A Dream Within A Dream

Chapter - 16

In the cafeteria

"Hello, bitches!" Kia exclaimed while taking her usual spot in the cafeteria. Mark stood behind her and sat after her with a serious look on his face.

"Come on baby, it's fine. Leave it," Kia caressed his cheek to which he nodded.

"What happened?" Xav asked Mark.

"There was this weirdo around our locker area. I don't even know that he's in my maths class. I just asked him his father's name, that too because the professor asked me to and all of a sudden he started panicking and ran away like I was going to hit him or something," Mark explained and sighed after taking it all out.

"I guess he's the new guy. And besides, you should have asked him politely. Anyone could get scared the way you towered over him and cracked your knuckles," Kia said and kind of scolded him to which he rolled his eyes.

"New guy? "Is his name Vian? Vian Marshall?" I enquired.

"Yeah Vian. How do you know him?" Kia asked casually.

"Uh, he's in my literary arts class," I said to which she hummed.

We started munching on our food peacefully. All of a sudden Kia took all the veggies from her plate and put them into Mark's to which we all laughed.

"No baby, you have to eat that all," Mark stated and transferred all of them back to which Kia groaned.

"I can't. Why do they have to give so many veggies, I hate it and especially when they add the garnishing to make it look aesthetic," Kia whined.

"Don't start me on that girl," Abby interrupted and glared at her jokingly.

Abby was right though, who hates cilantro.

"Here, there's not even a single sliver of cilantro in it. Finish it now," Mark added to her plate.

How thoughtful!

"Hey guys, why don't we go to the club today? Let's party tonight!!" Mark suggested getting all excited.

"Lemme booze-up; I'm not drunk baby~~" Kia started singing, no, mimicking Mark from the last time we partied.

Bahahhaha

"Sorry, I can't come, I have to be at some library today. Vian and I have to discuss our project," I explained nervously.

"But Jo, we can go late, we all will wait for you," Xav said to which everyone agreed.

"Yeah, Abby can deal with her hangover tomorrow, I am sure of it!" Kia said laughing sarcastically at Abby.

"And we'll skip lectures tomorrow," Mark stated.

"Just text me the address, I'll pick you up whenever you will get free. So, guys, Jo and I will come a little late, but we will come," Xav told everyone and glared at me with his commanding eyes.

"No, we will wait too. Pack the deal. XXX club at 9?" Abby asked.

Everyone including me agreed to it.

➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

After searching for the location and wandering around and changing two bus stops, Stockholm library it was.

It was way huge than I expected. Like a dreamland.

I had never gone to any library other than our university one as I loved to sit around in my dorm room and read peacefully under the cantaloupe-colored chandelier.

I entered the library and it felt like all the sounds stopped. It was like I entered a completely different world from the outside where everything was so peaceful and calm. A light flickered above with a loud sound and scared the hell out of me. Some people who were there glared at me like I was the reason for that.

Say it! I permit you, say that you jumped off the table and pulled the wire causing the light to flicker. Dumb people.

Let's control ourselves for now.

Now I just have to find Vian. But...how?
I decided to leave a message for him and as per I took out my phone.

Whom are you going to message? Do you have his number?

Shit! No.

facepalm; and here I was calling other people dumb where the dumbest is you.

What should I do then? Search for him everywhere?

After whispering his name a thousand times and earning a glare each time from other people, a stood by a big shelf and leaned behind it as I was exhausted.

A shadow was cast on the other shelf in front of me and my eyes were ready to pop out. I turned around in a hurry and opened my mouth to scold whoever it was but before I could do that Vian shushed me by keeping his hand on my mouth.

What the hell? Why his entry is always so dramatic? Can't he come normally?

I sighed in relief to finally found him. But instead of witnessing his clear face, his face was all puffed up and his eyes were red and swollen.

"Hey! Where were you? Wait...what happened? Did you cry?" I whispered slowly to meet his gaze which he was trying to hide.

"No, there was a bug in my eye, I'm sorry I'm late, actually I forgot about it but then I lost track of time," he explained but seeing his face all my anger disappeared.

You shouldn't be angry in the first place. Remember, you are the one who is always late. I personally wanted that someone makes you wait. Hahaha

How? What? Can't you let me live?

"If something has happened, you can talk about it, Vian," I tried to look into his eyes which were hiding what thoughts were going on inside his heart. His gaze was averted like he was shielding himself from the pain he could get if he talked about himself.

"Look... I-" He was stuttering while forming a reply. My suggestion to share his thoughts with me made him more uncomfortable around me. Before he could say or form an excuse, I interrupted, "You can speak with silence. I can converse in silence too."

He looked into my eyes and I saw something. But it was mere a flash as he in a spur of a moment cleared his throat and closed his eyes for a second.

"Thank you for understanding," he whispered taking a deep breath afterward.

"No, it's okay," I said smilingly and earned an expressionless face in return.

"Let's go sit somewhere," I said and turned around to walk again.

"NO!" he spoke instead of whispering and that stopped me right in my tracks.

"Sorry, I mean not that way, here," he said politely and pointed towards the other direction.

"Okay," I agreed as I didn't know anything about this place so I assumed he came there often and knew a good sitting area.

"The staircase is making a creaky sound. When I'll tell you to skip one, then skip it, okay?" He whispered politely to which I nodded.

Don't fall.

─•❉᯽❉•─

A/N

Hey 🦋,
The next chapter is up!
Big events are coming so stay tuned!

Let me know in the comments what you think about this chapter.
Until then,
Take care❤