Chapter 11: Farewell

*Sou*

Sehun walked over to me and slapped me. His normally calm eyes were filled with rage.

Tears formed in my eyes. "Sehun, this isn't what it looks like!" I yelled.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I don't care what you're doing! Why did you sneak off from home without telling your family? They're worried sick! So is Ava!" He turned away and walked away.

I got off of Purpura and ran after him. "Wait, I just needed some alone time."

Sehun sighed. "Grow up already, we aren't twelve anymore. I thought that you were done lying."

My eyes widened. He was right. Lately I've started to lie a lot, just like I did back then.

"Now, excuse me. I'll leave you two to continue doing whatever you were doing." He flew away into the sky, using anti-gravity.

I fell to the ground, tears staining my eyes. "Sehun..."

Purpura put a hand on my shoulders. "Cheer up, kid."

I slapped his hand away. "Stay away from me! All this is your fault! If you hadn't reappeared then none of this would've happened! Now Sehun likely thinks the worst of me. I..." I curled up into a ball.

He tried to slap me but I grabbed his arm this time. 

"Leave. I never want to see you ever again!"

He scoffed. "Fine... Anyways, it's not like I'm wanted here. That drama king of your 'almost-boyfriend' told me to leave too. He thinks that I'm upsetting the balance of this town." He glanced back at the tree. "There's a great power here... An ancient one."

I let go of him. "How are you upsetting it?" I crossed my arms and took a deep breathe. "All you've unsettled thus far is my life."

He nodded. "I'll be taking my leave then." Suddenly, his stomach grumbled.

I had forgotten that he hadn't eaten anything. He likely only had the lemon grass tea as his entire intake of calories.

I sighed and grabbed his arm. "Before you leave come back to my place. You should eat."

He shook his head. "No. I've overstayed my welcome."

I felt my heart ache again. "I-I didn't mean..."

"You did," he interrupted. "I hope that our paths cross again someday." He freed himself from my grip.

I ran over to him and kissed him.

His face became bright red. "What was that?"

I snickered. "A farewell kiss. You did say that kisses were meaningless."

His hair swung in the air as he turned away. "They are..." He vanished into thin air.

Tears stained my cheeks once more. "At least this time you said goodbye."

*Purpura*

"Where am I?" I said. I looked around and realized that I was close to Sou's house. "Damn, I don't have the energy..."

I sat down on the ground and leaned my head against the fence.

'I need more energy if I want to teleport out of this town.'

My eyes felt heavy. Closing them, I felt Sou's lips on me. 'That guy is really hard to understand. One moment, he's mad at me for kissing him, the next he's mad at me for making him look bad in front of his crush, then he kisses me as if it's nothing. Well, I did tell him kisses meant little if neither one thought much of it.' I put a hand on my lips. Was it really meaningless, though?

"Hey, you're going to get a cold if you stay out here in the rain." I looked up and saw a girl with rose quartz like eyes. She smiled warmly and stretched out her hand. "I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you just passing by?"

'This girl... She reminds me of...'

I touched my forehead.

"Hey, are you alright?" she said, grabbing my arm. She raised me to my feet. "Let's go inside I'll get you something to eat."

I grinned. 'This girl reminds me of Sou.'

***

After giving me a helping of leftover rice, Ava escorted me to her room despite me being a boy.

The room wasn't very girly but it wasn't boyish either. The girliest thing was a cake shaped pillow.

I picked up the cake shaped pillow. I recalled the cinnamon roll pillow that Sou was sleeping in when I woke him up last night.

"Sou has a cinnamon roll version of this one," I said. I found myself smiling as I said those words.

She tilted her head. "You're Sou's friend?"

"Leave!" Sou's voice echoed in my head.

I put down the pillow and shook my head. "I'm not."

Ava sat down and hugged her cake pillow. "I see. I can't say if he and I are friends either. We always seem to fight. Even before Sehun came along." She squeezed her pillow tightly. "That cinnamon roll was the one who won me this pillow as thanks for giving him the one I won earlier."

"Hey, are you in love with Sou?"

She buried her face in her pillow. "W-what? Of course, I'm not... Why would I love that idiot? I also have a girlfriend. If I didn't have Sayuri, then I would be dating Sehun. Sou is at the bottom of my list of people I would date!"

I snickered. "You sound a lot like him."

She glanced up, a pout on her face. "So, how do you know him?"

I touched my wounded arm. "He saved my life when I thought that I was done for."

She narrowed her eyes. "You sound like you know him well. How long ago did he saved you? Hmm, usually I'm around him, so it was probably not all that long ago."

"Last night," I said.

"Wah, you got to know him this well in one day?" she said, her eyes wide.

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "Like I said, we aren't really friends."

She suddenly touched my hair. "Hmm, you got nice hair but it could use a trimming. Want me to fix it for you? You can take a shower soon after."

I nodded, I liked my hair long but it was getting too messy to see.

She grabbed some scissors meant for hair cutting, a cape, a towel, and a comb from her bathroom.

"Sit here," she said, pulling the seat by her desk out.

'Should I trust her? Well, she is Sou's companion.' After hesitating for a bit, I sat down in the chair and allowed her to tie the towel around my neck and put the cape on me.

Once she was sure that the cape was secure, she began to trim my bangs, allowing me to see with ease. She pulled my hair back, tying it into a ponytail with a rubber band, cutting a few inches of it, while leaving the rest.

She squealed with joy and ran over to grab a mirror from her dresser. "Look, tell me what you think about it?"

She did a good job, she managed to keep it looking neat without cutting too much off.

"Thanks," I said, blushing slightly as I removed the cape and towel. "Well, I'll be going now."

She grabbed my arm. "Wait, you should take a shower. Your clothes are wet and muddy. I'll lend you some of my clothes since it seems that you don't have any belongings except for what you got on."

My lips curled into a smile. "I see..." 'So she thinks I'm a girl...' I turned around and grabbed my shirt to pull it off.