Redemption

CHAPTER XXV: Between Polars

Graves had just gotten out of his room and goes over to where all the team's rooms were. His room was separated from them, meaning he wasn't next to their rooms, but that was okay. To him, it feels more calming and peaceful without having to be next to them – because he gets to reflect on himself more without distractions.

He passes by the other rooms – immediately going to Alejandro's room. Graves hesitated to knock and just wanted to brace himself for a moment before going in. Just by standing there, he felt a sadness that overwhelmed him – he felt his sadness. Graves didn't want to intervene with Alejandro or anything because he was specifically still in the mourning phase, and he somehow knew.

A couple seconds of just blunt standing in front of Alejandro's door, he finally picks up the courage to knock on the man's door – hoping to get a response at least.

"Alejandro...? Are you... there?" He asks out from outside, and he didn't receive a response from him.

He waits for a moment because he feels like he needs time to respond back, but just as he was waiting, he distracts himself by looking at all their doors – each one having a tag by their names as seen before. But the one room that caught his attention was Rodolfo's room.

Just by looking at the door alone, he felt melancholic. Knowing that Rudy won't come back anymore, because of him. That's what he thinks of the situation – but he was wrong.

The door itself just gave out so many small memories of him and Rodolfo being together for a short amount of time. The feeling of just imagining him standing there in place of the door, it hurts to imagine. The brown door that had his name displayed on the tag hanging from the top, with signs of green hues painted on it.

Graves couldn't wait any longer for Alejandro to respond, so he just tried calling for him outside again, in hopes of desperation. The longer he stands there, the more he feels like he could cry at any given moment – just because of a dead man's door. Was his door.

"Alejandro... Are you inside...?",

"I... want to talk to you." He backs up his statement with a confirmation, hoping that the man would respond this time...

Then again, no response.

At that point, Graves just wanted to go in because he couldn't stand Rodolfo's door anymore. It was giving him too much emotional vulnerability, so instead of waiting for Alejandro to respond or open the door himself – he tried twisting the door handle.

Surprisingly, it wasn't locked which surprised him. Is Alejandro just inviting random people inside when he's probably crying? It gave him thoughts but just invited himself in without any permission.

He meets the cold wind that kissed his face despite it being the morning, and there – he sees Alejandro just sitting with no emotion on his bed, hands fidgeting with each other. He lets go of the door handle and walks over to Alejandro, but then stops to try and look around his room for a moment due to him noticing a couple additional factors that changed.

The walls were all tarnished – the wallpaper being so messed up, having holes in them. Alejandro must've let out his anger by punching his walls a couple of times. It saddened his thoughts.