“Gui Gui. I seriously have to talk to you.”

I froze and looked up at Alien with surprise in my eyes.

***

Speculations were running through my head while Alien dragged me to an empty corridor. Why was he here? I should never have shown him where the head quarter was. And now he kind of busted me in still caring about Aaron.

Alien stopped, and I nearly bumped into him again because I didn’t look where I was walking. He turned around and looked at me. Then hugged me.

“You must be wondering why I’m here,” he said and let go. I nodded while looking down.

“I… I’ve been watching the head quarter so I knew when you returned.”

I looked up at him, but with no emotion in my eyes. I was simply too tired and confused to ask any further questions. He hesitated.

“I saw you return. I also saw from a distance with who, and how. And what happened afterwards. This is one of the reasons why we have to talk.”

He took a deep breath.

“I have… been talking to someone. About you and me…” He hesitated again, and I kept staring at him.

“Gui Gui, I know why you’re doing this. But why would you?” Being asked directly, I lost my breath in surprise. He knew?

“Then why am I doing this?” I asked.

“Because of the Gold Ring, right? Or whatever it’s called.” His gaze got harder and less hesitating. “And I know you still love Aaron. I saw it just now. But why in the world didn’t you just tell me you needed that ring?”

“I asked if I could buy it.”

“If you had told me the reason why you wanted to buy it, I could have given it to you.”

“Would you?”

“Rather that than getting the false idea that you’d actually love me enough to marry me.”

I bit my lower lip.

“I’m sorry,” I finally whispered.

“I’m sorrier for you. Your life is a mess already, and then you add more to it.”

“My life’s not a mess,” I protested, my voice being harsher than I intended. I continued:

“I’m not as helpless and confused as before. Okay, maybe a bit puzzled, but it has got nothing to do with my social life. I’m just facing reality, and reality is that I need that ring and is ready to do what is required to get it. I don’t want to fight with you, Alien, but get this straight; I thought a lot before taking this decision. It wasn’t just a spontaneous action.” I finished looking straight into his eyes. He smiled. A sad smile.

“You talk like this is still reality,” he stated.

“Like… what do you mean?”

“Like our engagement is still a requirement for you to get the ring. If I married you, I’d be living in a lie, always knowing you loved someone else. This is reality, and we both know it.”

For the first time, I felt like we had a mutual understanding. Like it was the first time we really listened to each other. It created a weird feeling of calmness, or maybe safety.

“I’ve talked to your parents. I told them that we agreed on breaking our engagement because we were too young and weren’t sure of each other yet. I also told them that we weren’t a couple. They seemed sad, but you know they’d do anything to make you happy…” He paused, and turned away. But I could still see a tear run down his cheek.

I ran down the corridor to the hospital ward, but stopped immediately when I saw Aaron’s father. Jolin, Ella, Hebe and Selina were still there, and Rainie had joined in, along with a few other Coders that I only knew by appearance.

“Even! We’ve been waiting for you. Why did it take you so long?” Ella wanted to know.

“I met someone on the way – how is Aaron?”

“The doctors should be out in a few minutes.”

I sighed and sat down by the wall. I wrapped my arms around my knees.

My phone rang. I picked it up.

“Gui Gui! It’s Danson, where have you been?”

“Uhm… I got a weekend job.”

“Yeah, right. Good thing Alien and I were here, or else your parents would have contacted the police. We convinced them you were at my place, and that we were all three – adding Alien – studying all night. But anyways, I just wanted to hear when you’re coming home?”

I hesitated.

“I don’t know yet,” I ended up saying. “It depends on a lot.”

“Call when you know it.”

“’Kay. Bye.”

I hung up, and put my phone away the same moment as the door opened, and two doctors came out. They went straight to Mr. Z2 and talked silently to him. I looked anxiously at them, dying to know if Aaron would be fine.

After speaking for a while, Aaron’s dad nodded and they let him go into the room. I got on my feet.

“Sorry Miss, but it’s family first,” one of the doctors stopped me. I pinned my lips together to prevent myself from being rude – I was tired as hell which made me grumpy, I had just made one of my best friends really sad without meaning to, and now this guy kept me from seeing Aaron.

“Hey, this girl was the one who brought him home! I think she has quite some right to see him,” Jolin broke in, probably after seeing my facial expression.

“Oh… well, yes… if Mr. Z2 allows it?” The doctor looked kind of nervously at Aaron’s dad. He just nodded, and let me go in first.

Aaron was sitting up, awake, but never had I seen him this weak. But he managed to smile at me, before he saw his father. Then he blinked fast a few times, and his smile fainted away.

But when I took his hand, he smiled again.

A male nurse turned to us and said:

“He’ll have to stay here for at least some days. But he’ll recover.”

I let out a relieved sigh, and let my head fall down on the bed. Aaron let his hand my hair.

“But father, you have a mission tomorrow, right?” he asked his dad.

“Why yes?”

“It’ll be boring to be here.”

“Guess there’s nothing I can do about that, son. It’s not my fault you’re like this.”

Even though I couldn’t see him, I could feel how downhearted Aaron got by this comment. He stayed silent.

“Then why not let Miss Wu stay here to accompany you?”

I didn’t need to turn my head to recognize Jack’s voice. Apparently, he had stepped into the room.

“Stay?” I lifted my head a bit to ask.

“Have you never visited the dorm?”

“… No?” What didn’t this building have?

“We have a dorm where Coders can stay for periods. And some, like Miss Yang, lives there, while others just stay when they have business that requires their constant presence. Or just because it’s more convenient,” Jack explained.

“I’d… like to stay there,” I said. Partly because I couldn’t bear the thought to go all the way home. I just wanted to sleep…

“Hey Danson, can you do me a favour?”

“Depends on what it is?”

“Tell my parents that you, I and some other friends have gone on a short vacation, and use it as an excuse to get some of my clothes and other belongings that’ll make me able to live somewhere else for a few days. Just place the bag in front of my house, someone will drop by and bring it to me.”

An hour later, I had my pyjamas on, and Jolin was sitting next to me on the sofa in the dorm. I had gotten a room to myself, and the only reason I was still awake was because I had to tell Jolin about my conversation with Alien.

“Wow. He’s such a nice guy,” Jolin shook her head.

“That’s why I feel it’s unfair. He never asked to get dragged into this whole mess.”

“Somehow. If he didn’t have the Gold Ring, he could’ve stayed out.”

“That’s it. Why did he have it? I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.” I leaned back, closed my eyes and rested my head against the wall.

“You should rather worry about the last Ring.”

“Let me sleep on it.”

I spent Monday in the hospital ward with Aaron. When I told him about Alien, his face lit up in a way I had never seen before.

“So this means I’m allowed to buy you ice cream in the future?” Probably the most childish sentence I’d ever heard him say. But I nodded and laughed anyway.

“Though I like cake better.”

For a few days, I thought, I’d be able to keep the worries at distance. I could train like I used to, and be with Aaron. I could think about the Air Ring later.

Something was weird, though. And I spoke to Aaron about it in the evening, after I’d been observing it for a while.

“I’m confused. The blue beam of light always points in different directions. Does the Air Ring have an owner?”

He looked at my hand. As he didn’t wear the Silver Ring, he couldn’t see the light.

“Nobody knows,” he simply answered.

“Hey. I expected some help here.”

“Sorry, but I can’t give you that.”

I stuck out my tongue at him. He just blinked and smiled.

“You know, when we all first saw you, we thought god was playing a joke on us. I mean, it has always been expected and awaited that one day, someone would collect all the Rings and thereby be able to unite the organizations and lead us all. And I bet everyone pictured that ‘someone’ to be some strong, tough man. Then it turned out to be, well, you.”

“But I’ve become quite handy to have around, right?”

“I guess we all misunderstood it. It was said that the collector would have a strong soul. Turns out that a strong soul means a pure and beautiful soul.”

I couldn’t help but smile.

When I later walked back to the dorm, feeling like I could sleep on the spot, I walked by the other doors, as my room was in the end of the corridor.

Just then, a door was opened, and out stepped… Jiro. Only. Wearing. A towel.

I stopped in shock and surprise, and he widened his eyes looking at me too. Still, he was the first to regain control.

“Hey Even. Have you tried the sauna? You should.” He smirked, but it was still a very awkward meeting.

“Uhm… You stay here too?” I asked, trying to sound natural. And failed horribly.

“Yeah, for the time being. I try to use every possibility to do so – as I said, the sauna is great, and we don’t have a spa at home.”

“There is a spa?” I could actually really use a spa.

“Yeah. Uhm, the door right behind you, actually. But it’s parted in girls and boys. What a shame.” He winked at me, and whistled as he walked down the corridor to what was probably his room. I took a deep breath to calm myself down from the embarrassment and awkwardness. Why hadn’t Aaron told me Jiro was staying here too?! Not that it mattered, really, but I didn’t like the guy, so it made it less comfy to know that he was so close by. I mean, I knew Rainie lived there, and Jolin said she’d move in tomorrow and stay as long as I did to keep me company.

But suddenly, I remembered that Jolin had been Jiro’s trainee, and that made me pretty unsure of what to expect from this combination.

A voice sounded from the speakers:

“All lights in the dorm should be turned off in ten minutes. Please go to your rooms.”

***

I know this chapter is too short to make up for the long wait >.< I’m so sorry!

But even though I’m tired, worn out and out of inspiration, it paid off! I GOT STRAIGHT A’S! :D

Oh well, you all probably don’t care about this, and you have the right to be mad at me for not updating :[

But you should all study well, okay? Education is important ^^,

I just don’t hope all my readers have forgotten me D:

Well, goodnight, or whatever it is in your country :]

And please leave a comment :3 (It is soon Christmas! Yay! Or… December. Which means Christmas month. I’m sooooo into Christmas mood. Believe it or not, it snowed yesterday. Seriously, the 19^th of November.)

- Blitz