A Padisarah Amongst the Roses

Chapter 2: A Truth

Kaveh POV

Hanging my legs over a cliff in the Devantaka Mountains felt blissful. I felt at peace. There was no one around to hurt me, only the sight of trees. So many trees. No angry roommates or fights. No broken keys or lost papers. No Alhaitham. That part, I regretted. I was fond of him. We were, in a way, fond of each other. There was even one period of time when I liked him. He and I just fought occasionally. Times had changed, and Alhaitham didn't really pay attention to me anymore. He was too caught up in his work as a scribe and he turned down all the times that we could have hung out together. He didn't care. Not anymore.

In the beginning, he was different. He would tease me whenever I burnt a piece of toast, but never scold me about it. He would help whenever I dropped my armfuls of blueprints, not get angry and stomp off to his room. There was even one time when he even sat down with me and we had lunch together at the bar. He regretted it when Cyno and I beat him in a drinking challenge. Most of all, he was just a kind soul that now viewed me as just a roommate. But that's okay, because that's what we are. Nothing more.

I headed back to his house to drop off a note I had written and grab a few things before returning here. I liked it here. Almost enough to stay. But I still had to repay Alhaitham. Even if it meant I would never see him again. Or anyone, for that matter. But it was okay. I didn't have much to live for.

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Alhaitham POV

There was one big question: where was Kaveh? I asked the grand sage if he had passed by, but he answered by showing me a file recording how many times Kaveh was absent from work. Over seven, all beginning from the day we fought. He only went home once, and that was probably to retrieve his keys or something. At this point, I was a little worried. No, very worried. Kaveh wasn't just hiding, he was missing. I guess he had run away. That's when I decided I would make it my duty to find him. It was my fault he left. I was too hard on him. The same thought kept ringing in my head, what Cyno said. Maybe Kaveh wanted to repay me by leaving. If that was the case, I felt miserable. I didn't want him to leave, as much as I made it seem. I never disliked Kaveh, let alone hated him. He was my roommate and friend. We were so very close in the past, and I am clueless as to what happened between us with the arguing.

One night, we got so drunk at a lunch bar that Tighnari had to use plant vines to drag us back to our room. All those memories folded up into a box, shoved deep into Sumeru's attic of old things. Now he was gone, wandering, somewhere in Teyvat, nowhere to be seen.

I slammed the front door of my small home open and frantically searched for Kaveh, panting heavily. Previously, I had been asking the locals and running all around the Akademiya asking if anyone had seen Kaveh. No one had spotted him in the last week, and my anxiety was going through the roof. Was he really dead? "Kaveh? Are you in the house? Answer me!" I was frantic. He had actually gone missing.

"No, he didn't. No, no, no," I mumbled to myself. I ran into his bedroom, no one was there. The kitchen was deserted. The living room, empty. But my bedroom had one thing that made me cease to breathe.

On my bed stand there was a note. In Kaveh's messy, loopy handwriting, it read:

•

Dear roommate,

I don't want you to be surprised when you don't find me here tonight.
Life has been, well, hard for me, and it was painful seeing you have to yell almost every day. I am dearly sorry for all the trouble I have caused you, and this is my repayment.
Sometimes the world is too much to bear.
Please forgive me, because I have made my final confession.
Alhaitham, I love you. I always have.
Live your life, and slowly forget about me. I promise you will one day.