Late Night Encounter

It was past 11PM and I was finding it hard to sleep, so I went out of the guest room with a plan to raid Teacher Kimmy's kitchen.

I was so grateful to find the box of Chamomile tea in the drawer that I kept aside a few months ago.

Not wanting to risk waking up Teacher Kimmy and her beloved 'nephew', I opted to get hot water from the dispenser instead of boiling some with the kettle. As soon as my tea was ready, I went to the living area of her condo. Too lazy to fully open the curtains, I just slipped through the side and leaned against the cold glass to admire the midnight city view.

"Back home, the streets would completely be empty by now. Due to the people's fear of the known and the unknown. Hehe. Big cities sure are different." I glanced down at the busy streets of Cape Hallows.

Even at that time of night, there were still a lot of cars that looked like marching ants from this distance with their red tail lights on. It reminded me of that song that Mom used to sing to me to make me sleep when I was little.

"The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.

The ants go marching one by one,

The little one stops to suck his thumb.

And they all go marching down,

To the ground, to get out, of the rain.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!~"

I quietly sang the song until I could finally feel sleep taking over.

"The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah.

The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah.

The ants go marching ten by ten,

The little one stops to say 'The End!'.

And they all go marching down,

To the ground, to get out, of the rain.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

I yawned and finished my tea. Just when I was about to slip back out through the side, the heavy curtains suddenly lifted wide open and Craige stood there in front of me.

"You're really into dramatic entrances, aren't you?" It must have been the long overdue sleep getting to my head because words just come out of my lips without warning.

'Friendly. You forgot to do friendly.'

"Sorry. I thought you needed help." He said as he stepped aside to make way for me.

"Ah. I see." I bowed my head in thanks and went past him. But instead of going back to my room, I found myself sitting on the couch and, to my surprise, even patted the space beside me to signal Craige to sit.

'Why the hell are you inviting trouble? Just go to sleep!'

I don't have a split personality. It's just that whenever I feel tired, sick or sleepy, my body tends to act on its own before consulting my brain. If I could, I would have strangled myself right there and then. But I couldn't.

I didn't.

And that was horrifying.

Craige took the space beside me without hesitation. "Were you having trouble with sleeping?"

"Sort off. You?"

"I was playing games when I smelled something nice from the kitchen." He looked at the cup that I was holding.

"Oh, this? It's chamomile. It helps me sleep. There's still a few more bags in the kitchen drawer if you want some." I put down the cup on the table and I made myself comfortable on the couch by resting my head against the soft arm of the sofa with back to him.

"I'm good. Thanks." He folded one leg up and rested his chin on his knee with his head turned to me. "Is it working?"

I shifted and turned his way then closed my lids. "Yeah. But I guess your presence is more effective."

"Really?" His tone went up a little, sounding bewildered.

'Really?!' I too asked myself, equally baffled.

I opened up my eyes, to find him studying me. Feeling self-conscious I straightened up with a frown to let the blood flow to my brain properly. Maybe that way, I'd know what I meant with those words.

"I guess so. But it's not that you're boring. I just feel... safe."

'That's what this is, right? I just feel safe. That's why I keep getting really sleepy now that he's around.' I slowly laid my head back on the arm of the couch.

Silence hovered in the air for a long time and if he had not said anything, I swore that I could have fallen asleep.

"I'm going inside, then." His voice sounded really deep when he lowered his tone to a whisper. "You're not planning to sleep like that, are you?"

"I am..." I sleepily answered and changed my mind in a split second when I pictured myself sleeping alone in the dark living room. I sprang back up to a sitting position with my hands fisted on my lap. "Not!"

He chuckled. "Scared?"

"Of course not!" Too quick! That was too quick! I answered too quickly that I probably just gave myself away. But when he laughed, I could only watch in astonishment. His smile was broad so, that sharp tooth that looked really cute on him was showing, as if saying 'hi' to me that I almost waved back. 'He really seem to be brighter than usual.'

Then his expression softened with the tilt of his head as he threw me a curveball. "You like us better this way too, don't you?"

"Ha?"

"I mean, you were too awkward during dinner that I was worried you might start having indigestion." His eyes glittered with amusement as he touched the side of his eyebrow. The dim lamp behind me did wonders to the silver rings in his eyes that got me tongue-tied.

"Oh."

But in my head, I was thinking that we have always been awkward. There's nothing really new about it. The only difference was that, earlier we both tried our best to make small talks. Small talks that would sound forced even to passersby.

"Pretending not to know each other and all that getting to know facade over dinner, care to tell me now what that was all about?" His tone changed and he sounded seriously curious.

'I don't think he will buy it if I said that I really didn't recognize him at first, will he?'

A long silence once again hang in the air as I contemplated if I should tell him the truth or not. And if I do, how much should I tell him?

But there's something about the look in his eyes that makes me believe that I'd feel terribly guilty if I lied to him.

'Why is that?'

So with a defeated sigh, I let my conscience win the fight and told him the truth.

"Teacher Kimmy wanted me to act friendly, which I'm really not, and befriend this shy nephew of hers. Knowing both our personalities, she probably thought that we would just stare at our phones the entire weekend without talking to each other."

"Then why not just tell her that you already know me? We would have been a lot more comfortable with each other like this."

He's right. This would have been more comfortable. Easy conversation. Easy company. No tension. But...

"I can't let her find out that we're classmates."

"Why?"

I looked at him with all seriousness. I wanted him to understand that this was a very serious matter that he shouldn't take lightly. His Aunt is a whole lot more threatening to me than any Nuclear Missiles from The North. "Because, for sure, she'll be monitoring me through you if she finds out. And I don't want that."

His eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

I questioned myself in my head multiple times. 'Should I really tell him everything? Is it safe? Will I be okay?'

But knowing that there's no other way to justify his aunt's 'protectiveness' over me, as she'd like to put it, I figured that I might as well explain it to him.

'It's not as if I can wake her up now and ask her if it's safe to open up like this to her nephew. After all... this is going to be a Coalition against her.'

Gaining an accomplice was way more profitable than adding a spy.