Zick-Zack Romance (MxM)

Dropping Out (1)

Zick-Zack Romance

Volume 3

Takano Masamune

Chapter 1: Dropping Out (1)

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"I see... What's your student ID?" The man asked as he turned to his computer. The bored look on his face combined with his tired voice and slow movements made him seem really exhausted.

"It's 122633..." The student with a calm voice spoke as he observed the elder male typing the numbers down. The decision he was making at the moment seemed to be something that had been weighting down on his mind for quite some time.

"Mason Taylor..." The professor read out. "Why do you want to drop out, Mason? You don't seem to be a bad student..." He remarked, looking through the files he didn't see anything particularly concerning.

"Personal reasons." Mason said while looking at the professor's side profile. He didn’t feel good being questioned like this about a choice he's already made.

"Do your parents know about this?" The professor asked, he turned to look at the student. The bored look on his face grew even more tired.

"They don't know." Mason replied. 'It has absolutely nothing to do with them... why would I tell them about this...' The student thought to himself but didn't voice it out loud. It was rude to ask such things given they weren't necessary, nor did the professor seem concerned about the student in any way.

"Have you been in your lectures regularly?" The professor asked though he didn't seem to be particularly interested. It was probably just standard procedure to ask these types of questions, or maybe the man just felt like being rude. Either way the student wasn't in the mood to listen to any more meaningless questions.

'As much as I could have...' Mason thought to himself and replied: "Not as of late..." It was the honest truth but the professor didn't seem to be too happy with it.

"Do you want to stop attending or to pause for a year? Because the documents are very different." He looked at the student, this time the look on his face was almost judgmental.

"To stop attending." Mason replied. 'I don't see the necessity for him to be asking me all this...' At this point even the student was becoming annoyed from the other's persisted questions. It was obvious the elder male was trying to make the student remain in University but it all came off as unnecessarily more stressful.

The professor was obviously not amused by the other's answer. "What are you going to do then? Work?" He asked, his tone sounding as if he was scolding the other.

"Yes." Was the simple reply Mason gave him. 'As if it's any of your business what I do...' He thought to himself. He held back the urge to roll his eyes and kept a polite smile plastered on his face, as fake as it was it didn't matter at the moment.

"Work? Is that what you're going to do for the rest of your life?" The professor had an obvious look of disapproval on his face, he sighed loudly as if to purposefully show his annoyance.

"Yes, sir." The student replied. 'This guy... he's acting like this is a bad thing... Aren't you working at the moment, sir? What right do you have to judge me for wanting to do it earlier than others... Or is it that to study for four years in University and get my first job at 23 or later sounds like a dream come true to you?' Mason thought to himself, he disliked people that thought of themselves as better than others just because they've studied for several years. And even more than that he disliked people like the professor he was talking to, that judged others for making decisions that weren't socially acceptable.

Mason didn't feel like arguing however, he just wanted to go in and out of University for one last time. Why was he now being bombarded by all kinds of questions one after the other when he could have already filled out his documents and left?

"You know you're giving up on all your student privileges, right?" The man asked once again, at this point it just sounded like he's picking a fight.

"I do know." Mason replied while still keeping a relaxed smile on his face. 'Yeah... student privileges, you mean like getting 10% off when going into a club? Sorry mate but it's not that cool as you're trying to make it out to be.' He thought to himself.

"Fine, go and buy a forum from the bookshop downstairs, then fill it out and bring it back here... Take it to that lady over there." The professor said as he pointed at one of his co-workers.

"Alright, thank you sir." Mason left the room and headed downstairs. Buying the forum and filling it out took no more than a total of five minutes and only because he had to walk up and down several floors to get back to the front office from the bookshop. With him was Nathan who didn't say much while they were there.

Mason went back in and gave the forum to the woman that the other had pointed to him. "What is this for?" She asked.

"Dropping out." The rude professor from earlier chimed in before the student could even open his mouth. He had just came back from getting himself a coffee and he looked to be in an even worse mood than before.

"Yes." Mason nodded his head to the woman that looked at him.

She typed several things on the screen in front of her and said. "That's all... you'll be informed via email when it gets approved."

"Thank you very much, have a nice day." Mason said as he headed out again.

The other student waiting at the door was Nathan, "So? How did it go?" He asked, his voice sounding just a bit worried for his friend that had nothing but a calm expression on his face…

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"It's done. Honestly it would have ended sooner if that guy wasn't as nosy as he was..." Mason remarked, he disliked speaking badly of others but didn't feel bad for such rude people as that man.

Thinking you’re always right is never a good thing, just because the professor was older, didn't mean he was wiser. Age wasn't necessarily a factor for a person's level of maturity.

"Are you going to tell him?" Nathan asked as they headed back to the apartment. He had a very specific person in mind when asking that question.

"It's not really the moment to tell him... nor anyone... Also don't tell Drew and Lucas... the timing is just off..." Mason said as they walked back. That day he had decided to finally drop out of University, the only person he told about it was one of his closest friends Nathan.

"I mean it's your decision in the end, and you’re not obliged to tell anyone about this in the first place." Nathan remarked. "As long as you do what you want to do, I don't see an issue with it."

"You're one of the few people that think that way... Thank you." Mason was glad he could speak to someone about this. In truth he'd been thinking about dropping out for the longest time but held back. He didn't want to disappoint those around him, he didn't want to make others worry... But he also realized that his life was his own. And neither his friends nor his parents nor his classmates had anything to do with it...

Mason went back to his old apartment, unlocking the door he entered along with his friend. A lot of things had changed for the last year that passed them by...

"I heard Lucas will stay in Germany for a bit longer... About three more months I heard..." Nathan said as he sat down on the sofa, they walked quite a long distance to and from the University.

"Alright." Mason simply nodded. His best friend Lucas had traveled to Germany for work with his mother. He's been there for three months already and in the meantime in the man's absence, Nathan had moved into their apartment, so they could still split the rent.

"Do you miss Lucas much?" Nathan asked, he noticed his friend didn't act any differently than he usually did but that was only a sure sign that he did in fact miss his friend.

"Well... It really isn't the same without him... But at least this time we're actually splitting rent." Mason remarked as he washed his hands. He then went to sit down in front of his desk.

"Woof!" A small Pomeranian’s bark was heard from the kitchen.

"Leo, I'm back!" Mason said, calling his dog over. The small Pomeranian quickly made its way to his owner and sat down in front of him. "Are you hungry?" Mason asked as he petted the dog's head. Leo stood up and wagged his tail happily.

"I'm glad Leo's here now... He's so cute." Nathan remarked as he also petted the dog. The puppy happily wagged its tail at the man.

"I mean Connie wasn't that bad either... he was a cute cat..." Mason remarked. Several months before Lucas left, he took the cat they'd been looking after back to his village.

"He was a tad bit too aggressive though..." Nathan remarked, he loved cats more than anything and owned one himself. Yet he'd never seen such a strange cat as Connie was.

"Let's not speak badly of the kitten... Though I still have some scratch marks left from him..." Mason said as he remembered the cat. "I bet he's living way better now back in K village... Catching mice, fighting with other cats, sleeping around..."

"He gets more action than we do these days..." Nathan remarked, he laughed harder at his own joke than the other person did. But then stopped when he remembered something. "Sorry..." He apologized, he knew his roommate was going through a difficult time.

"Don't worry about it... Edward and I are just taking a break... It's not a big deal..." Mason said but even if he sounded sure in his voice it was obvious he was having a hard time. Mason and Edward have been separated for the past three months. While the man is out to work for his brother's company in the state. They haven't been talking to each other or texting during that time period.

"You know, you would be a great actor if only given the chance... I've never seen someone so heartbroken act so natural before..." Nathan remarked, he's known his friend for more than five years already so even if it wasn't obvious to others, it was obvious to him that something wasn't alright.

"I don't know if I should take it as a compliment or a backhanded insult... I'm really fine Nate..." Mason said as he forced a smile.

'It's not as if you'd ever admit it you're not fine...' Nathan thought to himself as he dropped the subject…