After the last class of their first week, the portly professor instructed the freshmen to wait in the classroom for their mentors. It was an old university tradition that the student mentors usually gave gifts to their mentees for successfully surviving the first week of university life. So, the nervous freshmen waited with bated breath, hoping their student mentors would be kind enough to get them good gifts.

Far from being her humorous self, Sarah dejectedly slumped on her seat beside Hazel. She and Hazel had become good friends after Hazel had helpfully supplied her with an embroidered handkerchief during the debacle in the auditorium on Awards Day.

On her other side sat Prom and Patty, two others who had been kind enough to escort her out of the auditorium after they had been dismissed, ensuring her privacy from the curious onlookers.

Behind her sat Kris and Luke, an odd pairing if she had ever seen. While Kris was a nerd with a sweet and friendly nature, Luke was foul-mouthed and more interested in kickboxing than getting a degree. In front of Sarah sat the bane of her existence- Cherry and Night.

Since Gia had lost the post of the class president, both cousins held a grudge against Sarah. They repeatedly went out of their way to bully Sarah and make her life miserable. Night was forced by his mentor Flora to witness Sarah's torture but, he had thus far remained a mute spectator.

One thing was common amongst all of them, all their mentors had introduced themselves the past week, save Sarah's mentor, P' Rachel. It was a fact that hadn't gone unnoticed by the others and had made Sarah a laughingstock in her class.

Sarah sighed; she doubted P' Rachel would even come today. Sarah didn't blame her though. Rachel had a lot of responsibilities on her head. Furthermore, she had been forced to take on Sarah as a mentee when she preferred not to be a mentor. Hazel has been adamant in claiming that P' Rachel was not intentionally ignoring her while Prom had been annoyed with P' Rachel's neglect of her.

Marisa and Monica were the first ones to stroll in. Marisa headed straight to Prom, a big box in hand. "Congratulations", she sang as she made a big show of handing it over. An embarrassed Prom lowered his face and moved away from his over-enthusiastic mentor. Surely God decided to prank him by providing him a mentor who was the opposite of his serious and disciplined nature.

Monica smiled at Marisa's deliberate attempt to tease Prom, before handing the prettily wrapped box to Hazel.

Both friends smiled kindly at Sarah. "Don't worry, Rachel promised to come," whispered Monica, lightly squeezing Sarah's hand. Sarah smiled back though her heart wasn't in it.

Next came the swimming team. Danish embraced his sister before passing along a small box to Patty, who thanked him profusely. Niam glared at Luke before tossing a big box at him. Luke was quick to catch the box mid-air and sneered back. The onlookers knew that the two didn't get along. Niam had already begun receiving complaints about Luke from the Student Council and wasn't looking forward to the rest of the year.

"Hey, Kiddo!", greeted Milan as he tossed a thin envelope on Kris's desk. A surprised Kris was rather quick to snatch it up before his crazy mentor decided to take it back.

Danish looked around, noting Monica and Marisa happily chatting with other freshmen he leaned over his sister and whispered in her ears, "Hasn't Rachel come yet?"

Sarah shook her head in denial though she pretended not to be upset. Danish frowned. He and his father had attempted to contact Rachel several times after that fateful day but she had been absent from university.  Her phone was switched off and the WhatsApp messages remained unread. Nobody answered the door of her apartment either. The thank you note he had stuck on her door remained there till he removed it. Marisa and Monica had been rather close-mouthed, refusing to reveal any information on Rachel's whereabouts. Honestly, he was getting rather worried about her continued absence.

When Flora and Gia entered the classroom, Danish turned his back on them and shielded his sister from their view. He was well aware of his sister being taunted and bullied by the two and had even confronted them about it. Instead, the two had sneakily recorded a video of him and posted it on their social media account, claiming he was harassing them. Afterward, the hate he had been receiving at university was immeasurable.

Night politely took the gift Flora held out, careful to avoid physical contact as she leaned over his desk flirtatiously. He suppressed a sigh at her immaturity, cursing his luck on being stuck with bullies though his face remained inexpressive.

"Unwrap it, see what I got you," whined Flora.

Night pushed the gift into his backpack instead. "Thank you but I will unwrap it at home."

"Here, Sister. See what I got you!" exclaimed Gia as she took out a sparkly pendant on a gold chain from her pocket and dangled it before Cherry.

Cherry squealed in response. "It's so pretty. Is it real?"

Gia laughed as she secured the chain around Cherry's neck. "All of it is real, the gold and the diamonds."

Cherry gave Gia a quick embrace, "Thank you, sister. You're the best. I am so lucky to have you as a mentor. Unlike other people whose mentors don't even  show up."

Danish's hand on his sister tightened at the veiled insult. Sarah whispered in her brother's ears, "Hia, remember what Dad has instructed."

"Seems like the drama club will be in high demand this year," drawled a familiar voice.

Everyone turned to watch Rachel stroll in, accompanied by an unfamiliar man bearing several boxes. Danish's eyes were drawn to the bandage on her forehead and the bruises blooming along her chin.

Rachel stopped before Sarah. Tossing her hair to the side, she held out a hand. "Hi, Sarah. I am Rachel, your mentor. I had a slight accident, so I was on medical leave. But I am better now."

Sarah quickly shook her hand. "Hi, P' Rachel."

Rachel gestured for the man to place the boxes on Sarah's desk and leave.

Sarah gaped at the pile of boxes on her desk.

"There are seven gifts for you, one for each day you had to struggle without a mentor. Take them as my apology," said Rachel with a smile.

"Way to go Rache," hooted Marisa from the side.

"Lady, you have style!" appreciated Milan.

Rachel shook her head and grinned at them.

"But it's too much," stammered Sarah embarrassed.

"No," disagreed Rachel. "It's nothing compared to what you have had to face."

She glanced at Gia pointedly and continued, "Now that I am back. I shall be looking into several complaints of misbehavior."

"Are you fine?" asked Niam concerned. "Marisa and Monica wouldn't tell us about you."

"Please don't blame them. I expressly asked them not to. I didn't want to worry anyone".

"But you did," stated Danish harshly.

"And nobody will know how sorry I am about that. My phone was damaged and it took me a while to replace it," whispered Rachel, mindful of the interested ears around them.

"It's good to have you back," commented Monica emotionally. "We missed you."

Rachel laughed, "I know you did Class President."

Monica gasped, "What?"

"Professor Peacock has asked you to go meet him," she revealed with delight.

Gia, Cherry, and Flora stormed out, though Night remained seated.

Monica groaned, "I'll meet you later then."

"Don't worry, Mars and I will be waiting for you," assured Rachel. Just then Rachel's phone pinged, she frowned as she read the message.

"Give me your number, Sarah. I will call you later. I have to rescue some poor fellow from the clutches of P' Day." Rachel handed over her phone to Sarah.

Sarah typed in her number. "Thank you for everything, P' Rachel".

Rachel fondly ruffled her hair. "If you keep thanking me, you will be breathless by the end of this year. I intend to spoil you thoroughly, so get used to it."

Sarah smiled in response.

"See you later," Rachel called over her shoulder as she hurried to the door, then stopped and headed back to the whiteboard and scribbled in neat handwriting,

Fresher's Welcome party, Next Friday at 6 pm, University back garden, dress code formal.

"Everyone's welcome," she announced to the class. "Your mentors are your dates. See you there."

The noise level went up several decibels as the announcement caused an uproar in the classroom. Rachel was quick to cover her ears and make her exit.

Danish dropped a kiss on Sarah's hair. "I'll see you later, Nong."

Perplexed, Niam and Milan watched their friend dash away. Curious to see where he had gone, they waved goodbye and hurried after him.

"Oh my God, Sarah. Your mentor is so cool!" exclaimed Patty with delight.

"See, I told you. P' Rachel wasn't intentionally ignoring her," stated Hazel with satisfaction.

"Still her absence has caused Sarah and her brother quite a lot of trouble," huffed Prom.

"She did apologize. Look at all the gifts," pointed out Kris.

Sarah smiled, "Even if she didn't get them, I still wouldn't have held her to it. She stands up for me often enough."

Luke made a face. "See that is your problem. You are way too soft, hence you're being constantly targeted."

"Not everyone is a boxer like you," retorted Hazel.

Night got up from his seat, shouldering his heavy backpack. "P' Rachel has the guts to apologize as publicly as she expresses her opinions."

The others stared after him as he headed out to his next class.

"Did he just talk to us?" asked Sarah shocked.

"He didn't just talk, he said something nice. How wonderous is P' Rachel?" exclaimed Patty pretending to wipe fake tears.

"At least P' Rachel was right about the drama club," sighed Luke.

.....................................................................

When Rachel reached the entrance of the Chemical Engineering Faculty, she found an angry P' Day standing with his hands on his hips, glaring at a sophomore who looked perplexed.

"What happened P' Day?" asked Rachel concerned.

"See, what he has posted on his Instagram," he replied aggravated. "No respect for the Student Council."

Rachel took the phone being held out and read the offending post.

It was a picture of the gloomy sky with the caption "Day is morose".

Rachel blinked and looked up at the sky. It was going to rain any minute now. Shit! She wasn't carrying an umbrella today. "Huh! What is wrong with this?"

"Exactly. I was posting about the weather," pouted the boy whose post it had been.

"Nonsense. Are you the weatherman? I was tagged in this post. You were indirectly insulting me," accused Day, red in the face.

"P' Day is right. Since you have made a mistake, you must now post ten sentences directly complimenting P' Day by tonight. Also, delete the offending post," instructed Rachel hoping to diffuse the situation.

The poor fellow opened his mouth to contradict.

Rachel whispered in his ear, "Use ChatGPT for all I care, but get it done for your good."

The sophomore nodded in agreement. "Yes of course. I will correct my mistake."

"Very well," huffed P' Day. " I shall let it go this time."

"I'll get going then. I don't have an umbrella," said Rachel. 

"What about the Student Council meeting?" asked P' Day.

"Oh! Okay. I'll meet you in the Student Council room after I get my stuff from Marisa."

Day watched with annoyance as Rachel escaped him.

Halfway to the Electronics Engineering Faculty, it started raining heavily. Rachel desperately looked around before taking shelter under a tree, resigned to getting soaked.

Suddenly a white umbrella was held over her, protecting her from the rain. Rachel gazed at Danish's warm grey eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she stammered breathlessly.

"How did you get hurt?" he asked in a husky voice as affected by her nearness as she was.

My father slapped me so hard that he knocked me into a table. All because I took in a mentee despite being instructed not to, thought Rachel. But of course, she kept that answer to herself.

"I tripped down the stairs," she lied not meeting his eyes.

"My father and I wanted to thank you for all you have done for Sarah," he murmured.

Rachel smiled up at him. "There is no need. I meant every word I said that day. I feel bad that Sarah has been having a tough time."

"She is as strong as her mentor."

Rachel felt her breath hitch. How had she never noticed that Danish had long eyelashes?

"So, when is our next study session?" asked Danish looking at her lips before meeting her eyes.

Did she catch him staring at her lips? "The deal is over Danish."

"Have dinner with me?" he gently insisted.

"The rain has stopped. I have to go."

Rachel stepped out from under the umbrella and dashed away.

Later that day, a notice was sent out by the student council:

Henceforth, students are requested to refrain from using their social media accounts to demean members of the Student Council. Anyone found guilty will be liable to pay a fine of 4000 baht to the Council fund.

Of course, the unverified university student's Facebook group had much to comment on.