It was Ishaan's turn to receive an unexpected gift. A tin metal box, alongside a note written in anything but neat handwriting, sat at the corner of Ishaan's desk. There was only one person who would do such a thing, unless Ishaan had become a permanent target of bullying, that is. 

With that thought in mind, he cautiously opened the box. A needle, a spindle of thread, Band-Aids, aha. It was a first aid kit. 

That's hilarious, Ishaan thought. Definitely from Yu-jun. 

The note piqued his interest more. At first glance, he saw a blob, perhaps isobars from a map? There were rings like a tree, except they weren't..rings? There was a strange circle in the tippity top corner with rays coming out..perhaps the Sun? There were also small circles among the "rings," a scribble somewhere in the corner of the blob, and what seemed to be a smiley face amidst it all. A happy blob?

He then attempted to read the handwriting. "Thanks for be, huh? Being? My sunlight?" He squinted some more, trying to figure out the letters. "You help me jrow? Grow?"

Then Ishaan had a thought. Aha. Photosynthesis. I get it now. So the happy blob, was perhaps a cell of some sort, a plant cell, and it was photosynthesizing underneath the Sun. A snort came out, and a smile of amusement spread across his face. 

"Who wrote that?"

Someone peered over Ishaan's shoulder, peeking at the note. 

"Oh." Ishaan hesitated, a little shocked by the sudden conversation. "It's uh, well, from a guy I know." Do I know you? Ishaan thought. 

"Really? Either that's a joke, or that guy's gay." 

Ishaan looked closely at the note. Truth be told, the moment it said, "Thanks for being my sunlight," Ishaan felt his heart flutter. He was trying his best not to think that, as there was just no way that Yu-jun was gay, or whatever. He began thinking about their short memories together, for any potential hints. Yet, he was scared because Yu-jun had been avoiding him, thus a misunderstanding as big as this would not be good. 

"Well, I think it's a joke," he said, laughing a bit, while tucking away the note in his bag. He decided that he would have to confront Yu-jun about it, or he might be stuck in a delusion forever. Still, he was pleased that Yu-jun did not hate him, since he got him a gift. 

Or maybe this is him trying not to owe me anything,  a voice in his head thought.

Shut up Ishaan, he thought to himself. Let's just talk to him.

________________________________________________________________________________

There must be something called fate in this world. Yu-jun and Ishaan, by coincidence or by fate, met up at the exact spot immediately after the bell rung for the end of the school day. Yu-jun had decided he would stop avoiding him, and Ishaan was there to question the note he had received. The issue was, they had an audience. 

"Let's talk somewhere else," Yu-jun said, gradually turning away. Ishaan nodded, and followed him.

They found themselves a nice spot, hidden from the eyes of the public, except a few passerby, such as a baby in a stroller. Ishaan pulled out the note from his bag. 

"So, uhm, thanks for the gift?" he said, trying not to make eye contact with Yu-jun, who was busy looking out into the distance. "I'll definitely be able to use it!" 

The wind was especially loud, amplifying the silence of their conversation. 

"That's good to hear," Yu-jun muttered. "Did you get my note?"He looked over at Ishaan, who was now looking into the distance.  

"I did. Actually, I wanted to ask about it."

Yu-jun did his best to attempt a chuckle, which made it even more awkward. "Sorry, I have really bad handwriting." 

Ishaan wanted to say that that wasn't the issue, that it was the message that was the issue. But he figured it would be less confrontational if he pretended he couldn't read the handwriting in order to get Yu-jun to explain it himself. 

"So, what did you write then?"

At this point, Ishaan looked right into Yu-jun's eyes, who looked away, the tips of his ears beginning to turn red. There was perhaps a 5-second pause that seemed to last over a century. 

"Uh, what do you think I wrote?"

This time, Ishaan himself felt his own face flush. "I don't know, that's why I was asking you."

"You sure you can't read it?"

Ishaan nodded, then realized that Yu-jun wouldn't be able to see it since he was facing away. "Yeah."

He heard a sigh. "I don't, uhm, really want to repeat it. Like, it didn't sound bad when I first wrote it, but now when I think about it, eugh." 

Suddenly, Ishaan felt like he was misunderstanding something. "Wait what?"

"Do you not get it? The sun? The cell?"

Huh?

He sighed. "It's supposed to be a biology joke. To show you that I really liked your present, and I-, this is so embarrassing." Ishaan heard a slap, and turned around to see Yu-jun covering his face with his hands. "It's like a thank-you note, but I wanted to make it unique and genuine, and now, it's cringy." Yu-jun peeked at Ishaan, who could offer nothing but a blank, perplexed stare. 

Then Ishaan found his words. "Ohhhhh," he said. That made more sense.

"I'm so sorry, it's a really bad joke, I'm not good at this," Yu-jun wailed. 

Yeah, I agree, thought Ishaan, but the guy was struggling so hard, so he kept it to himself. "It's not that bad," he said, with no sincerity. "It's, it's a good joke," he reassured. For a middle-aged person, he thought. 

"No it's not; you're laughing." 

Suddenly, the small, stifled giggles came out as bursts of laughter as Ishaan doubled over and began laughing. "I just, I- pfft-HAHAHAHA-" The laughter finally broke the tension between them. 

Yu-jun stared at him with a look of judgement, face still flushed, but he himself enjoyed the moment too. At least, Ishaan truly didn't hate him, and that was good.