The clinking of utensils echoed quietly through the dining room.
I sat at the table with Kuya Xavier and Ate Trixy. Mom sat beside Dad, who was focused on something on his phone while sipping his coffee.
"Saan mo balak mag-intern, Zac?" Trixy asked as she glanced at me over her cup.
I paused, my fork halfway to my mouth.
"I haven't thought about it yet," I admitted.
Dad sighed audibly and set his cup down with a soft clink. "If you had taken a business course like your brother, you wouldn't be having trouble deciding these things."
His tone was calm, but the weight in it stung. It always did.
Mom reached out and gently placed her hand over his, trying to calm him down.
"Let Zac follow what he wants," she said softly. "Besides, Xavier is already managing the business well."
I stayed silent, my appetite fading with every word.
I wanted to be like Kuya Xavier—smart, business-savvy, the kind of son Dad always wanted. But I wasn't. I had no talent for business. I wasn't like him.
I loved the stars. That was all I had.
---
After breakfast, Kuya offered to drive me to campus.
We rode in silence for a while. I stared out the window, lost in my thoughts.
"Don't let what Dad said get to you," he finally said, eyes on the road.
"I'm used to it," I replied quietly, still watching the streets pass by. "He never really liked my course anyway."
"He says you won't earn anything just by counting stars," Kuya joked lightly.
I gave him a half-smile. "Funny."
---
Soon, we arrived at Austen University.
The security officer checked my ID and waved us through the gate. Kuya's car rolled in, and the sight of the grand campus unfolded in front of us.
Football fields. Air-conditioned classrooms. State-of-the-art laboratories. Theaters. Libraries. Cafeterias.
Everything looked the same.
But for some reason… something felt different today.
---
My first class of the day was Celestial Mapping, one of my core subjects.
I took my usual seat near the windows, second row from the back. The morning sun cast soft light on my desk as I pulled out my notebook and started reviewing my notes.
The seat beside me was normally empty.
Until today.
I heard the soft drag of a chair being pulled. The light thump of a bag on the floor. Then—
"Is this seat taken?"
I looked up.
A guy in a gray hoodie stood next to me. His features were sharp, almost delicate, and his gray eyes met mine calmly. His hood covered part of his face, but I could still see enough.
He was new.
"No," I said, my voice steady but curious. "You're… an exchange student?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Just transferred here."
His voice—it struck me.
Soft, cool… strangely familiar.
"I'm Januz," he said, sitting beside me.
"Zac." I offered my hand. He shook it after a short pause.
The contact made my heart skip.
His hand was cool, his grip firm, but not aggressive.
And his voice… it echoed inside my head like I'd heard it somewhere before.
Like in a dream.
Or…
A memory.
---
As class began, I struggled to focus. The professor's voice faded into the background as I kept glancing at Januz from the corner of my eye.
Why did his voice feel so familiar?
Then the memory hit me.
That night.
The beach.
The stranger in the hoodie.
The kiss.
I clenched my pencil tightly.
Could it be…?
I looked at him again.
Januz was quietly scribbling notes, completely focused. His expression unreadable.
But no matter how much I told myself it was a coincidence…
That voice—
I knew that voice.
It was him.
The boy who kissed me under the moonlight.