Anna
The hamburger tastes good. Like, actually good. Maybe because we're exhausted after watering the grounds or, to be precise, watering ourselves.
"Ow totpul op gampa." I say while a full bite of burger is still inside my mouth.
"Eh?" Kye Yon stares at me in confusion. His own mouth is also stuffed with it.
I take a full thirty seconds to chew and gulp the food and then look up at him again. He was patiently waiting for me to finish, propping his head sideways on the back of his hand.
"I said, how thoughtful of grandpa. He put us forcefully into this good-for-nothing punishment and then came to give us these." I gestured to the packages of burgers and cokes.
Kye Yon grunts. "Only because of you. He would've never come to hand me snacks after a punishment."
I laugh. "Yeah, he's always been soft toward me."
"He actually likes wild things." He glances at me sideways. "And you've crossed the borderline of wildness."
"..."
"Ow!" He cries out as the bottle of coke lands upon his head.
"Serves you right." And I drink it up.
"You're really wild." He mutters under his breath while rubbing his head.
I stare at him. Was it too powerful? And my hand reaches out to his head. I lean sideways and examine his head, slowly parting his hair in small lines.
"It wasn't too strong, was it?" I ask while examining him. Then I realise that something is wrong with him. He's gone completely stiff. "Oye! What happened?"
He stares at my face and my face is… tooclose to his'? My body also stiffens; hand stilling on his hair.
I should take my hand away. I should sit back on the steps instead of leaning like this. Then why am I not doing what I should do!?
Gracious to god! I get my senses back and hastily take my hand away and sit back. Resuming to eat again.
"I'm fine." He says after a minute. "You're still not wilder than me."
I look at him in surprise. He smirks. Jerk!
"By the way," He starts, "Gramps do has a soft spot for you."
"Told ya!" I grin. "Remember the tenth birthday of yours? Grandpa had me in his lap all the time of the party. And your reaction was hilarious!"
He laughs. "Even before that, he was always doing the same ridiculous thing."
"And remember your thirteenth birthday? He had bought me a toy edition of AK47 and you a chessboard. And you were so mad, you locked yourself in the bathroom. And.. and actually ended up being locked for three hours, shouting to your lungs out!"
I burst out laughing at the memory. My stomach hurts as I laugh so hard. Beside me, Kye Yon also laughs so loud. As my laughter dies down, I watch him laugh his unguarded, unmasked laugh. His eyes crinkling at the corners.
At this moment, he really looks like a teenage boy instead of some legacy heir who's thousands of paperwork awaiting him. And I'm suddenly so aware of his mask which he wears in front of the world.
"How can I forget that day?" He leans back on the step. His eyes fixed on the grounds. "That was my last birthday after all; where I'd been wished by more than one person."
What…
An uneasiness settles at the pit of my chest. My eyes slowly turn to his. There's no remorse, no anger on his face except for that soft smile still lingering onto his lips. I open my mouth to say something. But no words came out.
'Sympathy is like an insult to the man who's perfect at hiding his pain'
Maybe the blast in the chemistry lab caused some chemical reaction between us. Because no matter what, the dynamic isn't going the same way it used to.
I've never felt sorry for him. Not even slightest. But seeing him today, lifting his guard and showing pure human emotions, I can't think of him as the same person whom I thought was a jerk.
***
The school has long ended and the sunlight of dusk is glistening through the damp grass.
'The sunlight danced on the water droplets and the dried soil forgot every sin of the sun'
Well.. literature isn't too illogical I think…
"Won't your 'friends' worry about you, thinking why you're invisible for too long?" Kye Yon asks me.
Jeez.. what's the need to add an extra beat to the word 'friends'?
"I texted them to go home. They probably would've gone by now." I rest my elbows on the backstep. This gallery is indeed a comfortable place to sit.
"Anna."
"..."
I can't look at him. Nor can I speak. If I'm not a patient of amnesia, then I remember clearly that it's the first time he's spoken my first name.
"I'm a terrible person."
"Don't be too honest."
He smiles, "I shouldn't have said Nathan all those harsh things before."
I remain silent for a minute. "You had stated facts. But he wasn't in a state to hear them, you know?"
"Yeah," he sighs. "I know. But I wanted him to give his best. I wanted him not to give up on himself."
"I know you were fueling him up. But your method was wrong. If you want someone to get over something, don't make it look small, make it look ordinary, avoidable."
He stares at me.
"...what?" I ask.
"Just figured out why you're always first."
"Shut up."
"Why the shut up?" He grins. "Why don't you like it when someone calls you topper?"
"Because that's how toppers react."
He raises one eyebrow. "Typical."
I don't fire back immediately. Instead, I enjoy the last sips of my coke. Kye Yon takes out his phone and starts giving it a check.
"What the—" His hands froze mid-air. His eyes slightly widen more with amusement than worry. Then they land on me. "Ha!" He's so unable to decide whether to laugh or get worried.
"What's it?" As soon as I ask, he shoves his phone screen to my face. And… "Jesus Christ! What is this!?"
There's a boomerang reel of two students hugging each other with so much tightness, I practically begin to worry whether their ribs are broken. And a second later, when they jerk apart with a jump, I jump too.
They're none other than Nathan and Ari!!!
"They're labelled as 'Romeo & Juliet'!" And Kye Yon bursts out laughing. "Oh my god.. this is hilarious!"
"Don't laugh!" I shout. "It's a serious matter!"
"Yeah I get it but… grr!" He snorts.
I also want to laugh. But they're… mypeople. Aargh!
"What the fuck were they doing!" I tear out my hair in frustration. This reel has already been viral by now that even Kye Yon got it in his feed.
God, what do I do!?
Kye Yon abruptly gets up all of a sudden. "Go check on the two of them." And looks at me. "I might be able to do something."
And then he flexes his shoulders and winks at me.
Has he finally lost his mind?