First Day; Done

"Ehem." Purposely clearing his throat, Link looked at Khai.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked.

"Why should I not be?" Khai turned his head towards them.

"Blood!" Anna pointed out.

"Blood?" Khai touched his head, and indeed, he felt some sort of sticky liquid mixed with his hair.

He retracted his hands to the front of his head and was shocked.

"I bled from just that?!" More so than shocked, he was exasperated.

"Hurry, get the medkit!" Link ordered as he assisted Khai to sit on the bed.

"It's fine, it doesn't hurt at all." Khai reassured them.

"Shut!"

…

"Well, it doesn't look too serious.." Link reevaluated after looking at the wound.

Khai heaved a sigh. "Didn't I tell you that it was nothing?"

"You really should be more careful, you know." Link let out a breath of relief. "For a stranger, you have a knack for guilt tripping those you meet."

"Ah," Khai was also quite depressed.

Link sat down beside him.

"Oh, right." A thought came to his mind, "You should have a guard or something. After you passed out, no one stopped me from pulling you out of the library."

"What? You carried me here?"

"Uhn." Link nodded. "I couldn't just leave you there, I-"

Knock Knock Knock

His words were interrupted by knocks outside.

"Come in." Link said.

"Are you done? I prepared drinks and bread!" Anna opened the door while carrying a tray of snacks.

"Didn't you over do it?" Link chuckled.

The tray was filled with multiple colored snacks in differing sizes. It was eye pleasing.

"Really?" She tilted her head. "I'm just happy that everything turned out alright!"

"Let's eat." Link invited Khai and approached Anna. "Come, come."

"Eh?" Khai blinked blankly, getting off the bed.

"It's noon and you still haven't had anything to eat, no?"

"That's true.." He did feel empty. He skipped both breakfast and lunch.

Khai approached the two and found himself sitting on the floor, facing a table filled with a bunch of drinks and snacks.

"I didn't know what you like so I got one of each kind they had.." Anna said, almost nervous that Khai wouldn't like what she got for him.

"Mhm, thank you." Khai looked at the both of them with a serious expression.

"I'm sorry to have been a liability to both of you these past few hours. I'll be sure to repay you next time." He added.

"Hey." Link let out a condescending chuckle. "Hey, hey. Calm down. You're making it look like we only helped you to gain a favor."

"Ah?" Khai was dumbfounded. "Well, no I- I-" He was at a loss for words.

He only wanted to be courteous. He didn't expect that he'd unknowlingly offend them instead!

"Brother, quit messing with him!" Anna intervened. "He might take it seriously!"

"Pft." Link released his stern tone and chuckled.

"It seems your impression of me has gone down a bit."

"Well, uh.." Khai didn't want to refute the truth. Doing so would only make him look fake.

The memory of Link aiming for his neck was still vividly in his mind, making itself comfortable.

"I apologize." Link bowed sincerely. "I couldn't hold myself back."

"I'd like to apologize, too." Anna said.

Right, both siblings attacked him in under a few minutes.

However, if he were in their shoes, he didn't think he'd do things differently as how the siblings reacted.

Truly, he had no reason to get upset as they were only two people protecting each other and acting on their instincts.

"We accept your apology. I hope you can also understand us." Anna smiled lightly.

"Mhm, I forgive you." Khai nodded.

"That's great!" Link was back to his lively self.

"I don't think both of you have officially met yet. How about introducing yourselves?"

"I- Uh, sure. My name is Khai, a first year just like your brother."

Khai took the lead, seeing as he was the guest.

"I'm Anna, a first year like you.."

'Oh? A first year also, that's interesting,'

"and his twin sister." She pointed at Link.

'WHAT!?' Thousands of mini explosions went off in his brain, leaving nothing but chaos.

"Ah? You're twins?" He reiterated in shock.

"Yeah, we don't look the same, right?" Link chuckled.

Khai looked at them repeatedly, "No, no you do not."

"We came from.."

And thus, the conversation continued until the sunset turned a hue of red and yellow.

…

Khai asked about Anna's fever but nothing of significance happened. It was simply, as how Link described it, "a weird phenomenon".

For some reason, Anna's fever just cooled down when he was in the midst of panicking, even regaining consciousness in a span of just mere minutes.

Still, the trio unanimously agreed that Anna would get checked up to make sure that she's healthy and not fostering any unwanted diseases.

…

"It was great talking to you both!" Khai bowed, deeply expressing his gratitude.

He was intending on going back to his own dorm as it was already getting late.

"You're a great guest! Come back anytime!"

Pwat!

"Ahn?" Without any prior notice, Link delivered a small hand chop on Anna's head.

"Hey!" She protested.

"Guest, my ass.." Link sighed.

"Am I not one?" Khai scratched his head awkwardly. Were they missing something that Link noticed?

"Well, you more or less intruded." Link said.

'Ah!' 'That's right..' Khai looked around,avoiding eye contact.

Were they thinking that he was shameless?

Pow!

A palm landed itself on Link's back; a courtesy of Anna.

"Ah! Hey!" Link looked at Anna with furrowed brows.

"You deserve it!" Anna replied, pouting. "Look at him! Are you making him feel bad?"

Link pushed his finger to her lips. "I'm not finished yet!"

"Ah.." Khai was caught in a strange situation.

'What the heck is this?'

"Uhm, it's fine, you said nothing wrong.."

Pow!

Another slap was delivered on Link's back, packing more power. "Hurry up and finish!"

"Hey! Quit it!" Link grumbled as he walked away from his sister.

Khai looked at their comical act as he inwardly smiled.

'How cute..'

He suddenly missed his little brother, with him not around, the little bun must be lonely.

'Well, it's not like we hang out often,' Khai was reminded of his usual days cooped up in an enclosed room, reading a book and sipping a cup of coffee and was speechless.

'So this is the life outside of books, eh.'

He was enjoying himself so far; he didn't imagine that living his own life would be this fulfilling. Perhaps his boredom was satiated by reading the lives of others because he never really lived a life of his own..

"Uhm, Khai..?" Anna's worried voice sounded out.

He was just silently staring at them, seemingly in a daze.

"Hey! Watch his left! He might fall down again!" With quick feet, Link moved to Khai's right, extending his arms, seemingly prepared to catch him.

"Ah.."

Did he look that weak?

"You're not gonna fall?" Link looked at him with geniune curiosity written all over his face.

"He's gonna fall?!?" Her brother's words registered in Anna's head and she panicked.

"Hold up! He might fall on his left instead!" The twin sister came to the rescue and prepared herself on the incoming impact.

"Uh.." Khai was on the verge of tearing up.

"I'm.. I'm not going to pass out, you guys.."

Both of them were actually worried, making it difficult for him to react.

"Oh, that's good, that's good." Link patted his back. "You spaced out for a few dozen seconds there."

"Y-Yeah, I guess?" Khai was truly speechless.

"Oh, right. We used the medicine in your bag, you might want to fill that up again." Anna retrieved a bag from her closet and handed it over to Khai.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that."

'That's right.. I need to place it in an accessible area as well.. I'll do that as soon as I return later..'

"Thank you so much for taking care of me." Khai felt the need to express his gratitude again.

"No problem. We'll be in each other's care from now on since we're classmates anyways." Anna said with a smile.

Khai nodded. "I hope we'll become good acquaintances soon."

"Oh, right.." He suddenly remembered a lingering question before and after he passed out. "How did you know that we're classmates?"

If he remembered correctly, they were 4 different classrooms in total. He was in Class A but his ID didn't indicate anything.

"Oh, did you not see the list yet?"

'List? Is he referring to the class divisions?'

"I did. I'm in class A." said Khai.

"Well, I also saw it.." Link said.

"Ah." Khai blinked. "You saw it?"

"Mhm, that's why I knew you were my classmate after you introduced yourself.." Link explained casually.

'This.. How could he be so nonchalant? Memorizing 40 names isn't easy at all!'

And the list only came out the day he moved in! So it was only yesterday!

Terrifying! It seemed he'll be meeting with these kinds of people.

"Well then, take care of yourself, alright?"

Not knowing the awe that just ignited within Khai, Link stepped out of the room, signaling Khai to follow him.

"Hm?" Khai snapped out of his daze. "You're leaving as well?"

"Yeah, I got my own dorm, you know." Link said, pulling him along.

"Thank you for having me." Khai quickly bowed and allowed himself to get pulled by Link.

"See you soon!" Anna waved them goodbye and went back in.

"So I assume you don't know your way around these parts.." Link remarked.

"Oh, now that you mention it, where are we?"

"Pft. Really?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing.. We're here in the girls' dormitory, over there.."

Just like that, the two walked their way towards the boys' dorms.

Link, who was more familiar with the campus, talked as he introduced the different kinds of establishments and structures that they passed by.

And Khai, who was amused by everything he passed, listened attentively and took mental notes.

"Here's my stop." Link said, pointing at the second floor corridor.

"Oh, mine's on the third."

The dorm system of Xiala University is a building itself, like an apartment complex.

"Mhm, let's go see." Link started to walk up the stairs.

"Eh? Why?" Khai followed, confused.

"What do you mean, why?" Link responded in the same confused manner.

"Why are you coming?"

"So I'll know where you stay." Link stated without thinking much. "Oh, right. I still didn't get your number. If you're comfortable with it, of course." He turned around and pulled his phone out.

"Well," Khai honestly didn't mind. "It's.."

"Great!" Link smiled and pressed the call button.

Bzz, Bzz, Bzz

Khai's pockets vibrated.

"You can just save mine with that."

"Mhm, thank you."

"Yeah, sure."

It only took them minutes later to arrive at his dorm.

"This is where I'll be staying.." Khai said as he opened the door.

"Wow, very neatly decorated. It's so you." Link praised.

"Thanks, I did my best to make it look habitable. I'm glad you like it."

Link smiled. "It's definitely something.."

Inwardly, however, his heart was beating wildly.

His sister also had a nice looking dorm. It seemed he needed to step up his game.

"Well, thank you for everything today." Khai sincerely bowed.

"You really need to stop doing that.." Link sighed.

"Doing what?"

"Well, that." He pointed his chin towards Khai.

"Being me?" Khai was utterly confused.

"Ah." Link was stunned.

A second later, a smile appeared on his lips.

"No, it's nothing, just be who you are."

He turned around and prepared to leave.

Khai watched him and felt that he needed to say something, "Really, you may not know how much this means to me but just know that I enjoyed this day."

"…" Link glanced at him with an inexplicable look.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

He slammed the door shut in front of Khai and walked away.

'She's just like her.. Untainted by the world's darkness.' He thought.

Little did he know, Khai was the most adept when it came to traversing the darkness, but the most foriegn towards the light.