Eden In Black

[CHAPTER EIGHT]

"For books have been my companion all along,
and friendships were scarce,
I had nowhere to belong"

-"So how was Tokyo?" the dark blue hair guy approached Eden as soon as he saw him across the small alley of the in-between buildings. Just leaning back and thinking deeply about something. -"Kai." he greeted him back.
-"So, how was my hometown?" Kai asked again.
- "Aren't you from Nagasaki?"
-"Japan is my country, so technically the whole country is my hometown."
-"Right..." Eden gave a short smile.
- "Have you seen Remi today?" Kai looked around.
 Eden raised his shoulders. "No, I haven't seen her since we came back."
- "Never mind, so listen, a bunch of guys I know are going to hack the university's server and we need your help with the encryption" Kai said, his voice low and confident.
- "You're saying it so casually, what makes you think I'll agree so easily" Eden was caught off-guard by the sudden request.
- "I know about your past Eden, no one leaves being a black hat for good, the itch is there, don't lie. And I heard about your failed grades from last year, your dad won't be happy about it I'm sure, I'm giving you the chance to make it better, consider it a win-win situation."
-"Are you kidding me right now? I never knew you were a hacking servers, Kai." Eden wanted to give Kai the favor of ignoring what he just heard.
- "My answer is no." He started to walk away.
- "Sure about that?" Kai suddenly took out a photo and showed it to him.
- "Are you black mailing me?" Eden noticed instantly what he was looking at, and the people involved in the photo.
- "It's only going to get worse Eden, or should I say ...."
-"We'll talk about this later." Eden interrupted him as soon as he noticed Scarlet and Zain heading towards them, what Kai wanted was the last thing he needed at that moment.
-"Speak of the devil, hey girl." Kai exaggerated his greeting and wrapped his arms around Scarlet's neck.
- "Hands off Blue hair." Zain stared at him with an angry look, his muscles were tense, almost as if he needed just one reason to pick a fight with Kai.
-"Okay, just joking man." he lifted both hands in surrender.
- "What have you guys been up too?" She smiled looking back and forth at Eden and Kai as they seemed to have been interrupted.
- "Where's Remi?" Zain looked at Eden, his face unreadable.
- "She didn't come with prince charming." Kai smirked answering him.
- "I am going to class." Eden adjusted his backpack and walked away.
 Zain then looked at Kai in anger and shook his head, giving him a warning look of some sort.
 -"Later" Kai raised an eyebrow in challenge of Zain and left, a devilish smile marked his face.

- "Eden!" Seth suddenly approached him carrying a bunch of A4 papers with invitations printed on them.
- "Party. My Place. Next week" He shoved one forcefully on Eden's chest.
- "Not bored with parties yet I see." He looked at the well designed poster, wasted talent on a piece of nonsense, Eden thought.
- "No, and you're coming. I'll drag your ass there if I have to, there's someone I want you to meet." He added checking how many invitations were left to hand out.
-"Have you seen Professor Oakman anywhere? I have to submit our excursion paper on Tokyo." -"You're going to have to email that, I heard he left for some family emergency in Hamburg."

 Remi suddenly approached both guys with a smile "He is mad at me" she gestured to Seth pointing at Eden.
- "You look so different with your new haircut" She added trying to touch his freshly clean-cut hair.
- "Don't touch. Party at my place." He handed her an invitation, avoiding her hand.
- "I have to go, by the way, Kai and Zain were looking for you a while ago Remi." Eden waved goodbye and walked away.
-"Wait, are you still mad at me? We haven't spoken since we left Tokyo." She rushed behind him trying to apologize.
- "Why would I be?" Eden noticed how guilty she felt.
- "I screamed at you and I was angry with everything and. I broke the table and... "
- "It's okay, calm down." Eden interrupted her, "it's not a big deal really" he smiled.

 His mind was still with what Kai threatened him with, how did he get a hold of that picture. He headed towards the Cafeteria to have a cup of coffee and catch up on some reading.
His mind was racing with thoughts.
The nightmares that started out of nowhere, the picture Kai threatened him with.
Scarlet acting weird all of a sudden, he knew the issue was bigger than Zain, he thought it just didn't make any sense.

72:03 the phone suddenly rang on the side of his bed, Seth... he remembered.
- "Where are you?"
- "Damn it, sorry, I forgot." Eden tried to rub his eyes forcing himself to wake up.
-"Listen, I got someone here I want you to meet." Seth then insisted.
- "I'll be there in 30 minutes." He hung up.

He found parties to be boring, he hated it. The first few parties Seth used to have were okay, but he doesn't seem to grow out of it.
 "It's my right" Seth always replied when asked. "You don't expect me to be alone in this sustainable mansion and never throw a decent party. I earned it, damn it, architecture school sucks the fun out of my social life, you're damn right ,I'll not waste my precious youth on building designs for hours at end, and for what? Grades that no one gives a damn about as long as you win competitions at some point in your career, to hell with it, I'm living it my way!" He always laughed his heart out spitting out his revelation.

Eden showed up exactly at 09:17 that night. He found it noisy and crowded, not that it was ever quiet, but he was in no mood for another dance all night, silly talk gathering party. He grabbed a cold drink from the kitchen fridge.

- "Finally!" Seth led him towards the pool area.
-"Jessica, Sam, Rose and..." He pointed at each one of the girls with a drink on his hand.

-"Ally" The girl in a very tight short red skirt offered her hand to Eden.
-"Eden" He lifted his drink greeting them, where does Seth meet those girls.
-"SO! PARTY TIME!" Seth began to dance around the living area turned into a dance floor, leaving Eden to entertain the girls he just met.
 Instead, he apologized and excused himself to walk away to sit on a couch just far enough from the annoyance, and close enough for the personal appearance and making sure Seth doesn't do anything stupid.
It's only been 13 parties since the last break-up, Seth won't admit it, but he's been having it tough since his ex-girlfriend broke his heart. Eden found himself staring at his cold drink for too long, he didn't realize a girl approaching him slowly in her long-patterned flower skirt.
She had long blond curls flowing over her shoulders. What send Eden a sudden chill all over his body was her perfume.
A scary familiar scent...a mix of peonies and lilies, it can't be.

He looked up to see her face clearly through the faded party lights, when she suddenly smiled showing her perfect pearl smile.
-"Is your Sky falling too?" She asked softly.

Eden's heart skipped a beat. It was her.