Kris texted back a few minutes later,

 

• Thanks! I bet you’re out celebrating with ur bro

  • Nope... About to go to my room

• Rly? That’s no fun. Why not?

  • Just not in the mood today

• Is is that time of the month?

  • No! Why is that your first guess???

• Lol jk. But seriously, what’s wrong?

  • It’s nothing. What are you doing?

• Looking for u. For a shortie, u walk pretty fast

  • Why are u looking for me? And I am NOT short

• Everybody likes a game of hide and seek.

• Hmm.. lemme guess. By the science building?

  • I didn’t know I was dealing with a professional stalker! lol how’d you get it right?

• Well you kinda gotta pass that to get to any of the dorms. Stay there. On my way

  • And if I don’t?

• Too late

 

Too late? What does too late mean? She looked to both sides and saw nobody. She figured that he was bluffing. She huffed through her nose and sat on the bench a few yards away. A few seconds later though, she heard footsteps running in her direction. “Hope I didn’t take too long,” he managed to say smoothly, even after running. His tall frame stood in front of her, wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt.

 

“You’re... here,” she stated while looking up at him, almost surprised he really came.

 

“You thought I was bluffing?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

 

“No... maybe... I don’t know...kinda,” she confessed.

 

He sat next to her and started talking about the team’s first win, how inspiring it was. She just listened and smiled, not understanding half of the soccer terminology he mentioned in Korean. She commented, “You must really love soccer,” to him, but he laughed at the thought.

 

“Nah, I just do it to stay in shape. I’m really passionate about basketball though,” he replied.

 

She hit a roadblock in understanding him.“Passionate?” she asked tilting her head in confusion, but continued, “Don’t translate to English. Explain.”

 

He respected her choice for wanting to improve her Korean, so he thought of the best way to explain it. He took her hand with a firm grip and began, “It’s that feeling when your heart desires something so badly... that it almost... hurts. It’s a very strong emotion,” while looking out into the sky.

 

“Is that why you’re squeezing my hand?” she muttered.

 

“Huh?” He looked down at their entangled hands. He never realized that his grip was getting tighter until she said something. Immediately, he released all pressure, allowing her fingers to move freely, but just as he did, her tiny hand took the opportunity to hold a slight grip onto his, not completely letting go. Then it had dawned on her, the reason why her brother seemed to be pushing her away. She was making it hard for him to fit in. She was the only one lacking in Korean; Emile’s fluency was near perfect. She was embarrassing him. She blurted out, “He’s ashamed of me, isn’t he?”

 

“Who’s ashamed of you? Emile?”

 

“It feels like whenever his friends are around he doesn’t want me there. I know my Korean isn’t great, but I’m really trying. It’s not fair. I study a lot and...” her voice started to crack as she sniffled her nose. His heart dropped at the sound of it.

 

“You’re not shameful. Don’t cry. I’m not just saying that either.” He placed his hand on top of her head. “I know how frustrated you must be, but you’re not bad at all. I mean it,” he consoled her.

 

“I’m not crying,” she pouted as she crawled into his embrace, sniffling some more, holding the tears back.

 

“You better not be. I can’t have your mascara all over my shirt.” Kris let her stay in his arms holding her tighter.

 

“It’s waterproof you jerk,” she said as she hugged him tighter, smiling to herself. It felt good to have someone on her side.

 

**

If it wasn’t for the slither of light that had grazed itself upon her face, she probably wouldn’t have woken up today. Eyelids heavy, voice groggy, and head in a dizzy spell, as soon as Flora mustered the strength to open her eyes, that slither of light invaded her eyes like an arrow, jolting down to her chest. A disturbance, it was. Just five more minutes of sleep is all she needed, only five, but she knew that her eyes would refuse to ever open again if she decided to close them this time around. She needed an alarm. Just as she took the time to yawn in her cozy bed, she looked down at her phone. One missed call from an unsaved number displayed on her phone. She dismissed the call, accidently dropping the device.

 

“A pair of leggings and a blouse should do the trick,” she thought to herself. After finally getting cleaned up, she dragged herself to the outside world, where she was hit with dozens of looks by passing students. “Is there a hole in my leggings?” she wondered. “Is my shirt on backwards?”

 

Some of the stares she got seemed to be of pure curiosity, while others gave off a feeling of contempt. “What’s with everybody? Am I just going crazy?” She started to become self conscious with so many pairs of eyes gawking her at once. Her nerves heightened to the point where she couldn’t even cut hair with steady hands during class. Luckily, the hair model was simply a mannequin today. She may have been isolated, but that didn’t mean ignored around school, unaware of the reason why.

 

Sitting in the garden for lunch, away from the crowds, her brother had caught up to her. He started, “Where did you go last night?” emotionlessly. When she looked in his eyes, she saw black orbs that could in every spec of light, obliterate it, then spit any remains out into the wastelands of the universe. His aura was dark enough to make a cloudy day. This was a different side of Emile that rarely reared its head out in public.

 

“Why do you care?” She brushed him off.

 

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” He snarled at her.

 

“It was you who called?” She raised an eyebrow.

 

“It was our grandmother. She’s in the hospital... again.” he hung his head low. With venom in his voice, he pointed out, “She fell down in the shopping district. I had to be with her all night.”

 

“That’s terrible, but she’s our grandmother, so why wouldn’t you be?”

 

“I was busy last night. I had to blow off people for her while you were probably doing nothing. Next time, answer the damn phone.”

 

“You can’t spare one night for our grandma? I wonder if she knew how selfish you were how her opinion of you would change. It’s just one night. Calm your .”

 

“Whatever. I don’t have time for your guilt trip. I have people to which I must attend.” And he walked off just like that. She doesn’t know when it happened or why, but Emile was changing

 

Flora’s Point of View

 

I’m so frustrated with Emile right now. How can he be so selfish? And I wasn’t guilt tripping him. If he feels guilty, then obviously he should. It’s not my fault. He’d rather blow off our sick grandmother to go spend some time with a bunch of jocks? What an ! He was never like this before.

 

I didn’t even care to eat the rest of my food. I was just too disgusted with his attitude. My lunch had been ruined, so I threw the rest away in the trashcan. Oh, the children who have died from starvation are probably looking down on me right now, but I feel sick to my stomach. And seriously, if all these people do not stop giving me weird looks, I am going to go mad. I wonder what it is. Is it my hair? As I passed through the hallways to my next class, enduring more people’s glances, I checked my hair through my reflection in every glass object I passed. Is there gum in there or something?

 

Oh goodness, I remember one day when Emile put gum in my hair when we were kids. I think I was on the verge of killing him. I remember the bright blue piece that only chopping off seven inches of hair could remove. Seven inches... seven, whole, inches of my hair.