He Was a Friend

/16/ He jumped in. /

A loud thud followed by screams of the people around them.

Eric was quick on his feet, with one hand firmly gripping Louise's right arm as he pulled her behind him, and the other hand turning red after hitting Art who flew two meters away due to impact.

He swiftly checked on Louise, who was obviously speechless and was still looking at Art as he touched his lip cut. She would normally stop him whenever he gets into fights. Not that he's a war-freak kind of person, but whenever he knows he is right, he just really isn't the type to just sit around and mope. But evidently, at the moment, Louise didn't have the luxury to worry about that.

I can't believe this is happening now.

People started to come near them to check the situation. He cussed when he realized that Art wasn't wearing any sort of disguise, and to add to that, this isn't really the kind of scene that anyone can ignore anyway. But Art being popular made the situation explode on another level. A lot of them were curiously looking at the face of the woman who made the aloof and unreachable Art break the rules - which he hadn't done so until now, always having an image to protect.

He gritted his teeth.

Grasping Louise's hand carry stroller bag in his left, he held her hand on his right and quickly dragged her out of that chaos.

This is getting out of hand.

"Lou!"

He automatically stopped as he felt Louise tugging his hand to stop. She was still clearly shocked, yet still trying to act composed. She then looked at Art, who seemed to be about to say something.

"You know what this means. You, of all people, know that I'm not the type of guy who'd do this just because," Art stared straight into Louise's eyes, determined. Not a shred of guilt can be seen on his face, and it certainly appeared like he didn't give a rat's ass about the increasing number of people hovering around them.

He tried to yank her again but she didn't flinch. She was still staring back at Art, though she wasn't saying anything back.

"I'll wait, Lou."

His blood started to boil. He never felt such level of anger until that moment. He wasn't exactly sure who he is fuming at.

I'm enraged at Art for making this shitty mess, for everyone who kept gawking at an obviously none-of-their-business affair - but even more so, and for a lot of levels more, I'm furious at myself not being able to do this much just like... Art did.

He tightened his grasp on Louise's hand and this time, pulled her away in a more determined way. She did not resist, and it felt like she lost the last strand of energy she had on that last statement anyway.

F*** his coolness. I don't need that right now, I need mine.

He clenched his jaw as they got off the crowd and mixed in with the ones in the immigration area.