FACADE ( the GazettE Tale )

Chapter Seventeen : Dragging the Time

Two hours had passed since I walked out of Aya's house. One hundred twenty minutes since I uttered her name for the first time. Seven thousand two hundred seconds since I last saw her cheeks blushed.

But it already felt like decades.

I was having this strong urge to go back and see her again.

My eyes wanted to look at her and be consumed by her gaze. My ears wanted to hear her voice say my name. My hands wanted to touch her and feel her warmth once again. I was already missing her.

But I couldn't be reckless. My monster was still here, making its existence known from time to time when my thirst suddenly hit me.

I should be more careful when I'm around Aya. I wouldn't want to be the reason for her pain. I would eliminate anything that would cause her any discomfort if I could. I wanted her to be safe from the bullshits of this world and from the peril that my monster might make.

She was the light of my darkness, and I would not let anything or anybody hurt her.

"Someone's thinking too deeply." Byo clicked on the remote again and the television flashed another channel. He'd been channel surfing for a few minutes now and nothing was really up to our kind of movies.

"Hmm." I bobbed my head. That was the first move I made after I walked in the living room and sat down the couch beside him.

The door slammed open as Carmela ran towards us. She was beaming brightly, with a box on her hand. A very familiar box. Aya's strawberry cake.

"Take it back in the fridge, Carmela."

She pouted. Sitting down the carpeted floor, she sulked. "The cake isn't gonna eat itself!"

That made Byo looked at me. "You still haven't eaten that cake?"

"You know I'm not into strawberries."

"That's why I asked if I can have this a few days ago!" Carmela shouted, putting the box on the table. "But you wont let me even have a single taste."

When I looked at Carmela, she was still pouting and her eyes looked like those of begging puppies. I chuckled and nodded. "Okay. Fine. Let's eat it."

I pulled the box in front of me and took the cake from the inside. It had a lot of strawberries at the top, it looked.... Cute. Just like the girl who made it.

A smile tugged on my lips as I imagined Aya making this for me. She must be messy, with flours on some part of her face.

Except for the television, I heard the sudden silence of my companions and felt their eyes on me. When I looked up, I was right. They were staring at me inquisitively.

"What?"

"Did you just laugh?" Byo asked.

"Are you smiling?" That was Carmela.

Sighing, I leaned back on the couch. "Even a machine can laugh."

My brother scowled at me. "You stopped laughing a few centuries ago."

Carmela agreed on the question by nodding her head.

This inquisition was by far annoying.

"And I can't laugh or smile again?"

Carmela shook her head and smiled that reached her eyes. "We're just surprised. You haven't done that and we missed it. I'm glad you're smiling again, Ruki."

"Yeah, smile a lot more Prince Charming." Byo concluded.

I scratched the back of my ear. They should stop saying things like this.