“You won’t guess what I just found out,” Khem greeted his friends excitedly before he had even reached the table outside of the cafeteria where they spent most of their breaks together. Khem was a talkative and probably the happiest person in this university. There was no one in the faculty Khem didn’t know. He was friends with about half of the university, had made more friends in his two years of being a student here than some people make in their entire life. Khem knew everyone and everything. He had always been a step ahead of everything. If there was a new outed couple, Khem had already known about them for at least two weeks. If there was a new professor, Khem already knew too many details of their private life. If there was a new transfer student, Khem had already been friends with them for months. Khem was one of a kind. But he was also the best friend one could ever ask for. He might not always keep every secret one shares with him for himself, but he would never let down one of his friends. He was always ready to comfort anyone, had the uncommon ability to make his friends happy again with just a simple smile.

“Don’t you say that every day?” Ford answered a little annoyed that he was stopped from eating by Khem once again. Ford liked Khem a lot, was thankful to have a friend like him. But sometimes, he was annoyed by Khem’s loud and gossiping behavior. They were all used to Khem joining them later because he had been held back by someone they didn’t know. And whenever he came by a lot later, he always had something to share with them and stopped them from eating their well-deserved meals in peace. However, in the end, they stopped eating and listened to their friend every time, because they cared about Khem too much to just ignore what he had to tell them. To not listen to whatever made their little friend this excited and happy. Khem sat down next to Ford, smiled at his other friend sitting opposite of him.

“Do you remember the rumors from last year? About the freshman transferring to our faculty?” They didn’t. None of the two remembered the rumors which had spread at the beginning of the last semester. They didn’t even remember how excited Khem had been about this student who had never ended up transferring to their university. But because they didn’t want to hurt their friend’s feelings with their disinterest, the two just nodded with a smile. “He just enrolled and will move here next week. Isn’t that exciting?”

“But didn’t the enrollment end like weeks ago? How can he still transfer when the semester already started and the midterm exams are so close?” Ford asked not believing what Khem had just told them.

“That’s what is so exciting about him,” Khem replied immediately and looked at the guy sitting next to him with wide-opened eyes. “He is from abroad, from somewhere in Europe. I don’t remember the country. Maybe it was Germany? And supposedly, he is super smart so professors didn’t see a problem with him starting taking our classes later than the others.”

“But if he is so smart,” Keb, the third guy sitting at the table on the opposite side of his two friends, started talking for the first time since Khem had arrived at the table, “why is he transferring to our university? Aren’t there better ones in Europe?”

“Maybe his girlfriend is Thai?” Ford guessed. “Maybe they met in some elite private school in Europe, but she had to move back here so he follows her?”

“No, no, no,” Khem ended Ford’s guesses. Of course Khem knew the answer to Keb’s question. Of course he was already perfectly informed about the new student’s reasons. “He is Thai himself and he was born here. His brother is studying at our university.”

“Whose brother is studying at our university?” A familiar voice appeared behind Keb. A fourth guy, the last member of their small group of friends, sat down next to Keb and greeted the three guys before looking at Khem to find out what they had talked about. “Whose brother is studying at our university?” One repeated his question once again.

“The brother of the new second-year student transferring here next week,” Khem explained to his friend.

“Why do you guys care so much about a new student?” One asked not quite understanding why Ford and Keb were this interested in this new student. “You usually don’t like Khem’s nosy gossip. Why now?” Both, Ford and Keb, looked at their friend a little angrily now. Keb kicked the guy sitting next to him to make him stay quiet. He was right. Usually, they weren’t interested in this kind of talk. They didn’t care about other people as much as Khem and were more focused on their own lives than on their surroundings. But there wasn’t a reason to talk about something their friend liked in that way.

“I’m sorry, Nong Khem,” One apologized to Khem with a lowered voice biting his bottom lip after he had seen how sad and hurt Khem looked. For a few seconds, there was no happiness left in Khem’s eyes. He wasn’t smiling anymore, was hurt by how his close friend thought about his stories. He knew not everyone liked that he always had so much to tell about what was happening in their university. One had never been interested in what was happening around him. He only cared about himself. At least that’s what it always seemed like.

“It’s okay,” Khem replied after moments in which his friends had only looked at him worried about his feelings. “I gotta go now. I can’t be late for class again.” Khem grabbed his backpack and got up. He smiled at his friends brightly, told them he would try to have more time for them in their lunch break before he turned his back to them and walked away after not having been here for many minutes.