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A HEART OF...
━━━━.⋅ ⊰ 2 ⊱ ⋅.━━━━
IT'S the second day of the banquet, and dion feels like nothing interesting will happen this year... as always. well, yesterday's events piqued his interest to the bare minimum...
dion walks down the sun-filled corridors of the building. the sunlight is too bright, so the ebony-haired boy squints his eyes slightly as a figure emerges from the blinding light.
"dion agriche?"
aelia pherion stares at him, surprised to see him.
"am i that unpleasant to look at?" dion asks, "my mother does like to say that i'm not cute..."
the boy's gaze snaps up to see the girl when she starts laughing.
aelia waves her hands in front of her as she shakes her head, her laughter subsiding into quiet giggles. "no, that's not... i was just surprised to see you today, that's all."
dion tilts his head. "and why is that?"
the white-haired girl sighs. "i'm not planning to go to tonight's banquet."
"and what of tomorrow's?" he asks immediately. his eyes widen slightly at his behavior, so he clears his throat, awaiting the girl's answer.
smiling, she replies, "yes, i'll be there tomorrow."
dion hums and blinks as aelia stares at him with narrowed eyes. her footsteps echo loudly in the corridor as she stands in front of him all of sudden. she touches the side of his face gingerly, her fingertips softly grazing the small cut he has on his cheek. dion immediately grasps her wrist, eyebrows furrowed and lips frowning.
"what do you think you're doing?" he asks.
aelia pays no attention to him, her gaze solely focused on the graze on his cheek. she taps the wound gently with her pointer finger. "how did this happen? i don't think punishment for arriving with the ends of your slacks wet would be this severe..."
dion's ruby eyes blink at the girl as he speaks. "no one noticed that when i came back to the banquet. this," he says, letting go of the girl's wrist to tap on the red line on his cheek. "i got from my father. he got angry in the morning, threw the glass in his hand at the wall, and i just happened to be near it."
humming, aelia reaches down to grab his hand, gently tugging the ends of his long-sleeved shirt forwards. "i'll patch it up for you. though it may be small, it still wouldn't be good for it to get infected."
he thinks for a moment before slowly nodding. aelia grins at him before tugging him down the hall, leading him towards her room. as he stares at the back of her head, dion suddenly notices something.
"why don't you have a guard with you?" he asks, looking around them. "or at least a maid?"
she sighs, glancing back at him. "that's... it's complicated."
dion hums. "i could do something bad to you right now because there isn't someone accompanying you."
aelia laughs, twirling around to face him. the sun hits her as she speaks, "you wouldn't do anything to harm me. i can tell you're a good person."
the boy stares at her, surprised. aelia giggles before turning around, walking faster. they round a corner and continue walking until she stops at a door that she pushes open.
"come in," she chirps, closing the door after dion walks inside. he looks around the room, taking notice that it was basically the same as his.
aelia pats the bed, and dion sits there. she comes back with a small bottle of alcohol and a cotton ball. dion feels the bed slightly dip next to him as the white-haired girl sits, twisting the lid of the bottle open. she places the cotton ball against the tip of the bottle, tilting it forwards quickly before placing it in between her legs. aelia huffs as dion looks forwards and away from her. she grabs his chin, making him look at her. he notices that she has a beauty mark by her eye and another on3+e at the side of her nose bridge.
he thinks they're pretty.
"stay still," she mutters, her cerulean eyes focusing solely on the small cut on his cheek. as she gently dabs the cut with the cotton ball, dion stares at her.
her touch feels like fire against his cold skin.
aelia lets out an ehe as she beams at him. "all done!" she says, standing there for a few seconds before walking away to throw the cotton ball in the trash bin. when she comes back, she grabs dion's hand, making him stand up. within a blink of an eye, he finds himself standing outside the girl's room.
"i'll see you tomorrow night," she says, closing the door afterwards.
dion blinks a couple times, turning around to head back to his room when the door swings open. he looks back at aelia as she pokes her head out into the corridor.
"oh, um," she says, nervously smiling at him. "can you please pretend that we didn't bump out in the corridor? you see, i'm not supposed to be going out..."
slowly nodding, aelia beams at him once more before bidding him goodbye, closing the door quickly. dion lets out a small breath, his hand unconsciously touching the cut on his cheek. he could still feel aelia's burning touch there.
"that's... the first time..." he shakes his head, his hand falling back to his side as he stands up straight, walking back to his room.
