[Hm... You know, there are three types of situations that a person wants to forget but is never able to forget.]
[First is when you're depressed, heart broken. Maybe from getting rejected in love or maybe you lost a close friend.]
[Second is when you lost someone close. Father, mother, sibling, best friend, girl friend. The memories remains and you can't bring yourself to accept that they are gone forever.]
[Third and last is.]
[Guilt.]
[Guilt of making someone quit their friendship, guilt of making someone break up because of you.]
[But above all is the guilt of killing someone]
[Maybe not yourself, but you are the reason in some way.]
[And that's what Vash—]
[I mean Varun is going through.]
{Year 2012, April 06}
"It was the time between summer and monsoon."
"I was in a play center that time."
Time: 9: 43 AM.
A pale skinned foreigner girl and her mother entered the play center classroom.
Varun was sat on toy horse as it went forward and backward.
He turned his gaze towards her as she also looked at him.
Her black hair shined navy blue in the sunlight that came from the glasses of the sliding door.
Her eyes deep blue like ocean as they sparkled like night sky.
She looked at him and smiled.
Varun just looked forward again as the girl stood offended.
Girl:"eh!?"
Her mom tugged at her arm and gestured for her to introduce.
She pouted and took a breath before introducing herself with her sweet and cute voice.
"안녕하세용, 여러분! 저는 박소라예용. 앞으로 여러분이랑 유치원(학교)에서 같이 지낼 거예용. 잘 부탁드려용!"
("Good morning everyone. My name is Park Sora and I'll be looking forward to spending my school days with you.")
She said it all in korean as her mother chuckled awkwardly while every kid in the classroom stared at her like they just saw a alien.
Her mother turned towards the teacher, who was a middle aged woman with curly brown hair and glasses that rested on the tip of her nose.
Mother:"sorry, she doesn't understand other languages very well yet."
"Uhm, I– I'll try to teach her basic hindi or at least English to connect eith other students."
"Please take care of her till she's able to to connect with everyone."
The teacher smiled sweetly and responded with a rich chuckle.
Teacher:"hoho~, don't you worry Mrs. Park."
"I'll keep our little Sora completely protected here and, I also know korean, you know."
"I'll also help her learn our language to connect with everyone here."
After a few moments the teacher and her mother explained her something as her mother finally left after giving one last wave at her for the day.
The teacher gestured for sora to play with anything or anyone she wanted.
She nodded and walked to the horse on which Varun was playing.
She stood silent for a moment, staring at him curiously as he kept ignoring her while every other kid was staring at her.
Like.
He didn't care in what language she talked.
Another girl who was playing with a group of 3 more girls looked at sora before walking upto her.
She tapped on sora's shoulder and asked in a squeaky voice.
Girl:"You dont tak in oul langhuaje?" (You don't talk in our language?")
She asked in hindi, which left sora to do nothing but stare in confusion.
She tilted her little head to a side and was about to ask something before Varun got off the toy horse and gestured her to take it.
He didn't say it.
He just pointed at it and went to the slide.
Sora kept staring at his back as he climbed the steps of the slide.
She looked back at the horse that he left for her and then back at him.
Instead of playing on the horse, she went to him again.
Staring as he climbed and slide down again and again.
Varun tried to ignore her but started to feel awkward after few minutes.
He climbed down and gestured for her to use it if she wanted to and went to the desk where the other kids were making drawings.
Sora.
Kept staring at him.
Not knowing how to coverse due to language barrier.
But she walked back to him and stared at his back.
Varun.
Even though he did his best to ignore her gaze.
He couldn't refuse it forever and so—
He turned towards her and raised the paper he was using to draw.
The paper had a half drawn mountain and a few texts: "what do you want?"
They were in English.
Even though in messy handwriting.
He knows English because the school has mostly English subjects and A, B, C, D was a common writing.
Not because he's smart.
But because he is forced to study when his brother is getting tutored by the private tutor.
Sora saw the texts and lit up immediately.
Like she understood what's written on the paper while the kid next to Varun and her stared at the paper like 'gibberish?'
She took the paper from the kid next to him and wrote in English.
Sora's text:"Do you not think that I am weird?"
Varun stared at her and instead of writing a response.
His expression gave the answer: "Yes you are."
Sora pouted and wrote something again.
"You're meanie."
Varun stared and sighed.
He wrote some and raised up his paper.
Varun's texts:"Your English and grammar is pretty good."
"You have a tutor?"
Sora stared at it like: "you're trying to deny it, aren't you?"
Varun stared back like: "why shouldn't I?"
Both of their eyes met with a static challenge.
Like.
Sora wanted to be friends.
And.
Varun wants to stay away from the girl.
He wrote on the paper again and lifted it to her.
"Stop following me."
"You're not weird because of your language or looks."
"You're weird because you keep following me for no reason."
Sora read it and immediately her pout became wider.
She scribbled on the paper and raised it to his face, making him stumble back a bit.
Sora's texts:"I am following you because you're not looking at me."
"It feels weird when everyone is staring at me and trying to talk, while you keep ignoring me."
Varun read it and lets out a long sigh.
He wrote on his paper and gave it to her before walking away and sitting with sudhanshu who was thin figured even as a kid and adi who was sitting with his nose continuously running and one more kid whose hair were small and he had too many melanin and scars on his face.
Sora stared at him in confusion before looking down at the paper in her hand.
It read.
"I am not ignoring you because I don't like you."
She turned the paper and there was another string of text.
And.
They were in proper line unlike his other texts.
"I am not a type you should hang around of."
They weren't his words.
Because.
He had been writing with crayon all this time.
And.
Those words were written with pen.
Someone wrote it before he took that paper to have a conversation with sora.
And.
It somehow made sora want to get even more closer to him.