185 Christmas Eve - Flowers

[Irina's Perspective]

I quickly rushed out of the train and made my way up past the ticket gates and to the front entrance of the station. I quickly made my way past the crowd, using my facemask to conceal my identity such that people wouldn't slow down and stare at me. I did not want to waste any time being slowed down by fans on Christmas Eve because I had succeeded in convincing Muria to go shopping with me.

After emerging from the busy front entrance of the station, I saw Muria standing and waiting by the open entrance dressed in a warm winter coat. Upon seeing her, a large smile appeared on my face from the excitement I received upon seeing my best friend.

"Sorry for the wait," I apologized as I removed my face mask so as to gasp for air. "The Christmas event took a bit longer than I had expected."

"It's alright," Muria smiled gently.

"Let's go now!" I happily exclaimed while I wrapped my arms around hers and ushered her along as we made our way to the nearby mall.

"Do you need a moment to catch your breath?" she asked as I gently pushed her along.

"I'm fine," I responded with a soft chuckle.

The mall wasn't too far from Nocsinis Station, meaning that we merely had to spend a few minutes on foot in the cold, winter streets of Palisia. However, I personally did not mind spending time outside as it gave me an excuse to be up close with Muria as I hugged onto her. Her body is just so warm and soft that I would not have any complaints hugging it all day.

"So I've heard that this place has great crepes in the food court," I casually remarked to Muria as the two of us entered through the automated doors. "We should definitely go try it out later."

Like usual, Muria simply smiled as she listened to me ramble. It's a great quality of hers that I admire. She's just so mature both in appearance and in personality that I bet plenty of guys secretly have a crush on her. Not only does she have the personality and the looks, but she also excels in other areas as well, such as her academics and her culinary skills.

Come to think of it, the two of us do not have much in common. If I were to look at our relationship from a bystander's point of view, I would be quite surprised that friendship was able to develop between us. It's just so unlikely that someone as busy like me would ever cross paths with a girl as perfect as her...How did we even meet in the first place?

That question bothered me during our shopping session, constantly drifting near the surface of my consciousness and always there whenever my mind isn't being occupied by some other thought. However, it didn't pose that much of a bother to me since I did not pay much thought to it, simply allowing it to slip to the back of my mind whenever it does come back up. I'm not really concerned about how we've met. All that mattered to me was that we did meet and that we're good friends now. If it's not for Muria, I would probably still be alone when in school and would probably just head straight home after the Christmas event.

After walking around, buying some clothes and looking at some accessories for about an hour, Muria and I rode the escalator down to the underground floors in search of the crepes in the food court. There was a short line waiting before the counter, but since we had already agreed on trying the crepes, we waited in line as well. The wait wasn't as long as I expected, taking no more than ten minutes before it was our turn to order at the counter.

"I'll also have strawberries and vanilla ice cream in mine," I said to the employee and finished my order.

"Ice cream in this weather?" Muria smiled.

"I won't get sick," I responded to her in an amused manner.

After receiving our crepes, the two of us moved to the side of the food court hallway so as to not cause a disturbance for the other customers. As we stood there, we enjoyed our crepes. For me, I savored the fresh strawberries and felt the chills as I consumed a small mouthful of the vanilla as well as the crispy crepe skin.

"Do you like it?" I asked Muria.

"It's good," Muria smiled as she looked down at hers, which was a crepe with different fillings from mine.

"May I have a bite?" I asked her.

"Sure," Muria responded, sticking her hand out in my direction to provide me access with the crepe in her hand.

I took a bite of her crepe, taking in the different flavors of her crepe, savoring it. A warm feeling rose in my chest as I appreciated the fact that I now have a friend that I could do normal things with, someone who does not want to associate with me because of my status but because of who I am.

"Here," I said, reciprocating the gesture. "Have a bite of mine."

"..." On her face, there was a reluctant look as she gazed into my direction as if she was a mother taking care of a naughty toddler. "Fine," she sighed and finally gave in after staring into my begging eyes for a bit.

Slowly, she brought a hand up to her hair, brushing it away from the side of her face and keeping it away in an elegant manner as she leaned forward and took a small bite from my crepe. On her face, there was a gentle and almost dreamy look, one that I am sure would be extremely seductive to boys. In fact, it even had a similar effect on me, causing my face to become warm as I blushed in a somewhat flustered manner.

She's just prettier than me, more mature and more compassionate than me in every way possible that I genuinely feel as if I am inferior to her. Even though I stand before the glitz and glamor of the stage, I am still unable to compete with someone like her.

After we had finished eating our crepes, we made our way over to the exit of the mall and once again stepped foot on the cold, winter streets of Palisia. The sky was quite dark down as time had gone by fast, leading to the advent of nighttime in the beautiful city that is decorated with festive ornaments. It could be said that it was because of the festive spirit that caused the large population of pedestrians, or one could say that it was because of the large population that engendered the festive spirit. Whichever the case may be, the city has an overall positive atmosphere going on for everyone in sight.

It was actually quite nice walking among people who smiled as they enjoyed their holiday season. Everyone seemed to be walking with a companion, either it is family members, lovers, or just friends in general like me. That makes that one teenage boy with the dark hair and black muffler scarf walking alone an oddity in the crowd as he walked past us. He drew my eye, and also Muria's as well, causing the two of us to look back over our shoulders and at him. Neither of us spoke about that oddity that we had just experienced, and instead, we continued on walking side-by-side close together in order to share warmth.

That oddity bothers me, but it wasn't to the point that it would foul the mood. I am more focused on treasuring the day's experience with Muria. I am just glad that I finally have someone that I could celebrate the season with unlike before. In past years, I would always be focused on advancing my career and would partake in many different events and live shows. It was quite tiring, and I didn't like it. However, recently, a few months back to be exact, everything changed...How did it change?

I frowned as I realized that there's one more situation in my memory that I cannot recall the cause for. I gathered my mind and tried to focus on what I could remember, arranging them in a clear chronological order in search of where the blank had occurred. Slowly, I was able to piece the fragments of my memory together.

Images of my past flashed before my eyes as I thought back. Scenes of our attempt at causing a change in my father and having him realize his wrongdoings particularly shined in my mind. Instead of it being just me, there was also someone else present in that gymnasium, someone that I had forgotten. Even when I think back with my mind focused solely on that one incident, I could not recall his appearance. However, I feel as if I had just recently seen this boy...But who is he?

Slowly, I reached a hand up to my cheek, gently touching it to discover that it was wet with my tears. In shock, I stopped in my steps and brought my wet fingers before my eyes, staring at it.

Why am I crying? I asked myself. Who was it that I had forgotten?

I looked over to my right in search of Muria's reassuring presence only to discover that she was also in a dazed state, frowning as if she was also trying to recall something as well.

Who are you? I asked myself as I closed my eyes and recalled that one time when I had looked into his eyes. Who are you? Please tell me...

Slowly, that dark fog that had obscured his face lifted, revealing to me his countenance. Immediately, I felt my heart being warmed as I finally recalled who he was.

"Alevian?" Both Muria and I whispered at the same time.

Our eyes immediately met as we realized what it was that both of us had forgotten and had finally recalled. Without saying anything, the two of us looked back in the direction we had come from, knowing that the boy who we had forgotten had just recently passed us by.

With a rapidly beating heart in our chests, we immediately turned around and started jogging in search of him. He's down this street, somewhere in the crowd. We were sure of that. However, that did not stop our hearts from trembling, it didn't stop mine from trembling from fear of losing sight of him once again.

After frantically surveying the crowd, we found him, and upon our discovery of him, I could feel my heart rate increase even more as tears started streaming to my eyes. I wasn't sure what Muria's reaction was as I was too focused on keeping my eyes on him, but I'm sure it was probably a countenance that one rarely sees from someone as calm and composed like her.

With great joy in our hearts, we called out his name.

"Alevian!"