Garam keeps staring at the warm-toned picture.
"Is it really time to forget everything?" the thought wandered through his mind.
He turns back once again. Ben was strangled by Terry, who was having a hard time holding his stomach from aching anymore because of continuous laughing.
"Stop laughing," Terry says irritably. "You ruined my image."
"What image?" Ben replies, still laughing.
"I'm saying Gyu, I'm not usually like this... He keeps straying me away from my real self." Terry spat.
Gyu smiled watching all of this. "Yeah sure sure."
Though for any other the group looked alive but for Garam it chipped away at his heart.
I kept losing every person close to me… and each time, it was because of him. Is it their turn now? The thought thumped a bit.
"coming?" Kaven walking by the door, asked him.
Garam walks ahead.
Now even if he loses something, what would it hurt? He hardly believes if there's something left to cry out.
"Does Gyu have friends?" Kaven asked, which stopped Garam's thoughts from drifting far.
"Your caring nature wouldn't be so callous to not mind his mental state." kaven pressed.
Garam glares at him, "you heard her clear, he doesn't remember things… so why remind him?" he raised a brow.
"Your actions and words don't match, friend."
"Like yours do?" Garam shoots back sarcastically.
Kaven looks confused for a moment, then smirks, "So you do know."
"You deliberately got his name removed," Garam said, folding his arms across his chest.
Kaven shrugs as if it doesn't matter. "Yeah.. it would cost our team but what else was I supposed to do? Just watch after what happened in that room? And anyway, you weren't saying anything either. You didn't want him in the game either, right?"
"Yes… I don't want to play with him. Not in the game. Not otherwise."
"Otherwise?" Kaven frowned, tilting his head.
"Why say things in a circle, just spill it clear
you know na...Sometimes telling the truth makes the heart lighter." he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"And what if it becomes empty instead?" Garam asked removing the hand. "If instead of feeling lighter, emptiness crawled in… what would it be?"
"You're angry," Kaven paused, "No.... more like upset... you keep bottling... and now it's weighing you down."
Garam looks at him, then notices Gyu approaching from behind and walks into the room.
"Did you two have a quarrel?" Gyu asks, watching Garam leave.
"No… nothing serious."
But Kaven's thoughts begin to swirl. He knows Rex. He knows Ben. But Gyu?
First of all...He's a boy. The most important information. Second, He's Garam's brother.
And... Nothing.
"That grizzly won't open his mouth unless it spits," He huffed in frustration.
"Gyu…" He looks straight at him.
"Where are you from? You don't look like you're from here."
"W-what are you saying? I-I am from here." Gyu words falter a little.
Kaven studies him carefully
Following a lull, Gyu says softly, "I used to live in the city… now I'm here."
"Oh, City kids must look a little different." he muttered, though this wasn't the response he was looking for.
"So… any special friends?"
A girl's face flashes in Gyu's mind and a curve appears on his lips.
His friend. His only friend.
"Who is she?" Kaven teases, for him the smile on Gyu's face gives away his friend's gender.
But then Gyu's smile fades. His friend doesn't know he's a boy.
And if you look at it that way…
maybe he doesn't really have any friends at all.
"No one." he muttered and walked away.
Irritation flickered across Kaven's face. The brothers were identical in one way... Silence, as if their lips had been glued shut.
He stomped his feat in defiance, and moves to the room which was full with whispering.
–"What's going on?'' he asked.
–"Dracula is back again." a boy said in a rejected voice.
–"But didn't he just get transferred? How is he back already?" the other one asked.
–"Our ma'am is going on maternity leave, and the committee recommended him."
–"Great. There go our good days."
"Is he really that strict?" Epek asked her friend.
–"Strict? He enjoys making examples out of students, he doesn't teach, he hunts." her friend Erik sighed and continued, "He has a serious inferiority complex. Last time, a girl missed his class because she was on her period and was lying in the nurse's office. He made her run ten rounds of the ground and stood her under the scorching sun."
–"What! Poor her."
–" Yeah, She kept saying she wasn't feeling well, that's why she missed the class..but no. He thinks we all deliberately ignore him."
–"Doesn't the school board do anything about the way he behaves?"
–"He was transferred… but since there's no other math teacher right now, they've called him back to fill in."
"Good morning class," the sudden voice shut their whispering.
"Oh, here he comes."