As an ordinary genius

As Ethan folded his results and tucked them into his bag, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Ethan Grayson!"

He turned to see Raj walking toward him, grinning from ear to ear.

"Raj! Didn't you went to other hall?" Ethan asked, genuinely surprised.

"I went there man, obviously, it's over." Raj said, holding up his envelope. "What about you? How'd you do?"

Ethan hesitated for a moment before answering. "Second lower honors. What about you?"

"Same here!" Raj said, laughing. "Guess we're in the same boat, huh?"

Ethan smiled, feeling a little less self-conscious.

As the two friends chatted, Ethan caught sight of someone walking toward them. His heart skipped a beat when he realized it was Felicity.

She was standing near the fountain, wearing her graduation gown, talking to a few classmates. Ethan hesitated, torn between approaching her and walking away.

Before he could decide, Felicity spotted him and waved.

"Hey, Ethan," she said, her voice as bright as ever.

Ethan froze for a moment, then forced a smile and walked over.

"Hey, Felicity," he said.

"Long time no talk," she said, her tone light but curious. "I heard you switched to Computer Science. How's that been?"

"Uh, good," Ethan replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Tough, but good. Managed to make it through somehow."

Felicity smiled. "I never doubted you. You always had that hard-working vibe."

Ethan felt a warmth in his chest at her words. "Thanks. And you? Still the smartest person in the room?"

Felicity laughed. "I try, but the room keeps getting smarter. So, what's next for you?"

"Got an internship lined up," Ethan said. "At LynxTech Solutions."

"Wow, that's amazing," Felicity said. "Congrats, Ethan. You deserve it."

"What about you?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious.

"I'll be working in the IT department at Queen Consolidated," she said.

"That's... big," Ethan said, impressed.

Felicity shrugged modestly. "Yeah, it's exciting." She paused, looking at him thoughtfully. "Hey, we should catch up sometime. It'd be nice to actually talk, you know, like old times."

Ethan hesitated but nodded. "Yeah, maybe. That'd be nice."

"Felicity," Ethan said, trying to sound casual. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Same here," she replied. "Came to grab my results. How'd it go?"

"Second lower," Ethan said, feeling the need to be upfront.

"That's great, Ethan," Felicity said, smiling. "You worked hard for it. You should be proud."

"Thanks," Ethan said, feeling a warmth in her words. "What about you?"

"First class," Felicity admitted, but there was no arrogance in her tone.

"Of course you did," Raj teased, grinning. "The genius strikes again."

Felicity laughed. "Oh, stop it. We all worked hard in our own way."

The three of them decided to grab coffee at the campus café, reminiscing about their time at university.

"Remember that group project we did in second year?" Raj said, chuckling. "The one where Ethan ended up debugging all our code at the last minute?"

"Oh, don't remind me," Ethan said, shaking his head. "That was brutal."

"And you still pulled it off," Felicity said. "You've always been good at sticking with things, Ethan."

Her words caught him off guard, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

"Thanks," he finally said, his voice soft.