An Angelic Intervention

Passing Through

“And then the crowd went wild! Everyone was suddenly grabbing and screaming, trying to take that one water bottle that he threw! I got my feet stepped on a bunch of times, let me tell you,” Gina was passionately saying as they walked out of the classroom. Their professor had given them twenty minutes of “group work time" at the end of his class, which was supposed to be used for preparing for a presentation next week. However, Gina and Kay's group finished in ten, and Gina proceeded to use the last ten minutes to get close with their other two group mates, which then somehow led to her sharing a story about one of the concerts she has gone to during the break.

“Did anyone actually get it?” one of the group mates asked, looking dearly invested in her story—which was no surprise, as Gina really was the type of person who could grab the full attention of anyone she talked to.

“Well, I did,” Gina proudly smirked. “I hid it in my bag so quick that no one saw.”

“Sneaky girl!” they laughed, and Kay lightly chuckled beside Gina. He had simply watched her in awe, wondering how she found it so easy to make fast friends with random classmates.

“Anyway, we have another class in another building. Where are you guys headed?” the other group mate said.

Gina looked at Kay. “Snacks?” she asked, making the other two to also look at him. He shyly nodded. To their classmate, Gina replied, “Yeah, we’re going to get some snacks.”

“Alright, see you guys around. Nice meeting you, Kay. Welcome to uni!” one of them said.

“Yeah, let’s hang around some time. Don’t be a stranger, bye!” the other waved. With that, the two left and Gina and Kay walked down the corridor by themselves.

“You’ve been so quiet the entire time!” Gina whispered at him. “But they’re nice, right? Now you know more people in the university.”

Kay chuckled and sheepishly smiled. “At this rate, I’m going to be introduced to all the students because of you.”

“That’s not entirely a bad thing, is it?” Gina asked as they exited the building. A cool Autumn breeze greeted them as soon as they stepped out, making the both of them simultaneously cross their arms and squint.

“Not really,” Kay honestly answered. “I just hope they don’t think I’m too weird or quiet.”

“You aren’t too weird, but you are very quiet. I’ll help you join in the conversation even more next time,” Gina smiled at him, patting his shoulder.

“I don’t know about that,” Kay nervously answered.

“You’ll be fine! I’ll make sure of it,” Gina assured him. “Anyway, where do you want to get some food today? I have no class for like two more hours.”

Kay was considering his options when he suddenly had this feeling that he was being watched. “Uh, I think I want…” he muttered, curiously looking around. There, just by one of the trees maybe five meters away stood the man he had seen before—the one wearing all white who was playing with leaves earlier. He leaned the side of his shoulder on the tree trunk, standing casually as he looked at Kay's direction. When their eyes met, the man smiled, and Kay quickly averted his gaze to check behind him to see if maybe he was looking at someone else; but there wasn’t anyone around him except for Gina—and Gina was looking at her phone.

Was the man smiling at him?

Kay stopped walking and so did Gina. “What? Can’t decide?” she asked, finally noticing that his attention was somewhere else. Kay glanced at the man again and saw that he was still staring, only this time, he looked like he was quite amused.

“I, uh,” Kay stammered, unable to form a proper reply.

“Does he know me?” he thought to himself. “What is the etiquette for this? Am I supposed to approach him and say hi, or maybe wave?” But that train of thought was cut short when some other student whose shoelaces had become untied, walked to the tree that the man stood under, and leaned his hand on the trunk to balance himself as he tied his shoes; but the student didn’t even say “excuse me" or try to dodge the man in white. He just passed through him.

“Through.” Not “by.” He passed right through the man, as if the man was made of air or a holographic projection. He passed right through him as if the man was invisible, and the man didn’t look any bit troubled by it.

Kay's eyes went wide, and he exclaimed a sudden “Holy sh—” as he stumbled two steps backwards, hitting someone behind him in the process.

A small “Oomph" escaped the person behind him as they collided. Kay lost his balance and almost fell on his butt, but he was steadied when a hand clutched his and another held his shoulder. A startled Gina quickly came to their aid, asking, “Oh my God, Kay! Leo! Are you guys alright?”

Kay's eyes, if it were possible, widened even more in horror as he thought, “Leo?” in a scream in his mind. He quickly stood up straight and turned around, and just as Gina said, there Leo was.

“I-I-I’m so sorry!” Kay managed to say, unsure how else to convey how apologetic he felt.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Leo assured him, pushing his glasses back up to his face. “Are you alright? You look so pale and your hand is cold.”

Kay looked down at his hand, which was still being held by Leo, much to his embarrassment. In a panic, he pulled his hand back and awkwardly placed it inside the pocket of his hoodie. “I-I’m fine, I-I just,” he quickly turned his head to look at where the man was, only to see that he wasn’t there anymore. Kay swallowed and took a deep breath to compose himself. So many things were happening—he had just witnessed someone walking through a person, and now Leo…

“I just—I thought I saw a-a rat,” he lied, which he admittedly wasn’t too good at.

Gina and Leo both looked surprised at his answer. “A rat?” Gina asked, looking around. “Inside the campus?”

Kay bit the inside of his lower lip, wanting to kick himself for coming up with such a lame excuse; but it was too late to take it back, so he nodded and cleared his throat. “Y-yeah, a rat. I’m pretty scared of rats,” he replied.

“Oh, well, we should tell the authorities about it,” Leo seriously suggested, pulling out his phone. “It won’t be good if we get a rat infestation.”

“No!” Kay exclaimed in a panic. “No, I uh, I think I saw it already run outside. It-it wasn’t a big one anyway, or maybe—maybe it was a squirrel.” He had never wanted to be swallowed by the earth he stood in much more than he did at that moment. He knew he had to shut up, but his mouth just kept going.

“Ah, okay, then,” Leo replied, looking at him weirdly.

Thankfully, Gina was there to save his butt. She placed an arm around his shoulders and forced a chuckle. “Sorry, Leo. This guy over here didn’t get much sleep last night because he stayed out late to watch the meteor shower,” she said, squeezing Kay's shoulder and looking at him as if to tell him to say something, so he did.

“Right!” Kay aggressively nodded. “Right! I was uh, up until 4 and I had to write a paper, so‐so I didn’t get much sleep,” he nervously chuckled. “I'm sorry again. My brain is basically working at one percent right now.”

“Oh, I see,” Leo nodded understandingly and smiled. “Well, I have to go but no worries about it, Kay. Take it easy, alright? See you guys around.”

“Bye, Leo,” Gina waved at him as he walked away.

“S-see you,” Kay muttered in a small voice.

As soon as the third year was out of earshot, Gina took her arm off Kay's shoulders and looked at him as if she wanted to laugh. “What was that about?” she asked. “A rat?”

Kay rubbed his face with a hand, feeling both extremely embarrassed and flustered, yet blushing about how he had just inadvertently held hands with his crush. “Nothing,” he helplessly mumbled then sighed. “It was nothing, but uh, thanks for saving me back there.”

Gina chuckled at his reaction. “Yeah, you needed it.”

“I did, I did,” Kay admittedly said. “But um, I don’t think I can go get snacks with you. I think I should head back to the dorm.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Gina asked, suddenly looking worried for her friend.

“I just— I think I need to get a nap or something. I think,” Kay glanced over at the tree again. “I think I’m starting to see things.”