Almost Noticed

Chapter 6: Trouble in Tandem

The day after midterms, the campus felt like a battlefield after war—empty coffee cups scattered, eye bags everywhere, and students half-walking, half-dreaming on their feet.

Zac found Hannaia at the library garden, quietly eating crackers habang nagba-browse ng PDF ng lectures sa phone niya. Her hair was loosely tied, face bare of any effort, and yet, she still looked put together—at least more than most students that day.

“Akala ko mawawala ka sa radar after ng midterms,” he greeted, sliding into the bench beside her.

“Almost did,” sagot niya. “Nag-crash ako sa kama kagabi. Hindi ko na maalala kung kumain pa ako.”

“Same. Ako nga, nanaginip pa ako ng formula habang natutulog. Seriously.”

They both laughed. It was nice, this quiet familiarity they were slowly growing into. There were no expectations, no pressure—just easy conversation and mutual exhaustion.

“May duty ka pa ba ngayon?” tanong ni Zac.

“Wala. Rest day. Kaya nagre-review ulit. Kasi may demo next week. Ikaw?”

“Group project. Sobrang hassle kasi walang ambag ‘yung iba. Ako na halos lahat.”

“Ah. Yung paboritong excuse ng lahat: groupmates.”

He grinned. “Sige na, you're right.”

They sat in silence for a moment, interrupted only by the rustling leaves and distant laughter of other students trying to reclaim their sanity.

“Gusto mo ba ng tulong sa project?” tanong ni Hannaia bigla.

Zac blinked. “Seryoso?”

“Kung drawing lang, kaya ko. Pang-grade 3 nga lang.”

He laughed. “Deal.”

He pulled out his notebook and started explaining his group’s design plan. Hannaia listened, asked questions, and even suggested a couple of changes that surprised him.

“You sure you’re not in engineering?” Zac teased.

“Baka in another life,” she smiled. “Pero baka sa life na ‘yun, bagsak din ako sa math.”

They exchanged stories about their worst subjects, their terror professors, and the one time Hannaia accidentally wore two different shoes to class because she was too sleepy.

“Nakita ng C.I. ko pero wala siyang sinabi,” she laughed. “Baka naawa.”

Zac shook his head. “Kung ako ‘yun, tatawanan kita.”

“Good to know. Never asking for your sympathy.”

They stayed there until the sky turned soft orange, until the papers between them were filled with scribbles and doodles, and until the stress of the week felt a little less suffocating.

As they packed up, Zac looked at her and said, “Thanks for helping today.”

“Thanks for letting me forget na may stress pa rin akong haharapin bukas,” she replied.

They walked off in the same direction, side by side—not quite in step, but close enough.

And in a university full of people rushing alone, that felt rare.

That felt like something beginning.