"Well, I will wear it later." I said and a look of disappointment conquered Conan's face.
"Please wear it now." He pleadingly spoke and stared into my eyes.
He had that look that couldn't just be ignored.
Of course, I risked and had to choose between my boyfriend, the person I loved and on the other hand my very good friend.
"Alright." I replied.
"Allow me." Conan said as he took hold of the watch and then brought it closer to my left wrist.
He removed the one Arthur had given me and then he perfectly put his very own on my hand.
I felt happy but a little bit uncomfortable.
I was never the person who was used to wearing heavy watches around my wrist.
I always loved the small leather watches which were a bit lighter and easier to live with.
"Thank you." I lightly said.
"You are the best boy friend any one in the world could ever have." I added in a whisper.
Conan smiled even wider on hearing those words.
"Let me take care of you Nathan." He said as he handed me Arthur's gift.
I unhesitantly lowered it into my bag and then closed it.
"Certainly but I am not certain if Yaregal is on good terms with that." I replied.
"He doesn't need to actually be." Conan said.
That very instant, the classroom started to flood with very many people and our teacher for English walked in.
"Good morning class." He said to all of us.
"Good morning teacher." We replied in unison.
He then started to walk bark and fourth through the aisles that separated our rows.
"As you all probably know and as I have constantly kept on reminding you, this is your final year of junior high.
Very soon , you are going to take tests that will help you advance to another stage and level in your eductaion." He said as he turned to study all the faces in the room.
No one seemed so moved by the conversation and every one was used to that part of it.
The conversation had become a story and the story had evolved into a song every teacher had sung.
"I understand that by now of course, every one in this room has their eyes fixed on their future career and you must be ready for it.
I know and I can assure you that whoever is smart has already laid out a strategy to get to that.
"Yes teacher." Every sang in unison in the tone that sounded so bored and a little sluggish.
"Mr Thompson, what do you want to be in future?" The teacher asked the fat boy that sat at the extreme back of the class.
"I want to be a paediatrician." He replied.
"Some good specifications I hope the rest can borrow a leaf." He said and then turned in my direction.
"What about you Mr. Morton?" He asked the unserious and stubborn blonde kid that sat behind me.
I felt a wave of relief rush in and I took a deep but gentle sigh.
"I want to be a bus driver." He replied.
Everyone else burst into laughter and studying the expression of the teacher, he looked very angry.
It was visible and easy to read in his eyes, the raging flames of anger that possessed his mind.
"This is very funny Mr. Morton, I hope to see you around town in a red bus a couple of years from now.
You might know me but I will readily disown you as my student." The teacher replied in the most calm tone.
Surprisingly, after he diverted his gaze away, Morton simply shrugged and went back to what he was doing.
"Back to the point that had brought me here today, I really have something new that has come up." The teacher said.
It was very clear the silence that followed was convincing enough that every one in the class room wanted to hear what was new.
"This being your very last year, we are going to require that for each and every one here, you are going to write down an essay and present it to me.
The very best essays that are written from half the people in your year will be included in a new special work I am working on.
And if perhaps an essay is impossible a poem would do well enough.
We are inventing the very first edition of THE FINALISTS REMEMBER and all candidates from both levels as I call you will participate." The teacher said.
The crowd seemed to cheer up a little bit, the reaction that I had certainly not expected to see.
"With that said, the deadline is at the end of the month and I expect you to work a little faster if you can." The teacher added.
Every one went dead silent at the moment.
"Then I suppose that does it so back to our usual business." The teacher said and he started to open his books.
The rest of the class continued until the morning classes were over.
We took a break and I just hurriedly retired to the junior library for a while.
Conan had walked out of class with his friends for the break and so there was no one left to accompany me there.
I went on my own only to be joined halfway by Arthur.
"Oh, Nate, I haven't seen you in a while." Arthur said.
"Sure." I replied agreeing with him.
"So how has your birthday been so far?" Arthur asked me.
"Uneventful as usual but far better than all the others I ever had." I sincerely replied.
"Sorry to hear that but I can make it up to you later in the evening after classes." Arthur said.
"Sure, thank you so much." I replied with a genuine smile as we continued up a flight of stairs.
"So where are you headed?" Arthur asked me.
"The library." I replied.
"It is a break, the Library is closed." Arthur replied.
"I know, I was just hoping for the librarian to return a little bit earlier like she usually does." I replied.
"Alright, I was planning on borrowing a book later but may be even now is not a bad time." Arthur said to me.
"Seriously?" He asked.
"Yes and given that your birthday has been quite uneventful and I am no longer in your stream, may be hanging around could lighten things up a little." Arthur said to me.
"Sure." I replied.
We walked and then arrived on the floor of the library.
We moved a little towards the window and staired at the rest of the city beyond the school walls.
There was some silence that prevailed for a while and we both rested our hands and elbows on the sills.
"I do not remember when we last hang out together." Arthur suddenly spoke in a low tone.
"Some time earlier on this term." I replied.
"I know, I am like your only friend but I have lately pushed you away all this time." Arthur said.
"No you haven't Arthur." I replied.
"I have." He insisted stubbornly.
"How?" I asked him.
"I let myself drown in my own books and studies and I know that it hurts you so much.
I have treated you as though you were something that is non existent and I have greatly failed to give you the company you need." Arthur replied.
"I understand it, we are both candidates, we do not have much time left.
The little we do have, we can devout ourselves to studying hard." I said to him.
"But I have totally forgotten about you and I inwardly feel guilty." Arthur said.
I could feel the sincerity that accompanied his voice and I was very much alarmed by it.
"But you have been there for me on my Birthday, at least you were the first present I did receive." I comfortingly said to him.
I patted his right shoulder and he slowly turned to me and faced me with a smile.
Once I was done, I restored my hand back to its original position on the window sill.
"Nate, is that the watch I gave you?" Arthur asked me.
The instant that he asked me that question, shivers went down my spine instantly.
I kept quiet knowing that something bad was bound to happen.
"Nate, where is the watch I gave you?" Arthur asked me in a serious tone.
At that moment, I could sense the aura of uneasiness that prevailed in the atmosphere that surrounded us both.
"In my bag." I softly but sincerely replied and looked away in the fear of meeting his gaze with my very own.
"Why?" He asked me in a serious and fairly loud tone.
"Nothing really." I replied.
"Don't lie to me Nate." Arthur said in a more demanding tone than a requesting one.
"Well, the one who gave it to me asked me to wear it." I spilled it out.
I saw Arthur from the corner of my eye looking away in disappointment.
"Let us not talk about it." I said to him.
"No, let us talk." He objected.
"Who gave it to you?" He asked me.
I kept quiet for a moment, trying to process the best possible way that I could answer him.
"It looks very expensive and I doubt that even the Bells could get you such a watch.
Based on how I know them, how I know you and also your family, definitely it is from someone wealthy." Arthur added.
"Arthur please don't act like this." I said to him.
"No, it is you who should at least not lie to me Nate." Arthur said.
I sighed in defeat and sure enough that what I had fought to keep hidden for all the three years was on the brink of being unravelled, I earnestly wished it was bearable for Arthur at least.
"Conan." I replied.
Arthur clenched his fists out of rage.
"I am so sorry." I added in the softest and lowest tone I could find.
"I asked you for one thing Nathan, and that was to stay away from him." Arthur said.
"He is not as mean as you kept on saying he was." I replied.
"He can not understand you the way that I do." Arthur said.
"He does understand me Arthur, please trust me, he doesn' t hook up girls like he used to." I said in Conan's defence.
"Are you supposed to believe every word he says?" Arthur asked me.
"Yes." I replied.
"And why is that?" Arthur asked.
"Why shouldn't I believe him?" I posed another question instead.
"Because I love you." Arthur instantly replied and I froze at his answer.
"What?" I said shocked and surprised.
"Yes Nathan, I really love you." Arthur replied with emphasis.
"No it can't be." I said finding it quite unbelievable myself.
"Yes Nathan, I have always loved you from the very time I laid my eyes on you." Arthur replied in a calm tone.
"You never said a word to me." I said.
"I never wanted the friendship that we shared to come to an end." Arthur replied.
"You knew that I was gay, that I was a homosexual." I said to him.
"I never knew if you had someone else in your heart." Arthur replied lightly.
I looked at him and he was in tears at that moment.
"All I did was tell you everything I knew about Conan in the hope that I would keep you safe from him but I failed.
You instead fell for him and fell for his cunning nature." Arthur said.
There was something off about that statement and after processing what Arthur had said I managed to put a finger on it.
"You knew that I love Conan?" I asked surprised.
"Yes." Arthur replied.
"Since when?" I asked him.
"2009." Arthur replied.
I looked puzzled.
"Yes, I knew it, you never answered my texts or picked up any of my calls so one time I decided to find out why.
The very first time I was certain I saw you near the Wish tower with someone else but I was not certain who it was so I carried out my own investigation.
Whenever I tried visiting the Bells just to look for you, I never saw you around there house more often and that increased my suspicion that I followed you.
Every step of the way, wherever you went and when I saw you and Conan going to the park I followed you.
I saw you, standing on rocks with him, seated next to him and that time of New Years Eve at the Carnival.
I saw everything and learning that you sat next to Conan in class, I was more convinced about your relationship." Arthur replied.
"I do not understand, you knew all this but still kept quiet, why?" I asked Arthur.
"I feared, I was selfish, I couldn't undo the feelings you had for him so I thought if I expressed myself to you you would have a change of heart." Arthur replied.
"So you did all this to get me to love you?" I asked.
"Yes." Arthur replied in defeat.
I was so burdened and Arthur asked a question that was not far from what I had expected to hear.
"Now that you know I love you, does it change anything?" Arthur asked me.
I moved closer to him and at that time stared into his own eyes.
"Arthur, I will always love you." I said and was interrupted with a sigh.
"As my friend." I added and the sadness that followed was very clear but I needed to emphasize it for the better of the both of us.
"What?" Arthur asked in a disappointed tone.
"It doesn't change anything and I know it really hurts so much but just so you know, Conan is the one person I certainly and sincerely love with all my heart." I replied.
"Please tell me you are not joking." Arthur said.
"Arthur, I am serious and I do not want to hurt you deliberately but I do not want to lie to you either.
You have known but I have still kept you in the darkness for all these three years that I can not do it again.
Conan is the one I choose and I can always surely love between you and him or him and someone else, I hope you forgive me." I replied.
Unable to contain the pain and the trauma from my own words, it was at that moment I watched Arthur, enraged and also heartbroken walk out of my sight.
I couldn't help myself either knowing the friendship I was certain might have crumbled with Arthur's departure that I shed tears that very instant.
As though that wasn't enough pain, in my mind I continuosly asked myself, what it was that I had done.