Almost Noticed

Zac Marcelli didn’t believe in fate. As a third-year Civil Engineering student, he believed in forces, in friction, in gravity—the laws that held things together or made them fall apart. But when it came to people? To coincidences? That wasn’t his field. Yet, there was something about her. He didn’t know her name. Just that she wore a white nursing uniform, walked with a purposeful stride, and always sat under the acacia tree near the west building during her breaks. Head bowed over her notes. Always scribbling. Always alone. Zac didn’t know why he kept noticing her. Maybe it was the way her ID bounced slightly with each step, or the way her hair was always tied but never tidy. Maybe it was that once—just once—she looked up and their eyes met, and she smiled before walking away. They hadn’t spoken. Not yet. But somehow, she lingered in his thoughts longer than any formula he was supposed to memorize. Sometimes, he wondered if she noticed him too. He sat at the same bench every morning, sipping his instant coffee slowly as if time would stretch for her to appear. Hindi naman siya naghihintay—at least, that’s what he told himself. But whenever she passed by, there was a shift. A beat skipped. A pause in the noise. Other people walked by. Some laughed, some rushed, some stayed in his line of sight longer. But none of them stuck. Only her. Maybe it was because she looked like she was chasing something. Not just grades, not just hours, but something bigger. Zac didn’t know what it was, but he wanted to. In a campus full of faces and footsteps, she was just one of many. And yet, to him, she was the only one he almost—almost—knew. And maybe… that was enough to start something.