West Academy

chapter xvi

KIM RESIDENCE, 0300 hrs

The interior of the house was still shrouded in darkness along with the silence engulfing the cold atmosphere, save for the whirring of the electric appliances and the streetlamp's lights spilling from the windows, casting a myriad of shadows onto the floors.

Siyeon's parents might have not gone home yet, he thought. Quietly slipping from the front door towards the stairs, the intruder tiptoed up the steps. He has nothing to be quiet for, but he feels like he would offend the house's silence if he were to creak just for once.

Siyeon hates loud things, too, he mused, a sad smile playing on his lips.

After getting to the top, he was once again greeted by the dark hallway, yet he walked undaunted towards the end of it, where her room was located. Twisting the knob gently, he slowly pushed the door open when light flooded on upon him, causing him to squint.

Siyeon hates the dark. She doesn't like to be kept in it, that is. He chuckled before closing the door and waltzing his way to her desk.

She had always been so prim and proper. Her desk and shelves were void of dust, stacks of paperworks and documents filed neatly and in place and books arranged alphabetically according to their respective seriesㅡone would think she was obsessive compulsive.

He looked over her desk, eyes widening in surprise to see the books he gave her were actually there. All still had the sticky notes he pasted on top, along with little replies she never got to send to him.

He thought she had returned them all, saying that she didn't like any of them and justified that she wasn't one to read novels because of her tight schedule.

She gave me duplicates then.

One book caught his attention, however. It was one of Siyeon's recent reads and probably one of his personal favourites. He sighed when he turned the book open, a smile gracing his lips as he remembered something.

"Take this back. I don't like it." Siyeon slammed the book on the table loudly, earning annoyed glances from the cafe's customers. Dmitri sighed and took the book back. It was another one on the stack of books he gave her that she returned almost immediately.

Siyeon frowned and indignantly took a sip from her iced Americano as Dmitri was still stuck looking at the book ruefully.

"But I thought you like Greek mythology?" he asked in a small voice, trying so hard to prevent the pain from lacing its way onto his words. Siyeon only sighed before taking Dmitri's hand on her own.

"You know I'm not one to read things like this, my sweet. Plus, I'm always busy with my hectic sched. I'm sure you do understand, right?"

He only nodded before gingerly picking the book up and carefully putting it inside his satchel to drink his now cold Cappuccino. His girlfriend only smiled before putting her half-finished Americano on the table and pulling Dmitri out of the cafe.

"Where are we going?" Siyeon kept quiet and shoved herself on the shotgun seat of their car, hurriedly strapping Dmitri on his seatbelt and commanded him to "Drive."

The rest of the trip was quiet, save for Siyeon's restless looks and animated talks about the directions to where they were headed to. Dmitri had never seen his girlfriend this excited before and so the dismantling sadness he was feeling a while ago quickly dissipated.

A few more minutes went by and Siyeon abruptly told him to stop by the edge of the hill. After the ignition had been turned off, Siyeon went to drag him off towards the direction the car was facing, to where he doesn't know until he heard the roar of the waves crashing against big rocks.

"Ta-da! Now, stop sulking," Siyeon pressed her hands on Dmitri's cheeks before squishing them. "We still have a sunset to witness."

They sat cozily on the grass, quietly looking at the sun setting on the horizon. The soft breeze of air mixed with the salty sea mist engulfed the both of them, not that it disturbed them in any way though. Dmitri then fished his phone from his back pocket before opening the camera and angling it towards Siyeon.

Siyeon turned to look at him, smiling prettily at the phone's camera only to realize that he was filming them.

"Hey, are you filming me?" She squinted her eyes before covering the camera, surprisingly shy to show her face.

"Yes, I am. Now, will you please get your hands off my phone so I can film you better?"

The pretty girl suddenly stood up and ran away from the boy filming her, only to have him chase on her and eventually catching up, his free arm circling around her waist to prevent her from escaping.

She giggled at the action before wriggling out of his grasp. After she escaped from his arms, she turned at him and smirked, suddenly charging towards him and tackling him onto the sand, earning an "oomf" from him.

The couple was sent sprawling on the sand, the phone tumbling with them. Siyeon laughed as she brushed the sand that covered her boyfriend's face before putting a peck on his lips.

"You are one crazy little devil," Dmitri breathed out.

"Yes, I am," Siyeon beamed. "Now, will you please stop filming me? It's awkward you know."

"What? No!" Dmitri fumbled for his phone. "I want to film this, so I can watch it again in the future."

She snorted. "You wanna watch how goofy and dumb you look like now?"

"How goofy and dumb we look like now, and also how pretty you look."

"Yeah, and in 20 years or more I'd look like a wrinkled mess, unlike how I look like now." Siyeon sighed sadly.

Dmitri sat up and pulled Siyeon onto his lap. He cupped the latter's face and whispered, "Whatever. You'd still look pretty to me anyways. You always do."

Dmitri clutched his chest, realising that streams of tears were now flowing freely from his eyes. It was a memory from a week ago, but now it feels distant without her around.

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