CHAPTER 5: Come to His Senses

“IT’S HIM, RIGHT?” One of the students asked after looking at him.

“It’s really him!” 

“Yes!” the one replied immediately. “He's the only one here who was beaten up so badly!”

“I don’t know how he could have a face to go to school after what happened!”

“He deserves it!” 

“Poor him—ouch! Why are you hitting me?”

“Girl, he's already poor!” the other one replied then laughed immediately. “What is the other definition of poor?”

“Up until now, I didn’t get why prestigious schools like this provide scholarships to the poor doormat!”

“Are you so stupid? It looks like you just used your money to get in here! That's why they use the term “scholar” isn't it? Reduce the thickness of your makeup! Increase your brain capacity.”

One of the students rebutted that made Martin smirk.

“It’s for charity, dude!” the other replied after looking at him from up to down. “We need to donate so they know where their place is!”

“Of all the girls that he wants to snatch from Lucas, he chose Veronica—what a dreamer!” another one commented. “He's too high on to himself to steal Lucas's girlfriend—”

“That’s why he deserves to be beaten up like that!” 

“I cannot help but agree with you!”

“What a poor man!”

“No, according to my source, Veronica is the one who cheated on him because he is poor and she wants money from Lucas.”

Martin took another deep breath while walking in the corridor of his campus. People here like to talk about his life like he's not passing by and he can hear how they speak ill to him.

In just one day, the whole story turns into another drama. Now the whole school thinks that he's stealing Veronica from Lucas which is the opposite of it. Nobody likes to become the talk of the town in an ill way which isn’t his life from this school. He isn't used to the eyes of others and wants to return as a nobody. He just needs to endure it more because he will be graduating in a few months. 

For him, it’s a waste of time if he will transfer to another university just because of this problem. Also, this is the most prestigious school in the whole country, it will be his credential if he graduates here. That's why he works so hard to be here from the start. He is the lucky person from three out of one hundred percent of applicants who don’t have any money to be here so there’s no reason for him to quit.

“What?” a sudden shrill voice echoes in the hallway. “What are you looking at? Is this the first time that you saw a gorgeous woman like me?” A girl’s voice echoes in the hallway. 

Martin just shrugs his shoulders after putting down his things in his locker. Without even looking, he already knows who is the person who dares to speak so high like that.

“Out—dirt on the way!” she commanded once again. “Do you have a life that you can talk about? Is it so boring that you’re happy to talk about other people's business without even finding the truth and are you stupid enough to be like that?”

“Hey!” the other man shouted like his ego was stepped on.

“Did I hit the nerve?” her arrogant voice echoes in the hallway once again. “So you’re hurt if it’s real talk right? Then, what about—”

“Channel!” Martin’s voice shouted his friend’s name.

She smiles brightly before facing him, “Oh, Martin! You’re here, my friend!”

“Isn’t it too cheeky?” Martin asks his friend after scratching his neck.

“Cheeky—deserve!” Channel replied with her head high. “They are not kids to act like this! It’s too cheap to create this kind of drama—” she said while still glaring at them and not looking at him.

“It’s okay—”

“I’m not okay!” she interrupted. “There’s a saying that—”

Martin covers her friend's mouth with a shy face after dragging her to a place where there are not a lot of people. This is their hangout place at the university.

“I know that saying!”

The moment that he removes his hand, he notices the death glare from Channel. Like if it is a sharp knife, he is dead immediately.

“W-what did I do?” Martin asked him. “Why are you looking at me like that—ouch!”

“You deserve to get beaten up again!” Channel is angry that she’s hitting Martin one after another. “That way, you will look shitty and others will talk badly about you!”

“Ouch! That’s my bruise—”

“It is?” Channel immediately stopped while looking at him worriedly. “Why do you agree to be oppressed when you know how to fight for yourself? Don’t pretend to be a hero, Dude. You’re not wearing any cap!”

Martin just smiled a little bit at Channel before looking at the view on the rooftop.

“Fighting does not always end up good, Channel. Sometimes we need to choose the battle that we need to face because no matter what we choose if we don’t know what we’re doing, we will end up losing. We only just hurt ourselves in that process just because we want to prove something.”

“How will you know if you will win if you don’t choose to fight in the first place?” she reasoned. 

“I just want a quiet life.”

Channel sighs so deeply like she’s not agree with what she has said.

“You’re always like that, Martin. You always calculate your move. Like everything seems to be on track and you will not allow any mistake from that process.”

Martin is the one who took a breath this time, “because allowing mistakes took another of your time and failure from your life.”

“Mistakes are part of the process, Martin. You will never learn if you don't know what mistakes you made. Too much calculation isn’t always good. Even some mathematician doesn’t apply this to their life all the time—”

“Isn't it good that I ended up as Veronica's toy,” Martin laughed at his stupidity. “This is what happens if I don’t calculate my action, Channel. I ended up hurting myself.”

“I second that,” Channel gave him a bottle of soda, “When you rush things, the wound it brings is deeper.”

“So don’t contradict me anymore!” Martin said in a playful voice. “Just trust your friend!”

“Yes, father!” Channel laughed at her own joke.

They both become silent while drinking the bottle of soda on the rooftop. 

Martin couldn't help but smile when he looked at Channel. He is really thankful that he has a friend on his back whenever troubles follow him.

Channel is also part of that three percent that he's talking about and she’s from the IT department. Meeting her by chance is a miracle for him. He may not have luck with his love life and destiny, but he's still lucky that he has a friend that he can lean on whenever he needs one. 

Channel is the only girl from the IT department who can beat anyone who tries to challenge her. She’s a computer genius who also has a photographic memory and can dictate what happens by details without missing anything that she needs. She has a slim body, almost as tall as him, wearing a loose shirt, baggy jeans, and a ballcap that can fair to her wolf-cut hair. 

“Do you want to be my lover?” Channel asks with an arrogant voice.

“Channel!” Martin spit out his drink of his friend’s joke.

“See?” Channel couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m so handsome that you ended up falling in love with me immediately—that’s the gangster’s do yow!”

Channel even made a swag sign after boosting herself to him.

“That will be the death of me!” Martin exclaimed while punching his chest after choking.

Channel gave her a tissue with a serious face while looking at him.

“You will be dead if you don’t stop loving your cheater girlfriend, Martin,” the playful voice of Channel is gone and now she’s wearing this intent look. She puts her hands in her pocket after looking so far. “You’re not the type of person that is seeking help no matter how hard the problem is. Especially now that your problem involves love. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, My Friend. What you are will not be put in the line if you do that.”

Channel tapped his shoulder three times before picking up her food to eat.

“Is it time to tell me what’s with the two of you? Why does Lucas always look so angry to you like you really hit his ego so bad that he ended up lashing out whenever the two of you met each other?

Martin shrugged his shoulders at first because he couldn’t think of any reason why they ended up like that because the first reason was he really didn't know him. They even did not meet him often in one place because they had different departments inside the university. They don’t even have a set of friends that can be the reason to meet him at one place too. Also, he only has three friends in the university and all of them are not acquainted with Lucas as far as he knows.

“I couldn’t think of any possible reason,” Martin shrugged. “Also, it’s not that important. Why do I need to waste my time on this matter?”

Channel nods her head, “If you only found out who he is because of that bitch Veronica, then, maybe you hit his ego so bad! And if this is the only reason, I can't help but feel my blood boiling!”

Martin laughed a little, “and you are the one who introduced her to me—”

“Don’t mention to me about that unfortunate event!” Channel gave her a warning look. “Whenever I’m thinking about it, I want to scold myself over and over again. Gosh! I really believe that she’s so good because she has this angelic face with a demon inside—I want to strangle her hair just once!”

“Then people will think how crazy you are!”

“That bitch!” Channel shouted because of annoyance. “She’s playing like a saint who doesn’t even know how to break a plate then we will find out later on that she’s like Lucas's woman all along! A bitch that likes to spread her legs whenever she’s itching for money!”

“Channel…”

“What?” she asked with an angry voice which ended up with a loud one. “If I knew that this is her true color, I should have chosen to play the evil queen and not the fairy godmother!”

Martin couldn’t help but scratch his left temple using his pointed finger at the right hand. He doesn’t know how he's going to contradict Channel’s opinion because he will not win at her no matter what. They will end up fighting also until he surrenders at the end. 

“Don’t worry, even if she became my longest friend here in the university, I will choose to side with you because I know who's right here—”

“It’s not about who’s wrong or right,” Martin told Channel. “If you still want to keep her as a friend, go on, I don’t mind, Channel.”

“Ha!” Channel acted up like she’d been hurt so much by what she had heard. “Are you giving me away—”

“Stop watching so many soap operas!” Martin couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s silliness. 

“It’s time for your revenge. That woman needs to experience a three hundred sixty degrees slap of life on her face—” Channel couldn’t continue what she’s going to say when her phone suddenly vibrates. “Your little,” she pointed the cell phone screen at him so he could see the caller. “Why is your sister calling me? You have a phone, don’t you?”

“My cell phone got broke—”

“And you didn’t tell this to us too?” she asked with an angry tone. “You don’t know how to seek help, right?”

“Can I borrow your phone, Cha?” Martin ignores that his friend just scolded him. He is just used to it. 

One of her eyebrows just lifted. Martin really knows how to make her friend’s heart soft and it’s just her nickname.

“Lily?” he asks the moment that he has the phone. 

“Big Brother!” Her sweet little voice rings in Martin’s ear immediately. “I tried to call you a lot of times but you’re not answering your phone. That's why I ended up calling my big sister's number—”

“Breathe, Lily… breathe…” Martin tries to make his sister calm down. 

Lily is not his sister by blood. His grandmother picked her up right in front of their house inside the basket when she was just a baby. They tried to ask questions if there was anyone who knew about the person who left her. They even try to find her at the shelter or orphanage because his grandmother is already having a hard time providing for his studies. But whenever they are attempting to, Lily always gets sick and ends up returning to them again. Later on, her grandmother made a firm decision to let her stay and take care of her like his little sister and that was years ago now.

“It’s about Amang—”

“What happened to Amang?” Martin asked immediately the moment that he heard what the emergency call was all about.

Amang is the person who raised him the moment that her mother passed away. She is the mother of her mother who treats him like a son too. He remembers when he was younger, his grandmother sacrificed everything just to provide all the things that he needed. She even sold something that could be sold just so he could get a dormitory near their school without him knowing. She does it even though she has a heart disease that needs serious treatment. 

Grandma made him feel that he was still her priority even if the world turned upside-down.

“What happened to Amang?” Martin asked one more time the moment that he heard the voice of Lily’s crying on the other line.

“I still don’t know, Big Brother. The nurse said that I needed someone who was old enough to understand what the doctor was going to say. They also need your signature before she gets operated on. Also, they are asking for money—”

“Where are you?” Martin asked while running to come down the building. “Tell them that I will come immediately.”

“I will come too!” Channel shouted and followed him.

“Wait for Big Brother there!” Martin skipped two steps of the stairs so that he could descend the stairs immediately. “Hush, Lily! Don’t cry…”

He said that to his sister but his heart is so loud that he feels that his head is going to pop out later on. As he went down, he seemed to be out of his mind and the only thing in his mind was his grandmother who was rushed to the hospital.