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iii.
hunger
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Last night, Harith couldn't sleep. He had been thinking about Harley, and it really bothered him to know that the mage had been enduring pain for quite some time without anyone knowing. Thinking about it, it made his stomach churn. How long had Harley been facing this? How long had he been acting all rebellious, when he was actually getting hurt? Why haven't he told anyone about it? Well, knowing how powerful his parents were, the mage must've thought that it would be difficult to escape from his parents.
"... it's all going to be useless anyway."
Could it be that Harley was trying to tell him that; even if he had helped, it would all be useless?
Harith could feel his hand clenching into a fist. They wouldn't know what would happen unless they tried. But, all of a sudden, he felt really guilty. He had always joined his friends in bad-mouthing Harley. They would always insult him, whether he was hearing or not. Now, he regretted every single time he had joined them. Yes, he knew what the mage did was wrong—insulting his teachers and being rude to his classmates—but there had to be a reason why he did all of those. And, now that Harith was finally aware of what was really going on, the reason why Harley did that must be related to what he's currently facing.
Harith turned his head to the side when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He found Nana next to him, who was covering her mouth as she yawned. Her voice was gruff when she said, "Don't worry, Harith. We'll help him."
Harith realised that Nana hadn't been sleeping well last night too. Well, who wouldn't after finding out? "Yeah. I hope we can do something about it."
When they entered the classroom, they found Harley sitting at his desk. However, the Mage Genius didn't even bother to make the slightest eye contact. He still had the bruise on his cheek, but at least it wasn't as bad as yesterday. He was currently reading a book, and Harith realised that maybe now was not the right time to get him to talk.
It got weird when class started. Harley, for the first time, didn't make a single remark. Instead, he stayed eerily silent. Everyone else noticed it, and there were suddenly whispers going around; wondering if something happened to Harley that made him like this.
Even Eudora looked agitated seeing Harley acting this way. At last, she spoke, "Harley, may I have a word with you?"
Harley finally looked up from his desk, and his voice was devoid of emotion when he answered, "No."
"Okay." For some weird reason, Eudora looked relieved, and Harith guessed that she may have that thought everything was fine. She turned around to continue with her lesson. "Now, let us resume."
Harith was really trying his best to focus on the work given, but it was hard when he was trying to keep an eye on the Mage Genius. He noticed how the mage was constantly rubbing his temple, and he couldn't help but feel worried with that action.
"It's quite odd how he's very quiet today," Cyclops said all of a sudden. He threw a glance at Harley's way. "Do you think something happened to him?"
Harith bit his lip to stop himself from telling. Even though Cyclops was like a close friend, but it didn't feel right to reveal what he'd discovered. Of course, he won't be keeping this between him and Nana forever. But, for now, he felt like telling a teacher first was the right thing to do.
