19/12/2025
𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 | “𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐄”
𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘
“It's the Big Bang Theory.”
“Think harder, Vale. That’s the second time you said the same answer.”
“I feel like you are wrong. Repeat it again.”
“This theory states that the early universe was a rapidly expanding bubble of pure vacuum energy.”
“Big Crunch.”
“Can you just give up? You’re making me want to hit your face.”
“Fine. What is it?”
“Ugh..!” I grumbled in frustration and rolled my eyes, adjusting myself comfortably in my seat. “It’s Inflation Theory. You can literally answer that from when I mentioned vacuum energy.”
“Inflation. Got it.”
“What score did you get for doing this bad anyway?”
“Twenty eight.”
My eyes widened at the answer. “Twenty eight? You only made two mistakes so why are you getting most of the stuff wrong? Are you just playing around?”
“I don’t know either, I just answered what felt right. I didn’t study for the quiz.”
I stared blankly, surprise and disbelief etched on my face before a defeated sigh escaped out of my mouth. “Why did you even bother asking me for help?”
I shuffled the flash cards that contained questions for science before settling it on the table, losing the purpose of holding onto them. With the rest that had gone to the canteen to take their lunch, it was only me and Vale that remained. I didn’t stay here by choice, I just happened to be the unluckiest person alive.
While my instinct was poking needles at my stomach as its way of suggesting to eat, Vale had to barge into my seat to ask me for help with science.
Help? Does he even know that word? He probably doesn’t because why is he asking for one when he’s perfectly doing well on his own?
“I’m just bored,” he replied, earning a scoff from me.
“Next time when you are, don’t drag me into it.”
“Why not? I thought we’re moots too.”
“Because I’m hungry, Vale! We were supposed to go to the canteen a long time ago,” I reminded.
“But that girl isn’t even here yet.”
“Celeste,” I corrected. “Her name is Celeste. Why do you never call her by her name?”
“Her name is weird,” he blurted.
“Don’t you ever let her hear you say that.”
“Come on. Where’s the next question?” he whined, ignoring my warning before taking the quiz cards I had left on the table to shuffle them. “How about if I get one wrong, you get to flick my forehead as hard as you want.”
“You should’ve suggested that a while ago!” I complained, now more eager to give him the help he asked for.
“How come you’re suddenly willing now?”
I left his question unacknowledged before taking the cards from his hands, shuffling it now like how you shuffle a deck of cards. Vale settles an elbow on my table to rest his chin on top of his hand, watching every move I make closely like they were an important documentary he can’t miss out on.
I didn’t let this falter my composure and remained normal, it wasn’t something I should be bothered about. With how Vale embodies weirdness like it is his soul, this was just the bare minimum compared to the worse ones he had said and done.
He was still onto the usual horoscopes that scams him to do and bring something that can almost plant a trauma on everyone who fell witness. If it’s not wearing clothes the wrong way, or bringing random kitchenware—it’s talking without pronouncing any vowels, walking while clenching his butt, and even screaming 67 in the middle of the class.
This guy was anything but normal. Because of this, teachers grew concerned for his mental health and debated whether to send him to a ward. But with how easily he excels in every subject, they concluded that he just had too many brain cells that it messed up some of his cognitive abilities.
That could be true. But at the same time, if that’s the case, then it’s all the more reason for him to be sent to a psych ward. It doesn’t matter how intelligent the person is, as long as they are mentally challenged then they are to be treated with the proper care.
“The branch of science that—“
“Cosmology.”
“The theory stated by Immanuel Kant and Pierre S—“
“Nebular.”
“What are the evidences of Big Ba—“
“Cosmic microwave background. Redshift. Abundance of light elements.”
I glaredly sharply at the guy before me, who kept his usual indifferent face, staring back at me like he was wondering why I stopped reading the questions. “Why are you suddenly getting everything right now? You really were just toying with me earlier, weren’t you?” I asked with a sharp tone, annoyed.
“I told you, I just answer what feels right.”
“Oh, nonsense! You literally couldn’t answer an obvious question earlier and suddenly you can answer with half baked questions you keep cutting off?”
He paused for a bit, not knowing what to reply before deciding to say, “Yeah?”
I felt my veins pop out of the temple of my forehead. Not only was it his arrogance that threw a brick onto my completely stapled river where my peace of mind afloats—but it was also the unbearable itch of plunging my fingers into his forehead that was dragging way too unnecessarily long!
I was confident with the presumption that maybe he can only feel what’s right when he can see the questions with his own eyes—which in this case, he couldn’t. Which is why he got almost everything wrong despite the amount of times we’ve gone through the same question.
I was totally confident that with one or two questions, I could flick his forehead and finally feed my stomach. But with how he cut my questions off before I could even finish, my patience was burning into ashes before I even realized it.
“So, when are you gonna continue?”
“Shut up!” I dismissed, shuffling the cards with my dragging hands that were heavy with surrender and frustration.
If one or two questions is not enough, then I’ll keep going until it is!
“What is constantly created as the Universe expa—“
“Matter.”
“Who believed in many gods and myths which narrate that—“
“Ancient Egyptian.”
“Ugh! Proponents of Steady State The—“
“Hermann Bondi. Thomas Gold. Fred Hoyle.”
“The extension of Big Bang T—“
“Inflation Theory!”
“You didn’t ge—“ I was about to complain but stopped myself to proceed to the next question. “Stages of—“
“Radiation and Matter Era!”
“Who discovered Redsh—“
“Edwin Hubble!”
“What elements were fou—“
“Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, and Beryllium!”
By this point, we had engaged in a battle like our lives were at stake. Every question was a timer for Vale to maintain a constant streak of half baked questions won, and every answer said was a tension that piled up to welcome an outcome favoring my desire.
With the amount of times Vale cut my questions off, it became a barrier I had to break through. Instead of a mistake, I became more determined to finish a question before he could answer.
Because of this, the classroom was turning into a concert with how I was rapping every question from the flash cards, and Vale’s answers as the fan chants.
“Theory proposed by Sir James Hopwood Jeans’ and Harrold—“
“Tidal Theory!”
“The universe expanded from a tiny, dense, hot matter blank years a—“
“13.8 billion years ago!”
Close!
“What parts from the primal man became the sky, earth, sun, and moon respectively?!—YES!” I shot up my seat to jump in victory after finally finishing a question.
“You suck!” I pointed with mockery and happiness before proceeding to the next question, still rapping. “What are the smaller stages called in evolution?!—YES! YES! You suck! I’m so great!” I celebrated again.
With the taste of victory brooding over my senses, I was completely ignorant to what felt like lacking that followed after my excitement. It took three finished questions before I realized that I had been asking questions without any answers from the latter.
Happiness—or perhaps arrogance, immediately simmered down to stare at Vale confusingly. “What the hell?”
He returned a stare of disbelief, like it was silently asking a question ‘Are you kidding me?’.
“Why are you staring at me like I’m at fault? You’re the one who suddenly stopped answering.”
“I know,” he replied simply with the same indifference in his tone.
“So? Why the hell did you stop answering? Is that your way of offering a bargain? I never asked for one!”
“Yes, you didn’t.”
“Okay. Then, what the hell?!” I was now fuming with anger. “So, you just purposely stopped to watch me make a fool out of myself—like I was some crazy woman chasing after a stupid period mark—“
“It’s 13.7 billion years ago,” he suddenly blurted.
“Oh, now you dare cut me off again—”
“I said 13.8,” he declared. “The correct answer is 13.7 billion years ago. You won already, Oreo.”
I paused, surprised at the discovery. I couldn’t help but blink a few times, then squeezing it shut like I was trying to sober up from the drunken taste of victory that took over me.
Vale continued to stare, and I was staring right back, looking for a confirmation somewhere in his eyes that he was telling the truth and it wasn’t some kind horoscope crap he is obsessed about.
No matter how hard I squinted my eyes, all I could see was black and white. It was stupid of me to think that I could dig something useful in his constant, disinterested face that has no plan in changing unless his horoscope tells him to.
He then leans back, his eyes not leaving mine. To my confusion, he rakes a hand over his bangs. A few strands slipped out between his fingers as he held it up, allowing me to see the rest of the forehead that had been obscured all this time.
“Here. You can flick me now,” he ordered.
Right. That was my plan the entire time—to plunge my fingers into his forehead. I was still taken aback with how everything unfolded so fast, but now that I’m confronted with the goal I have successfully conquered, I grew a purpose.
I slowly crawled on top of the table, settling myself right across from Vale before my feet dangled in the air. Now that I’m sitting, I suddenly feel nervous. I’m sure I was looking forward to this moment to come, and now that it has, it’s suddenly not as easy as I thought it’d be.
Our eyes held each other for a few seconds before Vale slowly squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the impact. Despite the weird feeling that lingered, my hands were filled with a purpose; to flick. They were itching to leave a red mark on that forehead after restricting a massive eruption from earlier.
But the strands that continued to slip out his fingers sent my decision into a traffic jam. I couldn’t hit his forehead with the annoying hair that is trying to block the spot.
“Hey,” I started awkwardly. “Let go of your hair. I’ll hold it.”
“Why?”
“It keeps falling off.”
“Should I use both of my hands then?”
“I said I’ll hold it,” I slapped his hand off his hair that immediately reclaimed the entire forehead like it was their territory.
I took a deep breath before I gently sneaked my fingers in, letting each strand lace onto my fingers before pressing it down his head, not allowing entry for any hair to slip out.
I noticed that Vale’s breath hitched from the touch, but I took it as him bracing mentally for what’s about to come next. He’s scared and nervous, normal. That would be my reaction if I was in his shoes too. But I’m literally the one doing the flicking, yet my hand is dragging a heavy weight of uneasiness—and the irony of it is funny.
I should’ve known that hitting someone’s forehead wasn’t as easy as it sounds.
Just when I was about to draw the other hand, the bangs stubbornly broke through the fingers barricading it. I had to keep adjusting my hand, raking his hair back into its place; it was almost as though I was stroking Vale like a pet.
His hair was very soft to touch. In fact, it’s a very nice place for my hands to nestle on. If it weren’t for the goal—to finish what started this whole thing—I would probably like to keep playing with his hair a little longer.
Vale became very tense like he could see the hand hovering over his forehead. He grew even more nervous than before, and I was starting to be confused why he even made the deal knowing he wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Maybe he doesn’t know that he wouldn’t be able to. Could it be that this is his first time getting flicked on the forehead?
Just when I was about to position my fingers, Vale mumbled something under his breath that I wasn’t able to pick up.
“Tingly, electric feeling…”
I wasn’t interested in whatever he said as determination consumed the rest of my senses. I was more than ready to finally put an end to this now that the nervousness suddenly dissipated. I felt more in control and confident, like I was born for this moment.
Then, heaving in the last breath of resolve, my fingers began to position themselves. The middle finger curled, surrendering behind the tip of the thumb like it was seeking shelter.
Suddenly, footsteps thundered towards the entrance of the classroom, like a student was running for their life. It was a harmless intervention that shouldn’t have heeded my attention. I remained focused on my goal, eyes set on one angle without a plan on sparing for more.
But what I thought was a simple noise pollution unexpectedly grew into a disturbance when a voice called, “Lorna!”
My head immediately shot towards the direction of the source—only to welcome a sight of a disheveled, perturbed, confused, furious, and flustered girl—Celeste.
“Lorna! You have to l—“ she halted. “What weird crap are you guys doing this time?”
“Hi, Celeste!” I greeted her happily.
“Already?” Vale contradicted my reaction.
“Anyway, I have no time for your weird bull craps. Hurry and come out! You have to listen to what I’m going to say!”
Confusion immediately spiraled in my head. “What?”
What could she want me to listen to?
“You heard me! Now, get out of the table and hurry and come out!”
Vale finally shot his eyes open, glaring at Celeste situated at the usual doorframe where she always waits. “Why is it only Oreo you are taking?” His question came with a grumpy, frustrated whine.
“Nobody needs you, di**it. Stay put there and wait,” Celeste retorted before leaving the frame.
I immediately pushed myself out of the table, landing on my feet with precision before sparing Vale a look—who unexpectedly caught my eyes back.
“Just wait here,” I said.
“I don’t need to hear that twice.”
“Okay, good you’re being cooperative for the first time.”
“But why did she have to come at such a wrong time?”
“What do you mean?”
“We were in the middle of something.”
My brows furrowed in concern. “Why would you get frustrated at not getting your forehead flicked?”
He pouted like a kid. “That’s not all the reason there is.”
“What other reason would it be?”
“I don’t know.”
I shrugged. “I’m not understanding you in one bit, Vale.”
“I don’t know either…” he somehow sounded sad and frustrated that he couldn’t decipher something only he knew. “It’s something… I—“
“Shut the frick up Vale and give me Lorna!” Celeste bellowed from outside that immediately fueled my feet to run towards where she was at.
She was impatiently waiting in the hallway, just right outside the classroom, visibly annoyed like the world slapped her the biggest problem no human could ever handle.
A short, awkward silence filled the air between us before she spoke with her voice only above a whisper.
“I am a failure,” she suddenly admitted. “I’m… pathetic. I’m worthless. And I am a failure!”
This time, my confusion was replaced with worry and concern for Celeste. Though I’m confused , I can tell she is just as confused as I am about what she was dealing with. And I already grasped the realization that she wanted me to listen because of it.
“My mom only put frickin textbooks and pencils on my table. She didn’t teach me anything but to be better than everyone else! And now I am a wreck! I… I can’t understand myself but I don’t even know why I have to when I thought I can just automatically can, you know?! Like… she put me up with all this knowledge piled up in my head and somehow I don’t know a thing about me!” she paused for a bit, drawing a heavy breath to leak out some weight of her emotions.
“I only know my name apparently, Lorna. Everyone knows their stupid name. But this… other unnecessary nonsense creeping into my thoughts and… and what people coin as “emotions” but a stinky puzzle to me that I can’t seem to figure out like how I can when solving physics, advanced calculus and I could probably even figure out the real value of pi easily than this one!”
She stomped her feet furiously. “Do… Do you understand? I know I must be such a great sight to you right now. The one who used to bully you, looking like a pathetic loser begging for an answer I can’t figure out. But I frickin stinky don’t care! Feast on it, gobble on it! Just… just give me the answer… you are the only one I know who’s b… better than me…” the last few words came out very quietly I couldn’t almost pick up.
Everything that Celeste said was a description of how this something was beyond her understanding. But this said something was not explicitly said, and so my mouth grew a purpose.
“What is this feeling that you can’t understand?” I asked with a tone that was free of sympathy, but still carried gentleness wrapped around objectivity.
Clearly, Celeste is undergoing a battle of her own. It is a very normal reaction for her to be frustrated at not knowing herself despite the amount of knowledge she learned and mastered. But it wasn’t an invitation for my sympathy, for me to feel bad for her.
She wanted answers, and I am determined to give her that instead of sparing empathy to what she is going through.
“I’m… weird…” she began. “I’m weird when Vale is around,” she formed a footing. “Like… even though he is weird, I don’t get disgusted by it, like what Mary feels when she is with weird people like him. He says all this nonsense and stuff and my brain would want to slap the hell out of him, but my chest would want him to keep going… like it’s a contradiction between my thoughts and feelings and I don’t know why is that even possible because I thought they were wired. I even called a doctor because I thought I was physically impaired, like some nerve cancer was taking place and these were the symptoms. But the frickin doctor laughed at me! That stinker laughed at me! I immediately filed a case against him for working unprofessionally in an essential position! I’m confident he will spend the rest of his life behind bars!”
I couldn’t help but gasp at the last few parts.
“I’ve been seeking answers, you know?! And until now I still haven’t landed on one! So, today you better give me it and if you don’t then you’ll leave me no choice but to force it out of you!”
“Yeah, I will,” I assured. “But first, you have to tell me when did all of this started.”
“Like… that day when we got in trouble with Mary and Holly. I felt my intestines churn when he saved my face.”
“Okay, bingo! That’s a start. So, after that you’ve been feeling this same kind of weirdness whenever you are with him?”
She nodded shyly. “Mhm…"
“Okay. Aside from your chest contradicting your thoughts, were there circumstances where your mind would swerve to this certain direction that would make you want to hold or kiss Vale?”
She suddenly turned red, almost morphing into a tomato. “Y-you know that?”
“Okay. That’s the answer, Celeste.”
“What answer?”
“You like Vale. I’m sure of it.”
“No, I don’t!”
“Why do you think you don’t?”
“Because I don’t want to like him! Ugh! There is no way I would want to spend the rest of my life with him!”
“But it’s different, Leste— I mean, Celeste!” I immediately corrected myself in panic.
“It’s fine. You can call me that stupid nickname.”
“Okay… Leste.”
“What is different?” She redirected the topic.
“Oh, yeah I mean like, things happen whether you like it or not. Like… for example you like cats but you don’t want to like them because you are allergic to them.”
“How do you know that I am?”
“Nyne told me,” I admitted.
Her face suddenly creased, as though a realization suddenly dawned upon her. “Is that why you are so good at figuring this stuff out because you already went through it?”
“What?”
“Yeah, Lorna. So, somewhere in the corner of your mind too you thought of holding and kissing my cousin?”
It took me a good few seconds before I finally understood what she meant. My face immediately flared up like I had been caught doing a crime in secret!
“Y-you…! No, I don’t! I never did!”
“Then, why are you reacting like that?”
“B-because you said something so indecent!”
“What is indecent? Is the thought of wanting to hold and kiss my cousin the equivalent scale of indecency to the same thoughts I would sometimes have about Vale?”
“Don’t include me here! This is supposed to be about you!”
“I’m just saying! I thought you were gonna help me with my crap!”
“I am helping you out! But I don’t want to bring Nyne into this!”
“Why? Did you guys break up or something?”
I fell silent, not knowing what to say. I could just dismiss and shift the topic to something else. But the reminder of my mistake never fails to stun me at my place, like a calling to repent, and a moment of remorse to keep the punishment instilled.
“Alright, sorry for probing into your life. It was out of line for me to—“
“Oreo!” Vale suddenly rushed out of the classroom, interrupting Celeste from finishing her sentence.
Still stuck in the same place, Vale took both of my hands to put one on his head and the other on his chest. He held my confused gaze with raw excitement, as though he just solved a puzzle he had a hard time solving.
“Look, Oreo! Tingly, electric feeling!” he announced in glee.
My brows met each other in the middle, not understanding what he was trying to say.
“Can’t you understand?” He assessed without waiting for my answer before he guided the hand on his head to stroke his hair gently, the same way I did earlier when I was trying to hold his bangs in one place.
It was only when I noticed that his chest immediately quickened in pace, almost as though he just finished running a marathon. But even if I noticed the change, I still didn’t understand what Vale was trying to point out until I caught a glimpse of Leste beside his frame.
Ever since I found out that Celeste and Nyne were cousins, the first thing that came to mind was that they didn’t look alike at all. They didn’t have a single feature on themselves that would give away the fact that they came from the same bloodline.
But the moment my eyes landed on Leste, I saw someone else. Someone who had that same agony in their eyes when they found out a truth they wished wasn’t true.
My heart sank at the memory—at the vivid picture of the same face I last saw before it all ended.
Who would’ve thought that the feature that would give away their shared bloodline—is agony from an ugly discovery.
And who would’ve thought that it would be the last face I will see too before we’ll never speak again.
Writer | Arnie Jane Pinagawa
Layout | Ian Nil Rondina
