Love Only Me

Chapter 6: The Freshmen’s March

The Freshmen’s March

The engineering first years are on the field for their hazing activity. This is only the third day. Yet it already feels more like a military school than a regular college.

The hazers are scattered throughout the field except for the devil and his three spawns. The four of them are on the covered stage by the bleachers.

"How many are missing?" Ace asked Kas. His friend flashed two fingers after the count. Mike and Pete stood by with serious expressions. They take this job very seriously. Who knows...

"THREE MINUTE STRETCH!!!" Ace ordered the students that were lined up evenly on the grass covered ground. They all wear their t-shirt with their names largely printed in front.

Some freshmen groaned in complaints since they can still feel the aftermath of their first two days of activities.

Once they were done with their warm up, Ace stepped forward. "So, two are absent! Does anybody know why?!"

Only murmurs were heard from the first years, they don't know. They could only shake their heads because they can already feel what's coming.

Mike stood behind Ace and whispered something. "The two that are absent ditched the hazing to have a double date."

They have monitors among the hazers. And they have spies among the students. It's not that hard to know their whereabouts.

The head hazer gritted his teeth in anger. "TWO LAPSES FOR EVERYONE! NOW!"

Though some of them protested under their breaths, they obeyed their head hazer. There's something about his aura and his voice that makes them tremble on the inside and follow what he has to say.

If they have any thoughts of the hazer as being unreasonable, it all goes away like smoke when they see how hard he works on their activities. It's not because they just happened to be mesmerized by his handsomeness. It's beyond that.

The engineering brotherhood/sisterhood of New Thailand International is known as the fiercest group of college students in the country. The greatest engineering minds came from this college. Even amongst the most well-known engineers in the world were born here.

This hazing starts it all.

"THIS IS YOUR REBIRTH! TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!!!" Ace yelled at the hundreds of freshmen gathered in lines again after their run in the field.

"IF YOU WANT TO BE WHAT YOU WANT, BETTER START SAYING IT NOW! SAY YES, IF YOU AGREE!" Ace's voice roared and scattered in the field.

"YES!!!"

"WE ARE THE NTI'S BEST!"

"YES!!!"

"WE BUILD GREATNESS!"

"YES!!!"

"WE GIVE BIRTH TO GENIUSES!"

"YES!!!"

"WE HARNESS THE BEST!"

"YES!!!"

"WHAT ARE WE?!"

"ENGINEERS!!!"

"AGAIN!"

"ENGINEERS!!!"

The head hazer turned to his second in command. "Mike, start the march." Mike nodded.

The march is the center of this activity. The students are divided into ten groups. Each one is led by a hazer. They have chanting while they walk or run in the field. It's similar to doing a fartlek, but with the chanting involved.

Their chants are all engineering related. Some leaders even make their freshmen answer questions from any subjects they have on their first semester. If they get the answer wrong, they're punished.

The leader assigns the punishment. Some were deemed cruel to the point of fainting by some students For some occasions, the head hazer provides the punishment himself. When he calls it.

"Hey, student id 00341! I saw that!" It's the leader hazer on Baek's group. Sutthee nudged him when the leader called the ID of the student behind Baek.

Baek had just gotten up from falling on his knees. He has very good reflexes and unless he was caught off guard or he trusts the person, he wouldn't fall that easy.

"What's the problem here?" The head hazer approached Baek's group. It made all of them tense. He has never once gone to one group and interrupted the march. He walks around and checks on everyone. But not talk to them.

The group leader pointed at the boy behind Baek. "He pushed the student in front of him."

"P'Ter, it was not intentional." The student defended himself. He felt anxious all of a sudden.

"YES, IT WAS!" Sutthee, and the other students close to where Baek stands said at the same time. Baek shut his eyes closed. His boyfriend isn't going to like this.

"Six against one..." Ace has a blank look in his face. He slowly walked towards the boy, while the others backed away, with their line still intact.

Ace pressed an index finger on the boy's chest where his id number and name is.

"...Student id 00341--Michael. Six lapses! NOW!"

Michael shut his eyes and pursed his lips. He was in the wrong. But six lapses? He thought it was a bit uncalled for. But he has to do it.

He looked at Baek one time, apologetically, then turned around to begin his punishment. Baek sighed with his head low.

"He probably just likes you." Sutthee said while watching the running figure of his classmate. Baek pinched his side but it was too late.

"Did you just say he likes N'Baek, N'Sutthee?" Ace asked the talkative friend of his lover.

Baek glared at his high school rival turned friend. Sutthee played innocent. "Did I?"

"We don't play dumb in the march, Mr. Boonsung. 10 push-ups. Now." Ace ordered the industrial engineering freshman.

"Yes, Sir!" Sutthee made a salute to his former high school senior turned head hazer. He lowered his body for a plank position and started his push-ups.

All this while Ace had avoided Baek's gaze. He didn't have to. Baek is avoiding his too. If they lock onto each other's eyes, they might as well make out in front of hundreds of pairs of eyes. So… no.

The hazing activities ended after over an hour. The rest of the minutes that's left, they use it to refresh themselves with drinks, consult with the medical team, or check on the ones who fainted.

The march was hell but the hazers don't leave their juniors unattended and uncared after.

"More hell will come every day, but slowly they will feel the change...their sense of purpose becoming stronger...the road to their goal...opening wider--"

Baek conked Sutthee's head as he narrates their life imitating the voice of Sean Connery. "How do you do that?"

Sutthee laughed along with their other friends and classmates. Even Michael has joined in. Their little camaraderie was interrupted when Baek was approached by a second year.

"Nam Soon texted me, he is waiting by the lobby of the main building." Baek smiled and nodded.

The current university moon was banned by Ace from coming to the hazing activity ever since he came by unannounced to take Baek to the moon and star rehearsal.

Baek walked towards the head hazer's bench where his spawns are also seated. "P'Ace..." He stood a few feet from his lover.

Ace flinched a little. Not from fear but from happy excitement. "Uh."

Baek blinked seeing his boyfriend look at him for the first time since this morning. Ace had been oddly busy. They had only seen each other at their building these past two days.

"I have to go to the student union building for the rehearsals. P'Nam is waiting by the lobby in front." Baek pointed at the engineering building.

Ace looked around for a minute before he turned to his fellow hazers. "Wrap this up. I'm going first."

"YES, BOSS." All of them answered as their leader stood up and drank the rest of his water.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, afraid that he might drag Baek instead. "Let's go. I'll take you there."

Baek smiled tenderly. He nodded. He missed him these past two days. And now, he's bringing him himself to the rehearsals. He rejoiced internally.

Ace and Baek didn't mind the stares and murmurs from all the students left behind in the field.

"Aish...look at him trying to contain his beast from coming out."-Kas

"I bet he's been wanting to devour him since

the first day."-Pete

"Poor Baekie. I wonder how he handles him at night."-Mike

Smack!

The first years also have their own gossip forum. One of them, from Baek's class, even started a group at an online social media called Zapped.

Hopefully, they write good comments. Or if some are not, hopefully, Ace doesn't find out.

Meanwhile at the lobby of the engineering main building...

"I'll take Baek myself. You can leave." Ace told his junior, Nam Soon, when they approached him. Baek waved at his moon predecessor and smiled thinly.

Nam Soon nodded. Hesitantly. "Okay."

Ace kept his glare on the second year as he rounded an arm around Baek's waist.

"Let's go...love."

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