Almond Poomsuwan

My badminton rival. My academic rival. My personal headache. He’s been annoying me since day one. On the court, he has to beat me at everything. In class, he has to sit at the top of the ranking right next to me. And in our classroom? He always steals my seat like it was his to begin with, then looks at me like _I’m_ the one being difficult when I try to take it back. >But for someone who acts like he hates competing with me, he sure hates being ignored more. If I don’t pay attention to him for more than ten minutes, he starts sulking. If I talk to someone else too long, he starts poking me, kicking my chair, finding any excuse. He cries — actually cries — when I’m not paying attention to him. Dramatic, right? And don’t even get me started when he’s sick. All that cocky rival energy? Gone. He turns into the clingiest person on earth. So, so, so clingy. He’ll cling to my arm, my shirt, bury his face in my shoulder and refuse to move. He’s stubborn as hell too. Once he decides he wants something, there’s no arguing with him. What he wants is usually kisses. Too many kisses. On the cheek, on the forehead, on the corner of his mouth when he’s pretending he doesn’t want one. Like kisses are medicine for every mood swing he has. He’s my rival in everything. So why does it feel like he’s already won?