Chapter 2: Yuei

"Sorry," Millenia whispered, avoiding his lingering eyes on her.

She got up to her feet with ease, as she straightened her Student ID card; and positioned her pendant properly around her neck.

"No, no it's fine. I should be the one apologizing. My bad," Livingstone apologized, meeting her gaze as he watched her strap the hand of her bag to her shoulder.

She was about three to four inches shorter than him. Tilting her head to level her eyes on him, she gave a brief nod.

"I'm Millenia," she disclosed. She pulled out a hand to initiate a handshake.

"And I'm-" Livingstone began, but was interrupted by an announcement which was made made through the university's audible intercom.

Reminding himself that he had to be at the library at that same moment, he broke the silence between them. "I'm sorry, but I guess I should be on my way now."

"Alright...sure." Perplexity tainted her voice. Without another word from her, she slowly retracted her stretched hand.

"I'm sorry once again - for the fall." He took a step away from Millenia, cast one last glance at her before taking his leave.

Upon entering the library in no time, he tracked down Yue from his ontel with her access code.

He spotted her short slender frame immediately behind a shelf with the words DENTISTRY boldly inscribed in italics.

Yue was like the sister Livingstone never had. Aside from being his confidante, she was also his ride-or-die. Their acquaintance soon blossomed into a strong friendship the moment they uttered their first words at each other a decade plus two years ago. She was also quite pretty in a flawed accessible way. She had a bouncy, easy-going personality and a sugary voice of which Livingstone could not deny that he adored.

Not content to be another drone like most civilians in their Unit, she had an obsession for clothes with vibrant colours. Her vulnerable side masked a unique strength even she had no idea she possessed.

Livingstone took a step further into the library's space as he closed the distance between them.

The inside of the library was quite impressive and resplendent with both old-looking and new-looking books. Its thick transparent glass shelves had neatly lined up books with their spines facing outward, colour coded with dots and arranged alphabetically according to the numerous programs of studies the university offered.

There were still few universities out there that chose to stuff their libraries with hardcopy books, although the majority opted for more advanced technologies and paperless systems.

Yue stood with her back facing him, both eyes were focused on the shelf in front of her.

The change in her hair colour did not go unnoticed by Livingstone. If there was one thing Yue had a weakness for. It was the power of hair dyes. The current state of her silky mane was dyed in a maroon colour, instead of the usual jet black colour which always cascaded down her shoulders.

Her long mane was now trimmed and levelled at a shoulder-length, instead of the usual waist-length he always recognized her with.

It was almost as if someone suddenly encouraged her to go in for this new look since they were both starting this semester afresh.

"There you are," he said with a wide grin, invading her personal space as he moved closer to tousle her hair. Her strong lavender-scented perfume wrapped around her like a protective shield.

"Hey! Watch it," she shrieked, meeting his candid green eyes with an amusing scowl on her face as she swatted his hands, which were meters away from attacking her hair. "I just did this hairstyle yesterday, and I don't want you messing it up on my first day on campus," she disclosed, with a hint of pride in her tone. "So, no touching, mister."

"Right," he smirked, then leaned against the shelf behind her. "I'm dying to know what inspired your new look. I mean, just look at how fatigued those shoulders supporting your head are, especially at a mere distance. I bet they agree with me on this one."

He watched her pucker in lips in annoyance at his jest. At the sight of how adorable she looked with those puckered lips, he bit his lips to prevent a laugh from escaping; and squeezed her shoulders lightly as if to prove his point.

Yue slapped the hands which found their way on her shoulders, her companion drew them away and feigned hurt at the contact.

"Very funny. Either way, I'm still glad you noticed." She rolled her eyes, instead of giving him a scowl like he'd initially expected. "I got my divine inspiration from Vivao. And this colour-," she paused and touched her hair, "is the current trend on the site."

She was met with silence. She had anticipated a remark from her companion.

"Remember Vivao?" she asked, when she couldn't decipher the expression on his face after another minute of silence. She tugged a strand of hair behind her ear. Taking his silence as an indication that he needed further explanation on the app, she continued. "Vivao is the latest trending app which was created last month by... Warya Aguirre, some girl from the Northern Unit if my memory serves me right."

Unbeknownst to her, Livingstone didn't need to rack his brains to recall any information regarding the app, because he did remember all the popular details that came along with it. Details like: what it does, what it entails, who created it, and whatnot. Anything newly developed officially became a trend in the new world, whether it evolved from one Unit or the other.

"I can't believe you downloaded that lame excuse of an app," he declared, not caring to hide the surprise in his tone. "Thought you hated everything related to it."

He recalled those countless times she used to pass mean comments about the app whenever it popped up in their conversations.

"Well, I'm glad to know that your word 'hate' was used in the past tense because I don't 'hate' it anymore," she announced with a forced smile.

He chortled.

She turned her head towards the shelf and picked out a book. Running the pad of thumb across the spine of the book, she began to flip through the pages.

"Do you intend to specialize in dentistry as your interest in study in our final year?" He changed the subject, gesturing to the book she had in her hand.

Their education system, as structured by The Council, was done in such a way that, the first three years out of four was spent gathering and acquiring all the necessary basic knowledge needed to help one proceed into the final year. This was how earth's degree level was structured. Though the majority hated it, they had no other option but to comply with it since many had passed through the system without a complaint.

Like everyone else, Livingstone hated the system.

Pondering over his question, Yue hesitated before uttering an answer, but gave one eventually. "Probably, though for now, I'm not certain about it."

"You?" she asked, referring to his study of interest.

"I'm thinking of pursuing Pharmacology."

"Interesting, but what happened to your dream of becoming a research scientist? Thought that was what you wanted to pursue in our final year?"

"Well, you know...just like dreams are born each day, similarly, they die each day too, paving way for new inspirations and intellect to men."

At his words, Yue's eyes widened. She couldn't contain her surprise, so she blurted. "Wow, I see someone took my advice and decided to take reading as a hobby during his leisure time these past few days," she teased, giving him her full attention now. "I mean, for you to quote the author, Mary Keltz so well is remarkably unbelievable to me."

"Whatever," he murmured with an eye roll and with the high hopes that she might drop the topic.

She threw her head back and laughed at his reaction. Livingstone reached into his bag in search of the book: a book he'd promised her.

"Here you go." He stretched his hand to give her the book he'd retrieved from his bag.

She closed the book she had in her grasp with a thud, and took the one he had in his stretched hand away from him.

Knowing what it was after inspecting it, her face brightened as her oxbow lips broke into a contagious smile.

He smiled at her reaction. "Kept my promise as usual."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed. "You always do keep your promises. I promise to cherish this one."

She stood on her toes to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. To him, he felt proud to have returned a favour.

"Yeah, I hope you do 'cause that hardcopy nearly cost me my dear life," he lied smoothly, pointing at the book. She froze, raised the same eyes which had been admiring the book's cover minutes ago; and furrowed her brows.

Livingstone's lips twitched in amusement at her plain reaction.

"Hey chill, I'm just messing with you," he teased in the end, pinching her on the cheeks playfully.

She narrowed her eyes at him, pursed her lips and scowled at him. She found the joke offensive and hated the fact that the tone he used came off as though he wasn't bothered by his own statement.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Can't I pass a good joke anymore?"

"That is no joke and you know it," she stressed, "you shouldn't be letting such words out of your mouth or else they might become your reality."

"Alright, alright fine but anyways I've got to leave you here," he said, announcing his leave.

"Like now?"

"Yeah, like now. I have another class to attend."

Attempting to ruffle her hair for the last time to lighten up her sour mood, she ducked, thus preventing his intentions from becoming a reality.

"Hey!" she scowled adorably.

She set her calamine-pink lips into a pout and he chuckled, raising his hands defensively.

"See you around, Suzuki," he voiced with a lopsided grin as he took a step away from her.

"And since when are we on last name basis?" she asked, from her corner.

"Since we officially became new adults," was his comeback remark.