❥ Chapter Four

            She woke up with her body soaked in sweat, her hair sticking to her face. The clock on her bedside table read four a.m. and she definitely felt like a truck had run over her. All energy was sapped from her by the nightmare.

            And that nightmare was of Akio. Again.

            She was surprised there weren’t any tears on her face. Or maybe there were, but it blended with the sweat.

            Rolling out of her bed, Mitsuki walked to the bathroom and splashed her face with ice-cold water, causing her to shiver. She brushed her teeth quickly and properly washed her face.

            After pulling on sweats, a giant sweatshirt, and worn out converse, she headed out the dorm with her guitar strapped over her back.

            Early morning mist shrouded the entire courtyard in front of the dorm buildings as she walked out, chilled by the drop in temperature.

            Continuing to walk towards the center of the courtyard, she heard faintly a voice accompanied by light thumps, as if someone was hitting down on something gently.

            “I’m singing in the rain

            To keep my hope alive

            ‘Cause I’m dreaming that I’m sinking again.”

            There was a pause before the source of the voice sighed, hitting down harshly, as if in frustration or anger.

            Mitsuki walked towards the person until she saw him, sitting against the back of a bench with his eyes closed. Stepping louder, she made her presence evident to him and his eyes snapped open.

            There was a look of depression about him, which contrasted greatly with the last time she saw him. His bangs barely covered his eyes, for he didn’t seem to have cared to brush them away. There were dark circles under his eyes and his skin was pasty, pale.

            But the depression was immediately hidden under a mask of faux happiness. “Oh, good morning!”

            “What are you doing here?” asked Mitsuki.

            “I should ask you the same question.”

            “I couldn’t sleep.”

            “Neither could I.”

            “Why?”

            “Why couldn’t you sleep?”

            She didn’t answer.

            “Sit down. Seeing you stand there makes me feel impolite.”

            “Then stand.”

            “But I think we’d both rather sit.”

            Hesitantly, Mitsuki pulled her guitar to rest on her lap before sitting next to him, leaning against the wooden park bench.

            “I don’t usually find people out at this time,” he said, smiling at her. “It’s nice to have company.”

            “What were you singing earlier?” Mitsuki asked bluntly.

            The smile on his face faltered. “Just a song.”

            “Do you always come out here to sing just a song?”

            “Not always. But a lot of the time I do.”

            There was an awkward silence in their conversation until she said, “You look miserable.”

            “What are you talking about?” He smiled, though there was a sense of nervousness in his expression.

            “It’s as if… you don’t know what a real smile looks like. You can’t even fake a real smile without it looking completely like a façade,” replied Mitsuki quietly. “I don’t really give a about controlling and faking emotions… It’s better to express yourself truly. If you feel like crap, look like it. But if you feel like crap and fake happiness, what’s the point? People are gonna know how you feel… just by looking at your eyes.” She lazily brought up her right hand and pointed her middle and index finger at his eyes simultaneously. “I can tell… that you’re not as happy as you seem half the time.”

            The smile on his face completely fell.

            “See? Your face relaxes into the expression that reveals your emotions,” she muttered.

            “You sure know how to turn the mood down.”

            “There… wasn’t any mood, was there?”

            “What about you then?” he asked.

            “I act how I feel.” She sighed and closed her eyes.

            “You act resigned and detached.”

            “That’s how I feel towards the rest of the world around me.”

            “Why?”

            “Why don’t you tell me why you feel so depressed? Then I might tell you.” She opened one eye before closing it again, waiting for his answer.

            “That seems too easy.”

            “Nothing in this world is easy.”

            He couldn’t help but completely agree.

            “Will it be too difficult for you to tell of your depression to a stranger?”

            “You’re not a complete stranger. We’ve bumped into each other before, haven’t we?”

            “I’m close enough to a stranger.” They didn’t know each other’s names, did they?

            He sighed, eyes looking over her head to avoid eye contact. “I… I guess, I made a mistake in the past. And it only hurt me, not anyone else…”

            She waited for him to continue as her fingers brushed against the strings of her guitar.

            “I was blind in a fake love,” he muttered, folding his hands together.

            “That sounds like the plot line to a tragic love story.”

            “Maybe it was…”

            “Doesn’t sound like it could’ve ended well anyway.”

            He nodded numbly. “It didn’t… I don’t think I’ll ever try to love someone like that again.” He chuckled quietly before making eye contact with her. “Your turn.”

            “You were vague with your story.”

            “You didn’t ask for specifics.”

            The corners of her lips twitched upwards before they fell again. “I was thrown out of complete love… and now I’m lost.”

            “That sounds just as tragic as my story.”

            “Maybe it is.”

            “Seems like you don’t really know what to do now.”

            “I don’t… but I know that I’ll never love someone like that again. We’re in the same boat.”

            “We are.”

            She shifted until she sat facing him. “What was that song you were singing earlier?”

            He shook his head before smiling. “Curiosity killed the cat.”

            “I’m not a cat.”

            He rolled his eyes. “I wrote some lyrics after… my love story ended,” he said, using his fingers to make air quotations around the words “love story”. “But I haven’t been able to finish them… or even add instrumentals to them.”

            She sat up straighter and lazily strummed random chords of her guitar, one after the other slowly. “There you go.”

            He looked at her with an expression of disbelief. “Are you serious?”

            “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

            “Not really. But that just took you barely thirty seconds.”

            “Does it sound okay?”

            “Well… yeah.”

            “Then what’s the problem?”

            He hesitated before laughing and saying, “Alright… We can try it out.”

            She nodded before strumming the chords again slowly, waiting for him to jump in with lyrics.

            “I’m singing in the rain

            To keep my hope alive

            ‘Cause I’m dreaming that I’m sinking again.

            I’m singing in the rain

            What a feeling

            I know I gotta fight with my head again.”

            A few seconds after he stopped singing, he stood up and stretched up his arms as she strummed the last chord.

            “About time we headed back inside. It’s freezing out here.”

            She stood up also, pushing her guitar onto her back again. “Yeah…”

            “You know,” he started, shoving his hands into his pockets. “They say that when you bump into somebody, the first time is an accident. The second time is a coincidence. The third time… is fate.” He smiled. “Maybe someone out there wants us to be friends.”

            She thought it over slowly and nodded once. “Maybe,” she mumbled.

            He reached his hand forward, expecting her to shake it. “I’m Teo.”

            She shook his hand, surprised by his strong grip. “Mitsuki.”

            “That’s a great name. You from Japan?”

            “Yeah.”

            He nodded and smiled before waving. “See you around, Mitsuki.”

            “See you.”

            As he walked away slowly, she whispered to herself, “Teo… I’ve already opened myself up to you more than I have to any other being on this earth since Akio.”

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi loves! So sorry about the super late update :( School's been stressing me out so much and I just got to finish writing this chapter today. But, I hope you guys liked the update! Please comment, subscribe, and/or upvote <3 Thanks for reading!

~DespisedSecret

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