AAA, Diary Nine, Aera

Friday, 30 August, 2013

Dear Diary,

“Do you know why I loathed you so much when you first crashed into my house?”

“No.” I keep my eyes on the road, but my ears perk up higher.

“You looked a lot like my mum, that’s why. You brought back memories.” Se Hun runs a hand through his locks as he confesses. I raise a brow. I looked like his mum? I hadn’t noticed much, since she seems to have changed quite a bit since the last time he saw her. I nod mutely, unable to say anything much. “So, you’re talking to me again?” Se Hun sends me a sideways glance warily. I nod stiffly, silent. He focuses on the ground under him again. “Why?”

Why? He’s asking why? Isn’t he happy that I’m finally talking to him after he tried to get me to open my mouth for the whole of yesterday? “Just because,” I mutter. There’s something pressing down on my shoulders, like a barbell those particular weightlifters use to train their muscles. It’s heavy on my shoulders, and about to squash my pumping heart, my whole being, nearly suffocating me.

“Retard.” Se Hun sticks his hand into his trousers pockets as he rambles beside me on our way home from school. It’s already noon, so fast, so soon, before I’ll never be able to see this guy walking so leisurely and casually next to me again. Se Hun stops out of the blue, and startles me by locking his strong fingers around my thin wrist. He tugs so that I stumble towards him, nearly colliding with his chest. I flush.

“W-what…Where are you going?”

“To the cinema. Would you like that?” He grins at me, and I try so damn hard to ignore the surge of emotions it gave me. I knit my brows.

“What? Why?” I ask. Se Hun shoots me a tearful puppy dog expression, and I feel the tip of Cupid’s love arrow pierce through my skin and heart. It floats like a helium balloon.

“Why? Can’t I bring my angel out on a date?” He teases.

“W-w-what? Day-te?” I splutter, turning my face away from him, no doubt blushing like a chicken that’s been thrown into a pot of dancing flames. Red and hot.

“Yes, day-te.” His beam widens into a face-splitting one as he mimics me. “I haven’t thanked you for bringing my family together, have I? And it’s a Friday, so I’m free.”

“So…This is just a way of thanking me?” I swallow. Se Hun looks at me strangely.

“No…But I guess you can call it that,” he mumbles, halting his excited feet when he reaches the bus stop nearest to school. He pulls me closer and keeps his warm hand on me as he fumbles around in his pocket for his wallet. The bus Se Hun intends to take arrives exactly at the moment when he draws out his leather wallet, and he winks attractively at me, dragging me gently onto the bus.

“The good thing about having an invisible friend is that we can go to the movies for the price of one.” Se Hun joins me at the ticket collector counter with two drinks and a huge box of buttery, yellow popcorn. I smile timidly. The smell wafts and invades my nostrils, causing my mouth to water. I my lips in craving for the popcorn I have not eaten since…I don’t know, months ago? I hardly went to the movies when I was still a mortal.

“In we go.” I swat him on the shoulder as I take the drink he’d so kindly bought for me as we enter the dark, air-conditioned room. I start popping popcorn into my mouth in enormous amounts the moment my connects with the cushion seat in the cinema.

“Hey, guess what show I bought for us?” Se Hun leans over to whisper into my ear as the advertisements on the huge screen in front of us continue to blare with voices of random people. I shake my head.

“Aye donno, waht?” I answer between mouthfuls. Se Hun laughs softly, his eyes curving into thin, crescent moons decorated with thick lashes as he holds a closed fist to his mouth to stifle his somehow uncontrollable eruption of chuckles. I glare at him.

“There’s still plenty left over, you know? You can have all of it if you want. Take your time to eat, or you’ll choke on your food sooner or later.” Se Hun smirks as he lifts the popcorn box situated in my hand on my lap and gives it a good, satisfying shake. The crunchy corn kernels inside make a rattling sound.

“Yeah, right-” I break off as the screen lights up before us with an eerie, brown glow. The title looms up on the screen, floating and wiggling. I blanch. “T-The Conjurer? Se Hun, are y-you nuts? It’s damn c-creepy!”

“Aw, scared already? It hasn’t even started.” Se Hun coos. I scowl as I fling a handful of precious popcorn at him, keeping a straight face despite how odd he looks with yellow in his now-black hair. He fires me a scathing glare as he swipes at his silky and soft-looking straight locks.

“Se Hun! I hate, really hate, horror films! Maybe I should leave.” I dump the popcorn box in his lap and stand to leave. Se Hun’s hand closes around my wrist again and he gives a strenuous tug, which forces me to sit back down beside him again.

“Oh please, don’t. It’s just over an hour or so.” Se Hun adds, “You seem so much like Su Ho hyung.”

“What?” Who’s he talking about? His friend from school?

“Nothin’, sit and enjoy. I’m here if you need a shoulder to cry on.” Se Hun patted his shoulder reassuringly. I only scoff at him.

“AHHH!” My scream is being muffled as I bury my whole face into Se Hun’s diamond-hard biceps. Ow. The friction. I feel Se Hun stiffen as I cling onto him, not deliberately, and wait for his assurance that the…thing from Hell is out of my face.

“I-It’s over, lass.” I dare to raise my head slowly from his arm as I turn away from him, but still leaving my hand there grasping his arm. Lass? Nice choice of words.

“I am so blaming you if I get nightmares tonight.” My angel identity just makes me more sensitive to all those…hell spawn. We were supposed to keep them away from Earth, or whatsoever. Not stay here and watch those animated do whatever to random humans. Se Hun should have chosen another movie…This idiot.

~~~

Night time. It’s finally here. I kinda dreaded it. A strong force seems to be pulling me back from attending my judging ‘ceremony’, instead, persuading me to remain at Se Hun’s house like this, forever.

I pad across the bedroom quietly to Se Hun’s still bed, where he lies, asleep, his breaths deep and rhythmic. I place my hands on my thighs and lean down, staring intently at sleeping Se Hun, my soon-to-be ex-ward, trying to memorize everything I can possibly remember about him. His chiseled cheekbones, his lips, the contours of his beautiful face. I sigh as I lean in closer, and hesitantly, press my lips to his cheek gently, light enough so that he wouldn’t stir from his sleep.

“Thank you for today, Se Hun. I had a whale of my time, really. Take care and be happy in the future. Find a worthy girl you really like,” I murmur against his cheek, and straighten. I tiptoe over to the window I had unlocked previously when he hadn’t been looking purposely and slide the glass pane aside, closing my eyes briefly as the cool night wind caresses my face, lifting my hair. I stare back at the sleeping form of Se Hun, the first boy I ever fell for, for the final last time. This, would be goodbye. Staring down at the note I had ready for him, I dropped it onto the sofa I slept on.

“Goodbye, Se Hun,” I whisper so quietly that I can barely hear myself, and turning my back to him, slip out of the open window and towards the park. The water from the fountain is shimmering golden when I reach the park, and I feel His presence immediately.

“It’s your last time to bail, Daughter.” The wind carries those warmth-filled words to my ears as I bow my head at the uniquely sparkling water.

“I am ready for your decision, Lord.” I keep my head bowed low.

“Very well, then. But someone wishes to see you before you really leave him.”

“Aera!” Just as He has hinted, his voice rings out clear and sharp across to me. I whirl my body around so quickly that I have to wait for a moment before the dizziness clears, and I widen my eyes in absolute, profound shock as Se Hun gallops across the stone-tiled floor to me. He stops just a meter or so away and stares.

“S-Se Hun, what on Earth are you doing here? Aren’t you asleep?” I cry, staggering a step back. Se Hun’s eyes flick over to the still shining water, and he tries to stable his ragged breathings.

“So…So it’s true. You were thinking of leaving without even a word of farewell!” Hurt laces his voice as he takes a huge step forward, closing the distance by a lot between us. His dark eyes gore into mine as his chest rises and falls dramatically. I narrow my watery eyes at him. How did he know…?

Cheyenne… , I should have guessed!

“It doesn’t matter, Se Hun. I’m leaving. Go back to sleep. Forget I ever existed.” It hurt so much to say so. My heart was being sliced to pieces over and over again. Fixed and cut, fixed ad cut, numerous times. I don’t want him to forget me, but it’s the only way to lessen the pain, isn’t it? I didn’t have a choice. I begin walking towards the fountain, back to him so that the tears will not drop before him.

“ You think I can?” Se Hun grabs hold of my shoulders roughly and spins me around to face him again, a full 180 degrees. He forces me to meet his eyes. “You want me to forget you? How?”

“Why can’t you? Just treat me like a ghost! Invisible to everyone!” I howl, the tears springing free. Se Hun closes his eyes in slow agony.

“You…Don’t get it do you? How much more obvious must I be? How do I convince you that I really, really like you? Let me be selfish for once. Stay, Aera, stay.” His genuine confession only makes things worse. If I had left him knowing that he didn’t like me one bit, I would have better comfort that all he lost was a guardian, a friend, possibly. My heart shrivels up.

“You…cannot like me. No, no. I cannot stay, and we cannot fall for each other. Just forget-”

I am silenced by a pair of urgent, yet equally gentle lips. His pain, desire…Everything. They’re being made known to me through this single kiss. His smooth palms cup my face and tilt it up as I nearly lose myself in the desperate need for him, had it not been for the familiar pull that is tugging at the back of me like some puppet’s strings.

The hourglass signaling the time is empty. Time’s up. I have to leave. I feel Se Hun trying fruitlessly to keep me in his embrace as I seemingly float up, higher and higher off the ground. I stare down at him, tears falling and drenching dark dots on the floor as Se Hun shouts my name. Over and over again.

“I’ll find you someday, Oh Se Hun.” I shout, I promise him, before my entire sprit body dissolves like dust.

~

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A.N.

:O...This is the last official chapter...Cheyenne, I promised you this, so here you are^^

It's not exactly completed yet, so you guys...I plan to make you wait...HAHAHA *Evil laughter*