Prologue

~~

We are like forces. We are all moving from one point, going forward across an infinite space. We intersect, coincide and sometimes move along side other forces. It’s an infinite space filled with various forces; like electrons in an atomic space.

 

We bump into other particles. We collide, bounce away, or combine with other particles. It’s like that in this infinite space.

 

Sometimes we know where we’re headed. But most of the time, we’re not sure of our paths.

 

We keep on moving. We keep on bumping; bouncing away; colliding; combining. And sometimes, we break away from other particles.

 

But there is that one point, somewhere; two points that are in parallel, somewhere in this infinite space. At those points, two opposite forces meet.

 

She was running, and I was walking towards the direction she was running away from.

 

And at that point in that infinite space, we met. At that point, she looked at me. At that point, I looked at her.

 

In that small pause of an infinite moment at that point in this infinite space, we looked at each other; eye to eye.

 

It was like a photograph—a captured moment in my mind.

 

And after that millisecond, she sped away, running. I was another force, walking away to the opposite direction.

~~

It was late that night when I sneaked out of our room and stepped out into the garden maze behind the residence.

 

Dani was fast asleep under the sheets of her bed. Ryu was curled up on the carpet.

 

 

It was chilly outside. I put my hands inside my parka’s pockets then took the challenge of walking barefoot on the grass as I entered the maze. I left my slippers on the stairs that leads to the door to the back of the residence.

 

It was cold, yet relaxing. I shivered from time to time as I made my way through the maze. I was on my way to the picnic garden to see the lanterns that automatically light up at night. They hang down the branches of an old tree that was standing there.

 

These lanterns light up automatically because there is a LDR in the circuit of the lanterns. It switches on when there is no light source. That light source is the daylight sunshine, of course.

 

I was almost at the entrance when I heard voices.

 

At first I thought it was just my imagination created by the fact that I was all alone, wandering the maze in the middle of the night. But then I heard something that sounded like two people were arguing.

 

There must be someone there in the picnic area. I didn’t mind trotting towards the entrance since I was silently moving without any slippers on.

 

I sneaked next to the pair of trash bins situated near the opening where the entrance was the gap between five-foot hedges. As I looked into the area, I saw, under the light of the lanterns, a girl and a boy. They stood there facing each other.

 

They both looked angry. There was something scattered on the grass. Who’s that girl? I have never seen her before. Is she from another college? What is she doing in the Engineering Residence?

 

The boy who was looking angrily into her eyes was someone I very much know. My classmate, Alexus Jinyu.

 

What’s going on?