Silence to Confidence

“You two really went off, huh?” Trinity says to Kelly and Eugenio. The room continues to fill with laughter as each memory progresses. The night is still young, too. A lot to go through with each point of view progressing and revealing. Cold mugs still in their hands, food dirtying their fingers, and voices filled with joy.

“Of course, we just clicked and ran with it,” Eugenio says. “I can say she is truly my bestie.”

“You know what, I feel the same way.” Both chimed in with laughter. “Anyway, Trinity, you should be next.” She gives the baton to Trinity. She isn’t the most grand of all talks, but she can get it on when she has a topic.

“Okay,” She takes a deep breath and tries to remember the story, but to no avail. “I’m sorry, guys, but I clearly forgot about the first day.”

“Hey, don’t be. How about this, when did you meet Aka?” Gregory asks, also curious about that topic that everyone is also curious about.

“Oh, yeah,” She finally has a topic to talk about at the expense of forgetting the first day. “Okay, I met her when it was around break time.” Every sentence she is about to say recovers the lost memory gap into the memory computer.

The room fills with trees in the park just near the campus. Benches are everywhere in the park, with palm trees covering them with their leaves. One of them is Trinity Dela Santos. Taking a break from the study session, she sits down at a bench and starts doodling in the park. It isn’t the best drawing, but she is learning progressively. Just as she is about to sketch the next subject, a young student sits beside her at the bench.

“Hmm?” Trinity stopped what she was doing and saw a beautiful, shy lady. Long, silky, black hair. Loose-fitting pants, jumper on top. Her brown eyes meet with her aquamarine eyes. She stares at Trinity’s sketch, amazed by it like she hasn’t seen a sketch before. Her eyes lifted up and for a brief moment saw eye to eye. The woman nods first to Trinity, and she follows the nod to her. She continues to draw, and the woman continues to watch. The sketch went on for at least an hour until Trinity finished the beautiful drawing.

“Ah, yes, finished!” She stretched her hands and back as she felt the strain. As she was about to pack up, the same lady was still there. Looking at her. Trinity felt something was wrong; the girl was staring nonstop, unable to speak or open up a conversation. While she fixes her things, she gets the courage to speak up.

“Uhm, hello?” As Trinity greets her, the woman gives a small nod to her. No words followed. “Do you like my… drawing?” She asks again, and another small nod was the reply. No words followed again. “You’re quiet around people, aren’t you?” Another nod. Well, Trinity expected it.

“Yeah…” She didn’t expect the reply from her. “...I do.”

“Then, why didn’t you talk earlier?”

“Uh,” The girl’s response is very slow, but she does reply in more ways than one. “Because, I’m… shy.” Her fingers grabbed a small piece of linen cloth and played with it, rubbing it with her thumb. Trinity is now aware of what she is handling. She smiles as she finishes packing up.

“I’m Trinity. What’s your name?”

“A-Aka. I’m Aka.” She still feels shy about introducing herself to Trinity. “I’m Japanese.”

“So you're from Japan?”

“Yes, I’m from Japan.”

“Cute!~” Trinity replies, with a smile on her face. She is knowledgeable about some Japanese phrases, as she is self-taught in the language. Aka, upon hearing it, flushed red. Hands covered, embarrassed. “Ah, sorry, are you okay?”

“No, no, I mean, yes. I’m alright…”

“Okay,” As she was about to leave, she noticed something about Aka. “Wait, that ID lace. Are you from Blue International University?”

“Yeah, that’s where I attend. Why?” As she asks why, Trinity pulls out her ID from her back pocket and notices that they both attend the same course, Public Administration. Aka’s eyes lit up in excitement. In the current University, there is only one batch doing Public Administration with around 20 students.

“Since we attend the same class, let’s walk together?”

“Yes!” Aka was ecstatic, well, too ecstatic that it startled Trinity at first, but she didn't mind. Both went back to Uni for the next class. The next sessions were tough as nails. 2-3 hours of studying. It was dawn, and Public Management students finished their last class. Trinity packs up, preparing to go for an hour commute home. As she opens the door, Aka awaits her by the window.

“Were you waiting for me?”

She nods.

“Aka, we’re friends, right?”

She nods once more. Trinity grabs her hand, very firmly, she assures her.

“Don’t be so shy around me. Okay?” Aka gulps lightly; she might have been intimidated by what Trinity said. “I want you to be yourself.” Aka’s hands trembled with a mix of excitement and fear. However, she smiles, knowing she gained a friend.

“I’ll be… myself,” Aka says, nodding too much in fact.

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow?"

“See you tomorrow.” Trinity heads towards the exits to reach for the bus, and Aka waits for her ride to go home.

“She really is shy in nature, but I’m happy she gets to feel comfortable.” The room filled with smiles as Trinity wrapped up her story. Aka may have been red with all the memories that happened, but it made her happy. Everyone silently claps for the storyteller.

“Can’t believe Aka didn’t talk to Trinity for a whole hour,” Oliver said with the unfiltered statement. “Must have been so awkward.”

“Well, unlike you, you barged in.” Aka with another punchline to Oliver. “Wait, sorry… That’s not what I meant—”

“You really love to tease me, no?” Oliver smiles, Aka flustered once again. She doesn't usually deliver the punchline, which is very rare for her nature. “Just joking, Aka.” Another round of playful nature from the Englishman. Everyone smiles softly with the exchange, but Oliver had a sudden thought.

“Also, if that’s how they met, how did the four of you meet?”

“We four were in the same class,” Eugenio replies.

“Really?”

“It was in Politics and Governance that we got to know each other.”

“Wait,” Trinity stops trying to remember what it was and finally does. “Was it the group project?”

“Bing-bong~” Oliver gives a ringing sound that she is correct. “That was the first time we four met. Then followed by the two drinking buddies.”

“Oh come on, we really love to take a pint,” Gregory replies with an expressive tone.

“Like I said, drinking buddies.” Everyone laughed at what Eugenio said. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes…” As he talks about the past once again, the room of privacy turns into the room of academics. The teacher just announced a group project and let them choose who their groupmates are. Everyone is scrambling who they should include. To no one's surprise, Kelly goes to Eugenio.

“You know I can’t say no to being your groupmate, right? Kelly teases him.

“We’ve known each other for like a month now, of course, this would be the scenario,” Eugenio replies as his eyes are on the lookout for people who want to be in a group. Just as he was about to give up, two students approached them.

“Uh, excuse me, but are you guys in need of more members?” Aka asks him quietly.

“You’re in!” Kelly didn’t need to ask; she let them in with no hesitation.

“Well, that was quick,” Eugenio says, raising an eyebrow with an impression. They have time to spare before they head home— the class time was around early evening. They get to know each other because of this.

“You guys are…?” Eugenio asks politely.

“I’m Trinity, this is Aka.”

“You’re ID laces, you aren’t from the education department…” Kelly is being observant as always. “PolSci?” (Short for Political Science).

“Public Administration to be exact.” Aka answers, well, she just spent her talking points. “I hope you guys take care of us—”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Kelly cuts her off. “We’ll definitely help you two.”

“Thank you!” Aka being grateful for the assurance. “Then, let’s talk about the project?” She asks, giving eye contact to the three. Her eyes were so beautiful that the other two paused for a moment to admire them. She noticed them not answering. “Uh, ya~hoo?” She waves at them near their eyes. Finally, the two snapped back and finally answered. “Sure!” Both agree in unison, and the same followed for Trinity. The planning seemed to go smoothly. Trinity and Aka explained the subject, Kelly and Eugenio seemed to understand, well, that’s unless some need explanation. After some time, the professor made an announcement.

“Alright, class, the first and only to report next class will be Group 4.”

“Group 4? That’s us…” Aka seems surprised by the drawing of lots. Everyone else thought so, too.

“Wait, sir!” Trinity with some sort of objection tone. “Shouldn’t Group 1 go first?”

“I drew lots, and you guys were the first, so no objections, unfortunately.” As the professor says this, he dismisses the class. The group seems to be in panic mode; however, they are determined to finish such a task ahead of them.

“Feels rigged if you ask me,” Gregory says with a heavy thought of it all as it returns to the present.

“I mean, can you blame him?” Trinity responds. Quite the callback since she despises the professor. Her remembering that day made it quite awkward; however, she remembered something from the next class after that day. “This next part is actually where we met you guys.”

“Oh, this sounds lovely…” Oliver doesn’t seem to remember since he’s still drunk.

“Well, my memories are hazy that day, nor when it happened,” Gregory says the same. As Trinity prepares to tell the tale, Aka had something to say to them.

“Well, actually. You two… saved me.”