Chapter 2. Questions

I walked on a busy street, mingling with people who didn't know each other, with music playing from both earphones plugged into my ears.

I took a soft breath. Along with the hair blowing in the wind, I looked up at the sky, with the yellow leaves flying with the autumn wind, I said the magic word that has always been with me since five years ago.

Hopefully it won't rain today either.

The sentence that will keep repeating itself is even more frequent when August arrives.

I stopped my steps when my phone vibrated. However, I accidentally touched another notification, which resulted in my social media opening and pictures of a group of people appeared.

All of sudden, my fingers stop moving, and I'm frozen in place, stiffed.

Not even for a second I could recognize one person from that group of people, he was standing tall beside the others.

Heartbeat that suddenly increases.

You know that feeling when your heart is pounding, but suddenly, at the same time, you also realized that it also feels empty. When stomach is ripping off live, and walls are collapsing, but butterflies are still there.

My phone screen showed a very clear photo of him smiling, a sweet smile like a soft sunlight.

I was forced to be pulled back to reality, when someone suddenly handed me a piece of paper, because of the sudden and violent movement, our hands were bumping into each other, making me accidentally let go of my grip on my phone, as a result, my phone fell, hitting the ground firmly.

I could only sigh, the luck that came behind bad luck. I regained my composure with the price of the phone that I had been caring for so well, got its first hit.

"Sorry, I did not mean to."

Said the man, as I bent down to pick up my phone, which was lying gloomily on the ground.

"It doesn't matter."

I responded.

I just hope I don't get involved in the bad luck any further.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm in a hurry, please take this."

Said the man, handing me a piece of paper forcibly. Dumbfounded, I who have no other choice could only accept the paper, while staring at the man's back that is getting smaller from my sight.

I sighed once again, looking at the paper intending to skim through, but I did not know that this piece of paper carried another bad luck along with the shadow of the past.

This is something I have kept in my heart for a long time, never said it out loud, something that they said, "it just kinda stays even after moving on."

The time I spent after we separated wasn't easy, unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart, and you are a lesson as well as my bad luck that colored the world called 'past'.

......…

My mind went blank as I read the piece of paper lying on the table in front of me.

"What's up with your face?"

Kei asked.

The question that came suddenly made me flinched, I, who had just returned to reality lifted my head and looked at someone who walked up to me with two cups of drink in both hands.

"Hm? A questionnaire?"

She said spontaneously, pretty excited. No, really excited, I could see the spark in her eyes, wanted to tease me.

Tak.

Claire Kei-Lyn, put the brown cup beside my right hand, then with her left hand, which was just empty a second ago, she took out a piece of paper that had been stealing my attention until it made me dazed for a moment.

I stared at her briefly, who was focused on observing the contents of the paper, rather than the bright sunlight coming in through the large window beside us to warm the slightly sunlit side of her cheek, the two moles lined up parallel at the top corner of her left eye were more attractive to my eyes.

"All of sudden? Shane, I didn't know you into this kind of thing."

She who has sat down, asked, wiping her long black hair back with her right hand. Although, she asked in confusion, but actually I know that she really wanted to tease me.

As an answer to her question, I brought my right hand closer to the handle of the cup, while shaking my head lightly, as the rim of the cup got closer to my lips, I could smell the pleasant aroma of the herbal tea in it.

"I was forced to take it."

I answered, then closing my eyes gently and sipping my drink.

"And just idly answering it."

I opened my eyes with a small smile on my lips, agreeing with what she said, I put the cup down, knowing what would happen next.

"Question number one…"

Question number one.

[What do you hate the most?]

Answer:

[Cloudy weather, insects, and balloon.]

Reason:

[Just because.]

Kei read the barely-answered questionnaire at a volume that was only enough for us to hear. When she finished reading the contents of the reason column for question number one, she tilted her head slightly before raised and lowered her eyebrows spontaneously, gesturing that she anticipated the answer.

"The answer is very your style…"

We looked into each other's eyes, I nonchalantly asked,

"What about my style?"

"So half-heartedly."

Without her noticing, with the cup that helped hide my reaction, I couldn't hold the corner of my lips from rising.

I can't deny.

"Like you wholeheartedly live your life half-heartedly."

"You are spouting nonsense"

I was silent for a moment, before refuting her words.

"Yeah, just like that."

The second round of repudiation was that we stared at each other intensely, not wanting to budge, until at last Kei slightly raised both her hands, reluctantly giving in.

"You win. I have to go, it's time to get rid of this annoying long hair."

She said, giving the reason behind her surrender.

"You going bald?"

"I'm still in my right mind."

I chuckled.

When Kei's shadow had completely disappeared, I who also lost my reason to stay at the cafe, decided to leave.

Cring.

The cafe door opens and closes with a ringing bell sound. I stopped my footsteps, when I looked up, the pupils of my eyes reflected the hazy cloudy sky, along with the wind blowing against my brown hair.

I unconsciously sighed for the umpteenth time.

......…

I don't have any idea how many times I've sighed today, I can only sit on the edge of my bed, pensive, with my hands still moving, drying my wet hair with a towel.

What a cold night, with a feeling of emptiness. I stopped my activities, and looked at the black screen phone in beside of me.

[Hey.]

I sent a short message as soon as I opened one of my social media applications.

[What?]

Unexpectedly, I got a reply sooner than I expected.

[Em… as his friend, can you describe what kind of individual Albert is?]

When I sent that random question, six answers came in consecutively.

[Hm.]

[His style is classy,]

[Quite,]

[Just talk when it's important.]

[Smart.]

[Give off positive vibes.]

Reading the short but precise answer makes me smile involuntarily. At that very moment, as if I couldn't control myself, like I just found the perfect opportunity to ask the question I had always wanted to ask, I couldn't help but typed it.

[Is there any news about him?]

[No, but I heard he's going to university A.]

He answered me casually.

[You say no, but how did you know that?]

[From his moments.]

Unable to hold this awkward moment any longer, I could only send one short message as a reply to close the dangerous conversation:

[Oh.]

However, who would have thought, I received a message that I highly anticipated not to happen.

[You look very curious about how he is doing, why don't you ask him yourself? Go contact him.]

I couldn't bring myself to type a reply to the message.

I lay down on the bed, with half wet hair. I stare up at the ceiling, staring blankly at the white light from the lightbulb, distracting my attention from the my phone that is still in the palm of my hand

It makes me wonder

What if one day we meet again?

What am I going to do?

What kind of face will I put on?

Am I just going to be silent?

Will I smile?

Or will I run away?

Then, how about you?

......…