Chapter 11 Sad song
One more dark night had gone, but the Sun was still hiding behind snowy clouds. Early in the morning, Rey was still sleeping. Sound of the doorbell entered his ears, and it felt like to him, he was still dreaming. After a few more doorbell sounds, 'ding, ding' reached in his ears, he slowly opened his sleepy eyes and rubbed it. He searched for his phone and found it on the small table next to his bed. He clicked the button to the side of the phone to unlock it, and looked at the screen while blinking his eyes, "it's still early. Who is ringing the bell this early? Wait, is it mom? Who else would come here at this time. it is definitely, "mom." Thought of his mom completely woke him up and he jumped from his bed. He ran to the door in anticipation and opened the door inside. However, he had not expected her to be behind the door, whom he was looking at with confused eyes. "It's her. I thought mom would be here. What the hell is she doing here?" he thought. "Morning, Rey," greeting with a smile conveyed to Rey, However, Rey was not in the mood to respond. He tried to close the door, but she halfway entered the apartment and stopped him to close the door, "what are you doing? Let me enter the apartment." She struggled halfway through to enter, but Rey did not let her enter, "you can't enter. How did you even get my address?" Rey put more force to push the door, but she let out cry, "Aaaack! it hurts, you jerk." Rey released his force immediately when he heard her sudden cry. She fell forward due to sudden release of force on the door. She found herself in Rey's arms. "Hey! Are you alright? You did not get hurt, did you?" Rey asked the girl in his arms in a concerned tone. She lifted her head and looked at him, "I am alright. this is all your fault." Rey apologized hearing her words, "Okay, I am sorry. what you expect from me when you suddenly showed up early this morning." She pouted and said, "it's my responsibility to take care of my boyfriend when your mom is not here." His expression changed and he asked in a neutral tone, "who told you that?" She revealed the name of the culprit, "I knew you wouldn't tell me anything, so I asked Ken. you always stay with Ken, so I thought he might know about you. Look I was right, wasn't I." Rey cursed him in his mind, "Damn! you Ken." And said to her, "I told you not to bother me. I am not your boyfriend or anything." Kayoko unattached herself from him and did not pay attention to him, "look, my hairs are all messy now." Rey sighed and walked to her, 'let me fix it," he asked her while fixing her hair, "So why did you come here?" She answered with a little red face, "I brought food for you. I thought that your mom is not here, so it will be hard for you to make breakfast." She hit lightly to his hand and said, "these are all fixed, you can get ready for school. I will prepare the food." Rey did not have any choice, but to accept her offer. He said while walking away from her, "do whatever you want."
Kayoko walked outside to pick up the food and her school bag and thought, "if this continues, I might really fall for him." She walked to the kitchen and placed the utensils on the dining table.
After getting ready for school, Rey walked to the Kitchen and a savory smell reached his nose that reminded him somewhat of his mother's cooking, "I did not expect you to have any talent for cooking, but it looks good." Kayoko made a pout and said, "taste the food, then you will know. how good I am." Rey took his seat and served the food to himself. He tasted the food and commented, "it's good. thanks." Kayoko's eyes were looking at him, like she was waiting for her result in some competition. She felt proud of herself and said, "see, I told you." She also started eating. After eating, Rey helped her to clean the dishes. It was almost school time and they both walked outside the apartment. Rey locked the door and climbed down the stairs with Kayoko. "Now you like my cooking, I will make..." Kayoko was about to complete the sentence, but she interrupted by Rey, "no you can't come to my apartment." she asked, "why not." Rey replied with a neutral expression, "because I told you, that's why. If you want, you can bring a lunch box for me in the school only." Rey somewhat understood her stubborn character, she would not listen to him easily. Rey found that method to negotiate with her that it would be better for him to accept the lunch box than inviting her to his home. She accepted as easily as he thought.
They arrived at the school building and walked to their classroom. Rey was the first one who entered the classroom followed by Kayoko. He took his seats close to the window and started looking outside at the sky. Shortly after, blonde boy entered the classroom and greeted Rey, "what's up, Rey?" When his voice entered his ear, he cursed him in his mind without even looking at the owner of the voice, "Damn! you Ken." However, he did not show on his face when he looked at him, "I am Alright," Ken kept his blue bag on his table and turned his head towards Rey, "Hey Rey, Is Kayoko has any sister?" Rey felt irritated and thought, "now I know what's going on in his head. He probably believes, I and Kayoko are couple." Rey smirked and said, "oh you want to know about her sister." Ken's smile widened and asked Rey, "is she really has a sister? Is she single? Can you introduce me to her?" Rey looked at Kayoko who was still busy talking with girls and thought, "well, she is pretty. I can see, why he is trying to butter me up." and replied to Ken but did not reveal the answer to his question, "I know why you give my information to her, but don't you think you should ask me first." Ken replied in a neutral tone, "isn't she your girlfriend? So why do you even want to conceal where you live? It's not like that you are hiding some dark secret in your apartment." Rey sighed and thought, "well, it's not his fault." And replied, "I don't know if she has a sister or not. I will ask her if she has and let you know." Ken thanked Rey with smile, "oh really, thanks Rey." Miss Yumiko entered the classroom. Her sweet voice entered in student's ears, "Please take your seats." students got back to their seats. She took attendance and started teaching mathematics in the first period. She started to write down the linear equations on the black board, "8x-7(5- …``
After attending some lectures, Rey was walking in the corridor. He took and was about to walk in front of Miss Yumiko's office, but he heard, "excuse me, Rey.'' He turned his head to the direction of the voice and looked at Miss Yumiko, "yes Miss Yumiko." She quickly presented her request to him, "Can you please deliver these documents to the student council office, if you are free?" Rey accepted the documents with a light smile, "yeah sure. Anything else I can help you with." She thanked him, "nothing else just these and thanks Rey." Rey started walking towards the student council office. Student council office was not that far from where he accepted the documents. So, it just took him one minute to reach the student council office. He knocked at the door with his left hand while holding the documents in his right hand and heard, "come in." Rey opened the door and entered the student council office. Rey's eyes met with the person who was sitting on the chair while doing some paperwork. He had dark green eyes and spiky red hair. Boy with red spikey hair adjusted his clubmaster eyeglasses with lightly touching with his hand before asking, "how can I help you?" Rey answered in neutral, "I got some docs from Miss Yumiko to deliver." He pointed at the table and asked politely, "can you please keep those on that table." Rey walked to the table and put the documents on the table. Red hair boy thanked him, "Thanks." Rey said while walking to the door, "you are welcome." Red hair boy started working again and Rey closed the office room.
He walked a little far from the student council when a piano song entered his ear, "piano, who is playing this song? it just kinda feels sad." He started to move his feet towards the music room. The moment he came closer to the music room, he felt more emptiness and strong feelings towards the song. Song was like a magic spell to his ear which he could not resist but follow. "It just felt like someone has caged and wanted to be free, but he/she can't see any hope of light to free himself from the darkness." Rey thought while moving his steps forward. The notes became more intense, that made him think about his mom whom he had no idea about where she was. Last notes end the moment he opens the door of the music room. He felt like his entire world was shaken by the last notes. He stood there and his hair slightly fluttered. His eyes focused on Person behind the piano. He could not see the person from that angle, so he started walking to see the person. Girl in black uniform noticed his presence and wiped her tears hurriedly. She changed her expression from sad to smiling. She stood up from her seat and walked to see the person who entered the room. She looked at the person with a bewildered look, "Rey, what are you doing here?" Rey's expression turned astonishing when looked at the person behind the piano. He was surprised to see Kayoko because she did not expect her to play that song. He replied honestly, "Well, I walked to deliver some docs to the student council when I heard that song you were playing, so I just came to check because I never heard playing that song before." Kayoko understood, "that explains," Rey continued, "Honestly, I haven't imagined that you were the one whom I would be find here. You never told me that you could play the piano. and What was that song?" She answered proudly, "That is my original song Falling Tears. I composed that song." Rey did not ask more questions related to the song, "are you going back to the classroom now." She nodded. They both walked back towards the classroom. Rey looked at her while walking, "I can't understand this girl at all." They walked back to the classroom and attended all the lectures.
School was over, Rey was walking with Kayoko on the way to his home. He suddenly remembered something and asked Kayoko, "hey, do you have any siblings?" She looked at Rey with a perplexed expression, but it changed into a joking mood, "Siblings, why are you suddenly interested in that? Oh, aren't you planning to propose to me for marriage or something? it's not like I will refuse what we are still in school…..."
Rey interrupted her before she ran more simulations, "Stop talking nonsense, I just asked, if you have any siblings. Where did that marriage come from."
She laughed, "ha, ha, ha, I was just joking. Okey, okey, I tell you, I don't have any blood siblings, but I have one cousin brother. Why do you want to ask that?"
Rey felt sorry for Ken in his mind, "So! she did not have any sister, sorry Ken." After pondering for a while, Rey replied, "I just wanted to ask, that's all." She did not pay attention to that subject anymore. Kayoko parted ways with Rey and waved her hand, "see you tomorrow." Rey responded back with a waving gesture and walked to his route.
Chapter 12 I don't fight without a reason
Rey was resting in his room while staring at the letter in his hand. It was a letter from his mom. It had been around 4 months, when Charlette went to foreign country. Since then, Rey had not seen her and talked with her, except for those letters. After reading the letter, Rey stood up from his bed and put the letter in an envelope. He kept the letter in the drawer and walked to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and looked inside, "I have to go to the market." He took out one bottle of apple juice and poured it into glass before keeping back. He drank the juice and cleaned the glass. He walked towards the door and opened it from inside. He got out and locked the door before descending the stairs. His smartphone vibrated two times, Rey took his phone from his pocket and unlocked the phone. He looked at the text message from Kayoko and read, "why haven't you come to school? Are you at home? I have something for you?" Rey texted back to her, "I am going out…." and put his phone back into his pocket.
Rey was walking in the back-alley street, while he was in deep thought. His shoulder accidently bumped into someone, that made him lose his balance. He came to his senses and unconsciously apologized without even looking at the person he ran into, "I am sorry." The angry voice entered his ear the moment he apologized, "do you think, I will let you go just like that, pretty boy!" Rey moved his head towards the owner of the voice and his eyes met with dark black eyes. He had short black spiky hairs and his ears had three piercings on each side, in which he wore a snake shaped earring in both ears. "Dammit! Why the hell I ran into these guys." Rey cursed while paying attention to other boys to that guy's side. One of them had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Rey turned his eyes towards the short brown hair boy with deep brown eyes, who was chewing candy gum and making balloons with it. They all have the same ear piercing. Despite looking like a delinquent, they had quite good physique and a handsome face, which could attract attention of pretty girls. "What should I do? Should I make a run for it? I don't think that would work. I don't want any fight with these guys." Rey thought for a moment to resolve the situation. After some thoughts, he decided to apologize again, "I am sorry." Short black hair boy presented a deal, "Okey if you are that sorry, let's make a deal. I will let you go if you let me punch on your face once." Rey was about to speak his thoughts on that deal, but girl's sweet voice entered to his ear, "Rey, what are you doing here?" Rey did not look at the direction of the voice at his back, but recognized her, "What the hell is she doing here? I don't want any more trouble with these jerks." Black hair boy asked, "hey do you know her?" He did not turn his head back to her, and accepted his deal without answering him, "okey you can hit me." All three of them were a little stunned and Rey easily accepted their condition, but black -haired boy clenched his fist and punched Rey in the face. Rey was hit in the face and lost his balance but did not fall. Blonde hair girl who was walking behind Rey, she picked up her pace and ran to Rey. She shouted in an angry voice, "hey what are you doing?" Her wavy blonde hair fluttered while running. Three delinquents were about to leave but stopped when they heard her angry voice. "This girl is always getting me into trouble, why can't you just leave me alone?" Rey thought while turning back to her. Rey stopped Kayoko and held her hand and shouted, "run…" he started running while holding her hand and arrived at the main street in a few seconds. Rey looked back at the alleyway and felt relieved when he saw no one was following them. Kayoko asked while panting, "who were those guys? Why were you fighting with them?" Rey looked in her pale indigo eyes and thought for a moment, "I knew those guys would not hurt her, but why still I did not want her to be seen by those jerks." He shook his head and replied, "you don't have to worry about them." He put both his hands on her shoulder and said, "listen, wait for me in the city park, I will meet you over there. Don't follow me." She was about to speak, "but…" however, Rey interrupted her in the middle, and said, "just do what I said." She nodded with her head and started walking toward the direction of the city park. She took a glance at Rey and Rey smiled at her. Rey waited until she disappeared then he walked back to the alleyway. Three guys from before were still standing at that place. Short black hair boy smiled when he saw Rey walking to them, "I know you will come," Rey replied with a visible smirk on his face, "Oh! were you waiting for me?" Short black hair boy moved from where he was standing and said with a smile, "so, you know about us." Rey replied with the same expression, "Well, I never met you guys, but I heard about your group from one of my friends. so, you are the famous 'The Snakes' from Fight club." Now the blonde boy replied, "Boss was right about you then. so, why did you come back then? Do you want to take revenge or something." Rey averted his eyes to blonde and answered, "don't you want to fight me in the first place? I knew you were always looking for fights. So, you were provoking me. Well, I can fight one on one with one of you guys. Now, you guys can decide who you want to fight." Brown hair boy who was busy listening to them, joined the conversation, "this is exciting, then I will..." he was about to complete his sentence, but the short black hair boy interrupted him, "Rocky, I will be his opponent." Rocky retreated and let Simon accept the challenge. Jack also did not have any complication with the decision. Rey already knew the names of the 'The Snakes' member, so it was not hard for him to figure out the identity of the three boys, based on the information he knew from his friend. After making the decision, Simon launched a punch at Rey, but Rey already expected that. He was already prepared for that and slightly moved himself to dodge the punch and counterattack with his right hand. His punch made Simon lose his balance, but still Simon had a small smile on his face. It was like he was having fun. Same could be said for Rey, who was fighting with excitement. Simon spoke while blocking another attack from Rey, "you are not in the fighting club, but you can fight really well," Rey had a small smile on his face while he tried to attack again at Simon, "I got some martial art training from my mom, so I knew some moves." Simon lunged his kick at Rey and got successful to hit him this time, "that explains, but you are nothing but an ant in front of me." Rey fell on the ground when he hit by his kick, however he reacted so fast and moved his legs so fast to hit Simon's legs while lying on the ground, "don't think so highly of yourself," Jack and Rocky were enjoying the match in front of them while commenting, "I have not thought him to be that good."
"Me Either…..."
Simon fell on the ground and laughed, "ha, ha, I guess, I evaluated you wrong." They both continued for 10 minutes and stopped fighting after they were fully exhausted themselves. No one gave up at the end and the match was a draw. Now, both sitting against the wall and talking with each other like some old friends.
Simon asked, "Hey, why don't you join our group. with you, we could enter at least in the top five."
"Thanks, but I can't." Rey replied while wiping his sweat with a handkerchief from his forehead.
"Why not, you are so good. you can even reach the top 20 in solo ranks." Simon asked with anticipation.
Rey shook his head, "I am sorry, but this is not my thing."
Simon down his head with disappointment, "I guess, you can't even if you want. you have a beautiful girlfriend and probably she doesn't want you to have a scratch your pretty face."
Rey shook his head again and replied with a small laugh, "ha, she is not my girlfriend."
Simon and his friends looked at him with confusion and asked, "then, what is she to you? Is she your sister?"
"What she is to me. A friend, I guess." Rey thought before replying, "she is just a friend. Oh! I forgot, I must go now," Rey stood up and waved his hand while saying goodbye to his new friends.
Three of them still had complicated looks on their faces, "is this guy real? she is just a friend to him."
Rey covered the few meters distance and arrived at the city park, where he told Kayoko to wait for him. Park was almost empty and felt silent. Rey saw Kayoko who was sitting on the bench. He walked to her, "hey, Kayoko."
She looked at the direction of the voice and saw Rey's disheveled appearance, "Rey, what happened to you? Did you fight with them?"
Rey checked himself when Kayoko mentioned it and thought in his mind, "my clothes are all a mess." After observing himself, he replied to Kayoko while stroking his messy hair, "well, it was not a fight. It was just a friendly match." She looked at him with a bewildered look, "huh, Friendly match, what does that even mean? Do you know them?"
"I can't explain all things to you, don't worry about that. By the way, what did you text me for?" Rey replied while changing the subject.
Kayoko looked at the small bag and gave it to Rey, "Take this." Kayoko had a timid expression on her face when given the small bag.
Rey was a little confused about the small bag he was receiving from Kayoko. he did not have any idea what was in the bag. and he thought, "I thought, she is going to give some notes for school." And he asked with a perplexed look, "what is this?"
Kayoko answered shyly with a single word, "Chocolate."
"Chocolate!" Rey was now a little more confused.
Kayoko pouted and explained, "you don't remember today is a Chocolate Day. I made chocolate for you, and I wanted to give it to you in school, but you hadn't even shown yourself at school today."
Rey listened to her and did not read too much into it, because he accepted her fake relationship with Kayoko and felt like it was natural for her to give the chocolate as lovers do on chocolate day. Rey thanked her with a small smile after she explained, "Thanks, Kayoko."
Kayoko looked at his smile and her heart started pounding, "ba-dum, ba-dum" She averted her eyes not to show her red cheeks to Rey.
Rey looked at her actions and asked, "hey, are you alright? You are acting strange today."
She faked her expression with a small smile, "I am okay. it's just your imagination."
Rey did not argue with her.
Kayoko suggested to Rey, "let's take a little walk."
Rey nodded and started walking with her.
After taking a short walk, Rey and Kayoko sat down on the bench. She slowly leaned toward Rey and supported her head against his shoulder. Rey moved his eyes and looked at her beautiful wavy blonde hair, "are you tired?"
"Let me stay like this for a moment," Kayoko said.
Kayoko felt comfortable while she was leaning against his shoulder and her eyes became a little sleepy.
Rey looked at her and felt something different in his heart. His lips curved up without even realizing it, "She looks so innocent right now." Rey shook his head a little to avert his attention, "what I am thinking" and said to Kayoko, "Hey Kayoko, don't sleep here."
She moved her head from his shoulder and apologized to him, "I am sorry."
"It's okay," Rey said. And he suggested, "let me walk you to your
home,"
Kayoko accepted his offer and started walking with him. She told him his home address.
After a short walk, Rey and Kayoko reached her home. She invited him to her home, but Rey denied her offer. Rey once again thanked her for the chocolate before leaving, "thanks again for the chocolate. See you tomorrow." Kayoko happily said goodbye to him and walked to her home.
It was late evening. Streetlights started to illuminate the town. Rey said to himself, "it's already this late." Rey walked to the market and got his groceries. After buying groceries, and some ready-made food, he came back to his apartment. He put all the things in the right place and looked at the bag Kayoko gave him. He took out the box and opened the lid of the small box. He looked at the heart shaped chocolate and took one piece and ate it, "this is good." he closed the lid and put the chocolate box in the cooler.
After taking shower, he started preparing dinner for himself. Rey looked at his phone screen as usual and started thinking about his mom. One more day had become the past that he spent without Charlette. By that time, he had become used to eating alone. He served the food and ate his fill. After finishing all tasks for the day, he fell asleep.