008. Across The White Door

Now as I came around, his unexpected appearance seemed overly aberrant as the entrance of a lecturer who seeked assistance——He was there sitting on top of the bookshelf silently. 

Perhaps he had been sitting up there all along watching everything happen. It was us who never noticed his companion until he made a sound.

Was he really there to seek assistance for a campus tour? Or did he lie about the reason behind his abrupt visit?

Did he know I would be in the student council room that he got in before Jullian and I entered? 

Or am I really only being paranoid again that I am trying to come up with a conspiracy for every suspicious occurrence that I am unable to come up with a precise source of? 

Nonetheless, even if I am, it irks me so much that he keeps pestering me when I am feeling so uncomfortable with the skin on my lower abdomen still burning!

I have had a long day——

I have not been sleeping enough hours since I woke at thee in the morning, my skin is flaming, I am seeing changes taking place in my body and I am worried about it;

Finding my new neighbour going to the same university as me, finding him being my new lecturer, made fun of by him in front of the class when I only wanted to take a break from the pressurised environment;

Having my plan for a short moment of peace with the gramophone records interrupted, stalked by the president of the student council, taken hold in the student council room and being brutally harassed… And now this.

Seeing back at how nothing happened in my favour during the past few hours, my temper snaps like wires. I halt my steps and sharply turn back at Mr Llevric. I start to yell at him, "Why is everyone stalking me!?"

Startled, Mr Llevric stops his steps a few feet away from me. His quirky smirk stiffens as he fetches my pour out.

Despite what trouble my impulse behaviour is getting me into, immodestly I swear at him, "Stop bloody following me!"

Trying to defend himself, Mr Llevric decides to point out, "I am not stalking you, neither am I tailing you. In fact, I am on my way back to the lecturers' office. And most importantly… I just saved you."

And now he is demanding credits for rescuing me… "You shouldn't have interfered!"

I was invulnerable before he came along and stirred up everything with the undesired intermeddle he made! No matter if I was able to break free and save myself from Jullian's sequential act on my own, I could definitely guarantee not a third soul would be aware of it!

But now, Mr Llevric witnessed how indecent and shameful I was… And yet, I owe him gratitude for it. Soreness surges up my nasal passage as I feel aggrieved at the irremediable eventuality.

I feel even more embarrassed when I risk my academic status breaking the regulation flaming up at a lecturer, "Don't you mention a word about what happened today to anyone!" I warn, "Not a living soul!"

Before my tear trickles in front of him, I speedily turn around and run away from him. In a muddled mind I sprint down the hallway. I don't care where I am heading to, I just wish to escape to a place where no one can see me.

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In front of a white door I stone, not an idea of the reason behind my arrival here comes to my mind——Perhaps my tears have blurred my vision that I missed my turn, or perhaps what happened earlier with Jullian and Mr Llevric distracted my mind from the route I took.

This door is located at the end of the last set of stairs up the curriculum building, a place where I never turned up at before, for I never needed to… or thought that I needed to.

What is this door? Where does it lead to? I hold my breath as I ponder.

Since this is the end of the stairs, I suppose this door and whatever presents across it mark the top of the building. It probably connects to the outside… Can it be the rooftop?

The guess I make manages to raise my spirits a little——Am I not looking for an isolated place to have some peace? The rooftop may just be it.

As I decide to have it explored, I wrap the freezing door knob with my fingers and twist it, until eventually the latch volt is wholly extracted from the strike plate.

When the door swings outwards, I cautiously crane my neck out and give the surrounding a sweep of a glance. There, it is when I am expecting to fetch an exposed forlorn slab in sight, an unexpected scenery impacts my senses——

The rooftop is covered in greenery. Trees like maples, Franklin trees, Washington hawthorns, apple serviceberries, and dogwoods surround the rooftop by the edges.

Shrubs and flowers bloom in shades of white, yellow, auburn and mauve. There are daisies, freesia, baby's-breath, Japanese anemones, goldenrods, tickseeds, joey pye weeds, nerines, coneflowers, blue mist shrubs, bellflowers, irises lavenders, autumn crocuses, and even hydrangeas and kangaroo paws…

Their petals and leaves can be seen in auburn in this season, while the dews on them glisten under the afternoon sun.

The garden is so vast that it stretches out across the clusters, covering the connected rooftop of the neighbouring buildings in lush greenery too.

Among the greenery, I see two wooden benches arranged linearly to each other, placed under the trees and in the grass covered in autumn foliage. However, only one of the benches is found occupied.

By one of the legs of that bench, a small watering can in turquoise blue is seen. The water that covers its surface glows under the bright sunlight.

I am not sure since which moment inwards has the breathtaking scenery taken over my thoughts, by the time I realise, I find myself standing in the middle of the garden. When I am close enough to the benches, a boy enters my sight.

He wears the same uniform as mine, except for his brown plaid blazer is covered in colourful petals and foliage, they make him look rather exuberant even while he is sleeping——With his eyes closed, he quietly breathes in a consistent rhythm.

He lies on one of the benches with his folded arm pillowing his head. His hair lay to the back, softly fluttering when the cold breeze blows through them. Those fine threads almost look silver under the bright sunlight.

I bend my waist trying to lean closer to him as my eyes are captured by those beautiful long lashes of his. Then, just when I feel the urge of brushing them with my fingers, he unexpectedly takes a deep inhale and gradually opens his eyes.

Since I am leaning so close to his face, he notices me immediately. Trying not to seem strange, I straighten my body and take a few steps backwards.

However, instead of expressing revulsion towards my queer behaviour, the boy only slightly widens his eyes in surprise.

It is at that moment, his watery blue eyes are unveiled, wholly exposing in the sun——They are so limpid and bright, just like the clear blue sky above us.

While I continue to lose myself in those fascinating azure blue eyes of his, the boy blinks twice at me in inquisitiveness.

The autumn breeze passes by, the leaves rustle, the foliage falls between us. We remain our gaze on each other for quite a while, almost like time has stopped… Until when he tilts his head at me.

He seems so comfortable in his posture, that he does not seem tending to sit up from the bench even after he is awakened. With his lips bending into a tender smile he greets, "Hi." his voice sounds slightly faint and raucous, maybe because he just woke up from a deep sleep.

Figuring that I have interrupted his sleep, I decide to make up for my lack of courtesy, "Hi…"

Meanwhile, my dense gaze I lay on his face raises his concern. In a curious tone he asks, "Are they fishes you're trying to find in my eyes?"

In reflex I answer, "Birds, or rainbow, perhaps."

As he hears me, his lips bend into a smile, and that is when I notice the dimples on his cheek.

I must have sounded silly enough to amuse a total stranger. I did not manage to leave him a good first impression, did I?

As I figure that it is better to have it rectified, I decide to come up with a new topic that is able to extend our conversation and lift the atmosphere simultaneously. Hence, I give our surroundings a sweep of glances, "So there is a rooftop garden on our campus… I never knew about this place."

There, the boy raises his hand and straightens it towards the sun. He squints his eyes to look at the silhouette of his hand as the light rinses through his fingers, "I planted it." in complacency he revealed.