chair and powered on his desktop computer. The soft glow of the screen lit up his face as he began browsing through several tabs, gathering information and jotting down notes. He wanted to get a head start on his research for tomorrow, hoping to be well-prepared.