Early Adopters S01E06 — ‘I am just a kid.’

Continued from previous episode s01e05: A series of events led Amir to Mr. Lee’s office where he and his old mentor had a moment of recollection. But he felt rather uneasy about their encounter. Why?

“Things are not adding up. Something is wrong,” Amir thought hard as he rode the bus home.

The bus took a stop at 60th St. Amir felt chills up his spine as he saw the person about to hop in. He held his breath for a moment, trying to play all the possible conversations they may have in his head.

Jasmin looked around for a seat and saw the empty spot beside Amir. He was getting nervous and his palms started to sweat.

“Hey!”

“H-hey, Jas.”

“Tss. Really can’t be a gentleman,” Jasmin frowned and jokingly hit him in the arm.

“Ouch,”

Jasmin was a bit shocked at the reaction. “So, you know how to feel hurt now?”

It wasn’t his arm that was hurting. It was his conscience. But he couldn’t say it out loud. If he could bite his tongue at the moment, he would have done it.

“H… how are you?” Amir asked. He stuttered a bit but tried to recover.

“I,” Jasmin’s face dimmed. “I don’t know, Amir. I’m not sure how I got myself tied into this hacking incident. But, I am very angry.”

Amir’s eyes widened, he backed away from her a little. The word ‘hacking’ tingled in his ears for a bit. He just couldn’t read through her.

“I… I am trying to be okay. But…” Jasmin looked down, she clasped her hands together. “I am frustrated. I feel like catching the people who caused this situation and just drag them down with me because I don’t know how to fix this. It will not take away the fact that people will see me differently now. I know I can’t do anything at this point, but I want to crush them.”

“You have the right to be angry! You were acing examinations, you were getting awards, you had everyone’s respect and adoration…”

“Calm d…”

“Aren’t you are taking yourself and the situation too lightly?”

He unconsciously raised his voice. The other passengers glanced at them. Some passengers whispered amongst themselves. Jasmin tapped his arm as if reminding him to keep his cool.

“Amir, listen. I don’t want to be too personal but right now, you are driving me nuts. I… for some reason, I am irritated and it seems like don’t really want to see you right now which is really, really weird given that I’ve been seeing you a lot since we were kids. Plus, I just got into an argument with my boyfriend earlier too which is also very weird since we don’t really fight a lot. I feel like I am not myself at all.”

Amir looked around and realized they were causing a commotion. He shot careful glances at Jane who looked stunned for a moment.

She let out a sigh. “I feel really angry. I feel weird! Is this stress? I don’t know! But, I feel really insane.”

A straight-A student is settling for something mediocre. Amir found it unacceptable and unreasonable.

“What if I told you, I can fix this? Will you trust me on it?”

“Amir…”

“Would you?”

“I would but, Amir, I truly think there is another way I can get the payback I deserve. There is definitely something wrong with me and the situation now. But I will find this out what it is really soon.”

The bus stopped and Jasmin peaked out the window. “Here’s our stop. You’re heading for the dorm too, right?”

“No, I think I’ll stay back a little longer.”

“Hmmm. All right, take care. I’ll see you at the dorm then.”

All of sudden, it started to rain. She ran for refuge under the shed and waved goodbye at Amir but he did not look out the bus window.

Amir sighed. He felt annoyed, and most of all, guilty. He stared out the bus window as soon as it started to move. “No, things are not going to be okay.”

He rode the bus until its last stop. As he stood at the shed, he ultimately decided to walk back to the dorm. As soon as he got in his room, he crashed head first onto his bed.

“Mr. Lee. Jasmin. Why do things feel so different and connected in a weird way?” Amir asked himself.

He grabbed a pillow and covered his face with it, locking the pillow with his arms. Then he threw the pillow towards the door in frustration.

He got up and sat at the edge of the bed as he stared at his computer.

Previous: s01e01, s01e02, s01e03, s01e04, s01e05

Next: s01e07, s01e08, s01e09, s01e10

Brought to you by Slash.

Written and created by Marc Gamet and Mianne Cudal.

Story-telling Consultant: Robin Narciso.

Drawing by Faisal Arief.