Nothing changed after Ford and Keb had joined their friends. After they had walked over to them and had sat down next to them. Everyone stayed as happy as they had been before. All five of them laughed at the story Moon told about one of his classes last week. “When I introduced myself to the professor before class started, he just looked at me confused and shocked as if I am a ghost.” Moon tried to recreate the way the adult had looked at him that time, but he failed because he couldn’t hold back his laughter. Moon started to laugh with his friends but continued to talk while laughing. “He probably expected some little boy with big round glasses and braces.”

“When I first saw you,” Khem admitted, “I thought you were lost or something. I didn’t imagine you like that, either.”

“Do all people in Europe dress like that? Not that you don’t look good, it’s just… different,” Ford asked Moon. He had been wondering about his looks for some time but had never gotten the chance to ask him about it last Monday.

“Not really,” Moon explained. “I lived in Switzerland. It is a lot colder there, especially in the winter. Most of the people just wear shirts or sweaters, but I wouldn’t say I was the only guy wearing make-up in his daily life. People still laughed at me a lot, though.”

“I think you look beautiful,” One complimented Moon and smiled at him. “You look like… like yourself.” There was it again. That weird feeling inside of Keb. He was next to Moon again but something still felt wrong. One told Moon the thoughts Keb had had last week when he had first met Moon. Unlike Keb, One was brave enough to share those thoughts with Moon. As a reaction to this unexpected compliment, Moon’s cheeks blushed. The weird feeling inside of Keb transformed into jealousy. Real and painful jealousy. He should have been the one to compliment Moon. He should have been the one to make Moon’s cheeks blush like that. But he wasn’t. He was too late. And too scared.

“If you studied in Switzerland,” Khem asked and put an end to Keb’s thoughts. Keb concentrated on the reality again, didn’t want to hurt himself even more by overthinking what One had said to Moon. “can you speak Ger…German?”

“Yeah. I speak German, English, French, and Thai. I also took Chinese and Japanese classes for a while, but I forgot most of it.” They were amazed by Moon’s talent, knowledge, and patience. Except for Keb, all of them were only fluent in Thai. And even Keb could only speak two languages, Thai and English.

“You sure are smart,” Ford mumbled remembering what Khem had told him about Moon weeks ago. Moon had been allowed to enroll and start studying here this late in the semester because people knew he would still manage to get good grades. Because they knew he was smarter than most students in this university.

“Can I ask you guys something as well?” All of them nodded and waited for his question. Maybe it was because Moon was the new student or he just didn’t like asking them something as open as they did, but every time one of them was together with Moon, Moon was always the one answering questions. He hadn’t asked a lot until now although he was the one who had to get used to a whole new life. Maybe he was too shy to do so. Or he wasn’t as interested in their lives as they were in his. “How did you become friends? Khem told me only Ford and Keb study together, but you all seem very close.” Something in Moon’s question made Keb’s heart beat a little faster. He couldn’t tell if it was simply because they had never really told anyone about their friendship before or if it was because Moon had called his name. It was nothing special, but it still felt so special to Keb. It was the first time that hearing someone calling his name awoke this kind of reaction inside of him. It was the first time Moon had called his name and it made Keb incredibly happy. It made him so happy that Keb wished Moon would call his name many, many more times.

“It’s not that special and interesting,” Ford was the first one to answer Moon’s question. “One, Keb, and I are all in third year. We met at our freshmen orientation day for the first time.”

“I was friends with both, One and Ford. At first, there was this tension between One and Ford and they were always fighting. They made me take one of their sides, but I couldn’t choose between one of them. I tried to make them get close to each other, but it never really worked. Whenever the three of us were out together, it always ended in a fight. Until One and Ford met Khem when he was a freshman a year later. I don’t know how it worked and what Khem did, but one day, One and Ford spent an entire break together with Khem, and they didn’t throw any fists or cursed at all.”

“We weren’t that bad,” One tried to defend Ford and himself.

“Not that bad?” Keb laughed. “I’m still waiting for the day something happens between you two and you will start fighting again.”

“Sounds like a cliché from enemies to lovers love story to me,” Moon joked. While Keb and Khem couldn’t hold back their laughter, One and Ford weren’t amazed by what he had said.

“We are not a couple,” One stated offended.

“And we will never be one,” Ford added. Without any second thoughts, they shared the same opinion. Because both of them had someone else in their heart already.

“That’s what you say now,” Khem mumbled but looked at his two older friends with puppy eyes immediately after he had noticed they turned even more annoyed.