Nianan Knows Her Identity

Raven wakes up because of the noises he heard outside his room. He looks beside, but Kinrue isn't there anymore. It took a second before he realize something. He gets up immediately on the bed and looks inside the bathroom, but she's not there either. A few seconds passed, he heard another ruckus outside. Without thinking twice, he walks outside even if his hair is still messy.

There he saw Nianan and Kinrue standing face to face on each other. Even the atmosphere surrounding them seems dim. Nianan stands still, holding the left side of his face while Kinrue glaring at him with tears in both eyes. Her hands tremble mid-air and hit him again, mumbling some words that Raven can't hear from his place. He can't help but look between the two and trying to analyze the situation. But even if he thinks a lot, there's nothing coming out inside his mind. The two of them barely meet each other even on school grounds. There's no reason for her to act serious and mad.

"Why can't you f*cking answer me? Who told you about it? How did you know everything? Tell me! Tell it to me." Kinrue's voice raises and almost choked up from crying.

"Didn't someone tell you not to trust everyone around you?"

"W-what?"

"You're a fool, Shenr—" he couldn't finish his words when she grab his collar tight while head bows down and hands continue to shudder.

"I-I said... S-Stop calling me that..." The grip on his collar tightened as she continue to repeat the word. "S-stop it. J-just... Stop." Her breathing becomes heavy, trying to suppress her anger, but she can't hold it and glare at him. "F*ck. Stop calling me that f*cking name. I'm not her. I'll never be that person again!"

She shouted all those words, pushing him hard with all her strength left in body. Nianan didn't expect her to do it. He lost his balance and got hit on the center table as he fell down. A silence remains after it happened, each of them seems shocks even Raven couldn't move on his position. He never seen Kinrue acts with so much anger and despised. It's a lot different in the way she acts towards Callie. But midst of the silence, they heard Nianan chuckles that turn to a laugh, a loud one. It echoes in the entire living room.

"You're showing your true self if it comes to this topic, huh? Are you that scared?" Nianan said, looking straight into her eyes. "This is good, since my good brother's here. I'm dying to tell him this since last night, but if I did, my source of entertainment will be gone."

Kinrue bite her lower lips until it bleeds while tears keep falling down.

"K-Kinrue?!" she flinches after hearing Raven's voice, who still looks surprised at everything happened. "What the hell is going on here?"

Raven's about to walk towards her, but she runs away without turning back, even if he tried to call many times. He just saw her wiping her tears. Amidst of the situation, he heard another chuckle escape from Nianan's mouth as he runs his finger through his hair. His attention landed on his cousin. With a heavy step and death glare, he walks straight to him—grabbing his collar up to make him stand.

No words came out from his mouth at first, he just look at him full of anger, disappointment and question in eyes.

"What the hell did you do to her?" He asked with a stern, menace voice.

"Don't look at me like you're going to kill me here, brother. She's the one who came to me and asked a ridiculous question."

"Tsk. Question? F*ck, Nianan." He said, shouting. "Do you need to make her cry and upset?"

The playful smile vanished from Nianan's mouth as he watches his cousin's reaction. He slaps his hands away and takes a step back while fixing his collar.

"Raven, it's a piece of serious advice. Don't get closer to her anymore. It might harm not only you, but your family."

"What?"

"You're too far from her. You'll never reach her level."

"Are you insane? What do you mean by those words?"

"Stick to your plan and make Callie fall for you than wasting your time to someone who'll never stay with you."

Before his words sinks to Raven's mind, he left and went to his room, slamming the door hard. A deep sigh escape from Raven's mouth as he sits on the sofa facepalming himself out of frustration. He wants to run after Kinrue, but her stare from before keeps minding him the fact she wants to be alone. Besides, everything happened seems like a flash of lightning. Before he can notice it, the situation already ended.

***

In the afternoon of the same day, Raven and the rest of men's volleyball club members are in their quick break after training. They're preparing for the upcoming competition early in December this year. Since they win the Regional Men's Volleyball Competition last April, their team can go straight to the quarterfinals on the National Men's Volleyball Tournament. They focus on strengthening their defense and offense and improving all their skills to showcase their potential. All of them were eager to win, so they planned to spend an extra hour to practice after class.

In the middle of their quick break, while the others are talking to each other on the corner, Raven's sitting on the bleacher in silence—drinking water. As soon as he came into the school, he didn't have time to spare to know the whereabouts of Kinrue. He attends his class and went straight to the gym to practice. He can't help but worry about her, since she doesn't look fine when she leave the house.

He heaves a sigh and stands up. It made his other members turns to his direction.

"Where are you going, Raven?" Callie asked, holding a small notebook and a pen.

"I'll step outside for a while." He said, nodding to them and walk outside.

In the middle of walking in the hallway, he saw Kinrue's friends. They're walking ahead of him, Camie's holding an apple juice while Ashley's a sandwich. Both of them, bickers on each other and he's thinking twice to ask about Kinrue. But in the end, he choose to forget their terrible reputation in school and walk near them.

"E-Excuse me," he said. It made the two women turn in his direction.

"Oh, my! It's Raven Auclair talking to us Camie." Ashley said, clinging to her friend's arms.

"What do you want? It's rare to see you approaching us." Camie asked as she gives a haughty stare.

"Uhm, K-Kinrue..."

"Our friend's in the infirmary today," Ashley said without hesitation while Camie almost drop his jaw because of her action.

"Ash, are you a pathetic idiot? Rue told us not to let anyone know where she was. D*mn idiotic woman." Camie snap and slightly hit her head, giving a disappointed look.

"W-well, thanks." He said, in the middle of their bickering.

He walks straight to the infirmary, which is on the second floor of the school building.

After a few minutes, he reached the place and went inside—almost slamming the door open. There he saw Mrs. Rodriguez, the school doctor, with a surprise face. They stared at each other for a few seconds before he look around. Like always, the infirmary is quiet and there's an empty bed here and there.

"Mr. Auclair, why did you come here? Are you not feeling well?"

"W-well,"

"Are you here to visit Ms. Cienfuegos? She doesn't want me to tell anyone she's here, but..."

"What happened to her?"

"It's nothing serious, she just request to rest here for a while."

"She's in the last bed, right?" The doctor nods her head and gives a brief smile as she watches him take a step forward to Kinrue's bed.

It takes a few seconds before he reaches the last bed. He open the thin curtain and saw Kinrue lying down staring at him without emotion. A deep sigh escape from him again, closing the curtain and sit beside her.

A long silence lingers between the two, the atmosphere gone awkward and they can only hear their breathing. One minute passed, but it remains the same. Not until Raven breaks it.

"I'm glad you're not sick again." He said. "The situation before, it bothers me, in fact. I'll apologize for Nianan's action. He's a born crazy bastard."

"You shouldn't come here. Why bother looking at me? Just focus yourself on getting Callie's attention. Isn't it our deal from the start?"

Raven couldn't say anything about her remarks. In fact, it's the truth. He's supposed to pay all his attention towards Callie. The original plan is to help each other find their proper partner, but he can't help to feel uneasy whenever Kinrue's out of his sight. It's bothering him for real.

Another silence came, he just stare at her who's looking on the other side. Although the doctor said she's fine, her look tells the latter. She's pale and out of energy. Without noticing it, his hands move on its own and touch her face. It startled Kinrue that she ended up turning in his direction.

"Stop looking at me with that painful stare. You're making me confuse."

"We're enemy."

"I know. You shouldn't tell me to take responsibility for you."

"Y-you're d*mn sh*thead bastard. Why aren't you asking me about the thing happened before? Didn't he told you?"

"He never told me anything, n-not a single one. If you don't want to say either, then let it be."

"I-I'm sorry," a tear falls from her eyes. Raven unconsciously wipes it away and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"Let's go to the sea after class. I'll come pick you up later, so rest here until then, okay?"

"Y-you're creeping me out, sh*thead."

He chuckles. "I'm just taking responsibility for your sadness. I'll be back later."