Coincidence || Niki ENHYPEN FF

2.

"Here." I slid a piece of paper with my phone number to Niki. He was laying his head on the table.

"Text me when you want to work on this assignment." I indicated each word with small hand gestures. I don't know sign language but associated each word with very self explanatory gestures. This is a good practice for Niki.

He didn't really give me a reply or any expression really. But he didn't turn back or throw away the paper so I just assumed he'll take my phone number.

I walked back to my desk and continued on with the school day.

~~~

*ding*

My phone notifications went off. It meant that someone texted me. I finished writing the sentence I was on before reading the message. It was from an unknown number. I opened the message either way.

Unknown: Jennifer?

Niki? :Me

Unknown: yes

I knew it. I added him to my contact list.

Niki: let's to the work on Saturday.

I could not read what he just sent me. I can speak some Japanese but can't read it whatsoever.

I can't read that: Me
seen

And he couldn't understand me. I let out a sigh. This is gonna be difficult. I thought of how to respond so I can understand him and he can understand me.

Aha!

I set him an audio message.

"What did you say, I can't read Japanese"
seen

"I asked if you wanted to do the work on Saturday" he sent me back a voice message. His voice sounded deep and tired. I looked at the clock on my desk and it was late.

12:49am

"That's tomorrow but sure. Send me your address and I'll come around 4pm"

I waited for sometime before he sent me the address to his house and nothing else.

I see how it is.

~~~

Open the door: Me
seen

I'm sure he would've understood that.
I proceeded to knock on the door again. No response.

Open the door: Me
seen

The door opened the door revealing Niki. He looked the same as at school, expressionless and very plain. He didn't say hello or anything, he just moved to the side and gestured me to come in. When I entered inside the house I noticed how everything was so clean and nicely placed.

"Mum this is my friend from school. We're doing homework together" Niki said as we walked past what seemed to be the kitchen. Which was where an older lady was standing.

I politely bowed and greeted her in Japanese. She was really surprised.

"Can you speak Japanese?"

"I know a little bit." The lady smiled and nodded.

"Study hard you two." Niki lead me out the kitchen and what seemed to be his room which was quite small.

I sat on the carpeted floor while he was digging through his stuff.

An awkward silence fell upon us. I didn't know what to say and neither did I think Niki wanted to talk. It was really hard to stand this awkward silence.

"Your mum seems nice." I wanted to speak in my comfortable language and Niki had to learn it either way.

He looked at me for a moment before continuing to scramble through his stuff. He ignored me.

"I know you understood me. You need to get used to this too you know. For the rest of the night I'm won't speak Japanese and if you need help then ask but no Japanese. This is your way of learning ok?"

I watched as he stopped digging through his stuff while letting out a sigh.

"Ok" he said.

"That's a start."

~~~

After 2 hours we were able to finish our work. Well I did most of it. Niki didn't understand the work and in the end I just explained it in Japanese. But throughout the night his pronunciation got better.

"You're getting there" I'm getting a little too excited.

From what I learnt through our little study session is that Niki is a quiet kid. He might not be but from what I see he seems like a shy kid who doesn't like to talk much. I guess he likes his own time, that's why I wanted to wrap up the studying session as soon as possible. But at the same time I wanted to get to know him better. So that's why I'm staying a bit longer to help him expand his vocabulary so we don't always have to speak Japanese.

And I think it's working. Plus I think he's getting a little more comfortable with me. We had small talks and stuff about each other. I saw the way he talked and acted around his mother, just like mummy's boy. I really enjoyed the mother son interaction, it just shows me how much he loves his mother.

That was another step forward for our friendship.

26/12/20