His words came trailing back, "And i don't want to see you here, lucas xavier." he called out in a hushed tone.
The young man gulped and pushed alixis away, dusting himself and glaring at him, moving towards the door. he turned around as he reached the door handle.
"how do you know my name?"
"your ID card, you idiot." he quipped, pointing at the ID card hanging around his neck.
The young man looked at the direction pointed, and gave a fake chuckle before shooting a judgemental look, pulling the door open and moving further.
"The name sounds pretty familiar."
Alixis thought briefy and turned his attention to rinae, with his usual question, "are you⎯"
"i'm alright, nothing's wrong with me." she answered out of prediction, almost memorizing his conversation pattern.
his mouth stayed open with his words cut off, then later closing into a subtle smile. there was a short, unknown feeling that made his heart feeling ticklish. "alright. and my latte?"
"All prepared and set." she kept the warm latte on the counter, watching as he picked it up and locked eyes with her. She asked in that moment, "what did you tell that made the guy scared?"
"she didn't hearit?"
alixis thought, his eyes widened by a fraction then relaxed, smiling again. He felt relieved than wanting her to hear it. "nothing. i told him i'd follow him to hell if that happens again." he lied.
"you don't plan on going to heaven then?" she kicked.
"hey- there's something called sarcasm." he fought, looking offended, "siblings are always indifferent in atleast one thing..." he sighed under his breath.
"you said something⎯"
"i was talking to myself!" he bounced back, chuckling awkwardly out of embarrassment. "l-let's meet at school!" he continued and walked away to the door, leaving rinae utterly confused. she watched him walk away, thinking about the remark she couldn't hear.
The sounds of the coffee machine buzzing echoed through the empty cafè, followed by an unpleasant sound outside the cafè.
A loud screech of tyres.
The subtle dropping of something as heavy as a car.
Work paused briefly inside the cafè, with claire and rinae peeking through the glass before stepping outside.
A car had rammed on the sidewalk, the engine hood starting to build up smoke. A few pedastrians crowded around the scene, some checking at the driver and another involved pedastrian.
Rinae didn't hesitate to go amongst the crowd, watching as the driver was escorted from the car with help, and alixis sat on the road with widened eyes from shocked.
"The driver was on the phone and didn't see the kid crossing. it was sheer luck he turned or the kid would've been injured." An old woman gossiped to the other.
Rinae rushed to the other side of the scene, looking at alixis as he was guided to the side of the road. Fear and concern washed her face as she approached, unsure whether to confront him in such a state. She was torn between two decisions, until it was alixis who called her towards him.
He watched her contemplated expression, putting her worries before himself. "you look like you've seen a ghost." he spoke hoarsely, finding his way from the shock.
She looked confused, but didn't move his hand away. instead, she clicked her tongue, looking away as if she expected this response, before turning back to him with her concerned expression. "i should ask you that." she retorted.
"i escaped, you see." he said proudly, but the graze in his torn sleeve says otherwise.
She took note of his arm and sighed, glancing over the short number of people, "hearing all those murmurs, it looks like you could've been underground than on the ground if you missed a second." she pointed out.
"gosh, have some sympathy for me, would you?" he looked offended again, getting witty combacks from rinae is the least he'd want from her. he scoffed lightly, getting on his feet and glancing at the car in the crash.
The smoke from the car hood, the shattered headlights, scratches of paint on the car's side from the walls, and the front tire being punctured from a loose screw. The car was severly damaged on the front yet the driver escaped with minor injuries. He also noticed the crowd dying down, the driver leaning on the wall attending a call, occasionally watching him.
Alixis was practically sinking in thoughts, looking mentally absent. he thought of many possibilities, unanswerable questions, any reason of the driver jumping off the car when he was scrolling through the phone upon driving.
"Earth to alixis, are you there?" Rinae's voice snapped through his silence, setting him back to present. "i'm here." he spoke wearily after being absent. "Get up, settle inside before going." She ordered him around, leaving alixis flabbergasted on the floor.
Still, he followed her back inside the café, settling on a high bar stool at the side of the register. The graze on his arm finally started to sting― after he moved away from the scene ―excessively underneath droplets of sweat that streamed down, where he let a short hiss from the sting.
Rinae noticed eventually, but didn't even make attempts in driving his attention to her.
It was unnecessary, after all his eyes were already locked onto her.
"Aren't you gonna ask me anything?"
Alixis made her pause, in the minute where her hand reached for cotton swabs and antiseptic. She turned her head and looked into his eyes, where it secretly told he wanted to ask something else.
She shook her head afterwards, "I'd rather avoid questioning you than give you a good headache."
He hummed before his response, "no witty comments? now that's sweet." He raised an eyebrow, his words more expressive than his partly disturbed expression.
Rinae just knew something was off, her expression mirroring her bad feeling. Her hands stopped disinfecting the graze for the moment. "tell me, what's wrong? I know it's only been less than 2 weeks since we know each other, but this isn't like you."
His eyes widened a fraction before relaxing, blowing a short sigh and lifting his head up by an inch.
"It's nothing, trust me. Even it was something, you wouldn't get it."
"It should be better to clear you mind up, don't you think?"
"I believe i use my mind very well, thank you." He smiled, with a spark of reluctance. He didn't want to tell it to her, because it was her.
Yet he mustered courage, that took a considerate amount of time.
"I..."
"huh?" She exclaimed softly, making alixis to stutter even more with embarrasment.
"A-actually... I-I don't even know if i'm worthy for―"
His phone buzzed in his pocket, where he had to click his tongue and swear under his breath before taking his phone from his pocket.
"Out of all damn times...!"
As he took his phone out, he noticed an unknown number was calling him, raising slight anxiety and a sense of familiarty. maybe he could've predicted who it was.
"...Hello?" He attended, momentarily looking at rinae as she finished disinfecting.
"you like my little scheme?"
Alixis groaned, his frustration building up so rapidly he shouted unconsciously, "shut your damn trap and leave me alone. come in front of me if you're so brave enough to kill me." and threw the phone across the floor out of anger, shattering it.
Rinae jumped mildly form the sharp sound, gazing at the shattered phone and back at alixis, with a bewildered expression.
"hey, are you―"
"Damn it! My phone!!" He exclaimed, an expression of awkward panic was etched to his face, which was a strong variation compared to his attitude earlier. he moved to his phone instinctively, picking it up and assessing the damage, with a pathetic look on his face afterwards.
"Oh man, I had you like my own child! I got no heart replacing you!"
Rinae retorted from behind, "You're using a term like that for some phone."
"I'm no expert in vocabulary, what do you expect me to say for this?!" he complained, "It's not even turning on!"
Rinae didn't argue further for the first time, instead she expressed mild surprise of his personality switch. She thought of a small plan, "you got any special events coming up?"
Alixis retreated from his tantrum, "Event? My mom's death anniversary is in two weeks."
"Say some happy event!" she dejected.
"I don't know!" he mouthed, "what are you planning to do?"
She started stuttering, "U-uh just wanna know!"
"alright, i won't pressure you," he concluded and got up, looking at his shattered phone in mild fret before looking at rinae, "i'll head home for today, i can't reach school by this time."
She nodded back, "fine, i'll see you around."