“Oh.” Ody remembered. “Sorry. I was with my girlfriend. The movie started.”
Mano turned back to the windshield. “Fine. Answer me now. Why are you doing all this?”
Ody kept his eyes on the road. “It’s just how I am. I help when I can.”
Mano didn’t interrupt.
“I saw you fighting. I couldn’t let you ride like that. You didn’t want the hospital, so I got you something for your hand. Just so you could drive again.”
Mano didn’t respond right away. “I see.”
“Does that answer it?”
“Yeah.”
They pulled into campus.
“See you in two hours.”
Mano opened the door without replying.
Two hours later, Ody returned to the music building. Students were already leaving the lecture hall. Then he saw Mano walking out with a girl.
“Oh, so you start with that chord,” she said. “It sounds better on guitar.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s crazy how many instruments you play. I can’t picture you on piano.”
“Why?” Mano asked, his tone flat.
“They say music is for sensitive people and all that. Especially piano, violin…”
Mano didn’t react.
“Guess that’s not true.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
They reached the exit.
“Can we exchange socials?” she asked, pulling out her phone. “I already follow you, by the way.”
“How’d you find me?” Mano asked, glancing at her.
“What do you mean? You’re kind of famous.”
He gave a faint, indifferent smile.
“Would it be weird if I asked you out for coffee?”
Mano barely hesitated. “No.”
She smiled, and they walked off together.
Ody watched from his car, his fingers still resting on the steering wheel. Then he pushed the door open and caught up with them. “Mano?”
They both turned.
