madelein | ✔

twelve

~°˙˙°~

t w e l v e

Soothing himself, Duke breathed out the air he was holding for some moments now. He has already calmed down from the scene earlier but he was sorry because he just left abruptly.

The mini-park of the school has several benches circling a fountain with female sculptures on top of it. Duke decided to go there and had some time for himself.

The fountain was still working and the water pouring infinitely out of it helped him to calm down. It was the type of quietness that he liked.

"I thought I would find her, already," Duke spoke when he felt a presence sitting beside him on the bench. His legs, at their usual position, crossed on top of the other.

"Sometimes I just want to give up," he continued, "For three years, I had no lead. I had no news of her. She disappeared like a bubble that suddenly popped... that fast."

Sian was just sitting beside him quietly. She sighed to herself as she reminisce the past between them two.

She wasn't sure for herself if her three-year-old past was already in love with Duke or, what she liked to call him, Law. Sian was sure of something else.

She liked Law. She liked him too much.

A part of her questioned herself the moment he stepped into her space, her usual table at the coffee shop in ths campus. She didn't expect someone to approach her in the first place.

"Why do you cover half of your face?" Duke was on the other side of the table, sipping his usual Americano.

Sian was typing on her laptop when she halted and lifted her mask higher. "I..." she trailed, thinking of what she would add, "I'm... ugly..."

That was the first time that someone raised an eyebrow at her when she said that. Duke did. Her Law did.

"I bet the other way around," he leaned back on his seat with a glean on his face. Sian raised one of her eyebrows back at him and just chuckled.

"It's because you haven't seen me yet," one corner of her lips lifted as she tried to focus back on the article she was typing but Duke wouldn't budge.

His hands held out to hers that were resting on the keyboard and held it. It was quite an awkward position for him, he looked like he was going to hug the laptop.

"Law..." she warned but the male just gave her a smirk, exposing one of his deep dimples. "I'm trying to type here."

She remembered him pouting after saying that and it was the cutest thing ever. It made her heart flutter at the sight of him pouting.

"I want to see you..." he made his voice thinner and higher in pitch, much of like as a baby. Sian just shook her head at the sight of the man in front of her.

"You are seeing me," she grinned back, making sure that it reaches her eyes to show Duke she was smiling behind the mask.

"I want to see you without the mask..." There was pleading in his voice that she almost raised her hands to show that she gave up fighting already. She held it back.

Behind the half mask she's always wearing everyday in front of Duke, her teeth chewed on her lower lips. The chapped skin felt rash against the back of her teeth but she didn't mind.

She didn't answer and just bowed her head down. She didn't know if it was a good idea to show Duke her face. All she knew was she looked horrible.

The sigh from the man in front of her made her fluster. She looked up abruptly and saw him looking away, his hands resting on the table while his long slender fingers played with the brown napkin that was beside his cup.