Prelude 2 - Bright-Colored Words, Part 3

Why would the girl call at this time though? He wondered.

It had been an hour since he had returned from their wondrous encounter. He remembered how she mentioned she would give him a call later in the evening, but the darkness of night was barely even here. The skies were still coated in that mystical pale tint of orange.

His train of thoughts caused him to walk in circles.

It was a simple phone call, it'd be ridiculous not to answer it for so long like that. But his mind wavered and wavered.

Should he answer, he will be dragged further down this "rabbit hole" that may or may not result in success. Should he not pick up the phone, perhaps the girl will forget about him and everything will return to the way it was.

Before he knew it, his thumb slid the "answer" button and opened up the call.

For a second, he panicked, "Oh oh! Uh… Hello!" He quickly placed the phone on his ear, he spoke with a humorous tone, "I thought you weren't going to call till the evening."

"Hey…!" Her lulling and vibrant voice came through the phone, "Ah, I just felt like calling you now. It's not good to keep things off when you have the chance to do it earlier, amirite?"

"Yeah, totally, I get it!" He immediately agreed with her words, even though his mind wasn't entirely in the right place at that moment.

「What the hell are you saying, idiot?」

He lamented his erratic behavior from the inside. Just spouting those few words was enough to make him feel like he was one of those other kids at his school, and he surely did not want to be lumped in with them.

"Anyway, I figured I'd give you a little heads up about where we're going tomorrow." She shifted the tone of her voice to a firm one to emphasize her seriousness, but even then she couldn't hide the amount of spirit held within. "Annnd, I wanted to know whether you'll be up to it or not. Don't wanna end up going by my lonesome after all."

"We're… going somewhere?"

Hearing that brought confusion to Zachary's mind. He knew very well that they were going to go someplace. But the way the girl had put it out into words made it seem like there was more to it, which worried him greatly.

「And weren't my words enough to convince her I was in?」

"It's not just somewhere…," the girl chuckled, "It's… I better keep it a surprise. But I need to know that you're fully committed no matter what."

When it came the time to confirm his determination once again, he felt his tongue stutter before saying anything.

He was hesitating.

It genuinely surprised him. After all these thoughts to himself, his idiotic mind was still stuck in that corner of the past.

「I… I want to do this! I chose this!」

"Yes! I did not risk myself catching a cold in that weather only to back out now," He tried to hide his stress with a laugh.

"That's great! I'm glad you're still on," she was back to her excessively loud and energetic tone, "Well, that's all for now. It was fun talking to you, Zach."

His eyes widened after hearing her words. But before he could respond, the call had already ended.

She had hung up on him.

Despite her friendly attitude, it seemed she was really not one for saying proper goodbyes, even on the phone. He looked at his phone to confirm that the call was over.

「That was kinda… pointless?」

He was already dead-set on doing everything in his power and going beyond to change and get his story somewhere. The days of clinging to the background were over. But as he thought of that, his mind shifted elsewhere.

"Zach…"

He mumbled to himself, remembering the way she had nonchalantly called him by his nickname at the end. He didn't have the time to properly react to it then.

Although that didn't stop him from being weirded out by her behavior, she was acting as if they were best friends already — that nickname drop was the cherry on the top. Perhaps this was her way of making friends and making herself memorable.

Those short interactions with her definitely left an impact on him.

From one thought to another and then back, Zachary dropped onto the chair and sighed deeply. He was back to thinking about his decision.

「I wonder if I really did the right thing.」

With his mind moving onto another thing once again, he found himself looking back at the door. He remembered the fear from before, and how he hated it; how he hated for the doors to be closed. However, this time, he wasn't going to let fear get the better of him.

This time, it was anger.

He loudly scoffed before he got up to his feet and rushed to push the door wide open, "How many times have I said not to shut my door?!"

In his fit of rage, he was suddenly met by a maid standing in the hallway, who immediately jumped back in surprise from his aggressive bolt out of the room.

Despite being visibly shaken by his actions, the maid quickly bowed down. "I deeply apologize for my hasty action, young master. I thought that you might have needed some quiet time for yourself. I am very sorry, sir."

「So it was… her?」

If she didn't wear the signature black and white maid attire, he wouldn't have taken her for one. She looked awfully young to be a maid, about his age or so from what he could determine. The look of distress and regret on her childlike face made him feel quite bad about rushing out like that.

"I was assigned here recently, so I didn't know better till a minute ago. I rushed back here as fast as I could." She continued her apology, "But I know such a thing is not an excuse, and I am very sorry for that. Please forgive me, young master. I promise you with my life it won't happen again."

"Uhhh…"

Zachary was more concerned about what they taught the maids here rather than the apology itself.

It was as if she had committed a great sin against his family. Yes, he was angered by the fact that his door was closed. Yes, it brought him stress. But it was just an honest mistake from a young and inexperienced maid.

He rubbed his forehead and sighed, "It-It's fine. But listen, just… just keep it in your head at all times from now. Never close the doors to the rooms I frequent in this house, please."

"Yes, yes, I understand very well. It will never happen again and I'll make sure of it with anyone else who doesn't know." She elegantly bowed instead of frantically leaning her torso down like before, "Thank you very much for your kindness, young master!"

「Kindness…?」

After this frantic encounter, Zachary was left in a state of disarray. He turned his head away and wondered when he had become kind again. He would always turn away the maids and ridicule them for their mistakes at every chance he got.

Yet things went differently this time… quite differently.

「Is her influence rubbing off on me already?」

He had thought of the girl, he had thought of Lauren, and how her brief aura of light was the only thing of genuine color he would ever see in years. She was a girl who seemed similar to him in so many ways, yet she was still different from him. She had a different outlook on her life, facing the colorless world head-on and reaching for the greater colorful one.

「Guess it might not be so bad, after all.」

He let out a quiet laugh and looked back at the hallway…

...only to find the maid still standing there with an innocent, yet woeful expression on her face.

Zachary's eyes widened, "You're still here, huh?"

"Oh? My apologies. You did not dismiss me, so I had thought that you desired something else."

"Uh huh…?" He tried to follow her logic, which was fairly simple — he just did not understand the ethics of this upper crust world he was dragged into. "Then… I uh… guess you can go now?"

"Right away, sir!"

She bowed down in respect with a smile on her face, before walking away.

As she was gone, he was left with his thoughts once again.

Five years.

Five years he had been in this grand house, and this was the first-ever genuine interaction he had with someone in the house, even if it was a maid. He felt a strange feeling like he was proud of himself in some way.

He took that thought with him to his room and sat back again on the chair next to his desk. He moved it around to face the entrance as a precaution.

The door was wide open.

Everything was fine.

Tired of these thoughts and words circling around in his head, he leaned his back against the backrest and reclined the chair — a position like this was miles better than sleeping in a bed for him.

He placed his arm on his forehead, just slightly covering his eyes, and slowly let out a deep exhale.

「Hang in there…」