"You're sure he won't be bringing up our assignment due next week?" Lucas asked on the way to Mr. Robert's house. We all hitchiked on his car, which looked the most presentable out of us all. I had conviced the rest of the group to come over with me. I had handed Lucas the address as he was the one driving, I was in the passenger's seat while everyone else was crammed at the back.

"He probably won't, I think." I flipped through another page of his book.

"Just what are you reading, Mark Lee?" Ily asked.

"It's Mr. Robert's new book," Timothy butted in. "Mark's gotten the permission for a sneak peak before the actual release date."

I rolled my eyes, "What happened to 'don't tell anyone' and 'keep this a secret'?" 

Nancy widened her eyes, "That's so not fair, I'm his fan too! How did Mark get it first?"

"Because, Nancy Drew, Mark Lee is Robert Lautner's favourite student. And since he realizes that Mark is also his number one fan, what better way to promote his book by gracing it to him for free?" Timothy explained it all in one breath. "How's the book holding up, Lee?"

"It's pretty great," I admitted. "There's no chapter that I find dull, everything is pretty much a masterpiece." I had gotten through thirty pages, and that wasn't even one third of the whole book. It was abnormally thick for a poetry book, but I wasn't complaining anyway.

The only thing I would complain about were the overload of assignments that restrained me from proceeding to read the next page. 

'Parabatai' was about brothers, soulmates, simply a bond that two people shared. The book itself was dedicated by Mr. Robert to his late classmate, Lucian Nguyen. There wasn't much about him but his name and I planned on approaching Mr. Robert to ask more about this. By far this was the book I felt attached to the quickest and also the most because I could relate to it on a personal level.

"Here's the place." Lucas parked in front of the only house we found on top of the hill we drove up to. There were a few other houses from a distance, and I double checked the address just to make sure we weren't lost. We were already weary when we had to navigate up a relatively steep highway, and entered a neighbourhood in which almost every house nearby had at least one expensive car up front. 

"You sure we're at the right place?" Somi asked again. 

"Yup, the address says we're not lost just yet." I replied, still in awe of the view. It was a double storey house, two times bigger than the house I stayed in. Its architecture had British colonial influences, making it look much more tropical. Judging by the outside, two luxury cars were parked next to palm trees. I resisted the urge to estimate how much money was spent on completing this whole house - because it looked so majestic, it was unreal.

In no time, Mr. Robert appeared in front of his porch with a big smile on his face. Immediately we all got out of the car, walked over to greet him (I brought along his book in my hand). "Glad you all could make it!" he beamed. "And you all dressed up fancy too." then he chuckled, comparing our formal wear to his casual khakis and dress shirt. Unlike him, we were clad in jackets and dresses. "Come, come in!" and he escourted us into his house.

As we went in, Timothy walked next to me. "Like, I kind of knew Mr. Rob was rich," he said to me. "-but I had no idea he was this rich."

He wasn't married, at least he wasn't married anymore.

He told us a lot about himself over dinner, since we, dedicated fans and eager students, bombarded him with questions. Technically we were not violating him since he was the one that insisted that we ask the questions. He introduced his girlfriend to us, Isla, who was actually South African and spoke with a slight accent of Afrikaans. 

I wasn't sure if the Thai cuisine was self-cooked, or they actually had a cook that did it all in the kitchen. Nonetheless, the meal was amazing and it felt like we were dining in a five-star hotel. Isla was a freelance photographer, and they met during one of Mr. Rob's stays in Cape Town. The meeting, they recalled-

"-was brief and unplanned." they said at the same time, before laughing. All we could do was play along through the awkwardness, luckily most of us were more listeners than talkers. "I had three more weeks there, I was in the middle of completing my next book, you see," Mr. Rob sipped on his champagne. "Then these friends of mine dragged me out of my hotel, abducted me into their car and drove to the nearest nightclub there. I knew I had told them I was single at that time, I just didn't know they'd think about getting me hitched that quick-"

"-but to be fair they meant well." Isla cut in. "And when you came in, me and my girls had no idea you were there. We were only having a little drink, after a day's work, the suddenly these five men walk up to us for a dance."

"Five good-looking men." he corrected. 

"Fine," she crossed her arms. "Five good-looking men walked up to us and treated us to a dance, all while I insisted on being uninvolved to take their photos."

Then Mr. Rob leaned towards us, "Now where's the logic of that? Taking pictures in a drk nightclub with blaring lights? That doesn't make sense now, does it? I'll tell you why - she was acting shy in front of me."

"I was not!" she swatted him. "I was simpy uninterested that night. But all in all, Robert asked my friend for my address and number; honestly if it were someone else I'd call the police."

"But you didn't when I sent you one whole box of roses the next morning," Robert cut in again, with such cockiness. "Until this day, she still doesn't want to admit that she fell in love with me on first sight."

That made the rest of us burst into laughter. I couldn't help but admire how easygoing they were in their relationship, and their chemistry was undeniable. I studied the movement and interactions they had, from the brief touches of hands and glances into each other's eyes. Yes, they bickered, but wasn't that what people in love did? The bickering made one another neccessary for each other. 

I couldn't remember a time Riley and I ever bickered, it was always seamless connections and never a glitch in between. Perhaps that was why it fell apart, because it did feel all too perfect...

"But enough about us, we want to know about you guys!" Isla changed the topic. "Why don't we start with Lucas first?"

It was funny bringing up each other's stories, when it was jumble of disoriented backgrounds. Lucas was originally a school all-star athlete and had plans to continue his career, but during one sports season he had badly injured his back and was prohibited from entering all kinds of sports. For good. It took him four months of physiotherapy to recover, and he was still banned from the field. Since then he had picked up lots of reading, and realized he was interested in literature and storytelling.

"I'm very sorry for such a turn of events, Lucas." Mr. Rob said sympathetically.

But Lucas, being the easygoing guy he was, simply laughed it off. "Don't be, sir. Everything happens for a reason, no point wasting time thinking about what ifs."

"And what about you, Timothy?" the question was thrown towards Timothy, who was fumbling with his leftover food. "You seem particularly quiet tonight."

Tim smiled faintly, "I'm just being observant, I prefer listening to people's stories rather than talking about my own." 

"I heard you were a Valedictorian, Tim," Robert noted. "Impressive. Tell me, why did you choose literacy when you could take science?"

"I believe professor," he answered. "That you can answer that question yourself. Why should one do something they're not interested in doing?"

Mr. Rob looked at him, "Can you play any musical instruments?"

"I'm only self-taught at piano." he said.

"He can play guitar too, professor." Ily added all of a sudden. 

"Oh? That's wonderful." Isla cried. "The night's still young, why don't we listen to Timothy play a piece or two in the living room?"

As we got up from the table, I hastily went over to Mr. Robert. 

"Er, if you don't mind sir, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your book?" I asked eagerly.

He nodded, "Of course you can, we'll talk on the way to my study. We don't want any of your friends knowing what I wrote just yet." 

As we departed further from the living room, I could still hear Timothy playing Liszt's Faust Symphony.

I wondered if anyone noticed that he had altered Liszt's version to Beethoven if Beethoven would have played it. 

I knew because we had bickered over the neccessity to change the original version long ago last year.

"We met during sophmore year in highschool," he said as we walked. At the same time, I stared at the paintings on the wall. Some, judging from the quality, were collectibles and a few vases and other ornaments were souveiners from his travels around the world. "He was a new kid, no one knew much about him except that his parents were archaeologists. It was a coincidence that he lived next door to me."

"So you were neighbours too?"

He smiled, "We had dinner at each other's houses, and we despised each other at first. I mean, he was this weird kid who would keep quiet in class and no one would notice if he even left. But I got used to it, I had to since my mother had ordered me to walk with him back from school everyday. You can tell by my face how horrifying that was."

"And how did you become friends with him?"

"There was once, I was taking this girl out on a date - we were seniors so it was normal," he noted. "We were just out from the cinema and were going have dinner at the diner, you see, and my wallet was gone. Can you imagine that? A night to impress a girl, and I forgot to bring my wallet. So I was getting all anxious because we had already ordered the food, the waiter was just standing there waiting for me to pay the bill. I was already loosing my cool."

"Then Lucian Nguyen appears out of nowhere, puts one arm around my shoulder and pretends to be my best friend - takes out his wallet and pays with his credit card." Mr. Robert said. "Unbelievable. Let me be honest, I was both greatful that he helped me out, but also a bit pissed because he just low-key humiliated me in front of my date." the way he said it was both reminescent and joking. "I mean, from then on we started to grow closer - and maybe people just have uncanny similarities if they just give each other a chance. Lucian, to me, was not only a great friend, he was a soulmate to me, Mark. That is what 'Parabatai' means."

"Soulmates? Because the very first page said parabatai was derived from heniochoi-parabatai, chariot-fighter or chariot-partners in Ancient Greek; The parabatai cannot leave the charioteer's side because one will be useless without the other for protection. So...parabatai is something more than brothers and friends?"

Mr. Robert sighed, "Lucian passed away seven years ago after he contracted osteosarcoma." he looked up one of the pictures on the wall next to his study. He was posing with a man, his friend Lucian, in scuba gear with the background of the bright blue sky, probably somewhere on the coast. "I was there to see him for the last time, it was both painful and happy to see him go because I would miss him, but I was glad it would put an end to his pain. It's hard to find a parabatai, Mark and not many encounter them in their lifetime. I was very lucky to have one, even if he's no longer here physically - I still feel that bond in here." he touched his chest, right above his heart.

"Yeah, I can understand that. Having someone who really knows and loves you for who you are - it's rare." I smiled at that thought, because I knew out of the rare exceptions, I was one of them. I had a soulmate, someone who met that expectation. 

I was lucky.

He took me to his study, it was modern and chic with the books arranged accordingly to their color. It stood out due to the shelves being pure white. "Take a look, be my guest." he said to me and I proceeded to glide my fingers through the volumes on each level. Some had velvet spines, golden fonts and even delicate looking books collected throughout the years. Most were poetry and classic stories, which made me ecstatic. 

"Your teacher, Miss Bennet told me a lot about you but not much about anything else. What do your parents do for a living, Mark?" he asked curiously.

"Oh well, I stay with my aunt and her husband - with my foster brother too, he's a year younger than me." I answered.

"Mind if I ask, your parents..." he trailed off.

"Er, my mom raised me on her own until I think was four or something," I explained awkwardly. "Then my aunt took custody over me after she passed away at that time. As for my dad, I've never met him before."

"Oh, that's unfortunate." he said regretfully. "You actually remind me of someone that I knew a long time ago, may I know her name? Who knows, maybe she used to be my classmate? Fate does play games on us." he chuckled.

"Um, Marissa Lee, sir." I answered, and he seemed to be thinking. "Er, Mr. Robert? Professor?"

"Y-yes," he responded later on. "I recall that name somewhere in a school yearbook, I'll recheck in case I'm wrong - I'll tell you then."

I smiled, "That'd be great, sir."

He cleared his throat, "Wow time flies, doesn't it? We should go back downstairs, I assume you all still have classes tomorrow." he walked over to me, and suddenly patted my head. "And I know this is a bit late, but I'm terribly sorry for your loss. Your mother must have been a wonderful person."

I smiled faintly, "My aunt told me she was the nicest person she knew, and I believe that too."

*Robert's P.O.V*

"Delightful youngsters, aren't they?" Isla said. "And that Timothy boy is a fantastic pianist, and he's multilingual - what a gem. Darling?"

"H-hmm?" I snapped back to attention. "Oh yes, of course he's talented. Even the way he answered me showed how intelligent he really is."

"What's the matter?" she leaned onto me. "You seem a bit distracted."

Before we dated, Isla was already clear about my past relationship. She was very aware my previous marriage did not work out, and that I had no children. I lived a free life, and that was why she liked the prospect of being with me. The world she envisioned only had us two, and no one else, let alone children. 

I pulled her closer, "I'm just a bit tired, and can't wait to go to bed tonight. But before that," I sneaked a kiss. "-how about a dip in the jacuzzi? You know, like the one you always prepare with rose petals and jasmine soap?"

"Alright," she said. "I'll be upstairs, don't keep me waiting." and she left for our room.

I turned towards the open, where the moonlight shone a majestic light. From my pocket, I took out the tiny sealed packet I had obtained from the kitchen. Inside was a single strand of brunette hair, I eyed it carefully. 

He said her name was Marissa.

Why is it so familiar?

Could it be too much of a coincidence?

Her son? With who? 

It had been so long ago, if she wasn't so kind to not even meet me after that night like every other girl - I might have forgotten all about it. I recall being cowardly enough to not face her and could only manage subtle glances at her on campus, afraid that she might bring up whatever I feared of. 

It was not until the day, where I noticed Marissa Lee did not attend graduation -  did I know something had happened, and it was something she wanted to hide from the world. 

Yet I didn't try to search for answers.

I clutched the plastic packet in my palm. Mark Lee, his eyes were so familiar from the start, but I couldn't put my finger on it. But when he smiled, the image was so vivid it scared me. Then again, my guesses were far-fetched and could be wrong...

But what if I'm right?