"I'm bored"
"Me too, I'm so bored"
Malkiel looked up to see Koa and Kenzo enter the classroom looking extremely bored. The two turned the seats in front of them so that they were facing both Malkiel and Drystan.
It was the second day of the festival and classes were already cancelled.
"I thought the two of you would go stall seeing?"
Malkiel chuckled at Drystan's term to which Koa and Kenzo muttered earlier before they left. The two had decided to see the stalls set up by the freshmen classes only to come back after twenty minutes./
"There's nothing to see, this year's first years didn't pick any good stalls."
"The only one that are worth going to are the food stalls and Quincey had already covered every last one of them"
Malkiel stared at Kenzo who was fiddling with his phone.
"Quincey ate from every food stall?"
Kenzo nodded at Malkiel before showing them a picture that Galene had posted on her social media account. Most of the pictures were about Quincey jumping from food stall to food stall, her hand full of too much food. Then on the later part, Serenity was beside them holding some food too.
"She just uploaded that?"
Drystan asked Kenzo to which the latter nodded at. The three of them flinched when Drystan stood up abruptly.
"Where you going?"
"Food stalls, I'm hungry"
The three of them looked at each other before Koa stood up too.
"Well, we got nothing better to do anyway, let's go. I'm pretty sure Malkiel here wants to see Serenity too"
Kenzo and Koa grinned to which Malkiel blushed at. He did want to meet Serenity eventhough they were together earlier before the girls went out to see the food stalls. Him and her had returned to how they were before even better because Serenity was outright showing her interest in him. And Malkiel could spend some alone time with her more.
"By the way, Drys, were you really hungry?"
Malkiel sent a look at Koa whose arms hang by Drystan's shoulders, a wide grin on his face. Drystan turned to him to give him a stare before shaking his head.
"I know what you're thinking but it's not like that"
"What am I thinking? I'm certainly not thinking that maybe you like one of the two girls because you suddenly wanted to go to them"
This had caught Malkiel's attention, he smiled before asking.
"Is it Galene"
Malkiel saw how Drystan flinched before a glare pierced through him.
"It's the food"
Koa and Malkiel laughed when Drystan walked faster leaving the three of them behind.
"It's definitely Galene"
"I know right, he's too obvious"
Malkiel smiled and remembered how Drystan's line of sight was always on Galene since the first time they had met. Back then he couldn't think of anything about the situation but now it was so clear.
"Wait, does Drystan like Galene?"
Koa and Malkiel both turned to Kenzo and shook their heads before they continued walking.
"Wha– HEY! Answer my question first"
While Kenzo ran to catch up to them, Malkiel's line of sight was solely focused on spotting Serenity but the crowd that had formed outside their building formed an obstacle for them.
The festival was open even to outsiders and most of them often came on the later days of the festival so the boys were definitely not expecting this amount of visitors during the second day.
They walked out of the building and unto the food stalls where the number of people seemed to have multiplied.
"Think this is a bad idea?"
"You guys should've told us that there were many people"
"There weren't this many earlier"
Malkiel shook his head at Kenzo before scanning through the area. Then by some luck he saw Galene walking out of the crowd and going through the small fences of their school's mini garden. He silently thanked Galene's tall physique for standing out from the crowd but before he could even point it out, Drystan walked towards the mini garden.
"Saw them"
He said shortly to which Malkiel chuckled at. He was sure that he had saw Galene too. They followed him and sure enough the three girls were sitting on one of the benches on the mini garden, between them were a bunch of food and drinks that they had bought.
"Hey! I thought you guys didn't want to come down here?"
"Well, Drystan said he was hungry"
Upon Kenzo's statement Quincey hurriedly blocked the food on the bench while glaring at the four guys. Serenity laughed at her before taking some juice and offering it to Malkiel.
"You want some?"
Malkiel smiled before walking towards her and taking a sip of the juice she had offered.
"And now they're all lovey-dovey"
Malkiel and Serenity both blushed when they heard what Kenzo had said. Galene and Koa were smiling at them while Quincey was too busy on her food and Drystan on his phone.
"Way to ruin the mood Kenz"
Galene said while laughing before glancing at Malkiel who seemingly wanted to hide his embarrassed face.
"Why don't the two of you go to the stalls and buy some more food? I'm pretty sure Quincey won't share hers"
Galene pointed to Serenity and Malkiel to which the two gladly obliged. Malkiel walked side by side with Serenity as the rest of them eyed them with a smile on their faces.
"Galene really does act like the oldest most of the times"
"She does and I'm glad she got us out of there"
Malkiel smiled at Serenity and pointed to the stalls where you can actually play games and win some prizes.
"Do you want to go there? Or do you want to buy some food?"
Serenity shook her head
"I'm actually already full. We already ate from almost every food stall here. What about you?"
"I haven't eaten yet but I'm not that hungry either."
"Then should we go play?"
Malkiel happily nodded at Serenity before going through the crowd. He had noticed that the number of people really did multiplied so before Serenity got swept away by the crowd, he gathered all his courage and held her hand.
Serenity's eyes widened when she felt Malkiel's hands on hers, her gaze went up to his only to see him smiling at her, his ears a bright shade of red.
"So we won't get separated"
He smilingly pointed out before he led Serenity out from the crowd and unto one of the stalls there.
Serenity could feel her stomach stirring like some butterflies were playing in there. She smiled as she stare at the hand holding hers. She couldn't shake the feeling of it being so right. Malkiel holding her just felt right in every sense. That was what she had thought.
The two had stopped at a balloon game. It was a game where you'll throw darts at a balloon in front and whatever is inside would be your prize.
"This should be easy?"
"Are you good at aiming?"
Serenity teasingly asked Malkiel to which he had just winked at.
"Watch and see"
He confidently said but immediately failed to pop the balloon and his dart stucked on to the board. Serenity chuckled when she saw that Malkiel was stunned that his dart didn't hit the mark.
"That was a fluke"
He stated before drawing his second dart and throwing it straight to the board again, no balloons popped. Serenity held her laughter when Malkiel drew his last dart.
He was silently praying that the third dart would atleast hit one balloon. He didn't want to be seen by Serenity as some kind of loser who couldn't even play darts. But luck wasn't siding on him as it didn't hit another balloon.
Serenity's laughter made him stare at her, she was laughing at him but nevertheless she was laughing and it mesmerized him. He was ready to sulk but his mood quickly changed when he saw how Serenity was enjoying it.
"You're teasing aren't you?"
Serenity tried to stiffle her laughs before staring at Malkiel who was smiling at her. She took the three darts and threw them consecutively at the board hitting three balloons. Malkiel stared at the board then back to her then back to the balloons popped.
"Are you a pro?"
Malkiel unbelievingly asked her when the person inside the stall handed Serenity her prizes, a pen, a keychain and a small teddy bear.
"My dad likes playing darts that's why I grew up watching him play"
"You are a pro"
Serenity laughed at Malkiel's disbelief before handing him the keychain. Malkiel stared at it then back to Serenity.
"Are you giving this to me?"
Serenity nodded, Malkiel took it and smiled sheepishly at her.
"I should've been the one to won something and give it to you. It would have been romantic"
Serenity felt the heat rise up on her cheeks. She tried to conceal her smile but failed to do so.
"Well, there's always a next time for being romantic"
Malkiel felt satisfied, he felt like he had the whole world on his palm right now and that his happiness was on its peak. Serenity had laughed and the way she had smiled and blushed at him was because of him. He was happy and contented.
But his gaze went behind Serenity, and that gaze of his met another ones. Someone he did not expect to even have the guts to be here and show up.
Someone who he had despised and disliked ever since he had met him first.
Serenity saw how Malkiel's gaze focused behind her, and as she turned around, she silently wished to turn back time to when she hadn't.
Because behind her just a few feet away, standing in front of one of the stalls on the school ground.
Was Hyacinth
and Jace,