Please be advice that the story is not mine and I already ASK for permission to post it. Please visit her website at http://wattpad.com/thedispirit - the author of this story is thedispirit.

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 Chapter XXIV

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dark, rumbling clouds added gloom to my already glum aura. The smell of strong coffee made me feel queasy and my stomach churn. I looked around and noticed a few people inside the coffee shop minding their own business. A couple across from me held each other’s hand as they enjoyed their coffee together. Next to them is a suspicious man in a brown overall coat, reading the newspaper and glancing sheepishly at the lady at the counter. And here I am, sitting silently and watching the clouds move and laugh at me.

 

Four more days before I experience what it feels like to be dead—or to die.

 

My mouth quivered at the thought of the days rapidly disappearing behind me. It feels weird to know what you least expect cognize. The feeling that the surroundings gave me is a bit familiar; the dark clouds, the smell of coffee, the heavy burden in me like how Atlas carries the world and the now pouring rain hitting the pane windows next to me.

 

It all seems like a déjà vu. Except that there is something—or someone—missing in the scene.

 

The promise I made to the little boy is quite arduous. I am no superhero nor am I someone special to summon a Superman anytime I want. I now have doubts and beliefs that I will not be able to hold onto my promise.

 

Should I run away? Besides, he’s just a little boy who seems to be awfully selfish. He won’t even remember that someone made a promise like that to him. He’s still young, maybe four or five years of age.

 

“Maybe I should just abandon him? Maybe he’s just making those stories up? Maybe he’s just like the little shepherd boy who lied when crying out that there’s a wolf in their village?” I reasoned to CL whom I told about the promise I made.

 

She opened the door for me. The stench of brewed coffee forthwith tickled my nose as I laid my foot on the gleaming tile of the coffee shop. CL didn’t respond to my doubts making me repeat again what I said, following her to the counter as she ordered two cups of coffee.

 

“Were you listening?” I grumbled, sitting down on the red, comfy chair.

 

CL just nodded.

 

“You weren’t listening at all.”

 

“I was.” She bluntly said with an empty expression on her face.

 

“All right, then what did I just said? What do you suggest if you were really listening?”

 

“Dara. I was listening. How about you? Were you listening?” she sipped from her cup of coffee, looking at me with anxious eyes.

 

“Was I listening? What in the world are you saying? I would listen if you were saying something…”

 

“What I mean is, were you listening to what you were saying?” her voice was a bit edgy and rough, like always, but this time it is pretty different for something in her lights up the candle in me.

 

“Okay, Confucius. Spill the beans. What does ‘the-book-of-I-am-a-genius’ says?” I snorted, feeling a little bit annoyed at CL who speaks like she knows everything, and it’s as if she feels like she is always right.

 

“’Maybe...’ blah ‘Maybe’ blah, blah, blah. Dara, hear yourself out! ‘Maybe’ is just a word that is nonthreatening as it can be. But when you add another word that negates what you feel, it can haunt you until eternity finds it end. Think about it, Miss pessimistic. The word ‘promise’ will not have its own meaning in the dictionary if it doesn’t have any meaning in reality.”

 

She stood up with an angry face. I remained there, sitting dumbfounded and feeling like a total idiot over my insanely, genius neurotic friend.

 

I let out a grave sigh as I played my finger around the rim of my cup. CL’s right. Here I am on the edge of realization that I am simply being stupid.

 

I looked around me and saw only a few people enjoying a nice cup of coffee on a rainy day.

 

And that’s when my eyes spotted the treasure.

 

His deep brown eyes focused raptly at the blank table in front of him. His eyes showed full of wonder and mystery. The chromaticity of brownness in his eyes captivated me like I am falling down on a never-ending waterfall. His eyes didn’t reflect any of his feeling at all…except that it can mesmerize anything that it lays upon.

 

He looked up and caught me, admiring his every feature.

 

A jolt of electricity ran down my spine, just like the first time I saw him. It feels like hitting my elbow on the edge of a table. The tingles in me feel like the tentacles of jellyfish trying to envelope me, straining to hug me at their best. The way he blinks suffocates me. Everything stopped. Everything forcefully pushes me towards him. And I just caught myself standing in front of him, meeting his eyes in a close distance.

 

“Do you need anything?” he asked in a low, soft voice that is loud enough for me to hear.

 

I nodded unconsciously, still admiring his beautiful eyes.

 

“What is it then?” restlessness filled the gap in his voice.

 

“I…um…well…you see, I was kind of in a…um…” my eyes wandered around, trying to find a good excuse on how I got myself in here without me knowing it.

 

“If you can’t talk straight then you need to go back to kindergarten.” He stood up, planting his hands in his jeans pocket and readily to leave and ignore my imbecility.

 

“Anything else?” he added, looking down at me. His eyelashes selfishly hid his beautiful eyes as he passed by me, allowing me only to see half of his face. My head followed his direction and my eyes intently watched every move he makes.

 

And there, something caught my eye.

 

“Wait!” I called out, catching up with him as I held back the intuitive feeling in me.

 

“Did you wait long?” through the peripheral of my eye, I noticed that the chair in front of me moved, making me automatically look at the person who just talked to me.

 

His smile is like a camera that’ll make you smile too when you see it. It’s amazing how Ice have this natural power. It’s like he is born to make people smile, he’s born to make people happy and realize that a villain is not always bad.

 

But there’s something behind those smiles of his that makes me wonder and judge something about him.

 

“Sorry, I have to do some other business.” He continued when I didn’t respond.

 

“It’s okay. I understand.” I smiled a weak and forceful smile. The coffee in front of me released a cool smoke instead of a hot one. Leeteuk looked at where I am looking and chuckled lowly, reaching out his hand towards my direction and grabbing my cup of coffee.

 

I looked up at him and watched cautiously whatever he’ll do. He stood up and walked towards the counter, giving the cold cup of coffee to the lady who smiled sweetly at him. In a jiff, he’s back with a steaming, newly brewed coffee being held out to me.

 

My hands slowly grabbed the cup of coffee from his hand, his finger brushing with mine, making him smile softly.

 

“Thanks.” I smiled, feeling grateful that he did not use his power.

 

“Ah, I almost forgot.” His eyes gleamed at the thought that he remembered something. He leaned to his side and grabbed something from the floor, “Here.” He smiled, holding out a bouquet of yellow flowers to me.

 

“Sunflowers?” the flowers looked at me with giggling petals. Leeteuk nodded and shrugged a little, “I hope it’s not too weird. Do you prefer roses instead?”

 

“No, no, not at all. These are…um…beautiful.” Feeling obliged to thank him and be grateful; I smelled the sunflowers, which is a stupid move because Ice laughed at me, feeling the enjoyment for my stupidity.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just that—well, do you know why I gave you yellow flowers instead of thorny roses?” he asked, looking a little serious.

 

“Because roses are expensive?”

 

“Aside from that.” He laughed again, showing his pearly white teeth and his shallow dimples on both of his cheeks.

 

“Ugh, my head hurts from thinking. Just spill it.” I dramatically begged, making him smile again as if I am an amusing clown he’s having fun to watch at.

 

“Well, you notice the weather?”

 

“Yeah, the sky is gray. So?” I looked outside and noticed that the clouds might cause a heavy rainfall. It’s dark as coal already and the linings of the clouds are hard to see.

 

“This probably sound ridiculous but I believe that through flowers, it can change someone’s mood. I just want to brighten you up since there is no sun and the sky is selfish enough to hide the sunshine from you. I can’t bring you the sun but I’ll give you something that is, I hope, enough to make you smile.” His words passed through my right ear then it instantly moved out from my left.

 

“But, don’t you have any superpower to bring me the sun?” I reasoned, making him raise an eyebrow.

 

“I wouldn’t want to burn you, if that is the case.”

 

Now I feel stupid not realizing the thought that the sun won’t fit in the earth and if ever it shrinks, it’ll have the power to roast me alive.

 

“Dara…” Leeteuk started seriously, looking into my eyes with a cold expression on his face. “I’m sorry if this date is a mess.” He ran his fingers through his hair as he showed a guilty face.

 

I laughed lowly, making his eyes widen at me. “Sorry. It’s just that, I never thought of this day as a date.”

 

My chuckle made me feel enlightened somehow and made me forget for a second about the remaining days of my life.

 

The upper league isn’t God to judge me when my death is but technically, they have the power to be my grim reaper.

 

“I see.” Leeteuk lowered his head, looking down at the empty table in front of him.

 

“Oh no. I didn’t mean it like that…What I meant is…” panic built inside me as I realized what I said could’ve hurt his feelings. Here he is, trying to cheer me up always, trying to make me smile, always there by my side. But I always ignore him. I always think about someone else.

 

I act like Jiyong towards Leeteuk.

 

I neglect his feelings like how Jiyong neglects mine.

 

“Dara, it’s okay. I understand.” His words made me feel guilty and my scruples bothered me by laughing at my unawareness towards Leeteuk’s true feelings.

 

“Leeteuk, I’m really sor-”

 

“Please, don’t be.” He smiled weakly, reaching out his arm and resting his hand on top of mine. I looked at our hands being close together.

 

Honestly, even though Leeteuk is the ideal guy every girl wants—I still feel nothing. There isn’t the electrical tingling sensation flowing through me. The butterflies in me don’t act wildly. It only feels normal.

 

“Is that right?” Leeteuk slowly removed his hand from me. His head looked down again, not showing his fake blue eyes to me. He looks like he is in pain, and he is smiling. But his smile is not the same as the other smile whenever he looks at me normally.

 

His smile showed the sadness in him.

 

“What is?” I stopped and realized something. The guilt struck me again like a lightning bolt. It’s all because of my numbness towards Leeteuk’s feeling earlier that I forgot all about the bond between him and I.

 

What I feel is also what he feels.

 

“Leeteuk …but—“

 

“’How come you can’t feel what I feel’?” he draw the words right out of my mouth.

 

I nodded.

 

“It’s simple.” He exhaled, looking at me with sorrowful eyes.  “It’s because you all ready gave your bond to Jiyong. What he feels, you feel. But I stole your bond from him, the case is—I feel what you feel but you’re not able to read my feelings because you’re focused on Jiyong’s.”

 

“Does he…feel mine too?” the question just poured right out of me. Not caring if I hurt Ice or not. But I believe that I am hurting him no matter what.

 

He exhaled audibly, forcing a smile on his face even though it is obvious that he wants to punch the wall or destroy the whole world. “No one knows because-”

 

“Dara!” a hand grabbed mine and pulled me up to my feet, making my heart skip a beat at the sudden rush of blood flowing through me. I looked next to me, I looked at the one whose hands are cold as the breeze and trembled wildly.

 

She looked at me with a horrified look on her face. Passed by me, her eyes rest. Her eyes stopped on Leeteuk and there, just like a wild animal seeing a trespasser in her territory, she shot Leeteuk a glare that I’ve never seen CL did before.

 

“Why are you with him?” her teeth clattered between her words. Her cheeks reddened at the sudden anger she’s feeling.

 

“I was just-”

 

“No time for that!” she trailed me off, pushing me behind her and standing in front of me with a mighty posture all over her. “Look here, mister. Whatever you are scheming, you better put it to an end. If ever my hunch is right and you pull Dara on your own mess, whether I am a superhero or not, I will definitely kill you.” CL gripped my hand, making me wince at the pain.

 

“Let’s go!” she pulled me away from Leeteuk. I took a quick glance at Leeteuk and a shiver ran down my spine, making me look back at CL whose face is pale as snow and an alarmed expression is flashed on her face.

 

Leeteuk disappeared.

 

“CL! Please, slow down…”

 

“No! We need to hurry up!” she dragged me along the street, brushing past through people who complained about our rudeness. My legs started feeling weak along with my lungs that started heating up, making me unable to breathe.

 

“Why?” I gasped for air as I begged silently for her to stop and rest for awhile.

 

She took a quick look at me with a worried expression on her face…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“It’s about Jiyong.”

 

 

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What about him?!