2: Allea

five

There he stood —with the long-hideous beard and unkempt mustache covering half of his face and the other half was full of blotches of dirt hiding most of his skin under its darkness, leaving scarcely any clean part of the skin. Sticky dirt-filled hair fell on his forehead and stood out with its shine from all the accumulated dust. One doesn't even need to look down to assume the state of his attire —a stained hoodie worn over a shirt that seemed not to be changed for years, a ragged, worn-out oversized trouser along with equally shabby and a hardly-kept-together-with-tape slippers.

As he's smiling toward Allea, his teeth —which gleam like a diamond in a coal mine— could be considered the only thing that stands out against the rest of his asserted handsomeness.

Because of the closeness, along with the familiarity of voice and mirth-filled golden glint of his eyes, with her one narrowed glance, hidden underneath the stinkiness and homelessness of his attire, Allea has recognized him —Zyair Ahlstrom.

Allea doubted her conclusion for a moment after the realization dawned on her after seeing him appearing unsightly, clad in tattered and filthy clothes —but her doubts were quickly dispelled as his familiar voice reached her ears once more.

"Seems like my handsomeness has turned you speechless."

He spoke again, this time with a 'tich' sound and a conceited attempt to flip his sticky hair away from his forehead. Allea's face was expressionless as she witnessed his actions and words because the sirens were still ringing in her ears, a reminder of where she was standing.

Solemnly, while staring at his face, Allea uttered two words, "Thank you," then turned; bend to pick up her laptop bag. She could see that cops were coming were this way, not intending to waste further time, taking the laptop bag, her hurried steps moved ahead and out of the crosswalk.

Leaving the man behind, whose brows were furrowed by the unexpected words of thankfulness, even though her tone was the polar opposite of the words she spoke, devoid of any appreciation and full of indifference, obviously signaling she wasn't truly grateful.

Allea believed that if it hadn't been for his unexpected touch startling her, her instincts would have never failed her and she would have jumped out of the way of the car. His interference hampered her consciousness at a vital point, and she was unable to make a decision at the moment when everything happened. Allea felt no obligation to present her gratitude, as his help was uncalled —or perhaps she wasn't really concerned about what could have happened.

Zyair Ahlstrom stood there, unconcerned by her meaningless remark; what had him stumped for a moment was watching how ineffectual she was against everyone and everything around her; his smile sagged. To imagine that a person may feel startled after moving inches from being hit, or worried because of the blood in front of her eyes, or simply that someone might have severely injured/died and that someone could be her —all of these obvious things to consider left not a single grimace on her face.

Fearlessness isn't always a sign of bravery; it can indicate that you've seen much worse than what could have happened —and the fear of something less than it fails to leave its effect on you.

He saw her picking up her laptop bag and making her way past the accident area, not once turning her head to look anywhere. Just walking forward, like nothing has happened or she hasn't seen him here.

His eyelids abruptly went shut and he turned his head to one side with a grimace as Zyair whispered irritably through his gritted teeth, "What, stop shrieking in my ear, fucker."

While hearing the other person's response, his head tilted toward the retreating figure of the girl, a subtle smile again curved on his lips as he spoke, "Yeah, I have something to do..." his steps were already moving toward her direction, that soon gained speed as he continued.