Looking For Hope

Chapter 7: The Beginning of Honors Classes and Nardho's Feelings

Author's remark/content warning: this chapter is dedicated to my sister who gave me ideas about the university's geography and to my mother who had been through thick and thin throughout my puberty. It is longer than my normal length and might be triggering for survivors of abusive relationships. Just know that there's a happy scene at the very end, though! 

The mood board/aesthetics for Johan is the work of @abihaatif22 and shouldn't be used without the artist's permission. 

After dinner with the tasteless burritos, Nardho had wanted to ask Moira to listen to his latest song on his guitar while Vannie and Nardhia played basketball with his roommates, who were actually nicer than their meeting would led one to believe, but Moira politely declined because she had promised to video chat Neesa. However, she said Nardho could join in as her friends would also be Neesa's friends and vice versa, only that Neesa never brought a friend home and Moira was too much of a wallflower to develop a friendship circle and shut herself in the chemistry laboratory, until now. Nardho hummed and waited in the dormitory's common lounge as Moira fetched her laptop. He thought about how nice it must be to live with a cousin, both of his parents did not have any siblings so he and Nardhia did not grow up with cousins or relatives.

Moira returned and dialed home. Neesa's face popped up on the screen after a moment.

"Hey, girl! How's the university treating you? How's the dining hall? How's the dormitory?"

"The university is very quaint yet pleasant while the dormitory is a nice place to take respite from a long flight. The dining hall doesn't impress me much, I had an awful burrito but Nardho here said he'd feed me if absolutely necessary. Wanna talk to him?"

"Hey, dude! Aw, aren't you the cutest? Thanks for taking care of my fussy cousin!"

"Cute? C'mon Neesa, I'm not a golden retriever. But yeah, Moira's safe and sound with me."

"Good to know, I'll personally come and give you hell if you ever hurt Moira. Oh, by the way, cousin, I figure out what to do once I finish high school. I'm not gonna follow your footsteps but I told my parents I wanna attend the local community college," Neesa announced.

"Well, that's good that you've found your direction, but what gives?"

"Well, ever since I developed an infatuation on Kenta I could never push him out of my mind and he seemed to notice that from the way I always texted him before I go to bed. We've been talking, not in a flirty way of course 'cause he's a loyal guy to Johan, but he said he feels flattered that I look up to him. So, he's been sending me tutorial videos on various desserts, there's one I really like called honey Castella, followed by a video on melon bread. One night Kenta asked me if I'm anything like you and I told him no, but that I do begin to consider a major in culinary arts. I want to be a pastry chef like him, he's my new role model even though he's an amateur and busy with his dissertation until now! So he sent me an article about our local college's pastry arts program." Neesa sounded even more energetic than usual, Moira noted.

"Kenta really is the best! I'm so glad you're now friends with him despite your crush not blossoming into anything more. How's Aunt Zoe and Uncle Martin?"

"Dad has a fever right now and mom's tending to him, but it's nothing serious, the doctor said it's just the weather. He forgot his umbrella yesterday and came home soaked."

"Oh my, typical forgetful uncle! Tell him to get well soon. I gottta hang up now."

Moira closed her laptop and asked Nardho what he wanted to do next, but the boy just shrugged and mumbled about seeing Tony and Wyatt again, so they went to the basketball court just behind the dorm. There was a man Moira recognized from Nardho's vacation picture. The man approached the two and hugged Nardho. It must be Johan, the older brother and resident advisor.