The principal rang the bell, telling everyone it's recess time. My teacher taught us a few more seconds and told us:

- Class, you all will make a biology presentation next week. I'll divide our class into teams. There will be four students per team, and I'll pick four random students in the class to make a team.

A presentation, huh? It's easy to make a presentation to be honest, although my biggest concern isn't the presentation will be bad, but rather...

- Team 6: Andrew, Tomi, Shiriyo, and Ashu!

Uh, okay. So at least now I don't have any concern anymore because if I'm around, I could probably make her get along with the team. Just, probably.

After the teacher left, I gather up my team and discuss about what should we put in the presentation:

- [Tomi]: Hmm, how about we make a presentation that talks about the human cells?

- [Shiriyo]: Wait, isn't that topic just too complicated for four of us to do?

- [Andrew]: I'm not fully agree with you. It's not that hard to find documents about human cells on the web. Although it's actually a bit too complicated for us.

- [Shiriyo]: That's literally what I'm trying to say!

- [Ashu]: If the human cells are too complicated, why don't we just talk about microorganism?

- [Tomi]: Well, what do you guys think?

- [Andrew]: Not too boring, but not too hard, and it's also an interesting topic.

Now the topic is picked but I have absolutely no idea how to make it. I'm not that bad at Biology but bad enough to understand zero things about microorganism. Seem like I'll have to learn some from the start.

In the afternoon, which we don't need to go to school, I sit there in front of the Macbook and start drafting the slides on the PowerPoint with more than 23 Chrome tabs about the topic opened. At 3 o'clock or something, I got a call from an unknown caller to my phone. I picked it up and say:

- Andrew on the phone, how can I help you?

- Hey Andrew, It's me Ashu here. Can you please come down and open the door for me? I have to ask some classmates for your number so I can call you here.

- Okay, but you can just ring the doorbell you know? How can't you see the doorbell button??

- Wait, you have a doorbell?

- Forget it, let me take my keys.

After letting her in, I show her the draft that I've been working on for like more than an hour. She takes a look at the draft and begin to tell me some of her ideas that she collected on the web. We work non-stop until the sky begins to darken:

- Umm, Ashu? Don't you have to come back to your home? It's almost 7 PM.

- Don't worry, I already told them that I may come back home tomorrow.

- You told them WHAT???

- Yep, my parent trust you so they won't have any problems when I'm at your house. Besides, if I'm here this whole night, we may come up with new and creative ideas!

- That's literally not what I mean. Listen, a boy staying at my house, I'm okay with that. BUT A GIRL?? That's not okay, literally NOT okay.

- Don't worry, it'll be fine.

- I guess so, I luckily got a spare bedroom though.

- Okay.

The thing is, I don't worry about her sleeping at my house at all but what I do worry about is once anybody found out that there is a girl sleeping at my house, then the situation is gonna get complicated.

- Well, Ashu? What do you want for dinner?

- What I want? Simple dishes will do.

- Hmm... Simple dishes huh? What about some "Stuffed Tofu in Tomato Sauce"? When I came to your house, I saw your parent made it and you eat it a lot.

- Stuffed Tofu?? I love it! That's the best meal I ever had! Are you gonna make some?

- Of course. Let me get the recipe ready first but..

- What's wrong?

- Alexa, what do we need for stuffed tofu with tomato sauce?

- <<To make stuffed tofu with tomato sauce, we'll need to prepare: 800g (28oz) firm tofu. 225g (1/2 lb.) ground pork. Finely chopped spring onions (scallions). 1 tsp sesame oil.1 tsp light brown sugar.

Hope that's help! You can ask me for further instructions.>>

I make the stuffed tofu with Alexa instructions, and it's turn out delicious! First time I cooked something this good looking. I don't usually cook that complex but simple enough for me. My parents have been away for work for 2 years and there's no sign of them coming back soon. So, when I cook my meals, I just make some quick dishes to eat and call it a day.

I made 2-3 dishes I remember that she likes and she's look happy when she's eating them. Since the first time we met each other, I saw a significant change in her. I don't know how she interacts with people outside but toward me, she's a fine person after all.

After washing the dishes, we called Tomi and Shiriyo over FaceTime and four of us continued to complete the presentation. By the time we complete the presentation, it's already a quarter to twelve. No wonder I was so sleepy then. 

- Let me just ready your room. It's almost midnight.

- You're right, It's pretty late now. Tomorrow is Sunday so we can call those two came here and practice for the presentation.

- Okay then, have a good sleep, Ashu.

- You too!

I came back to my room and lay on my bed. I can't see the stars on the sky outside of the window. Perhaps it's cloudy tonight? Who knows. My eyelids are getting heavy, and I started to sleep soon after. I dreamed I was lying on a grass field with the wind coming at me, I feels calm and relaxed. While I was chilling, the sound of thunderstorm kicks me out from my dream. I opened my eyes and look at the window, it's raining heavily out there. "Just a normal rain, nothing to be worried about." I told to myself and got back to my beautiful dream. At least, that's what I expected, but then I feel something in my blanket other than me. I turned back and it's Ashu curling up in my blanket.

- What the hell are you doing? And when did you went into my room???

- I'm scared of loud sounds so I snuggle in your blanket not long ago. 

- But that doesn't mean that you can sleep here. We are clearly different in genders, you know?

- I know, but I feel safe and cozy here. Not like the outside world.

I'm surprised by the fact that she wants to sleep here and that's okay to me to be honest. She's an introvert after all. So I just accept that and let her sleep there next to me. It's actually kinda comfort if you ask me. I gone back to sleep seconds after that.

The wind, the lovely grass field, the sakura trees, the blue sky, make me feel rela-

- << *Alarm Tone* It's time to wake up, Andrew. It's 7AM.>>

- Alexa, turn off the alarmmmmm.

It's morning already? Welp, at least I got a good sleep after all. I tried to get out of bed, but, you guessed it, Ashu is holding my arm. "What the heck is she doing?" I say in my head, and carefully move her arm out of me. Then I get out and do my morning routines. Not long after I was done making breakfast, she came down and tiredly sat at the table.

- Good morning, Ashu. Do you have a good sleep?

- Yes, I do. Thanks for asking. What are you making for breakfast?

- Just some eggs and bread. You want something else?

- No need, egg sandwich is enough for me.

As soon as we done eating, Tomi and Shiriyo called us to open the door. We rehearsed our speech and timing and gave each other feedback. And we only break at lunch and when it's time to go home. After everyone leaves, I checked the presentation if there are any mistakes. When I'm done, I saved it on my computer and a backup on Google Drive just in case.

The next morning, I came to class with excitement. The teacher came in and said:

- Class, I told you to prepare a presentation last week. Now it's time to show me your result.

Each team went up to the podium to present their presentation. I must say, the first five team is really good. After that, it's our turn to present ours. We came up to the podium and do as we practiced. Everything goes smooth like butter, everyone was cheering us and we feel happy about it. When every team has show their results, the teacher announces the score. And would you look at that, we got the highest score. Everyone clapped their hands for us and congratulated us for the presentation.

After school, I regroup everyone and invited my team to Cing Hu Tang for a drink and Lotteria for dinner. They all agreed and we got a good time eating and drinking together. This presentation project is not just simply a thing for us to get grades but also make Ashu less scared of the society. One arrow hit two target at once.