I made a new friend; his name is Abel. To be honest, it is possible that I am the only one who sees him as a friend.

He is a bit of a unique guy. Someone who barely talks to anyone in school, but he wasn't 'unapproachable,' per se. If someone talked to him, Abel would reply quite nicely and calmly—in fact, it was a little charming—but he never initiated conversation with anyone.

His face was always plain as well, or what was that word, stoic? Right, that. Taciturn and stoic, good-looking but not particularly striking. Maybe if he styled his hair differently and wore clothes that were a size smaller, he would look better.

Speaking of which, his hair was long. Quite long. It was a bit of a mess with the bangs, but it could probably be styled into a ponytail and would look pretty good; their light brown matched well with his hazel eyes. He smoked as well; he might look cool like that.

Even in sports, Abel wasn't bad. Nothing that stood out, again, and it seemed most of the boys in the class knew his name, but no one really talked with him.

I felt a little proud about that, since these days...

"How is work going?"

Sitting with me on the stairs leading to the roof of the old school building, he opened his lunch box and posed the question. It was Saturday, and Abel and I had been having lunch together since this last Wednesday.

"It wasn't bad!" I said, taking a big bite of my flavored bread. Though I had a different job on Friday, the restaurant incident was more funny. "There was this one customer who ordered, like, seven bowls of rice, but without any side dish? It was just rice, nothing else. How does that work?"

"Is that so? Sounds interesting."

I may have forced him into having lunch with me. To be honest, two events had happened on that Monday. Abel had helped me with one, but the other was me being rejected by my childhood best friend, Eric.

He knew a bit about my situation, not how bad it had gotten now, but a bit. I would frequently turn to him to vent, and many times I thought I was expressing my affection clearly, but...

Perhaps it was all in my head.

Argh. Just thinking of it frustrated me. I took a bigger bite of the bread, eating furiously. As usual, Abel looked at me and leaned away a little, but this time, I noticed a small smile on his lips.

I was planning to learn not to assume things, but maybe it would be okay to call us something like friends, right?

***

Monday.

It was quite fun, to be honest. Making a new friend. Most of the connections I had made in high school were very rapid; everyone was worried about making friends, so it made it easier for us to be friends. Since everyone wanted to be nice to everyone, it also made all those friendships just that much shallower.

It wasn't the case with Abel. Even if my time knowing him was shorter, there was a certain authenticity in our bond. Neither of us had to pretend, maybe?

"What is that?" I asked, peering at the screen Abel held up.

"It's not good to peek into others' phones."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Right, sorry. What is that, though? Looks scary."

"Stocks," Abel said. He usually sat two steps below me; he shifted a little so I could see his phone better, and I peeked in from behind his shoulder. "See this graph? It shows the value of the stock over time."

"Oh... why are you buying this? Isn't it very red?"

"You buy low. This stock will probably jump up soon." Abel then looked up at me. "Do you have cash? I can buy some for you too."

I quickly stuck my tongue out. "Not happening; I don't gamble with my money. Stocks *is* just gambling."

"As you wish."

***

I had come to look forward to those times we spent together. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an attraction or something, but rather more like the only bit of fun I got to have in my day.

What I felt for Abel was mostly gratitude, but spending time with him had become a safe space for me; anyone would enjoy such times too.

While working, I would end up looking for stories to talk to Abel about since he rarely spoke on his own, and I also got a way to be away from the awkward situation with Eric. Honestly, it was great.

As I returned from work, sometimes I would feel scared, as if someone was watching me, or maybe as if someone was following me. The fear of that day stuck. Which was another reason why I enjoyed being with Abel so much; if he wasn't around, things could have gotten worse. It was a reminder of my debt of gratitude.

***

Tuesday.

Sometimes Abel and I would run into each other on our way to school. It was nice to walk to campus with a friend, and our conversations were becoming livelier too.

"I am not a fan of Mega Evolutions. It feels like one of the worst gimmicks P*kemon could have come up with."

"Excuse me?" Abel said. "I'll have you take that back."

"Alright, I just remembered that Gigantamax thing."

"Right—oh, sorry."

Abel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, a second one, a burner phone he kept on himself. These phone calls were pretty frequent for him too.

He stepped a few paces ahead, and I deliberately slowed down so he could talk privately, a giddy smile on my lips.

Fun little conversations like these were becoming common.

***

Wednesday.

It certainly wasn't just me. I was a little more sure of that each day, that we both were definitely becoming friends.

The physical education class had just ended. I sat exhausted in one corner of the field after the tense volleyball match. The football match between the boys had just ended as well, but most of them continued playing since we had time.

Heaving, I looked on from a distance while the rest of the girls and some of the boys who had opted out from playing watched from right next to the field.

Then, a cool sensation touched my cheek. I looked up to find Abel holding a cold bottle of water for me.

"Here," he said, his face as plain as ever.

"Thanks," I took the bottle with one hand and patted the grass next to me with the other. Abel quietly took a seat next to me.

"How much longer before this class ends?" I asked. Abel pulled out his phone and showed me the time on the lock screen; it was 12 minutes to go. More than the time, though, my eyes were caught by the picture on the lock screen.

"Who is this girl?" I asked. A cute little girl, someone who looked just a little younger than us, was on his lock screen. When he tapped the buttons again, the picture changed to one of the sky; it was a rotating lock screen.

Abel seemed to know, though. He only looked at his phone and said softly.

"My little sister."

"You have a sister?" I asked. "She's really cute."

Abel didn't say anything but only nodded with a soft smile. For some reason, I felt as if he wasn't quite happy about this topic, so I quickly changed it.

"Ah, when are you coming to the restaurant?" I asked.

"When I feel like some Oriental?"

"Hey, our restaurant also has great Western food."

"You guys serve Western? I am not too excited about a place that tries to hit every box like that."

"Rude much?"

"Hah."

Right, we were surely becoming friends.

***

Thursday.

I waited and waited, but Abel did not come to school today.