See The Light

Alice didn't want to see Noah in this form where he couldn't see the light. She had always gone after him, wondering how he was able to take the easy route, but even then, she became a person that she would hate.

It was too late to ask for his forgiveness after she acted in such a way only to contribute to the people who hurt him worst made her skin crawl. She knew better Noah fiddled with the end of her hair, lightly touching the pale brown strands. 

The smile that fell on her lips was all that she wanted in forgiveness. "I didn't mean to take your scores from you. I didn't expect it to be that easy."

Despite that pain, she was able to bark out a sarcastic laughter. "I beg to differ. You seem to be struggling with your work too."

Noah wiped away the salty tears from her cheeks that she didn't even realize were falling. "Thank you for crying for me."

Alice breathed out brokenly. "You don't have to thank me."

"I didn't even realize I was sad until you started crying on my behalf."

"You can cry whenever you need to. I swear I won't use it against you. But no matter who you are or whatever walk of life you're in, we're free to cry if we wish," Alice said softly. 

"I'm okay. Thank you though." His hands cupped her cheeks to bring her closer to him. "My parents have left me on my own for a long time. I haven't seen my sister in years."

Alice remembered Noah's grandfather saying something similar the other day. Noah truly had no place to run back to. "I'm surprised that you're not living on your own yet."

"I'm only ever doing what's convenient for my parents. The academy was nearby anyway. Lately, I don't even see my parents often."

"What are they doing?"

"They work at the family business. The headquarters are located in the next big city, so they tend to stay over there rather than commute."

"Still, do they even come and see how you're doing?"

"I never had that. I had nannies and babysitters for as long as I have known. The last babysitter I had was the best one when I had just entered kindergarten until I finished grade school. The old lady was so funny, but she never stuck around long since my parents didn't like her for reasons I never understood."

"She sounds fun. Tell me more about it."

"Well, she would take me to the park on the days it was sunny, and I got to play on the playground and go on all the fun colorful walkways. She would hold my hand whenever we crossed the streets, and for a little kid, I was touched."

Alice grinned. "I wish that I was able to meet you at that time. I was a crazy kid."

"I would have loved that," Noah said glumly.

"Hey, but we still have a lot of time..." Alice said slowly since Noah seemed actually upset that he hadn't known her long. "Together."

Alice facepalmed at how cheesy she sounded to get rewarded with a laugh on

Noah's end. "Despite that, I'm glad to say that I have never lacked anything that I needed."

"You have lacked something," Alice blurted. "You missed the love and support you from your loved ones."

"It's hard to be missing something if you never had it in the first place."

"That's not true," she said weakly. "But I'll be here for you."

Noah laughed despite their heavy topic. "Will you be there to give me the lacking love and support?"

Alice smiled. "Yes. Anytime."

She could tell that Noah was getting sleepy, so she pressed her hand to his eyes. "You can go ahead and sleep, Noah."

It didn't take long for Noah's breathing to get deep and even, and Alice hoped that he would be able to remember their conversation in the morning. Even if he didn't she had all his words remembered in her mind so that it would be no problem telling him all about it. She would think back to what they had said for a long time.

Her eyes started to close when she finally glanced to check the time on her phone. She was surprised to see that it was four in the morning. Alice was dozing every now and then watching Noah and inspecting every little thing about him.

Noah always looked content and free when he was sleeping, but his brows were drawn in she would push away with a tiny frown.

The young impression when he was sleeping was smoothed to a neutral facial expression. He was stressed in his sleep, and she couldn't tell if it was a normal occasion or not. She changed the damp towel one last time. It was her last memory before she crashed for the night with her arms under her chin, sleeping peacefully.