Breaking His Concentration (Alhaitham x Kaveh)

Chapter 8: Destruction

Kaveh's POV

I kept tapping my foot. There was no way he was actually staying at whatever Nilou had invited him too. I figured he'd stay for a few minutes just to spite me, and then I'd see him home in twenty minutes. But now thirty minutes had gone by, and there was no sign of him. I tried not to think about him, I didn't want it to get to me. But damn it, why wasn't he back by now? I groaned. Maybe I should go and see where he was and if he was okay. No. Why was my mind actually thinking these things? It's not like Nilou captured him or anything. No. I just needed to go to bed and forget about him. I sat up from the couch, and turned to where the staircase was. I was going to go up the stairs and forget all about him. He was fine. Totally fine. But before I could even try and convince myself of that, I felt my feet walking towards the door themselves, and heading towards the theater. I needed to know.

The walk to the theater was breezy, but certainly not cold. The heat of the summer was still lingering, but not so intense anymore. It felt nice, something to cool my mind as I was imagining the worst heading towards the theater. Sumeru was quiet at night, everyone was inside sleeping for the night. Almost no parties were held, so the city streets were quiet with the occasional guard roaming around during the night. Finally, as I descended the tunnel to the theater I pushed the door open, almost to fall over when I saw who was on the other side.

"Cyno. Tighnari. Sorry about that."

I apologized, walking out of the way as I almost ran into them. Cyno had his arm resting around Tighnari's waist, Tighnari giving me a smile.

"Kaveh! Nilou said you couldn't make it tonight, so I'm surprised to see you here. Are you looking for Alhaitham?"

"He hasn't returned, I got a bit uhm-concerend."

I looked down at the ground, trying not to show my emotions too much.

"Come to think of it, we haven't seen much of him either. The last time we saw him, Nilou was dragging him into one of those rooms. I don't think I've seen him come out yet. If you go past that red curtain and keep going through the rooms you might find him."

I nodded quickly and stepped past the two.

"Thank you."

I spoke quickly.

"Oh, and Kaveh."

Cyno added, his voice cutting the silence.

"Be.....cautious when you go in there. Remember who Alhaitham is."

Remember who he is? What an odd statement.

"Thank you for your concern, but I know exactly who he is. Just trying to make sure he's safe."

Cyno hesitated for a moment, but nodded his head at me as him and Tighnari disappeared into the night. I looked to the left and sure enough, there was a red curtain. I took a deep breath, and pushed on. What had Cyno meant by I needed to remember who he was? I lived with the man. I knew exactly who he was. I pushed my way past the red curtain, but saw nothing. There were empty chairs in a small room decorated with lavish silk, but it had all seemed to be abandoned. I continued slowly walking through the rooms, but everything seemed to be abandoned. If there had been any people here they all seemed to have left. And then I heard laughing.

It was soft and musical like bells, but the more I passed through the different rooms the louder the laughter got. I stopped when a purple silk curtain hung between me and the next room, when I could hear the laughter at its loudest.

"This is surely too much for a simple dance."

An airy voice came out of the other side. I recognized that voice to be Nilou's.