Breathe in.

Breathe out.

How nice it would be if the air everywhere else is as good as it is here.

I told myself as I do the cobra. After a few seconds, I change to the mountain.

"Put your left leg forward, put your right leg forward. Stretch your hand backwards, and bring your hand to your chest."

It's as if Dr. Dhilip is right here in front of me giving instructions.

I miss home.

But I like it here. The classes are fun and everyone is amazingly nice! It has been two weeks but I've only made a few new friends. They're not my best friends back home but they are really good people. We get along well enough.

I do a few more sun salutations while I think of home and my best friends.

"Ok, right leg over left thigh and squat down", I whisper to myself as I try and balance on one leg.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

"Cool pose."

I yelp and lose my balance. I feel myself falling backwards and, and…

Hmm, why am I not on the ground?

I open one eye and see a hand gripping my arm. I follow the hand, to a pretty toned bicep hiding underneath a short sleeve jersey, sweaty neck and –

Hello good looking…

I blink at him once.

Twice.

He smiles and says, "You know, if you can't do a tricky pose like that. I think it's safer to do it on the ground instead of a tree stump."

I scoff at him and climb down, pulling my arm from his grip, losing his warmth.

"Not to sound cocky or anything but it wasn't that tricky", I start. "I wouldn't have lost my balance if you didn't scare the life out of me", emphasizing the you.

"Hey, I was actually doing you a favour."

"How exactly was that a favour?" I ask crossing my arms.

"You see, I was testing your mental strength."

I raise an eyebrow at that prompting him to continue.

"If you didn't lose your balance, then it means your mind is focused. If you lose your balance, which you did", he smirk, "then you need more practice. See my logic?"

"Ahh, so you were helping me. What a gentleman. Thank you, kind sir!" I say with my most sarcastic tone.

"It was an honour madam".

I chuckle, rolling my eyes.

Oh wow, he's cute when he's being a gentleman. Or pretending to be.

"What were you doing here anyway? I'm usually the only one here at this time of the morning", I ask him.

"Jogging by the lake. I don't usually jog here. I was looking for a change of scene. I was surprise I found it," he says smiling cheekily.

"Was that an attempt at flattery?"

"Maybe"

I dart my eyes away blushing. Why won't this piece of eye candy go away? I bet I look awful right now. I sigh silently. Just great, I meet someone in this place and I'm covered in sweat. Just great.

Silence as he wears his jacket. I catch a glimpse of his watch and see the time.

7.20am.

"Oh my god!" I shriek as I gather my belongings from the grass.

"What? What happened?" he asks, surprise.

"I am so late! I have a class in forty minutes and I usually finish up here at 7 and walk 15 minutes to my room, leave my room exactly 25 minutes after then walk another 10 minutes to get to class, I cannot be late, the good seats are always taken if I'm late" I say all this in a rush, stuffing my stuff in my bag.

"You take that long to shower?"

"First of all; eww. Second; was that all you processed? And third; I need to run. Bye!" I say, sprinting towards the main road.

"Hey wait!" I hear him shout behind me. "Wait up"

"Unless you have a car, I am not stopping" I shout back, reaching the main road.

"I do"

"What?!" I stop in my tracks.

He came to a stop by my side, "I said, I do have a car"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could've saved energy from running"

"I tried, you were just talking so fast and the next thing I knew you were running"

I sigh in relief, "Can I hitch a ride then?"

"No"

I groan, "You just wasted my time then" And I turn back, dreading the run back to my room.

"I mean, yes. Yes you can hitch a ride with me" he says confusingly.

"Oh, alright. Thanks" I say slowly. Is he nervous or something? That's odd. Why would he be?

I follow him to his black Satria Neo parked by the sports complex gate. Sigh. How I miss my orange car. He unlocks it and I open the passenger door, only to see a baby car seat strapped on the seat.

"Yeah, sorry about that" I jump, not realizing he was behind me.

"Let me just move it behind for you" he continues.

Why does he have a baby car seat? I glimpse the back seats and see wrappers littered on the floor. Hmm, interesting. He's the messy type.

He takes just a few seconds to get everything settled then says to me, "Ok, jump on in"

"Thanks" I hold the door, got in and strap myself safely.

He gets in and starts the car. "Sorry bout the mess behind there. My sister sometimes borrows my car. She has a baby boy" So that explains the baby seat. "Her kid eats in the car. I haven't gotten the chance to clean up yet" he explains.

"How old is your nephew exactly?" I ask.

"2, I think. Why?"

"He eats Big Mac from McDonald's?" pointing to the McDonald's plastic still with burger and fries wrappers in it.

"Err, yeah. That one's mine," he says embarrassingly, ruffling his hair.

I laughed. Oh my god, he's blushing. No wonder he was nervous just now.

Silence filled the car as I look outside to the trees and he focuses on the road.

"You don't remember me, do you?" he suddenly asks after a few moments of silence.

"We've met before?" I say guiltily. "Oops, sorry I don't". I would definitely remember you if I did. I added silently, cracking my head as to where we met.

He chuckled, "Not exactly. Remember that day you came into the hall and asked a bunch of guys if you could play ping pong?"

"How do you know that?"

"I was there. But a few tables away. You're pretty good at it"

"Nahh, I don't play it much. My best friend in high school used to play all the time, she gave me some pointers"

"You're a really good student then" he glance my way and smile.

"Probably" I smile back.

I wish this car ride would go on forever. He's pretty decent.

"So, how are you allowed to bring in your car? Did you sneak it in?"

"No, I'm just allowed to. I'm doing my degree"

"Oh, no wonder I don't see you around my block. What are you majoring in?"

"Computer Science. You're doing your foundation, am I right?"

"Yeah" I say slowly. "Were you eavesdropping on my conversations with those guys?"

"Maybe. I was just a few tables away remember?", he chuckles at my accusing face.

He turns a corner and asks, "Which block?"

"That one", I pointed, "Block A"

"Alright. Here you go" he stops the car.

"Thank you so much for the ride. You just saved my life"

"Anytime" he winks.

I blush and open up the door. I got out and shut the door. I wave at him, he waves back and I walk towards my block.

I stop. Crap, I don't know his name.

I jog back to his car and knock on the passenger window.

"I am so rude, I'm sorry. What's your name?"

He smiles to me and replies, "It's Aqil".

I smile back, "Bye Aqil"

"Bye Malina"

I playfully scowl at him as I walk backwards to my block.

He laughs and drives off.