Deep Talk  

With the play coming to an end, Shawn was officially free of all commitments. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders. For the first time in two months, Shawn did not have anything lingering in the back of his head. Now, his next course of action was of course…

"Let's group and go in now. Now!" The sound of buttons mashing could be heard in Shawn's room. With his earphones on and eyes deeply focused on the game, the teenager was shouting over the coms on Skype with Julian.

"Defeat." The in-game notification sounded. Shawn slouched over in his chair, frustrated at how they had lost the game that could've easily been won.

"If only that Vayne did not quit the game halfway through," Julian sighed in distress too, "damn why is the matchmaking system so screwed up?"

Shawn drank from his water bottle that was filled with warm water. He usually kept the window open at night as the room gets too hot from the floor heating. The clock struck two as the boy stood up to stretch his body. It was the weekends and he and Julian were planning to play games till the morning.

Queueing up for the games at two in the morning, the two boys were enveloped in an aura of calm. There were no sounds on the call for a good minute as neither of them had anything to say. And just like any friend meeting session that lasted beyond midnight, there comes a point where the conversation takes a turn down the 'deep' lane.

"Hey Shawn, what do you plan to do when you grow up?" The first question came out of Julian.

Normally, Shawn would not answer as he couldn't be bothered, but at the current timing of the call, he was obligated to give an answer. "I'm not sure really."

"You never dreamt of being anything when you were younger?"

"No," Shawn was honest about it, "My dad did want me to be a doctor when I grow up, but that wasn't something that I wanted."

"Mmm, typical Asian parents."

"How about you?" Shawn reciprocated.

"I want to be an artist when I grow up."

"An artist? What kind?"

"Well, I'm not very sure about that at the moment, but with time I'll know what kind I would like to be."

"I have never seen you draw properly, except your doodles." Shawn thought about it.

"Well, that is because you don't sit with me during Art class." Julian exhaled loudly.

"I wanted to sleep in class and so, I sat at the back. You, however, wanted to sit in the front. So, whose fault, was it?" Awkward silence soon ensued. Shawn decided to ask a question this time, "So, why do you like art?"

"Mmm… If you are talking about Art in school, I love it because it is a good getaway from everything at school. However, if you are talking Art in general, ever since I was young, I loved reading books and drawing became an outlet for my imagination." Julian tried his best to explain. "In the end, I guess it differs for everyone. What do you like to do then?"

"Does watching anime count?" Thinking about it, Shawn's favourite thing to do as a form of relaxation was to watch some anime. "I use anime as my outlet for stress."

"Homie, you literally don't study, where does your stress come from?"

"…" What Julian said was very true. Since he came to Shanghai, Shawn avoided everything stress-related.

"Why do you not try in school?"

"Dude, you do not try in school either." The boy gaming with him overnight was very similar to him in terms of work ethics. Though, Julian still does his homework at the very last minute and hands it up to teachers.

"True. I can't blame you then. Where's the fun in doing homework? It just kills my day and time." Though Shawn could not see Julian over the call, he could picture the small boy shrug his shoulders.

"Do you think if we both try in school, we would be the top students?" Shawn asked curiously.

"Mmm, probably. Other than maths, the other subjects are rather simple."

"Really maths at this level is hard?"

"Yeah. You're telling me that you, a person who does not study, is good at maths? What did you get for your midterms?"

"Uh, I think I got a 90%?"

"90%?! What the heck?!" Julian did not actually shout, but had whispered loudly. The math score had shocked him inwardly. "How are you so good at math?"

"Singapore. If you lived in your home country for a bit, your math may be as good as mine." Shawn wasn't lying about that fact. The foundation built up from his past had allowed him to easily understand all of the new topics he was taught. He did not even need to review the math topics to score in the exam.

"How about the rest of your midterms? What were your grades?"

"Ah, let me take my report card." Shawn reached into his shelf and took out his mid-term report card. Looking at it, he recited the grades with the subject, "I got an A for Maths, A for Science, A for English, A for Chinese, D for Geography."

"Huh? What? You got an A for everything except for Geography?" Stupefied, Julian was speechless after listening to Shawn's grades.

"Yeah, I am not allowed to sleep in Maths and Science as the teachers would get me in trouble if I slept there. For English and Chinese, languages were never a problem. Only in Geography, was I able to secretly sleep in the back of the classroom."

"You're telling me that without studying, you got straight As?"

"Yes."

"Dude, you're a freaking genius."

"Nah."

"I did not study and I only got way worse than you! My maths and Chinese were both Es. My English was thankfully an A, while my science and geography were both Bs."

"Well, study then."

"Nah, I don't see a need to at the moment. Maybe in the future, I might do that." The two boys finally entered a game and the deep conversation finally came to an end.