The Beginning of a Change - Part 3

"Gee, Michelle!" Sophia's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

Michelle squinted. "I am not kidding."

"It's interesting, though. How he studies here and all. Did you ask what degree he is doing?"

"He only said he's doing arts."

"I can't believe how it transpired. I mean, it's already odd that he'd rather listen to you blasting 'Canon in D' or even 'The Winner Takes It All' than to complete his assignments. For him to compliment you as well? Babe, that takes it to a whole new level. Is he cute?"

"To me, yes, but to you, I don't know."

Hoping that her good friend, Sophia, will be able to shed some light into the random encounter with Mike over the library piano, Michelle recollected on how it happened. From the looks of it, Sophia was more interested in checking him out than to help her debunk the incident.

She shook her head and sipped her flat white, gathering her thoughts.

"You should have asked him specifically. Who knows you two will cross paths considering you want a language elective next year?" Sophia sighed. "At least you've a friend if he intends on taking the same elective."

"Six months away. Anything could happen by then. Plus, I'm still unsure if I want a language elective or something else. Let's kill the exams first."

A moment of silence before: “Did he ask for your number?”

“Oh my God, Sophia! What has possessed your mind? Yes, he may be a peer, but you don’t give out numbers to strangers.”

"Not everyone has social media accounts like us, Michelle. Studying for the international law assignment the entire day in the law library has colored my brain grey. Humoring me a bit won't cause any sudden shock or mental harm on anyone."

"Torts." Michelle broke into a grin. "We only added each other on Facebook."

"Go, stalk him. See what he's doing. Establish communication."

"You..." Michelle trailed off when she saw someone who resembled Mike walking past in the distance to the direction of the Hughes building. The person did glance at their direction, but she wasn't sure if it was Mike as he had his brows furrowed, instead of a familiar smile.

Sophia raised an eyebrow, perplexed. "Cat in your tongue?"

"No, just someone whom I thought was him."

"The right opportunity to drop him a message, honey."

"Fine." Michelle whipped out her S5 from her Kipling and punched the words into her phone. "If anything happens, you'll have to take responsibility because you did not qualify yourself. And there is detrimental reliance on my part."

"We've not touched on estoppel in property yet!" Sophia protested, but was interrupted by a ringing phone. "He replied?"

"Let's see." Michelle unlocked the screen, reading aloud the message. "He said, and I quote, oh, no, you've mistaken me for someone else, with a smile. I'm stuck at home, nursing a cold. Haven't been to uni the whole day, and I unquote."

She replied that he should drink more water and catch more rest. She added that she hoped he'd feel better in no time. Her phone almost slipped from her hands when she received his message. "We've a problem here."

"How bad?"

"This." Michelle handed the phone to Sophia. "I hope it's just manners."

Sophia almost squealed when she read the screen. "He will heed your advice and hopes to see you again? He even gave you a wink?!" She looked up and patted Michelle's arm. "This is pretty interesting."

"Ugh, please. I don't know and I prefer not to know. Speaking of which, when is that lovely boyfriend of yours going to show his face? He owes me a proper introduction, man. Don't tell me he's petrified of me?"

"Nah. He's more shy than he is fearful. The time will come."

Sophia almost fell off her chair in the law library when Michelle suggested three weeks later that they seek Mike's help to critique the video that they filmed for a parody. "Of all people, him?!"

Michelle's eyes widened. "Hey, you were the one who asked me to snoop around and find out what he is doing. I discovered from our conversation that he's pretty good at critical analysis, considering that he is not a media student. Do give him the credit of portraying our dear lecturer. I almost thought he's the real one... Until I remembered that there was a sense of sarcasm that Mike couldn't imitate from our lecturer."

"Right," Sophia answered, not lifting her eyes away from the textbook.

"Oh, and to answer your three week old question, he's doing a double degree in arts. I can't remember the first one, but the second is a degree in language, majoring in French."

"Ah, the language of love."

"Wasn't it Spanish?"

"I've no idea. I've never studied French or Spanish before. How did you get him to agree?"

"I told him that I'll treat him to a round of coffee or tea, whichever he prefers, but it has to be walking distance from the uni. Or, more like me buying the coffee of his flavor and delivering it to him on campus. Wait, when the video has gone past the post-production stage and uploaded on YouTube, I'll arrange a mutual timing with him."

"Not bad, not bad at all."

"You are coming along, though." Michelle felt Sophia's eyes on her. "You are coming as a decoy. Yes, he doesn't know you, but I'll let him know that you want to meet him as well. Not to mention, he knows that you are the shier co-creator."

Sophia whined.

"Hey, at least you are able to observe his body language. It always takes a third party to see things that people involved can't see."