“Do you feel a little better now?” Keb asked Moon carefully. He spoke with a lowered voice to not risk startling the one sitting next to him and scare him again. After Moon had calmed down and had started breathing steadily again, the two of them had sat down at the table. Keb had stayed silent and had just waited until Moon had sorted all of his thoughts again. Keb knew it would do no good if he constantly asked him whether he was fine or not. Moon probably needed a moment of silence and distance which Keb wanted to give him. But after many minutes had passed, he couldn’t take the silence anymore. Although Keb wanted to wait for Moon to say the first words, he broke the silence. To his surprise, Keb’s question was answered in a matter of seconds. Moon nodded, turned his head slowly, and looked right into Keb’s eyes. Keb’s heart skipped a beat when his eyes met Moon’s.

“Thank you,” Moon whispered as he showed a small smile.

“Don’t thank me,” Keb replied and lowered his head. He didn’t look at Moon’s eyes anymore, couldn’t hold eye contact with him any longer although he liked his eyes so much. Keb just couldn’t deal with the thankfulness in Moon’s eyes. Moon had meant those two words with all his heart. He was thankful to be calmed down like this. He was thankful for the space Keb was giving him. He was thankful Keb was here with him in this second. “It’s my fault. I should have asked for permission before touching you. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay.” It was now Moon’s turn to calm down Keb. And for some reason, even those few comforting words made Keb believe the world was a perfect place. “You didn’t know about it. You couldn’t have known about it. I’m not blaming you.”

“But still, I should not touch anyone without permission. I’m sorry.” Moon didn’t blame Keb. But Keb was blaming himself. He was in this university to study ways to help people get over their fears. He studied the art of reading people’s gestures and behavior, he studied people’s thoughts and feelings. He had always dreamt of helping people in every way possible. Although he had calmed down Moon again, he had hurt him. He had hurt him because he hadn’t been careful enough. Because he hadn’t thought about the consequences of his actions. No word could stop him from blaming himself. Nothing could take the blame from him. Because it was his fault.

“It’s okay,” Moon repeated. “Now you know about it and as long as you don’t do it again, it is fine.” Keb didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was too stubborn to stop blaming himself, but he didn’t want Moon to have to think about it any longer.

“Do you want me to show you the rest of campus now? Or do you want to stay here a little longer?”

“A senior asked me to meet in the club room of the theater group. Khem wanted to go there with me next. Can you show me the way?”

“Of course,” Keb replied and got up. “It’s not far from here. I can walk you there.” Moon also got up on his feet again and started walking next to Keb. He wanted to look at the one next to him a little longer, but he also wanted to pay attention to the way to find the building on his own the next time. While Moon’s eyes lay on the way in front of them, Keb used this moment to take a closer look at Moon. He noticed so many details of his face making Keb think of Moon as even more beautiful. Moon had many freckles on his nose and cheeks. Although he didn’t mind wearing makeup to cover up flaws of his face and make his skin smoother, Moon hadn’t even tried to cover those freckles. Moon loved them and Keb noticed this while only looking at them. Keb looked closer at Moon’s eyes. He noticed that he wasn’t only wearing peach-colored eyeshadow, but also glitter all around his eyes that was sparkling in the light of the sun. He was so beautiful. Moon was wearing contact lenses which made Keb wonder how he would look like with glasses. Maybe Keb would get the chance to see him with those glasses someday. Moon’s ears were covered with many little holes for all kinds of earrings, but he wasn’t wearing any today. Keb wondered how many different earrings Moon owned and how he would look wearing them.

“Are you part of any club activities?” Moon turned his head to look at Keb. He was caught off guard when their eyes met immediately. His cheeks blushed and he looked away again after realizing that Keb had been staring at him.

“Not really,” Keb answered. He also looked away and decided to concentrate on the way to the building again. “But the music club lets me use their piano a few times a week when no one is using it and I’m free.”

“You can play the piano?” Moon asked in surprise. “I always wanted to learn a musical instrument, but I have never gotten the allowance. Besides, I’m not talented in music at all.” Moon laughed a little when he remembered the few times he had tried out a musical instrument when he had been a lot younger and had failed completely.

“Music takes a lot of practice. And learning the basics is usually no fun,” Keb explained. “But if you want to, I can teach you a little.” Moon was truly happy about this offer. Not only could he finally do something he wanted to do and liked, but it also showed Keb’s interest in Moon. Keb wanted to spend more time with Moon, wanted to be friends with him.

“Thank you a lot. I would really love to learn it from you,” Moon was quiet for a few seconds, was scared to hurt Keb by turning down his offer now. “I think I want to focus on classes first, though. I still have a lot to catch up and I can’t fail my first semester here.”

“That’s reasonable. It must be hard to do all the work from the last weeks and to get used to living in a foreign country.” For some reason, the description ‘foreign country’ didn’t feel wrong for Moon to hear. He was Thai. His grandparents were all born here, his parents were born here, and he was born in Thailand. This was his home country, but it still felt like a place he had never been before. Like he was only a guest in this town and he would leave soon again. He had spent years over years abroad, could only remember a few things of his old life here. This country was foreign to him and he felt like a foreigner who didn’t belong here.