constellations ; ranboo

[𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙩𝙬𝙤]

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~𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲~

└────── ⋆⋅✦⋅⋆ ──────┘

[ 𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙈𝙖𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 "𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧, 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨. ]

[𝙆𝘼𝙇𝙀𝙉 𝙋𝙊𝙑]

Staring at Rhiver's shaking figure, Kalen got up from his spot beside him.

They knew what the boy had done was wrong, and that hurt. He put a lot of trust into Rhiver, only for it to be thrown away and forgotten.

Shaking his head, Kalen approached the front door to Mae's house. Knocking a few times and nearly falling back in surprise when Lina answered the door, holding back a furious Eveline.

"YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH-" Eveline screamed, throwing air punches in Rhiver's direction.

"Am I interrupting something..?" Kalen muttered.

Lina sighed, pushing Eveline to the side and smiling faintly at Kalen.

"Not at all. Eveline just got a bit overprotective over Mae. We were watching the scenario from the window and I told her everything was under control, because goddamn. The look on Ranboo's face when that dickhead kissed her was more than deadly," Lina ranted, pulling Kalen inside and discreetly sending Rhiver a glance of her middle finger before shutting the door.

Someone would tend for him later, but now, nobody was in the mood to forgive an act like that.

Eveline was already preparing three cups of coffee, fuming under her breath. She poured everyone's desired coffee orders into their mugs with ease, as though there was a mental book in her head with everyone's orders.

Meanwhile, Lina sat Kalen down across from her on the dining table.

"Look, I'm sorry for Rhiver," Kalen apologized once he was seated. "It was my fault he thought is was a good idea to go here. I encouraged it."

Lina shrugged, "You really did nothing wrong, it's just Rhiver."

"Vouch," Eveline piped in, setting down the coffee on the table and taking a seat beside Lina.

Three mugs. One yellow, one red, one turquoise. Kalen recognized the red one as Lina's; the turquoise Eveline's.

Kalen took the yellow mug, smiling slightly. When Mae and her moms lived in their old state, Eveline always made sure to give Kalen a yellow mug whenever him, Rhiver, and Mae stopped by their café. Taking a sip, they recognized the familiar taste of coffee with extra creamer and sugar; his usual order.

Since she moved, Eveline hadn't been doing the orders by herself now, so Kalen found the coffee to be slightly off ever since. It wasn't the same from when Eveline would beam when the old trio walked through the café doors and pulled out their homework to do. Sipping their usual coffees, handmade by Eveline herself.

"I deeply apologize on Rhiver's behalf," Kalen said again, sincere.

"I don't think I'll accept any apology from him anytime soon, but I can forgive you," Eveline winked at Kalen over the brim of her mug.

Lina nodded in agreement, setting down her mug to look Kalen in the eyes. He stared back, prepared to take any insult or question.

"Just two questions before I let you go,"
Lina said.

"Okay."

"What's happened since we've left?"

Kalen sighed in relief. Not bad, an easy question to answer.

"The café is fine. It's not the same without Eveline- coffee and energy wise- but the customers are the same nonetheless. Rhiver's definitely struggling without Mae, he's saying he's going insane without her."

Eveline smiled approvingly, and Lina went straight to the next question. Kalen could tell this was more of a pressuring one; her eyes were cold and piercing.

"Next question."

"Yep."

"So. Why did you think it was a good idea to bring that dipshit here?" Lina pressed, getting up in her chair just a bit.

In all honesty, this could go two ways. Either Kalen says the truth, or he lies. And Lina was gifted in reading people, so a lie presumably wouldn't go well.

"I-" Kalen paused for a moment, then the truth escaped his lips.

"I trusted Rhiver to give Mae a simple goodbye, just for closure. Maybe so he could forget her just like she did him, and they could both move on for the better."

"And why did you want him to move on from Mae?"

Kalen played with the fabric of his sweatshirt, growing anxious.

"Because it hurts to like someone when they haven't moved on."

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