Mr. Storyteller (On HOLD)

iii. Pink

October 5, 2010;

"You have a problem, you know that?" Adi spoke up having nothing better to do while standing in the punishment.

"What?" Kai questioned.

"Of staring at people..."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of that," Kai smiled, "How did you know?"

"'Cause you were staring, like right now," Adi stated and the teacher called them inside for the second period.

"I apologise for that," Kai whispered to Adi as he walked inside.

"Kai apologised but Adi only found him staring more than before, and you want to know a secret? No matter how annoyed Adi tended to get, deep down he didn't mind the staring."

Sai giggled, making Mr. Storyteller pause, "What?"

"Adi should just admit that!" Sai said, receiving a nod from Mr. Storyteller in agreement.

"He definitely should, but he was confused about why he didn't mind," he responded.

"There's nothing to be confused about," Sai said with a shrug.

"But, Adi doesn't feel that way."

Kai's stares were not threatening, they were not harsh which would scare Adi away but they were soft and inviting like he was fascinated. His gaze breaks when Adi looks back at him and he would turn the page of the book which is not completely explained by the teacher.

Staring had become their only form of communication. It was like a contest with just two of them in it, in which Adi never wanted to participate but Kai is definitely winning.

Asking his friends about Kai, Adi got nothing but praises about him. But to Adi, Kai seems like an egocentric person like how can a person be so confident? Adi would consider himself confident enough but not enough as Kai.

'Looking for someone?' Kai asked Adi.

There is something in the way Kai talks that gives away his eagerness to seek information and Adi couldn't understand what exactly he is looking for when he's looking at him.

'Everyone to be particular... Apparently all of my friends are desperately flirting,' Adi said

'Mind if I give you company? Two lonely pals at this summer party?' Kai said, standing closer and Adi distant himself.

'You were literally hanging around the group of people right now.'

'Two lonely pals at this summer party...' Kai repeated himself and took a sip from his drink. Adi couldn't help but smiled.

"Kai was forward with everything and to Adi it felt amusing, he always wondered how Kai went from joining the school just more than a year ago to being everyone's favourite. He wasn't good at studies. Adi knows that but Kai never caused any trouble so teachers didn't have any reason to dislike him either."

"How good was Adi in studies?" Sai asked.

"He was good, you can say that he was better than Kai... Which is why Adi started tutoring him,"

"What?" Sai exclaimed with curiosity.

"The summer vacation went by and both of them started seeing each other more and more. Adi had no particular reason to dislike Kai so, he didn't mind when Kai started joining their matches on the field... he didn't mind when Kai started hanging out with him."

"Match reminded me that we had practice matches before the sports day!" Sai said with excitement.

"Oh? When is the sports day? Which games did you participate in?"

Sai quickly regretted interrupting him but looking at him she found evidence that he wanted to listen, that he was genuinely interested to know. "It'll be after the autumn break. I got selected for the 400m race and Relay race," she said proudly and watched him smile and nod.

"That's great! I'm sure you'll do great in the finals. You know I was never good at sports," he said with a laugh.

"I haven't told my parents..." she murmured.

"Why?"

"I think they are busy, and what if they get interrupted during their work? And it's not important! Though I'd want them to come to see the sports day but I can tell them when I found them free? That'd be better... But what if I don't win anything then it'd be a waste of their time to come and see me win nothing," Sai rambled.

"You'll tell them today, maybe at the dinner but today," he said and Sai stayed quiet. "You won't know how they'll react until you tell them right?" he said cautiously and she nodded.

"I'm sure that they'll be happy but even if they don't react how you expected them to... It doesn't lessen the fact that it's really amazing that you got selected, don't think any less of yourself, yeah?" he said and watched as she stopped bouncing her leg and grinned at him.

He released a soft breath that he didn't know he was holding, as if a tension had lifted from his shoulders. He felt the unknown need to lift her positive take, he doesn't know this little girl could be holding this much burden on herself.

"How Adi started tutoring Kai?" Sai asked.

"Okay... So, the summer vacation went by and they got nothing but close to each other and to Adi, Kai still wasn't trustworthy enough. But, still he'd count him as one of his friends."

'I took arts over Commerce thinking it'd be easy to pass but oh how wrong I was' Kai said looking at his test result for History.

'You can always ask Adi for help, we all copy his homework anyway. Adi here took Arts even after getting more than enough marks to get into Science,' One of the boys in the friend group said, putting his arms around Adi's shoulder.

'That's actually bold,' Kai said.

'Yeah, tell me about it! My parents didn't even talk to me properly for like two months...' Adi said with a chuckle.

'Tutor me then?' Kai asked out loud and suddenly they all fell quiet and glanced at Adi.

"Feeling partly surprised and partly confused, Adi just looked around and someone else would answer for him. He watched Kai's shoulders slump down finally realising that he had to say something... He said 'sure, why not?' and that's how he started tutoring Kai."