The next school day, Dil left earlier than usual, not wanting to bump into Ryan. He hadn't told Kei, but another reason why he was so hurt-now more annoyed with Ryan was because of what had happened a few years ago.
Ryan had confessed all that time ago, but Dil rejected him since he really didn't like him. So instead, Ryan decided to stay by his side as a friend.
But then one night at a party, Ryan got drunk. And he started touching Dil inappropriately. That was the memory he pushed out of his mind, but when Ryan kissed him, all those memories came flooding back. It made him want to vomit.
But then after that, Ryan vowed never to do anything like that. It took a while for Dil to be okay with him casually stroking his hair or being close, because Ryan was that kind of person. But ever since that incident, Dil could never have feelings for him.
Dil had already texted Megan and Lissa what happened earlier this morning. Ryan didn't hang out with them today. Not all day. He avoided them. Dil felt sick whenever he came close so it was a good thing too.
At work later on, Ryan appeared with a smile. But Dil could tell that it was his usual fake smile. Dil huffed, walking past him and going off to change into his work uniform in the back locker room.
He turned and felt himself jump when he saw someone open the door. Jin appeared with his usual smiley self but that soon turned into a frown when he met eyes with Dil. He shuffled closer to Dil, suddenly embracing him in a tight hug moving quickly side to side. "Are you okay?"
"What do you-"
"I was in the shop yesterday too you know. I saw it too. Want some ice cream? Or chocolate?" Jin asked, stroking Dil's hair out of his eyes. "My poor little bunny."
"You treat me like a child." Dil smiled.
"You're the youngest out of us, I mean look at you! Since I'm the oldest I have to protect you at all costs." Jin stated.
"O-Oldest?!" Dil exclaimed, taking a step back.
"Yeah! Kei's a few years younger than me. Why is that surprising?" Jin laughed.
Dil quickly shook his head. "N-Never Mind. Sorry if I just made everything awkward from yesterday..."
Jin ruffled Dil's hair. "Hey. Don't say that. Just please keep this civil for work. If you can. If not, we can make some adjustments for-"
"I'll try my best!" Dil smiled, nodding. "Where's Kei?" He bit his lip.
Jin smirked at Dil, raising his eyebrows. "Why?"
Dil's cheeks quickly turned light pink, hiding his face in his hands. "Never mind!"
"He's out to do some errands. Stacking up on supplies for the shop." Jin explained.
"When will he be back?"
"Soon? He needs to drop some stuff off and then go get more. It's a slow day today so you can go with him if you'd like. Not yet, he'll come back, you two work for a few hours and then go."
Dil nodded enthusiastically.
~
Dil was still on a course to learn to do nails. He started to daydream about his story however when reading the text books given on nail care. Lately, his story had taken a small change of course.
Now he finally changed the character names and added more features.
*
"I don't know if I can trust you anymore." The boy uttered in one gasp. "You've stayed by my side for a while now, but you could be the enemy."
Alex laughed to himself. "Of course you can. I'll always be by your side."
The boy grinned. He knew it.
He started to walk away when suddenly, he felt himself being tackled onto the ground.
"Watch out!" A cold voice said as this happened.
The boy groaned in pain. This strange man had tackled him, he didn't understand why, until he saw the bow that was shot, piercing the wall behind him. From the direction of one person. The only person he presumed to trust.
"YOU TRAITOR!" The boy screamed, watching as the man raced away. The man who saved him held him down, staring intensely into his eyes, as if he could see into the boys thoughts.
"Don't trust anyone around here." He said, getting up and helping the boy up.
The mysterious boy disappeared after that, the boy was left once again by himself.
*
Dil squealed to himself, feeling so proud of this story so far. He realised that he must of dozed off because by the time he opened his eyes it was nearly 5.
He got up from the table he had been resting his head on, stretching and yawning.
The door opened and Jin entered in a rush. "There you are. Kei's about to leave, do you want to go with him or not?"
Dil quickly wiped the drool from his face, nodding and rushing over to the other room where Kei was leaning against the door waiting.
Dil grinned at Kei who chuckled, gesturing Dil to follow him.
They took a taxi to the high streets to look for certain colours. Dil didn't really understand why they needed so many colours but he held onto Kei's wrist as he was dragged around.
"Are we done yet?" Dil yawned.
"I'm done. Why did you come along if you don't want to help?"
"I missed you." Dil smirked. Kei smiled, rolling his eyes as he turned away. Dil quickly thumped his chesst with his wrist, breathing rapidly trying to continue acting cool.
"Since we're done, how about getting a bite to eat?" Kei suggested, looking around.
"Yeah sure." Dil mumbled, heart pounding secretly.
Kei took a step forward, frowning at Dil. He kept inching forward only a few centimetres away from Dil who was racing with excitement. "Are you ill?" Kei asked, making Dil frown too and stubbornly shake his head.
"No I'm not." He said moodily.
"You're so red! You're not coming down with a fever are you?" Kei said worriedly, placing his hand on Dil's forehead checking the temperature. "You're hot too!"
Dil pushed away Kei's hand, blushing furiously but quickly facing the opposite direction. "I'm fine! Just hungry, let's go."
"Isn't the exit that way?" Kei asked, looking around dumbfounded.
Dil looked back and shook his head. "This way."
Kei's eyes widened, scratching his head cluelessly. He nodded in agreement, following Dil, mindlessly following along. Dil looked back to see Kei not paying attention again, so he held onto the ends of his sleeve, tugging him along.
"You're useless with directions. You're so tall, I thought you could see the exit from there." Dil laughed, pulling Kei along.
Kei laughed quietly. "I have a really bad sense of directions...wait...aren't your parents tall? Shouldn't you be tall also?"
Dil shrugged. "Probably something to do with dads' parents. Because they are giants but i'm short."
"It's nice that your tiny." Kei said mindlessly, patting Dil's head. "It means when I look at you, you're looking up and when you look up, you look cuter."
Dil bit his lip, cheeks going bright red. "How can you say that?!" He exclaimed moodily.
"What?" Kei laughed.
"Embarrassing stuff like that...it makes me embarrassed and nervous but whenever I say it to you I still feel embarrassed and nervous..." Dil grumbled.
Kei stopped, facing Dil properly. He gave him his full attention, gazing into his eyes. Kei took Dil's hand, bringing it up to the left side of hi chest, still looking towards Dil completely. From his hands, Dil's could feel the vibrations of Kei's heartbeat going rapidly, just as fast as his own merely from physical contact and locking eyes.
"Im nervous and embarrassed all the time." Kei laughed, cheeks tinting pink. "I just don't express emotions well. But I'm always like this around you..."
"I-I feel the same." Dil blushed., coughing after hearing his voice crack.
Kei chuckled, poking Dil's red cheeks and faint dimple. "I can tell."
Dil smiled shyly, pushing Kei's hand away but grabbing his wrist and continuing to make their way to the exit.
xx