His Favorite Nerd

The Eyes I Kept Remembering

Chapter 7

:⁠-[MASON'S POV]:⁠-

It's been two hours since I had encountered the beautiful eyed boy, yet I still can't get him out of my mind.

Earlier, I was walking down the hallway toward the football club together with my teammates, who were following behind me, when I suddenly heard my phone beep. I decided to check the message I had received.

The sender turned out to be Tyler. He was literally walking behind me, so why did he send me a message instead of just talking?

I clicked on it.

" Try and smile when walking around the school premises." I scoffed.

Slowly, I turned around, raised my middle finger, and silently mouthed, "Fu*k... you."

As I turned back to face the front, someone bumped into me, and the notes he was carrying scattered everywhere. I immediately grabbed his waist and stopped him from falling.

It was the same nerd that had spat on me.

His glasses slipped off.

As he slowly opened his eyes, I couldn't stop staring at them. It was like the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen in my life.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a football hit my leg.

" Who the hell was that?" I shouted as my eyes scanned the entire football team.

Everywhere remained silent.

We had already been at the club for an hour, but I still couldn't stop thinking about the eyes I had seen earlier, not until one i***t hit me with the ball.

" I'm the one," Tyler admitted, folding his arms.

" Why would you do that?" I asked as I walked toward him.

" You've been losing focus since we arrived, as if your mind has been somewhere else," he explained. "You didn't even blow the whistle for us."

He was right about that. I just couldn't get that nerd off my mind.

" I'm sorry," I apologized because I knew I was wrong. "I need to use the restroom for a second," I informed them as I headed there to clear my mind.

" Hope you're okay?" Jason asked and I nodded without turning back.

The moment I got to the restroom, I turned on the tap, cupped some water in my hands, and splashed it onto my face. I stared blankly at the mirror. Water dripped down my face.

I had seen thousands of eyes. Many eyes staring at me because I was the football captain. Opponents looking at me. Fans watching me. None of them had ever stayed in my mind.

But for some reason... I couldn't forget the eyes of the quiet nerd from earlier.

The same eyes I thought would be among the thousands I had seen.

The same nerd that had spat on me.

Yet all I could remember was the moment his glasses slipped away.

I let out a heavy sigh and shook my head. My teammates were still waiting for me. I dried my face with a towel and walked out of the restroom.

After practice was over, everyone left for their dormitories. I decided to stay behind and train a little longer since I had been zoning out during practice.

I spent the extra hour working on my dribbling, toe taps, and wall passes. When I finally called it a day, I decided to take a shower before heading back to the dormitory because I was sweating profusely.

As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around my waist, my eyes landed on the same person I hadn't been able to stop thinking about since that afternoon. Though he was wearing his glasses again.

I froze.

My eyes briefly locked with his, and then I noticed his gaze drifting down to my bare chest for what felt like a few seconds... Or maybe longer.

" You like what you see?" I asked with a smirk.

He scoffed and replied, " I also have one."

I pressed my lips together.

He turned around and told me to get dressed quickly. We didn't speak while I was changing. There was no reason to. I only wondered why he was here.

After I was done, I told him he could turn around. He did. He walked toward me and started,

" So, I'm here to tell you that..."

" Quickly put them back on," I snapped the moment I saw him taking off his glasses. "You shouldn't take your glasses off again."

I put them back on his face.

" Why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Even with the glasses on, I could still notice his gorgeous eyes.

" Because..." Silence filled the room as he waited for my answer. I swallowed hard and came up with the stupidest excuse possible. " You look ugly without them."

His mouth twitched.

" Not ugly enough that I can't take off my glasses," he replied, folding his arms.

I was terrible at lying. And somehow, he had fallen for it. A smile curled onto my lips.

" How are you going to make up for the glasses you broke?" he suddenly asked.

Glasses? Broke? How?

I could still remember everything that had happened. I had saved him from falling. I didn't break his glasses.

" But I saved you earlier, and I didn't break them," I explained as I took a step forward.

He immediately took a step backward.

" I'd appreciate it if you didn't move," he said, pointing a finger at my chest to keep some distance between us.

" Alright," I replied.

" So," he continued, "according to what I saw on the CCTV footage, your hand hit my glasses and made them fall to the ground. That's how they got broken."

I chuckled. Did he really think he could blackmail me?

" Where's your proof?" I asked.

He immediately took out his phone and showed me the footage.

" Can you confirm it now?" he asked as he adjusted his glasses.

I let out a sigh.

" Then why do your glasses still look perfectly fine?"

He raised an eyebrow and pointed at the handle, which had been repaired with cellotape. I looked closely and realized he was telling the truth.

" You broke the handle," he said. "I managed to tape it together, but it won't last forever."

" Even if I made a mistake, I still saved you from falling," I argued.

" My glasses would still be fine if you hadn't," he retorted back.

I knew arguing with him wouldn't get me anywhere. And I didn't want him hanging around me. Buying him a new pair would probably settle everything.

" I'll get you another one," I suddenly said.

He stopped talking immediately.

" When?" he asked.

" Probably during the midterm break after the tests. I'll take you to the eye clinic myself. I don't want you bringing this up before then."

" Is that an agreement?" I asked and he nodded.

He turned to leave, but before I realized what I was doing, I reached out and grabbed his hand.

" What?" he asked as he slowly turned around.

I cleared my throat.

" Don't ever take your glasses off."

" You don't get to decide that," he replied. He slipped his hand out of mine and walked away.

The moment he disappeared, I felt like punching myself. Just a while ago, I had been acting cold toward him. Now, I had let my vulnerability take over.

***

That night, I was unable to sleep because my mind kept wandering back to that nerd. It was as if I had been enchanted from the moment I saw his bare face.

I let out another heavy sigh.

" What's wrong?" Jason asked. He was sitting on his bed, reading a novel.

Just then, Tyler suddenly sat up.

" You've been acting strange ever since you collided with that nerd earlier," he said.

I glared at him.

" Nerd? Who's that?" Jason asked. He probably wasn't there when it happened.

" That same guy with glasses you talked to in class," Tyler answered.

Jason nodded in understanding.

That reminded me. I didn't even know his name. He was too quiet for me to notice him. I hated having people close to me, and I had probably counted him as one of them.

But for some reason, I wanted to know his name.

" What is... his name?" I asked, stammering a little as I rubbed the back of my neck.

The two of them looked at me in shock. They stared at me as if I had just asked the strangest question in the world.

" Are you sure you're okay?" Tyler asked, making a big deal out of it.

" He's just a classmate. I want to know his name," I replied.

That wasn't the case, my subconscious told me.

" This is unlike you," Jason said. "You've always acted cold toward everyone, and now all of a sudden you want to know a classmate's name?"

I swallowed hard.

" Never mind," I said and was about to turn off my lamp when I heard Jason speak.

" Adrian. That's his name," he informed me.

I almost smiled.

Adrian. That's a cute name.

" His dorm number is 110," Tyler added, making both Jason and me turn to look at him.

How did he know Adrian's dorm? He wasn't even friends with him.

" How did you know?" Jason asked, looking speechless. Tyler simply shrugged.

After that, we all went to sleep.

***

The following morning, I somehow found myself standing in front of the nerd’s dorm room.

I paced slowly along the corridor, already knowing he would step out any moment.

A few minutes earlier, the class captain and another student I had seen countless times making out with different people had come out and told me he was still getting dressed-probably they are his roommates.

They only told me because I said I owned the nerd. And honestly, at that moment, it felt like the truth. I just needed him close until I got his glasses replaced, and I didn’t want him going around talking about it.

Before I knew it, the door opened. He stepped out. Neatly dressed, a bag hanging on his back. His damp hair fell slightly over his eyebrows, almost covering his eyes. He was wearing his glasses, but somehow my gaze still drifted past them-straight to his eyes underneath.

They were… mesmerizing.

" Why are you here?" he asked suddenly, pulling me out of my trance.

I tucked a hand into my pocket and rubbed my temples, trying to find the right words to say.

To be continued...