Summer Haze [BL]

Chapter 10 - Social Outcasts

Since I had no classes in the third period, I could rest more. I headed to the library in search of Winter, but he caught my eye the moment I stepped in since he was in the same spot he was standing the last time I saw him. Except, he was crouching down, placing the textbooks on the lower shelf.

Winter whipped his head around, and his dark eyes instantly lit up.

He smiled. "You're back?"

"Yes. Have you been doing this since I left?"

"I got tired. Then took a break. For an hour."

"...Ah, alright. Have you met the librarian?"

"Yes, she already placed most of the books back on the shelves," he said and pointed to the trolley behind him.

All I could do was let out a quiet laugh. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yes, a while ago."

"You ate in the library?"

"Yes."

"And the librarian let you?"

"Yes?"

My brows raised in slight disbelief. The librarian would always yell at the students for chewing gum, bringing in water bottles or food inside the library, let alone eating within the library. Yet not only did she do Winter's share of the work, but she also let him eat in here.

I picked up the two books inside the trolley and slipped them onto the top shelf. Winter continued searching for the sections on the shelf.

"Are you still upset? Yesterday..."

"Ah..." My face flushed with intense heat. "Yes, I'm alright now."

I had completely forgotten about that, but now he just reminded me how embarrassing that afternoon was. Before I knew it, Winter was standing right beside me.

"What about you? Is your hand ok?"

"Mn, it was just a scratch."

I smiled, and Winter's pair of eyes landed on me. They bore a cheerful, and yet one would say, a pint of sadness overflowing with sentiment. At the very sight of his slender face and refined manner, all idea of vulgarity was forgotten. 

After a moment, he reached his hand out and touched the tip of my hair that hung above my forehead. 

"Winter...?"

"...Ah, sorry... Your hair is quite long. Have you thought about cutting it?" he asked with a smile.

I touched the ends of my hair. "I haven't found the time to yet. Has it really grown that long? Now that I think about it, it does keep getting in the way."

"You look good with long hair, but short hair suited you too," he said before pushing the trolley back into the library's office.

The scene of watching his back slowly fade into the distance stirred a dread in my chest. Something was strange about his words. Short hair suited me? He clearly used the word 'suited', but how did he know what I looked like with shorter hair?

Thinking back to that moment when my attention fell into his lulling gaze, his eyes offered impressions of an intense amount of intelligence but also the least notion of social awareness.

"Ah!" Winter dashed back to me and handed me his phone.

"Can you take a photo for me? I haven't posted an update in two hours. My fans might think I'm dead," Winter worried.

No words left my mouth. With haste, I took a few photos while he was posing in at least ten different poses in the span of thirty seconds.

He would correct my angles before posing in some other area, and this probably went on for around ten minutes.