We had planned to do an activity with the kids at the NGO before he left. I had announced it to my friends and in another group, so I was in charge of taking everyone with me. Most of my friends were coming independently, so I only had to take responsibility for a couple of first-year students and bring them to their head office where we would have the activity.
My friends were late, and since I arrived early, I went inside their office with the kids following me. When I got there, I asked one of the workers for directions. She looked at me and said, just by glancing at me, "You're here to meet sir?" I nodded, laughing a little. I had started coming there so regularly that all of the staff knew who I came to see.
She led me to his office, the two students following closely behind. My heart raced a little as we approached the door. For some reason, I always get shy at the moment we actually go in.
We stepped inside, and I greeted him. The girls sat down, and I immediately rushed to the extension wire on the side of his table. "I need to charge my phone," I said with casual urgency. "It's powered off now."
He offered to plug it in, but I insisted I would do it myself and carefully connected it. The two girls watched me with blank stares. They did not know we were friends before, so they looked at me with confused expressions. Why was I being this causal with some random person from the NGO? I ignored their glances and casually sat on the same chair I had used a few days before, my mind scattered, thinking of a million things at once.
He asked whether we wanted the activity done at this campus or the one where we had the camp. I said campus and decided I should call to inform the rest of my friends. My phone, of course, was dead. One of them called soon after to say they had arrived, so I went out to get them. They teased me, saying I was leading the way just like it was my home. Maybe it had sort of become that, I thought, smiling.
I seated them and went out to get my bag. I was running around, trying to keep everything in order. Time was slipping away. I had the volunteers cut out papers and complete the heart-shaped designs. I borrowed one of my friends' phones to call the vendor. It was chaos, but the kind that makes your heart race in a good way. Then he said I should sit on his chair and work. I resisted at first but eventually agreed, laughing quietly at myself.
We tried to figure out leaving in two phases, but the plan changed, and eventually we all went together. The campus was lively, the kids were great, and everything felt like a soft hum of activity. I left at 7 pm and returned to their office at 8 pm for the cooler slips, exhausted and hungry. I put my phone to charge again. He offered to do it, but I insisted. Our hands brushed briefly, and I felt a little jolt of warmth.
Later, I got him the reading material from the car when I went to grab something to eat. Then it was time for a picture. He said he would take it, but I said I could. Still, he insisted, and our hands brushed again. I went out to hand him the bookmark I had brought. He said he had not been reading much lately because of staying there until midnight, but now, after seeing it, he wanted to. He kept repeating how cute the bookmark was.
It was dark, so I could not see him clearly, but one thing stood out: he was smiling so much. It was nice seeing him like that, genuinely happy. When we first met, he rarely smiled this way. These were the kind of smiles where his eyes crinkled, his mouth hidden behind his hand, his body curling slightly as if trying to contain the excitement. Innocent. Genuine. Rare.
In that moment, I could only watch, feeling quietly happy that he was smiling, really smiling, over something he liked.
Later, on the way home, I felt soft, light, and content. Watching him, seeing him genuinely happy, made my chest feel warm in a way I cannot explain. Small moments like this, a smile, a brush of hands, a shared laugh, they linger. They quietly imprint themselves on your heart.
I realised once again that being around him feels like a gentle breath of air after being underwater. It is effortless, simple, and yet it makes everything feel brighter. Even in the chaos, in the running around and the tiredness, there is this small, quiet joy that stays with me.
It feels like a gentle hug.