I held the cold glass with both hands. Mr. Dong paid for me and I didn’t expect it but he ordered two glasses of café latte for the both of us. I thought he was going to opt for a hot cup of coffee.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, okay?” He tilted his head towards me and I nodded obediently. He looked even warmer under the dim lights of the coffee shop, a different light from the ones we had in the classroom which were big and bright, they gave no place for shadows. It gave him a warm glow.

It was weird because both kinds of lighting made Mr. Dong shine but I seemed to prefer the lights in the coffee shop. He looked more human, more attainable. He didn’t seem like a professor at all. He was just a boy with hip hair and handsome features, a boy who saw me eye-level, but one with far more experiences.

“That was just my perception of you, how I received you with just one poem, and observations,” he said, his voice putting me into a silent trance, my system unconsciously put his voice on record.

“Based on those observations, you were lost and so I told you. And with your reaction, I concluded that you are indeed lost,” he waited for a response so I nodded for him to go on.

“Now, being lost isn’t as bad as you think it is. It’s just…” he paused, an eyebrow raised at me. “…normal. It is most probably just a phase. I can’t say that everyone goes through it because well, I don’t know everyone,” he laughed lightly.

“But I can speak through experience.”

“You’ve been through it?” I asked and he nodded.

“When I was younger,” he replied and he took a sip from his glass.

“How old are you?” I didn’t mean to ask so excitedly and he almost choked on his drink. “…sir?” I added, although a bit late.

“Twenty-seven,” he answered, smiling. He put down his glass and he his dri