The encounter that finally made me remember him wasn't anything dramatic.
No intense staring moment.
No cliché music in the background.
Just… a normal day.
And somehow, that made it stay with me even more.
I didn't even know his name back then.
Our school was an all-girls school, and his was the boys' school right next to ours.
We shared the same road, the same after-school rush, the same tution class.
My friends and I were walking to class that day—tired, laughing, dragging our bags like we always did—when we saw them.
The black-tshirt boy and his friends.
They were heading to the same class as us, walking close enough that I could hear them, but not close enough that any of us would actually talk. Of course not. Girls on one side, boys on the other. That invisible line everyone pretends doesn't exist.
We crossed the road beside them.
No one said a word.
But suddenly, one of his friends shouted,
"Biel! Your mom's here! You're going the wrong way!"
They all burst into laughter, and he did too—tilting his head back, smiling.
They split off into a different path, and for some reason, my heart paused for half a second.
Biel.
Was that really his name?
I wasn't sure. But it echoed in my mind anyway.
From that day on, I noticed him.
Not intentionally.
Not romantically.
Just… unconsciously.
I noticed his back when he walked ahead of us.
I noticed the way he tilted his head when he laughed.
The way he walked ahead of his friends, slightly careless, slightly confident.
I noticed the way he tilted his head when he laughed.
And then there was his laugh.
It was breathtakingly beautiful in a careless way—
Like he didn't even know how good it sounded.
Like it escaped him before he could hide it.
A little arrogant, maybe.
Or maybe just too comfortable in his own skin.
He was friendly with his own friends, loud and easygoing with them, like he belonged in every conversation.
Maybe I didn't notice him because he was attractive or interesting or mysterious.
Maybe the real reason was simpler.
He reminded me… of me.