The Boy With Two Worlds - [Ereri/Riren]

Chapter Thirteen - New Discoveries

"You took a picture of me."

My head was turned toward Levi as he stared down at his black camera, his expression as emotionless as it always tends to be but something in his metallic eyes shining. Whether it's from the glare of the setting sun's glow or something else traveling through his thoughts- I will never know. When he heard my voice however, he didn't move the downward position of his head but instead flicked his gaze up toward me, his dark strands of hair falling over his eyes creating an eerie shadow, watching my facial expression that once held astonishment twist to one of excitement and curiosity.

"Says who?" Was his simple reply to my obvious statement, the answer clear but not spoken in words by him alone. I twisted my body around fully to face him, the sun bouncing off my back and my front form fading into a silhouette. I smiled cheekily, my arm rising and my index finger curling to point at the black object that captured moments hung from around his neck.

"Says your camera."

He let out a breathy snort, which made my lips curl even further into a smile as that was the second time I had witnessed and heard such a simple but meaningful sound come out of him -considering his monotonous personality and emotionless attitude. "I didn't know cameras could speak." He was looking through the pictures now -from what I could tell based on my view- his eyes snapping away from me and back to his task.

"Can I see it?" It was a question I thought didn't really need to be asked, as I had assumed he would show me the picture he had taken regardless. But that's not what he thought apparently, because his unexpected answer he gave next brought confusion to wash over my expression. "No, not yet." And he simply continued fiddling with it, unmoved. My brows creased at his words, and I frowned slightly. "What? Why not?" I questioned, slightly surprised that he had declined my request. He smirked, and looked up at me fully this time, his camera falling back against his chest. "Because I said so."

I raised an eyebrow at his snarky and immature reply, placing a hand on my hip. "Oh really?" I replied in a drawn out tone, and he shook his head with a smirk. "Yeah, really." We threw simple words that formed short sentences at each other back and fourth playfully, and as he still refused to show me the candid photo he had taken I eventually pouted. "Come on, please~? Like you said, we need to get the project done, right? The sooner the better!" I tried to persuade, and he rolled his eyes, no meaning really held behind it. "Nice try, but no." His head tilted up, and his eyes locked onto the sky that was once bright, but now melting behind the city into darker blended shades. "Where did the day go.." It was only a whisper, like he didn't realize he was speaking aloud, but my ears strained to hear it as the wind carried through the leaves and my eyes locked onto him. He simply sighed, and trailed his gaze toward the bottom of the hill.

"We should go, it's getting dark and I don't want your folks worrying." He spoke louder this time as his voice was aimed toward me, and I hummed as I turned to the hill as well, pulling my phone out of my back pocket and checking the time. I saw that it was almost six PM, and my eyes widened in shock as I gasped. "Oh shit!" I cursed, shoving my phone back in my pocket clumsily. "What?" He asked curiously, his eyebrows raising in confusion as I turned to him. "My sister said she'd be home by four or so, it's nearly two hours after that and my mom thinks I was going to be home the entire time!" I rushed to speak as I got myself together, quickly sprinting to the edge of the hill but slowing down as I didn't want to slip. If I came home and whoever was there saw me with dirt and scratches all over my skin, that wouldn't be good. I guess I could just tell them that I decided to walk over to the hill and accidentally fell, but then that would make them worried and they probably wouldn't let me walk here again. The struggles of having an overprotective family.

"Why didn't you tell them you might be going out?" He asked in a confused tone, his eyebrows creased together. And I glanced at him a few times as I bit my lip and tried to come up with an excuse, to no avail unfortunately. I stuttered out incoherent words in a mumble, before I just sighed. "Nevermind, let's just go before I'm in even more trouble." He nodded and followed me down the hill hurriedly. While he struggled not to step on and kill the bundles of blooming flowers, I struggled to hold my feet back from tripping and stumbling down. But when we made it to level ground our legs moved quickly toward the direction of my house. Luckily, I didn't live that far away from the secluded park.