Park

My dimmed room made what little light filtered through the curtains appear blinding. Everytime the window entered my vision, it would leave behind violently deep imprints. The additional warmth and humidity turned the darkness into dankness.

There was no refuge to be found in the summer breeze since the window had to be closed; to save on the energy bill, my parents had set the AC to the highest temperature that wouldn’t give us heat stroke. This trapped me in an uncomfortable thermal limbo.

Creeeak!

I turned to see my mom peek through the crack in the door. She resembled a plague doctor with her hefty mask and tied up hair, and scanned the room before making eye contact with me.

“Seems clean,” she said wordlessly with a nod. I nodded back. We must’ve miscommunicated, since she walked into the room holding an old rag and a bottle of air freshener.

My mom swiftly pulled down her mask, sniffed the air, spritzed some “citrus mist”, and retreated without closing the door. No conversation was made. I closed the door with a sigh. The smell of artificial freshener tickled my nostrils.

I’ve been told that my room was musty, although I wouldn’t know since my nose had long since adjusted to the smell. Today, however, I could feel the mustiness underneath my skin. It made me want to shower for the second time since I washed off all my sleep sweat this morning. If the water bill didn’t exist, I’d clean my sheets everyday.

The clock ticked.

Whoops. My study break was a little too long.

Sitting at my desk, I flipped through course material from the first maths class we had. The professor had spent ninety-percent of the time going through the syllabus and introducing himself, before cramming the entire first lesson into the remaining ten minutes. It racked my brains considerably; it had been four years since my last formal maths class. I was progressively losing my focus the more I studied.

Just as I forced myself into another flow state, my phone rang. I glanced at the screen.

Call from Seri.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Park!” she shouted. Her voice was heavily filtered, like the phone was cutting out background noise.

“What?”

“Come! The weather’s so nice today.”

“I’m studying right now.”

“Let’s study together!”

“Whyyyy?” I yawned, leaning back in my chair. My brain lacked the motivation to get up and go to the park.

”I can’t focus at home, and it’s been four years since my last maths class. I’m sure we’ll get more done together,” Seri promised.

She had a point. Maybe I’d get more work done outside. The afternoon was passing by, so the sun’s hottest hours should be over by the time I got there.

“Alright, I’ll be there…” I said, closing my eyes. That was a mistake, since I had trouble opening them again.

“When?”

“Soon.”

“Make it quick! I need to pee.”

“…did you call because you needed me to watch your stuff?”

“Sorry, it’s really loud here. See ya!”

Beep.

~~~

I found that in the digital age, university students spend so much time inside that we developed unrealistic standards for the outdoors. Shows and movies were colour graded to vibrant greens and blues. In reality, the grass was often yellow and the sky was usually pale. Scanning the area, I saw elderly couples, young women walking tiny white dogs, and a girl in a beige top waving at me from a nearby picnic table. I squinted at her. She wore a loose tee with jean shorts, silently mouthing the word “hi”.

“What do you think of my desk setup?” Seri asked loudly.

“Dirty.”

It was scratched up wood, covered in various suspicious brown crusts and water droplets. It wasn’t exactly disgusting, but it did create an annoying mental hurdle for me to overcome. Seeing Seri sitting at the bench just fine, I swiftly brushed it with my hand and sat down. It was indeed just fine.

“Do you need to go to the washroom?” I asked. “I can watch your stuff.”

“It’s okay, I went already. I couldn’t hold it in for that long.”

“What about your stuff?”

“The couple over there watched it for me!” she said, pointing at an elderly man and woman nearby. “Look! They have matching sweatsuits and everything, it’s so cute! I love old people.”

“You should’ve been a long-term care nurse then.”

“That kind of love is different. I cried on my first day working at the senior centre.”

“Why?”

“I like seeing old people happy. It’s stressful having to-”

Riiiing!

It was a phone alarm. Seri responded like a sleeper agent – her back straightened, expression darkened, and arms braced into typing position on her laptop.

“Break’s over. Don’t distract me.”

“…sure.”

I made myself comfy at the bench and organised my setup. Laptop, textbook, earphones… was that a bug?

An unidentified foreign speck crawled towards the edge of my book. I would’ve mistaken it for a piece of dirt blown by the wind if it wasn’t travelling in such a consistent direction and speed. A part of me wanted to shudder. I brushed it away and opened my textbook on the table.

“Here,” Seri said.

I looked to see her handing me a rock.

“What’s this for?”

“Huh?”

“…?”

We held eye contact for a moment. I expected her to start laughing or crack a joke, but she just nodded sympathetically and placed the rock next to my textbook. She continued to study and left me in suspense.

I stared at the rock for a few seconds before turning back to my laptop, when-

Fwoosh!

The wind had blown my textbook five chapters ahead. I swore and irritably flipped through the book. In the midst of my desperate struggle, I saw Seri smiling at me. She pointed at the rock.

Ah.

Feeling a little dumb, I placed the rock as a weight on the edge of the pages.

“Maybe the fresh air will clear up your head.”

Stop reading my mind.

I sighed. Turning back to my studies, I started typing notes, but…

The sun casted a shadow over the hinge of the book. I squinted a little to read the words that were half-covered in darkness. The contrast irked me. I looked over at Seri. She used her hand to stabilise the book and keep it shadow-free, while she typed with her other hand-

Hey! She wasn’t even using a rock!

My sigh brought to attention that my throat felt hot and dry. When I opened my backpack, a reflexive sense of dread overcame me before I even looked inside. It was a traumatic premonition reminding me that I left my water bottle at home. I confirmed the reality with a glance and sighed again in exasperation.

“Is there a water fountain here?”

“You didn’t pack water?”

“…no.”

“Here, have mine.”

As I was about to wrap my fingers around the bottle, Seri suddenly jerked it back.

“What’s the magic word?” she asked.

“I love you.”

“…!”

In her temporary state of shock, I snatched the water from her fingers and drank without breaking eye contact. She furrowed her brows and smiled in feign disgust. There was a warm itch growing in my chest, but I was too frustrated to pay it any attention.

“Man,” I said. “I keep getting distracted.”

“But isn’t it a nice change of pace from your room?”

“It is… but it’s way too inconvenient.”

“Yeah, the park’s pretty bad for studying.”

“Do you usually study here?” I asked.

Seri shook her head. “Usually my backyard. You can go inside whenever you want, there’s washrooms and water and food… oh! We should try a café next week!”

“Sure… wait, then why’d you come to the park today?”

“I wanted to study with you.”

“Ah.”

We looked at each other for a moment. My eyes struggled to keep contact. I guess I felt flustered that someone wanted to spend time with me.

“Thanks,” I said. “How’ve you been studying at home?”

“Pretty well!” Seri exclaimed. “I was watching videos on study strats, and made a new study system.”

“Oh, what’s it like?”

“You wanna try it out?”

“Sure…”

“Okay, I’ll call you at eight-thirty tomorrow.”

“…AM?” I asked.

“Make sure to eat breakfast early.”

I massaged my temples. “I usually wake up at ten… why are we doing this?”

Her eyes sparkled. “It’s like a dayinmylife!”

“A what?”

“Day. In. My. Life! You know the videos where you watch someone’s daily routine? I’ll call you in the morning, and we can do my new study schedule together!”

This felt similar to her bucket list idea.

“Come on, just one day! It’ll be fun, and you’ll get more done than you did today.”

“S-sure. Just sit down.”

“Really?!”

”You’re too close.”

“-ah.”

Seri was leaning over the picnic table, firmly clasping my hand in both of hers. Her cheeks reddened.