“So people talk about me,” Moon concluded still smiling. Because of the way people had been looking at him ever since he had entered the university and how they still looked at him, Moon could already imagine what the students had been talking about ever since his transfer had been made official. And after his first day here, many more people would talk about him.

“People talk about everyone. But yeah, pretty much everyone from our faculty talked about you in the last week. It doesn’t happen often that someone from Europe transfers to our university in the middle of the semester. Especially, not to our faculty.”

“I guess I’m one of a kind,” Moon laughed. “I already thought this would be surprising for some people. Not everyone might get why I chose to come here and leave Europe.”

Khem nodded, understood the meaning behind those words, “Although we study Human Sciences, most of the students don’t understand people at all. Sometimes, I wonder how they even ended up with their majors.”

“May I ask what’s your major?” Moon was truly interested in the person he was talking to. He had already fallen for his smile, his positive and happy personality. Moon adored Khem a lot even after they had only been talking for a few minutes. Maybe it was because Moon wanted to have somebody close to him who could cheer him up. Someone as happy as Moon wanted to be.

“Communication of arts” Khem replied even happier because someone was finally interested in his studies. His closest friends were supportive of his studies, but still, he had never been asked this question first, was always the one who had to show interest first. “I wasn’t sure if it’s the right major for me at first, but after the first weeks, it was pretty much the best choice I have ever made.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean,” Moon responded. “When I first chose my major in Sociology, I thought I made a mistake. And so did the people around me. They all thought I was weird. But I can’t imagine studying anything else.”

Khem didn’t have anything else to add to this topic. He was glad to have found someone who understood him the way Moon did. Their conversation was nothing more than usual small talk between two people who had just met. Their conversation didn’t even last long, but Khem could feel a connection to Moon already. Khem could tell how similar they were. Moon seemed like a very nice and caring person. Although his looks were so different from what Khem was used to see on a boy’s body, he didn’t think Moon looked weird. He was just being himself and wasn’t dressed up as someone else. He felt comfortable in his skin like this. And that was enough for Khem to get used to what he was wearing and to feel a special friendship building up between them. Because Khem knew he would never have to hide his true self from Moon.

“This is our canteen,” Khem explained to his new friend when they entered the big hall in which many students were spending their lunch breaks. The first classes of the day had already passed by. Moon was now an official student here and had already met many nice people. But in his past breaks, he had been too busy with meeting his new professors, who had explained to him what he had missed in the past weeks, that Moon hadn’t been shown around the university. Because Moon didn’t know who else to ask and both, Khem and Moon, wanted to spend more time together, Khem gladly sacrificed his lunch break to show Moon around the university. “The food is pretty okay. Not the best, but there are faculties with worse food,” Khem continued while Moon was amazed by the number of people sitting here. “If you want to eat real good food in our university, you should eat with someone from Med. Their food is the best, but they barely let strangers in.” Moon listened to Khem’s words carefully although he preferred to bring his self-cooked lunch with him to eat in breaks. He still wanted to know everything about this university and wanted to be prepared to know where to eat when he had forgotten his lunch at home or hadn’t had enough time to make it. On top of that, he liked listening to Khem and whatever was on his mind.

“Do you and your friends eat in here?” Moon asked and turned his head to look at Khem.

Khem shook his head, “We usually eat outside. Except for when it’s raining. It’s not as crowded and loud outside as it is here. And it helps a lot to spend some time outside to concentrate in afternoon classes.” Moon nodded, understood perfectly why Khem and his friends preferred to eat outside. The air in here, all these people, and the noise made Moon’s head pound. He hadn’t been in here for long and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take all of this. He could never spend an entire lunch break in this cafeteria. “Do you want to meet my friends?” Khem offered Moon and received a positive answer from his friend immediately.

“I would love to.” Once again happy about Moon’s interest, Khem smiled brightly and led the way outside.

“There are usually four of us: One, Ford, Keb, and me. But One isn’t here anymore, because he has no afternoon classes on Mondays.”

“Are they all in Human Sciences?”

“Kinda,” Khem explained, “Ford and Keb study Psychology in their third year. But between the two of us, Keb is doing a way better job. I don’t know why Ford majors in Psychology and how he even got this far.” Khem’s words made Moon laugh. Khem also couldn’t hold back laughter before he continued giving Moon an answer. “One is a third-year, too. He studies law. They have their own faculty but use our rooms.” Moon didn’t have anything else to ask. He was excited to meet even more people, couldn’t quite understand what was happening. Usually, he was scared of strangers and didn’t like to meet new people. But here with Khem next to him, Moon felt safe. He knew that those strangers wouldn’t harm him in any way. They were Khem’s friends. He already trusted Khem enough to build up his courage and be brave. And then, their eyes met.