“The name’s Felicia Ananda Putri, is that correct?” the man who called Feli to his office asked her.

“Yes,” she replied.  “May I ask why should I come here?  Because I didn’t see my name in the list of students that passed.”

“We saw the certificate that you included when you sign up.  And  apparently we can make an exception just for you,” the man showed her a little smile.

At that moment the girl almost screamed at the top of her lungs.  Who knew someone who had always bathe in tears and blood to master math and ended up not getting it at all could enter a math department in a prestigious college.  This was thanks to her friends in high school dragging her to participate in an international math competition.  She had also gotten the certificate due to the competition being done in groups and her friends had been geniouses, not that she really did much anyway.

She finally could breathe in relax.  After all, this was what her parents wanted.  To be a mathematician like them.

“That’s a really good news,” the girl responded.

“But only on a condition.  You must pass all the time in any of the classes that must be taken on each semester,”  the man, who was the head of the department, added.

Well how hard could that be?  Feli asked that to herself.

Actually, very easy for her.  Very easy to fail.   In fact, if you rearrange the alphabets in her nickname and replace the letter ‘e’ with an ‘a’ you can spell the word ‘fail’.

On the first day in the college, Feli struggled a lot to comprehend the lesson in the class.  It didn’t help that she was an eccentric person.  She was someone who would read novels that has a niche genre that a few people would know. That made it harder for her to socialize with her classmates.  Aside from asking one or two questions, she had no friends that she could get to teach her in an elaborate manner.

Felt stressed about the class, Feli went to a cafe that was close to her campus.   She bought herself a cup of coffee and try to forget her problems by reading novels.  She loved literature, and sometimes she tried to write her own.  But she couldn’t waste her time writing because her parents wanted her to be a mathematician.

She was really absorbed in the novel when she heard a stranger’s voice.

“Hey, aren’t you Felicia?”

In front of her she could see a boy that’s about a year older from her, wearing glasses.  She could smell the scent of his perfume.

“H-how did you know my name?” Feli asked with her vibrating voice.

“We went to the same highschool?  I was your senior.  Don’t you remember?”  he asked her back.  “You’re from Rajawali Fajar highschool, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but ... I don’t feel like I’ve ever known you?” Feli said.  She really didn’t remember him the slightest bit.  ‘Whatever’, Feli thought.  ‘This is a chance for me to make friends, perhaps he’s from math department too?’

“Maybe you can’t remember because we only talked 512 days ago.  You can call me Banyu.  I’m from math department,” the boy told her.  “Which faculty are you in?”

After he finished speaking, Feli could feel a tingling sensation running down her spine.  She felt like something wasn’t right.   But she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Feli?  Did you hear me?”

“O-ohh, I’m in the science faculty.  Math department,”  Feli answered.

“Thank you so much!  I’m saved!”  Feli thanked the boy.  Banyu had teached her everything that she had to know for the topic she learned. Why weren’t it this easy when the professor explained it in the class?  It was great that she was able to meet him on the start of the semester.

“No problem.  It’s nothing.  People usually come to me if they want me to teach them a subject.  I’ve gotten used to it,” he muttered.  “May I ask why didn’t you ask your classmates? Not to be rude but I’m sure everyone would understand about this one because it’s pretty basic.”

“I wish I could.  They seem to try to avoid me.  It kinda makes me uncomfortable to talk to them,” Feli said.  She took a deep breath and released it.

Banyu gazed at Feli.  She did have a weird appearance and manner.  Feli frequently fidgeted.  She also wore a brown shirt and a neon green skirt, which was an unusual outfit combination in his opinion.  He wasn’t surprised with this, as he had already paid attention to her presence since they had been in senior high school.  Despite all that, he adored how she looked like.  She was who you would call a stereotypical beautiful girl.

“Is that so.  How about we go here everyday so I can teach you?” Banyu offered.

“It will help me a lot! Are you really okay with that?” Feli said.  She felt as if a ton of rocks were lifted off her shoulders.  Math was immensely hard for her.

“Of course.  Why don’t we exchange numbers so it will be easier to arrange what time we can meet?”

After having some chats with Banyu, Feli went to the nearby commuter rail station to go home. She saw someone familiar.  It was a girl from the same class as her.  They weren’t friends, more like aquintances since they only had talked a little and that girl had avoided her in class.

“Hello Feli,” she greeted her.

“Oh hi Prima!  You’re taking the commuter line too?” Feli said with a smile.  They weren’t friends but it wouldn’t hurt to be nice.

“Yeah I am.  Hey, isn’t that the Cybertails novel?  You read that?  That’s my favourite book!” Prima unbelievingly stared at Feli’s novel.

“Really? Oh my god ... you don’t know how hard it is to find people who read this.  I didn’t know you were the kind of person who would be a fan of something like this,” Feli said in surprise.  Whoever read that novel were either a fan of the genre or someone who was open minded enough to try reading it.

“Yeah, the premise of the story is unique.  I like to try new stuffs so I was interested,” Prima said.  Perhaps Feli could try being friends with this girl.  Feli felt like she wasn’t someone who would judge another person easily.  Prima had avoided her in class, but Feli thought that may have been just a small mistake.  Feli wanted to give her another chance.

“I have similiar books if you want me to lend you,” Feli said.

“I’d love to!” Prima looked like she was pleased to meet her.  She paused a bit before she continued talking.

“Uh by the way, I saw you with Banyu in the cafe.  Are you going out with him?”  Prima asked.

“You know him?  No. I’m not going out with him.  Why do you ask that question?”  Feli said.

“You don’t know him?!  How could you not know him?  He’s a popular y-tuber who posts math videos.  He was on TV yesterday.  Everyone talks about him on the internet,” Prima spoke enthusiastically.

“Wow, I have no idea he is that famous.  He already recognized me without me telling him my name, but I don’t think we’ve met before. We decided to meet everyday because he want to teach me the subjects,” Feli told her.

“Can ... can you introduce me to him?  I’ve got a crush on him, you know ... although I don’t know if I have a chance.”

“Why not?  I’ll tell him I will bring my friend tommorrow,” Feli said.

“Thank you!  Feli, you are awesome.”

A month had passed since Feli got into college.  Banyu had been very helpful to her and had teached her everyday.  Prima had accompanied her each time she met Banyu.  Feli and Prima had became best friends naturally, due to sharing same opinions and hobbies.

“Feli.”

Feli turned her head to see Prima.  She wondered why Prima was quiet most of the time at that day.

“What is it, Prima? You were quiet today.  Was it because the bread I shared with you this morning? Did you get food poisoning from it?” she asked.

“Feli, you still have the bread? I haven’t eat anything today,” said Reza, a boy who was in the same class as them.  He regularly hanged out with Feli and Prima.

“No sorry, Prima ate it all,” Feli said.

“You make it sounds like I’m the one who asked for the food,” Prima said.

“Well your face was asking for food,” Feli said.

 “The bread was alright.  But I hate raisins.  You knew that already, Feli.  You did that on purpose didn’t you?” Prima was half yelling.

“Well it’s your fault for sneaking chili pepper in my lunch box.  Why would you do that?  Why would anyone do that?” Feli sounded annoyed but she still took what Prima did as a joke.

“You guys bring food to the campus?” Reza asked.

“It was a surprise birthday present,” Prima said.

“You’re weird,” Feli commented.

“You need a mirror.  Anyway ... I’m going to confess my love to Banyu.  What do you guys think?” Prima asked.

“Whoa ... what? Are you serious? You’re talking about that y-tube celebrity in our department right?” Reza said.

“Yeah, Feli got teached everyday by him.  I took the chance to accompany her so now we’re good friends,” Prima said.

Reza thought that it was strange for Prima to confess to Banyu.  He remembered that he read on an internet forum that Banyu was not single. Those people were discussing about a rumor that said Banyu was in a relationship.

“I don’t know ... I think that he’s the kind of person who’s nice to everyone.  He was good to both of us as well.  I can’t tell if he likes you back for sure, but go ahead.  I’ll support you,” Feli said.

“Okay then.  I’ll confess to him after he finished teaching you at the cafe,” Prima said.

“I-I’m supporting you too,” Reza said.

“Thanks.”

The girls went to the class.  Prima had had no issues with learning from the first day in the class.  However, she didn’t have the ability to teach other people, so Feli didn’t ask Prima to help her. Feli found it easier to understand the lessons as she connected what Banyu had teached her with what the professor explained.

As usual, Feli and Prima went to the cafe to meet Banyu.  Banyu teached Feli and Prima studied with them.  Sometimes Feli felt that Banyu was trying to get closer to her.  Those physical contact every now and then ... was too much for Feli to be a mere coincidence.  Not to mention the subtle flirts in the jokes he had told her.

Feli realized something.  Despite the fact that Prima had a crush on Banyu, she had never talked about these things to Feli.  Had she had not noticed about these?  Prima was on her side most of the time when these happened.

When Banyu finished teaching her, Prima gave her the signal to leave them alone.  Feli went to the commuter line station to wait for her.  After about half an hour, Prima showed up at the station.

“So how was the confession?” Feli asked Prima.

“It went well.  Guess what?  He likes me back!  We’re dating!”  Prima said.