Around a week later, I'm at home lying on my bed and fiddling with my phone. I open Instagram, scroll through to see what people are doing, close out of it, try Snapchat, close out of that, browse the news...etc. Chen is out and I'm done with all my assignments.

As I'm scrolling, I see a message from Rodrigo. 

"Man that stuff going on with GameStop is crazy dude!"

I respond: "I know, did you buy its stock? I just sold mine."

From his side, there's an indicator that he's typing and I wait for his message. 

Thud! I look up to see Chen slam my door open.

"Oh, you're back-" I freeze on seeing his expression. His eyes are downcast and his mouth is turned down, his whole figure spells gloom. 

"Uh, you okay?" I ask sitting up. He walks towards me mechanically, as if through a fog.

"Chen, you okay?" I ask, reaching for him. He mumbles something. "What?"

"...I called them."

"What?" 

"My family...I called them." 

My eyes widen. "Oh! You did? How was it...?" Ah, judging by his expression...

"My brother wants me to buy him an ultra rare Endgame Quantum Hoodie...where can I buy that?! Only you can help me Ram!!!"

I blink. "Wait-wait-wait what's going on? What about your parents???"

"Oh. Well my mom nagged me, asking me to buy her some beauty and hair dye products. My dad said he needed some new tools to fix the bathroom." 

I stare at him. "Hah??? Holdup-didn't you call them to tell them about me and stuff???"

"Oh. Mom told me to bring you around during break when I bring home the beauty products."

"Wait, so it went fine???"

"Well besides the action figure, yeah."

"Then why did you look like that???"

"Well..." He thinks for a moment. "I guess I was just tense...? Or I was expecting it to go worse."

"But it went fine, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." He nods, and slowly a smile blooms on his face. "I guess it did, didn't it?"

I stare at him, speechless.

"It did! It did go well! Ram, my parents want me to come back home!" He cries, throwing his arms around me. Then he pauses. "But do they want me or the goods I'm bringing?" Then he shrugs. 

I stare at him for a moment longer. Then I look up at the ceiling and sigh.

"What am I going to do with this little idiot!"

Chen, still in the throes of his joy, takes a moment to process my words. Several moments later: "Hey, who's the idiot!?"

I burst out laughing.

"You-stop laughing!" I laugh even harder.

"Ram, if you keep laughing I'm going to..."

"To what?" I ask leaning back with a grin on my face. The next thing I know his lips are on mine and in my distraction, he pushes me down. Then, he quickly pulls away. 

"That's what you get!" 

I stare at him. Then I leap up, grab him, and pull him against my chest. We tussle for a bit. Eventually exhausted, we just lay there for a few minutes. Then suddenly, Chen speaks. 

"Ram..."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"You don't need to say that. Just give me something in return."

"What?" He asks eagerly, turning to face me with his gaze locked on my lips. Seeing the anticipation in his puppy dog like gaze, I'm tempted to tease him a bit.

"Hmm...let me think about it..."

His eyes are sparkling.

"Why don't...you write a book about me?"

He pauses. "What?"

"Write a book about me and make me the protagonist, how does that sound?" He's silent for a moment.

I open my mouth: "just kiddi-"

"I will."

"Huh?"

He looks up at me, his soulful eyes alight with starlight. "My next book is about you. Ram, you are my protagonist."