Chapter 5 – Side by Side

It was a quiet afternoon at the tuition center, the kind of day when the air hung heavy and even the fluorescent lights seemed to hum louder than usual. Irisa walked in with her usual calm, her books tucked against her chest, her mind bracing itself for the weekly test. She wasn’t nervous—she had studied carefully over the summer—but there was always a certain weight to test days.

The students settled into their familiar places, pens tapping, papers rustling. Irisa opened her pencil case, aligning her pens neatly, a small ritual to calm her nerves. Ren was a few rows behind, as always, his presence more felt than seen. She had long stopped looking back, or so she told herself, though her heart still seemed to know the exact space he occupied.

Just as the teacher entered with a stack of question papers, she spoke words that made the room stir with whispers:

“Everyone, change your seats. Mix around. No sitting where you usually do. Quickly now.”

The class groaned in protest, but chairs scraped and books shuffled. Irisa looked around, uncertain. She clutched her notebook tightly, waiting for the teacher to direct her.

“You, Irisa—sit there,” the teacher said, pointing to a desk near the middle.

And sitting at that desk already, adjusting his chair awkwardly, was Ren.

For a moment, Irisa froze. Her feet didn’t want to move, though her mind urged her forward. The short walk to the desk felt impossibly long. She slid into the seat beside him, her pulse quickening, her gaze fixed firmly on her notebook.

Ren glanced at her only once, his expression unreadable, before focusing on the blank sheet of paper in front of him. But inside, his heart was racing. He hadn’t imagined this moment would come so soon—sitting side by side with the girl he had spent months trying not to look at too much.

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The test began. Pens scratched across paper, the room filled with silence broken only by the occasional cough or shuffle. Irisa tried to focus on the questions, her handwriting neat, her thoughts clear. But every so often, she became acutely aware of the boy sitting inches away.

The way he leaned slightly over his work, the faint crease in his brow when he concentrated, the soft sound of his pen against the page—it all pressed against her attention. She scolded herself silently, willing her mind back to the problems in front of her.

Ren, meanwhile, found himself stealing glances. Not long stares—just quick flickers, like a secret he couldn’t keep completely hidden. He saw the way she pressed her lips together when she thought hard, the way her handwriting curved across the page in elegant strokes. He had always admired her from a distance, but now, sitting beside her, everything felt sharper, more real.

Halfway through the test, Ren’s pen faltered. He reached for his notebook, flipping through pages for a formula he had forgotten. But his notebook wasn’t on the desk—he had left it in his bag across the room. For a second, he hesitated. Then, quietly, almost in a whisper, he leaned slightly toward her.

“Um… could I borrow your notebook?”

Irisa’s hand stilled. She blinked, her heart leaping at the sound of his voice—directed at her, for the first time. It was soft, tentative, almost careful, as though he was afraid to break something fragile between them.

Without trusting herself to speak, she simply nodded and slid her notebook toward him. Their fingers brushed briefly in the exchange, a fleeting touch that sent warmth rushing to her cheeks.

“Thanks,” Ren murmured, his lips curving into the smallest smile.

It was nothing, barely a word, barely a moment. But for Irisa, it felt like the world had shifted just slightly on its axis. She lowered her gaze quickly, afraid he might see the color rising in her face.

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The rest of the test passed in a blur. Answers were written, papers were collected, the classroom stirred back into noise. But something had changed in the silence between them.

As they packed their things, Ren looked at her once more. This time, it wasn’t the hesitant glance of before, but a fuller, steadier look—still gentle, still cautious, but with something unspoken shining in his eyes.

Irisa caught the look and, without meaning to, smiled back. Just a small curve of her lips, quick and shy, but real.

Ren’s chest tightened, relief washing through him like air after a long dive. And in that single exchange, something that had been waiting for months finally began to unfold.

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Neither of them said much that day. They didn’t have to. The silence between them was no longer empty—it was charged, alive, full of possibilities waiting just beyond reach.

And as Irisa walked home, her heart lighter than it had been in weeks, she realized one thing with startling clarity: everything had changed.

To be continued.....

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