1 year later~

"Mother! Father! Over here!" I called from the entrance of my class, waving violently at my cluelessly walking parents.

A year has gone by and today is my graduation. My parents have come for the function and later we will go have lunch and at night my friends and I will go for dinner.

"Jinnie congrats my baby boy," Mother cooed as she pulled my cheeks. I pouted before removing her hands from my face and hugging her tightly. I let go of her and proceeded to hug my father who hugged me back and then gave a strong pat on my back.

"Our boy has grown up so much! You're already graduating I-" Mother's voice broke as her eyes filled up with tears.

I shushed her and wiped away her tears before hugging her again "Mother, I'm not going anywhere! Why are you crying? Are you not happy for me?" I teased her. She leaned away from the hug before taking my cheeks in her hands and pulling them slightly.

Don't mind my mom, she's always like that.

"That's enough dear or else his cheeks will fall off and we will be late." Father chuckled before grabbing my mother's hands and pulling them away from my cheeks and dragging her away to our auditorium. I chuckled at them before making my way to the back of the stage in the auditorium.

"Jin!" Miguel called, waving his hands vigorously for me to notice him. "Mig!" I called him back before pulling him into a tight hug. 

"I missed you, idiot." Miguel sniffed, making me laugh. 

"You were the one who refused to hang out with us!"

After that incident, Miguel took a break from university and locked himself in his house along with his mother. He even broke up with Ian. The man cried so much, it hurt me. We lost contact with him and also could not stop by due to exams.

Just like that, the months passed. We were promoted to the second year and were starting our classes in January, including Miguel.

For the first four months, Miguel avoided us like the plague. Then I confronted him about it and he burst into tears then and there. After that, he said that he needed time and to leave him alone. We did as he told us and did not contact him one bit.

One month later, he barged into my room, where Kengi and I were doing our assignments, and cried his eyes out saying that he missed both of our company and all. He even asked me to help him get back with Ian then. And I just set up a surprise date for them but he came at a bad time. 

Our exams were starting the next month, and we were in a frenzied state all the time. So we never could hang out properly. Three months later, our exams were done but everyone was busy with job hunting. We could not even have a proper conversation until our graduation day, which is today. I still feel guilty for what happened as if...I am at fault.

I never knew what Miguel's course was but I do know that he loves cars and things like that, so probably automobile engineering. Kengi and I graduated from the same course, marine biology, so we both applied for a job in Oceania.

We are yet to be accepted.

Also, the many times Professor Rain was absent, Antonio took his place every time and let me tell you, he was very darn annoying.

But I told him off once saying 'teachers and students cannot date each other' which, of course, did not stop him, but he did become a bit less annoying and interactive with me.

I was more than happy.

"Thank you, parents and guardians, for coming to the graduation ceremony of our beloved and honourable students..." The Principal continued his long and boring speech along with other teachers.

Yes, I find speeches boring too.

Actually, I find it more boring than you guys do.

"Good morning parents, students, teachers, staff and our Principal. I am Professor Rain, a marine biology teacher and also a researcher in Oceania." He smiled at the parents, successfully charming some parents with his alluring smile.

The man is old, in his late 40s, but he looks nothing like that. He looks like he is in his mid 30s and when he smiles he looks like he is 30 years old.

Did I mention he has a very fit body and a charming smile and he is Asian-American?

No?

Then here ya go!

"I am guessing that everyone already knows about the recent incidents happening all around the world. We, marine biologists, are trying hard to understand the reasons behind these incidents and would like your full cooperation. If you find anything strange in your waters or in beaches, please call Oceania."

"Also, all my students are very bright and observative students and I am honoured to be their teacher, so I would like to ask for your permission to allow your children to come to Oceania to help us when called." 

All of us looked at him, shocked.

He proceeded to say that they will be paid and all.

"As this has become an international disaster, we will travel too, sometimes, and we will face many risks while in the ocean and they have to deal with it 'cause that's what they signed up for when they studied marine biology," Professor Rain said, making some of us chuckle but it did not seem funny to the parents and they glanced at their children with worried eyes, including mine.

I gave them a 'We will talk about this later' look and they agreed before turning back to the ceremony.

"I apologize for taking too much of your time and now we will proceed to the last phase of this program!"  Everyone clapped as he took his seat and one by one the other faculty teachers called out their students' names and handed out their diplomas.

"Miguel Ángel of the Engineering Department, please come on stage for your Automobile Engineering diploma!" Everyone clapped as we heard his next. Miguel walked up the stage, and accepted his diploma with a big grin on his face which was captured by the cameraman.

A few students later, finally it was our department's turn.

"Kengi Akabane of the Biology Department, please come on stage for your Marine Biology diploma!" I clapped violently as I watched Kengi receive his award and the others cheer for him.

Just know, he is a very social and likeable person, so he has many friends, unlike me.

"SeokJin Kim of the Biology Department, please come on stage for your Marine Biology diploma!" I heard our head department call me. I briskly but nervously walked to the stage.

I heard someone whistle in the distance and loud claps before "Go! Jin!! You are the best!" I heard Miguel yell and immediately my face turned red as I heard my mates cheer loudly after him.

The head chuckled at my red face as he handed in my diploma, the cameraman clicking a picture in the middle, capturing my perfectly red and embarrassed face.

I do not like so much attention!

Calm down Jin, and take deep breaths or else your face will turn even redder.

And I seriously do not want that happening right now.

I took deep breaths and was immediately able to calm myself down. My face will return to its normal colour in a few minutes so nothing to worry about!

I stood beside Kengi as the ceremony continued. We made small talks here and there, and would always clap for our...uni-mates?

"Now we will have speeches from our dear students..."

I was supposed to give one but I did not know what to say and so did not apply for my name.

"The first student would be Mr. SeokJin Kim!" Everyone cheered as they heard the name. I stood there, dumbfounded by the turn of events.

I did not apply for the speech, so how the hell am I supposed to give one?!

I looked at Kengi with desperate eyes but they widened as I saw Kengi's smirk.

He...HE WAS THE ONE WHO GAVE MY NAME!

I glared at him menacingly, making a point that he was dead tonight. Then, I walked forward and grabbed the mic, my hands shaking a bit due to nervousness.

"Hello everyone, I am SeokJin Kim as you may already know. I don't have much to say as you can see I am unprepared." I chuckled nervously as my audience chuckled along.

"Firstly, I would like to thank my parents for putting up with me all these years, they have cared for me, loved me and fed me and now I have grown to be such a confident and lovable person, all thanks to my parents." I gave them a flying kiss and my mother returned one back with glistening eyes.

"I am not much of a social person so it was very hard for me to make friends, especially those who would stay by my side always. I would like to thank my only two friends that I'm very close with Kengi and Miguel. Thank you for being my friend and hanging out with this nerd." I gave them a flying kiss too, which they returned all too happily.

"Now I would like to say some things about my course so bear with me." My audience chuckles as I take a deep breath to start my useless rant.

"My course teaches me the behaviour and growth of organisms in different water bodies. It even teaches me the importance of these aquatic organisms in our life and in marine life. Trust me when I say this, without them our ecosystem and food chains would be so imbalanced, I cannot even put it in words. That's why we need to protect them."

"Even though I am still a young marine biologist, I will do everything I can to protect our aquatic friends and also our human friends. Like how you want to protect your loved ones; for us biologists, we want to protect our loved ones, the aquatic beings and we would really appreciate it if everyone helped us."

"By keeping the beaches clean and by not polluting the water bodies, you are helping to protect our aquatic friends. They protect us in some sense too you know, so we must be grateful for it and also in return protect them. I know I am not saying anything inspirational or anything and I am being purely biased here but with the current situation in the world, we need our human friends' full cooperation so that we can find out what is killing those poor animals. If you guys face any problems, like Professor Rain said, please contact Oceania. They have the best researchers and I am sure they will be able to help." I smiled at everyone as I ended my rant.

"Thank you Mr. Kim for your words!" The MC said before calling out the next student. I let out the breath, I was holding and walked back to my original position.

At least, my speech made sense right?

A/N:
I never attended a university graduation, so I know nothing about it. I don't even know if I'll get into one at this rate :smh: I'm so old and useless.

- K.I.

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