If Only You Can Stay (BL/BXB)

IV

The winter was starting to fade away unlike the few days before. Today was quite greener and soon the school would start without me realizing. I have a whole day to explore the city. Though, I still was going to familiar places and with my phone I was able to locate hidden gems such as a thrift bookstore that not many people go into so I spent most of the time delving into their collection. I found a few reads for a dollar each that were five-times or six-times more expensive back home so I did not hesitate to check it out by the counter.

The old lady who was running the whole place already knew me as I frequently go to her bookstore. Even though I was just strolling through the entire collection and ended up only buying two books after a handful of visits, she was still welcoming and accommodating me with every queries I had.

She smiled at me the moment I stepped inside and the bells chimed as the door swung open.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Ma'am.” I greeted back at the empty store. I did not know her full name yet since no name tag was visible and she was wearing normal clothes. So therefore, I thought to myself that calling her that would be appropriate rather than calling her with her full name.

I wandered around walls of shelves and found myself in the romance section. I was not looking for certain titles but was eager to find some young adult queer romance after I found out that they were more visible here than back in my country.

I stumbled upon a long three word long title and took it out from its shelf. I tried not to judge the book by its cover because my eyes couldn't take the art and I just flipped the book to see the back part where most of the synopsis and reviews were. I read through it and it was quite interesting but ended up bringing the book back to its original space—a gap between two other books.

I walked a few steps and found another interesting title that really caught my attention in an instant. The cover was quite discreet as the title were the only thing I could see and flowers all over the place. Just like what I did earlier, I flipped it to see the back part for its synopsis. It was quite interesting and got me thinking of what would happen next so I ended up taking it with me.

Time flew so fast that I found myself staring at the setting sun. The skies were a mixture of blue, violet, and orange from left to right. The beauty was enough for me to get mesmerized by it. I started taking pictures and proceeded to walk on the alleyway back to Auntie's house. Six months here would not be that bad right? The duration of my stay here wouldn’t be that long but it was long enough to be a breather from home's endless remarks about me being me. Though, their words couldn’t board a plan and follow me here, they still haunted me up to this day.

Though, smiles were put across my face to see that what I tried to hide back then, was prevalent here. Couples holding hands and kissing were everywhere and I knew I would never experience that kind of attention. Though, the thought of it crossed my mind a couple of times as I could be carefree here, I didn't want to be a burden to Auntie so I would be focusing on my six month long exchange student program she enrolled me in. I did not have to worry about a lot of things here. Aunt was kind enough to let me be as comfortable as I could. However, I felt like some kind of a lump on her back she would be carrying for the next six months so I was trying to find a few ways to help ease the burden I caused.

A snarl stiffened my entire body. I slowly turned to look at the dog on my side. I quickly recalculated the odds of getting bitten by a dog in the back of my head, how thick my jeans were to deflect the teeth, and how fast my legs could run to outrun the dog. But just as I thought that I could survive one, another came from the shadows behind the one that was already snarling at me. They were gritting their teeth and their noses were wrinkled on how mad these dogs were.

In a swift motion, I made the most dumb decision I ever made in my entire life. I turned and ran as fast as my legs could take me. It had been ages since I last had my job back home and in this country, with no idea about where the alleys would lead me to, this was my first time doing this run.

I quickly think of getting inside one of the buildings nearby. However, I might be breaking into someone's private property and might be accused of trespassing if I did. My only option was to find a public establishment with a door so that I could escape from the beasts that were running behind my tracks.

The gym with glass windows looked promising. It was a public establishment where anyone could go in and out. I sped up. My running was slowly depleting the air from my lungs and soon enough my knees would turn weak. But before I knew it, the dogs had already succeeded in attacking me.

Thankfully, I got through the handle of the glass door and swung it inside open. I held onto the handle and looked around if any of the dogs had followed me inside. Sweat dripped on the sides of my forehead. Chest going up and down from being exhausted from running and having to audibly breathe for air at every gasp I made. The dogs launched at the glass door and I was taken aback by their force. I lost balance and my back jumped into a wall before contacting the solid ground.

“Fuck.” The boy with a hoarse voice cursed.

***

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