ALBEDO "the way i loved you"

chapter twenty-three

"finally, a break!" venti exclaimed, curious eyes looking at every booth they would walk past at.

they were tired but nonetheless still wanted to have fun and experience the thrill of the infamous horror train everyone was talking about earlier. the queue didn't take that long since venti knew the people managing the place.

the place was located on the school's field, almost half of it was covered railroad covered arc – of course, except on the rails and the opened trains – the arc was made from thick cardboards painted with zombies. from what they've heard, the principal allowed some businesses to be part of the foundation day, and thus – this carnival-like horror train was brought to them.

"i want to sit with lumine!" before lumine could even protest, tartaglia took the seat beside her.

"then, i'll sit with venti." hu tao smiled – no, she grinned at y/n who could only watch helplessly as her friends and other people occupied every seat.

she had no choice but to sit with albedo.

y/n gulped, this should be nothing.

something loud squealed as the train started to move — slowly, they entered the dark railroad; their only source of light was the small light bulbs hanging on the ceiling, other than that, it was pure darkness.

some people started to scream – it was loud and annoying and made her wonder what's so scary about this? she then wondered why people at her school glorified this train — is everyone scared of darkness alone?

she was ready to complain when a hand – huge and sticky, the texture of it resembled a frog's skin — touched her shoulder and when she turned her head – she was greeted by a scary looking character with a scary long face and a sinister smile; ready to eat her alive.

she breathed and breathed and breathed and screamed. "OH MY FUCKING GOD!" y/n exclaimed so loud, unconsciously pushing herself onto albedo's side until her hand reached his shoulder. she held him so tight, closing her eyes. "ALBEDO IM SCARED!"

"hey, it's fine..." she swore she heard him chuckle!

then, from the speaker, rang another series of sinister laughs. suddenly, the lights in front of the train turned on – there, everyone saw a crowd of zombies waiting for them as they slowly moved towards their side; it was like you were slowly dying.

she gasped, "IM SCARED!"

she didn't care anymore, she was too scared to even care! the screams, the sinister laughs, the slow-moving of the train, the faces of the zombie — everything was too much.

thoughtlessly, she she wrapped her hands on his shoulders and rested her head on the crook of his neck – waiting for everything to be finished. it was so loud that she failed to notice how his heartbeat went from normal to a merciless change. it was so dark that she failed to see how his ears heated up. it was so chaotic that she failed to notice how his hand unknowingly caressed her head, assuring her that he's there.

****

"that was crazy, wasn't it?" hu tao giggled as soon as they sat on the bench with ice cream on their hands.

"y-yeah..." y/n replied and was in the middle of questioning everything she did at the horror train.

"you alright? you look like you're burning up." venti innocently asked.

"i'm fine...."

"didn't know you were a scaredy cat." tartaglia teased but she was too preoccupied to notice him.

"i swear, i heard you scream." lumine mentioned, tilting her head as if she was trying to remember everything. "did she scream albedo or i'm just imagining things?"

y/n looked at albedo only for her to see that he was already staring at her. he raised his brow, the side of his lips curved with amusement. she immediately looked away, damn it, now that albedo would tell everyone all of the embarrassing things she did – she could imagine her reputation going down.

"she didn't." he answered, earning a surprised look from y/n. "she...behaved really well."

"'behave' doesn't fit that, you mean, she acted like it's nothing earlier?" venti, once again, innocently asked, causing her cheeks to finally heat up. thankfully, they were under the radiance of the sun, her cheeks looking red should be nothing to them.

"yeah..." albedo answered lazily.

you owe me. he mouthed, the amusement in his lips didn't vanish as he continued to talk to venti.

he looked....ah, for some reason, albedo's in a good mood.

"where should we head next?"

"can we eat? i'm so tired and hungry..." tartaglia groaned.

in the end, they all agreed to go to the windrise square where most of the food stalls were located — the windrise square is beautiful – probably the best part of the school because this is where the enchanting statue of the god of the wind, barbatos, was located. aside from that, lots of windwheel aster could be seen in there. the place was relaxing and ideal place for confessions according to some of the students.

"what's that?" tartaglia curiously eyed the dessert on y/n's hand, it was neatly secured with a paper towel. "looks delicious."

"cranberry crunch cake." she rolled her eyes, turning her back against him. "go buy your own."

"that's so rude, seatmate!" he yelled and earned surprised looks from other people. y/n walked away, not wanting to be involved with him anymore.

she really wanted to eat more and forget everything.

after devouring two orders of apple cinnamon scrolls, she bought juice before taking a break on the bench. after a few minutes, she decided to find her friends.

you see, she knew every part of the windrise square but with all these stalls and people all over it, she was lost.

"you can't find them?"

fuck.

"yeah..." y/n trailed off, keeping her composure straight as she asked him. "you? also lost?"

"unfortunately." albedo shrugged. he ran a hand through his hair, damn, he's definitely shining with the sun behind him. "wanna find them?"

"it's not like i have a choice or something."

they started walking; one determined to find the others and one who didn't really care at all as long as he could spend some time alone with her.

"tell me when you're tired."

"why? so you could leave me alone?"

"so that we can take a break," he corrected.

"no, thanks." y/n declined almost impolitely. "you could leave if you want to – you don't have to do this."

"i can't."

y/n looked at him, confused. "you can't?"

"you owe me something, remember?"

she took a deep breath, crossing her arms across her chest. "oh, now you want me to pay you back?"

"certainly," he confirmed, leaning against the wall. "i want to ask you something."

though that impacted her heart real quick, she managed to force out an answer. "shoot..." she trembled — hundreds of questions invading her head, almost taking over her whole existence if only someone didn't pull the both of them inside their booth.