What Do You Think of Her?

Saturday, August 3. 12:01 pm.

‘See ya next week!’

‘See ya!’

Another few hours of quiet reading have gone by, Yan once again waving goodbye to Crystal as he steps out of the bookstore. At this point, it’s become another habit of his, another session in his weekly routine. Even if they don’t really do much other than read, sometimes together, sometimes apart, every session ends with both of them having smiles on their faces.

Next up, time to buy takeout.

Yan has gotten used to her presence now, or at least so he believes. Her tone of voice no longer feels annoying at all, her rambling now just part of every meetup, serving to kill any and all silence outside of book reading. Sometimes, he might even find her voice pleasant to listen to even if he didn’t really get anything from her rants.

Conversations also feel far more natural now. Despite him still constantly defaulting to his ‘bruh’s, ‘sorry’s, or whatnot, they are less frequent than before. Best thing is, every time Crystal speaks, he learns something new about her, literally embodying the soul of a storyteller. It can be about friends: last week, she told him of a peculiar incident she had while being with Angela and Summer. It can be about academics: just then, she was complaining how her parents forced her to go practice the violin (or was it viola?) the other day when she wanted to meet up with friends. It can be about gaming: recently, she kept recommending him another sci-fi console game called Near-something, and despite not understanding a single bit of the game’s terminology and mechanics, he still managed to pick up the general story of the game.

And what did he do in return? He just listens to her, sometimes bringing up what scarce experience he had. She can go on and on for nearly half an hour and his mouth would still be pretty much shut. It’s just a habit of hers to keep talking, he guesses. With her dramatic descriptions and gestures, in a way Yan is listening to a collection of stories, reading it from her face and voice.

Opening up snippets of her life for others to experience, describing them in beautiful, intricate detail… She can make a great author.

Oh, and of course, he’s been buying a book after every visit as promised. Today’s haul: a manga titled Stray Cats. No idea what the story is about, but Crystal did highly recommend it.

‘Hi Yan,’ a somewhat familiar voice calls to him, disrupting his thoughts. As he raises his head, he sees Angela walking towards his direction, probably heading to the bookstore as well.

‘Hi,’ he waves, no longer feeling any awkwardness compared to that encounter at the food court.

‘Is Cris at the bookstore?’ she asks.

‘Yea, she is—’ Wait. How did Angela know he came out of the bookstore?

‘Oh, nice! She told me to come to the bookstore before we head out for lunch. I tried to ask her if we could hang out earlier in the morning… almost forgot you’re usually with her at that time.’

‘Huh?’ Yan looks at her in confusion.

‘Yeah. Wait, were you at the bookstore earlier then?’

‘Uh, yeah?’

‘Yeah… Cris told me about you.’

‘That’s… nice.’ He can feel the awkwardness coming again. ‘Um, out of curiosity, what did she say?’

‘She’s just glad she finally has someone to ramble to all morning long,’ Angela laughs. ‘Dude, your patience must be insane to tolerate hours of her ranting.’

‘Well, we mostly just read in silence so it’s not that insane…’ Plus, isn’t it normal for Crystal’s closest friends to have endured more of Crystal’s flood of words than him? If he’s insane, then what’s Angela or Summer?

‘Girl literally could not stop once she’s started,’ she continues. ‘And she’s loud, don’t you think? Well, me and Summer being her friends for years have already gotten used to it, but I hope your ears are doing fine.’

‘Yeah, she’s loud,’ Yan admits. ‘But I’m oddly fine with it. I guess it’s cos I’m a bit deaf?’ He chuckles, thinking back to Herman’s various playful insults towards his senses.

‘I’m glad she’s got someone else who can tolerate her loudness,’ Angela smiles. ‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard stuff about you from her, but what do you think of Cris? Just curious, you know, considering you two spend every Saturday morning together recently.’

‘What do I think of her, huh…’ Yan looks upward to the sky.

Loud? That’s a given. Annoying? That’s been over with. Rude? Not really as it’s an illusion from her loudness and sense of humour. Kind? Ehh… sometimes.

‘Take your time,’ Angela says, noticing his hands fidgeting a little. ‘I’m not in a hurry— Oh, unless if you’re in a hurry. If you are, you don’t have to answer me.’

‘Hm…’ A thought finally comes to his mind. ‘I guess she’s… nice?’

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I think it’s how she’s very earnest about things?’ Yan finds himself saying. ‘Like she would recommend a lot of stuff she enjoys for me to try out. Oh, and she’s also very passionate about a lot of things. It’s like her life just feels very colourful.’

‘What else?’

‘Um…’ Why does it feel like she’s pushing me to say more about her friend? ‘I think sometimes she’s very scary, though. That time I did so bad at Hollow Warrior she looked so pissed at me lmao. But at least she’s very honest about her feelings.’

It is at this point when Yan realises he may have described a bit too much about Crystal. Considering he hasn’t even known her as a friend for that long, it feels a little pretentious to give so many details about his perception of her and taking it as fact. Especially in front of Angela, someone who almost always appears with Crystal at school like a sister.

Bit rude, innit? He thinks, pretending he’s speaking to himself in a British accent.

But instead, Angela looks at him with satisfaction. ‘You’re pretty observant, actually. When I asked her what she thought of you, she just said “he’s funny lmao”. That was pretty much it.’

‘Um… I guess she’s not wrong,’ Yan shrugs.

‘Nah, she actually said more—’

‘YO, ANGELA!’ Crystal’s voice booms across the street, surprising both of them for a split second.

‘Y-Yo!’ Angela responds after a good few seconds.

‘Leave Yan alone!’ she shouts. ‘He’s still gotta buy lunch for his family, so stop pestering him!’

‘Wait, you were in a hurry?’ Angela asks.

‘Uh, kinda… not really.’

‘Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry man,’ she hurriedly bows apologetically.

‘N-No, I’m actually not really in a hurry!’ Panicking at Angela’s sudden gesture, Yan frantically tries to stop her.

Behind, Crystal comes storming over and grabs Angela by the wrist, dragging her to the bookstore. ‘Come over here, you bitch…’

‘Y-Yes, ma’am,’ Angela chuckles weakly, her unsteady footsteps stomping on the ground.

That’s… some friendship they got there, Yan thinks, a little stunned at the exchange between the two.

‘Sorry for her keeping you this long!’ Crystal turns and shouts, waving with one arm while tugging Angela with the other. ‘Anyway, see ya!’

‘See ya…’

As he continues his walk, he calls back to his words with Angela about Crystal. It’s definitely far more positive than his initial impression of her, and over these few weeks, he has seen a good few sides of her, but compared to that, Crystal’s impression of him is just being a ‘funny’ person. Three— no, four weeks of consistent contact now, and to be seen as just that is a bit of a bummer to anyone.

It doesn’t feel true.

There must be more to that, right?