Ashil's life had changed a lot over the last few days. After having made a deal with Oahn, they met at least twice a week. Most often at the campus library of the Human Sciences. Although the night he had accepted the boy's request, Ashil had been reluctant, but today he didn't think of this action as a burden.

It's true that the first time they met to start Oahn's assignment, the hour had been chaotic, but it was just a fuzzy nightmare in Ashil's mind now. Yet he remembered that day as if it was yesterday. Before that hour came, Oahn had come to meet Ashil to ask when and where they would meet to execute their agreement. Ashil had set the date two days later after this meeting and during the lunch break. Without being able to refuse, Oahn had accepted his proposal. Then, two days later, around 12:30pm, the two boys met in front of the library doors. Entering at the same time, they settled at a table far from everyone, hidden in the dim light of the room. Under Ashil's orders, Oahn had taken out the sheet to fill and had gone to get the books that Ashil had asked him to find. While Oahn was away from him, Ashil had quickly looked through the sheet and had marked on a piece of paper the answers to the questions, in addition to a few remarks. Although Oahn had asked him for help -because he felt the assignment was too difficult for someone who was studying Human Relations for the first time, Ashil had surprised himself finding good answers and constructive thoughts under the questions.

That first day, the hour had passed in a heavy silence. None of the boys spoke except when Ashil looked up from a book to read the notes Oahn was writing and pointed out to him what was wrong. But Ashil had only spoken two or three times and his words had always been short. Either they were sentences of a few words or page numbers or the name of a book.

Ashil didn't feel comfortable with Oahn yet. The more the days passed, the less he felt his presence necessary. He noticed Oahn's intellectual potential and wondered during those hours why he had asked for his help. A student as excellent as Oahn didn't need a tutor to guide him in his studies; so why did he make an agreement with Ashil?

Leaving for the umpteenth time Oahn, reminding him of their next meeting, Ashil went to join his friends, who were waiting for him outside the university. Their day of classes finished two hours ago, Ashil had joined Oahn after his last class. Unlike previous tutoring sessions, this one had been longer and more intensive. The deadline coming soon, Ashil and Oahn had to refine and finalize the assignment, which weighed heavily on the nerves of the two boys.

Arrived at the park near the university, Ashil quickly joined his friends. He sat down heavily on the wool blanket on the grass before lying down and breathing out heavily.

"Ah! Finally some rest," Ashil said, closing his eyes.

"Is it that hard to give him lessons?" Byeolhae asked him.

Ashil nodded.

No, it wasn't difficult to do tutoring. What was exhausting him was the silence that wieghted on his shoulders during those hours with Oahn. It wasn't a silence where you could hear flies flying, it was a heavy silence that slowly sank you into the ground, wrapping you in an opaque veil that left no outside sound reach you, being only able to hear your own thoughts and the silent thoughts of the person in front of you.

"It's going so badly?" Jaeyeon asked, worried.

"No. No, it's the opposite. Everything is going well. Very good even. He manages to do the assignment without my help and that's the problem," Ashil explained. "I don't understand why he asked for my help."

"Did you ask him his real reasons?" Byeolhae asked cautiously.

Ashil might have discovered them the first time Oahn had come to ask for his help. He could have known them. But since that day, he had never thought back to that moment. Now that Byeolhae asked him the question, he didn't know if he wanted to know Oahn's reasons. Because if he knew them, he was sure he would break this deal. And it wasn't something he wanted to do. Ashil didn't want to give up on Oahn. Not because he wasn't one to keep his word, but because as a «sunbae» it was his duty to offer a helping hand to a «hoobae».

So maybe he had to ask Oahn for his true intentions, but not today. Not now that the end of this ordeal was near.

"Maybe when we will become strangers again," Ashil finally answered after a few minutes of silence.

*   *   *

When the night became dark and the streets began to empty of the population, inside a small cafe, a subdued gold light covering two silhouettes, two boys were sitting face to face, letting the soothing silence of the night cover their heart and soul.

When Ashil didn't have the opportunity to meet Oahn in the library of the campus of the Human Sciences, he asked him to come to the cafe where he was working after closing time. Once Ashil had finished organizing and cleaning the cafe for the next day, he opened the glass door, ringing the metal bell above it, letting Oahn enter into the warmth of the place. Oahn always went to sit at the same table as the first time he had set foot in this place, without a word. While Oahn put his things on the table, Ashil was preparing his coffee. Always the same. A black coffee with a bit of sugar. Sometimes he asked Ashil to add a dab of milk. During the preparation, Ashil wondered how Oahn could drink such a drink. Today there were hundreds of cafes and thousands of variations. And he preferred the most rustic, the most ordinary of all.

When Ashil got his part-time job, the cafe owner told him that a coffee could reveal a person's personality. The majority of customers preferred iced americano especially young men in their twenties, while girls preferred a softer or fruity drink, ordering milk teas or smoothies and juices. Oahn's choice was the one of a man in his fifties or who knew about coffee and Ashil thought that this choice might represent who he was deep inside. The person he never showed before the eyes of the world.

A person drinking black coffee was someone like a difficult but rewarding friend, while being serious, straightforward, fair, unfamiliar with frills and get straight to the point. Ashil sometimes wanted to meet this person. But Oahn was rather as cold as an iced americano.

The coffee cup ready, Ashil brought it to the table and sat on the chair in front of Oahn. The latter was immersed in his work and didn't bat an eye at the approach of Ashil. The former, unwilling to disturb him in his concentration, he took some book from the pile beside Oahn and opened it at a random page. A few inches away from the table, his back resting heavily on the back of the chair, Ashil glanced at Oahn from time to time. He ended up staring at him regardless of whether Oahn noticed him or not, looking him up and down.

Against the table, Oahn was staring at the screen of his laptop. To his right were the sheet of the assignment to fill, a notebook filled with fine, oblique and black writing with parts underlined or highlighted with bright colors and a pen. To his left were the steaming cup of coffee and a pile of books. Some were small and thin, others big and heavy. The bluish light of the laptop made Oahn's face livid. He looked like a ghost. Yet in this whiteness Ashil perceived the brilliance of his eyes. The discreet mix of mockery and mischief. The ravages of secrets, sadness and anger. The fireworks of madness and joy. «The eyes are truly the reflection of the soul,» Ashil thought, a small smile forming on his lips. He wondered if even Oahn could see the same images in his eyes. If that was the case, Ashil hoped he hadn't already had an opinion about him; letting curiosity to dig a door in this double-locked world.

In the end, Ashil thought that after all Oahn wasn't that bad. That he wasn't like people were describing him or saying about him. Basically, he was as full-bodied as the black coffee he drank every time he came to the Cafe World and Wonders, but with a touch of sweetness.

Perhaps Ashil began to like him...

"Do you like the view?"

Surprised by Oahn's hoarse voice breaking the silence of the cafe, Ashil hid awkwardly behind the book he was holding, swallowing his saliva with difficulty.

How long had Ashil left reality? How long had Oahn noticed his gaze on him?

Blushing, Ashil dared not move.

"No need to be shy or embarrassed. I can understand that you want to know me more without having the courage to ask me," Oahn said.

"I'm sorry," Ashil articulated with difficulty.

"What are you sorry for?" Oahn asked as he looked away from the screen, leaning against the back of the chair.

"To have stared at you."

"Don't apologize. You're not the first one and you won't be the last one to do it."

"Maybe, but I'm sorry if it bothered you."

Oahn answered with a little «hmm», then he began to gaze at Ashil.

Hidden behind the book, Oahn perceived only a tuft of black hair. Ashil's hands clung to the cover of the book, doing their best to keep the face hidden behind those pages. Oddly enough, Oahn found this picture adorable.

Oahn cleared his throat and wiped that thought out of his mind with an invisible hand.

"Can I ask you a question?" Oahn asked Ashil in a restrained but soft voice.

"Sure," Ashil agreed, finally lowering the book.

"Why did you decide to study psychology?"

"For the same reasons that pushed you to study the section in which you are."

"No, I don't think so," Oahn corrected him categorically.

"So what are you reasons?"

"They are personal."

Ashil nodded silently. If Oahn didn't want to reveal why he was studying in his university section and not another, he respected his choice. He had no right to force him.

"And yours, are they also personal?"

Ashil shook his head.

"I'm studying psychology because I want to learn more about the human kind."

"Not to help people? Isn't it why people decide to study this subject?"

Ashil answered again with a negative movement of the head.

"I know how to listen, but I'm not good at guiding or advising anyone. Moreover, you can only advance on the path of your life by helping yourself. You must not rest forever on others."

"Don't you even have just a little bit of empathy or compassion for others?" Oahn asked, perplexed.

Ashil shrugged nonchalantly.

Why having such feelings towards others when you have never received them or when you hated to receive them? Why feel sorry or pity for someone when there was always worse in the world?

Maybe Ashil was a little coldhearted.

"You really are different," Oahn said pensively.

"Normality is too ordinary," Ashil laughed nervously.

"You're quite right," Oahn smiled.

Ashil looked back at Oahn and met his gaze. He clashed violently against a beautiful picture. Facing him, the indigo blue ocean was licking his feet gently. Above him, the azure sky and a sun shining brightly dazzled him. The sound of the waves and the singing of the seagulls rocked him, taking him far from reality. It was as if he had arrived in paradise. As if he were returning to his paradise.

"Enough talking, let me see what you've done," Ashil cut short the intimate moment they were having, turning the laptop towards him.

The end of the night was spent in peace, the two boys checking and modifying Oahn's research and answers. Every now and then, timid looks met, breaking the studious atmosphere of the small cafe, bringing the two boys into a world they will discover only later.