“You said that to him?” “Right in his fair face.” Melissa scrunched up her nose. “Fair?” “Yes,” Pete said as he took a sip of his red ginseng tea. He initially disliked the taste but after adding way too much sugar, he found it was a lot better. “Fair, gorgeous, beautiful. He is a sculpture, Melissa, and I’m Pygmalion.” She shook her head and let out a deep sigh. “I don’t understand a word of what you’re babbling about, Peter.” He rolled his eyes at her and opened his textbook on classic literature. “I’m saying that I enjoyed looking at that idiot’s face. He’s older than I expected, a little more attractive than I thought maybe.” Melissa hummed. She glanced down at the book and furrowed her brows. “You know that you have econ now, right?” Pete shook his head. “No, I’m pretty sure I have to listen to Mrs. Darcy talk about Homer as if they were a single person. Tell me how does a professor-” “Pete.” She interrupted him with a sly smile. “It’s Tuesday.” He froze and stared at his best friend. “No.” He said again, uncertain this time. “If it were Tuesday I’d have an exam in about two hours.” Melissa put her phone on the table and tapped the screen twice. The current date and time lit up and Pete’s world crumbled. Tuesday, 21. September 2021. “Oh shit.” Pete grabbed his book and threw it carelessly into his backpack. “Hey- where are you going?” “The library, I need to study.” “We have econ!”

Pete ignored her and ran off. He had about two and a half hours left before he’d have his last exam in ancient Greek. He hated classic literature for exactly that reason. When he started his literature degree he hadn’t taken into account that it contains all types of literature. Latin was one thing, he thankfully already learnt most of it at school but studying ancient Greek from scratch fried his brain. He knew that he was technically prepared but he almost flunked the last exam and he couldn’t afford to get a bad grade. If it hadn’t been for his stupid – but attractive – neighbour, Pete might have actually felt good with what he studied. But who knows how much of the obscure grammar rules stayed in his head after basically having to listen to a pride parade each night. He cursed Derek out but at the same time his cheeks heated up. Him being attractive wasn’t fair. How could Pete stay angry or even get mad at him for the loud music when this ancient being himself looked so ethereal? He wanted to hate Derek even more for his fair looks. He’d never been one to seek out relationships with older people. He liked to be the wise one in the relationship. He liked to have more experience and guide his partner. He liked younger people – especially their stamina. Seeing how attractive and old his neighbour was basically turned his whole world upside down. He began to wonder what it would be like to date Derek.

“Oh by the Lords, get out of my head you peculiar old man!”