Closed Doors

Chapter 0: A Glimpse

Prologue

Pitter, patter, pitter, patter.

You watched as the droplets of rain washed the window you are currently looking at. It begin as a mild shower but soon, dark clouds covered the vast blue sky, preventing any form of light to seep through those blankets. You chose not to go outside.

Today is Saturday. If the weather's been clear, you could be in the library by now, reading books and perhaps, drinking your favorite beverage too. But instead, you are stuck here in your bedroom, doing nothing. What a day. Without a choice, you flopped lazily back into your bed, then suddenly, you remembered the book you received as a gift a year ago.

"Maybe I should read that book instead." You love to read, but this type of book doesn't just pique your interest enough 'causing it to be stuck in your own little book collection for quite some time now. Well, the desperate situation needs desperate measures, so you took it and decide to finally open the book, anything just to pass the time. You opened it carefully, even though you had it now for a year, it still smells like a brand new book you purchased in your local bookstore. Every flip, and every swift, you gently read each chapter, absorbing every word that is embedded between those lines that once you thought meant nothing.

You continued to read, wondering what will happen next on the following page. But a certain passage caught your attention...

He pulls back to look down at me and when he sees my tears, he brings his hands up to my cheeks. "In the future... if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again... fall in love with me."

You held your chest tight, somehow it made your heart ache a little. Tracing every letter, it finally sinks into your head... you will never have that kind of affection. Ever.

Even though you refused to read it at first, surprisingly, you managed to finish the story in one sitting with only a few chapters left. "It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover," it says on the book cover. You admit it, it was really a great book. Worth the read, and definitely the heartaches as well. But reading this kind of genre still makes you feel hollow, completely empty inside. You never tried to fully wonder what love could be, but honestly, there's still something that is lingering inside your heart that even you yourself still didn't discover yet.

All your contemplation and silence were disrupted by three soft knocks on your door. "Dinner's ready." A voice came behind the door. "Coming." you simply replied. Looking back at your plain ceiling, you had an idea. Maybe redesigning your room would be nice for the upcoming new school year. Serves as a fresh, new start for you and for your new responsibility ahead; you're the winning candidate for president in the student council anyway.

The rain finally stopped. You made your bed and fix yourself a bit before deciding to go downstairs and have your dinner. There you saw him sitting at the table, already starting to eat. Yeah, that's normal for the both of you, no need to wait for one another just to eat, as long as you invite each other, that's enough.

"I might go outside for a while, just going to buy stuff I need," you stated. He gave you a quick glance before continuing. "Okay, be sure to make it quick. It's already dark outside." He replied. If you weren't siblings, you might be shocked to see him wearing, well, casual clothes aside from his school uniform with his signature black gakuran sitting on top of his shoulders. You just nodded in reply and finished eating your meal.

Grabbing a purse and an umbrella in case rain will pour down again, you now headed outside to buy the first thing you need. You went to the nearest home decor store and decided to browse for decoration ideas. There you see a cute vase, a hanging decor, and the most interesting one for you, is the pack of illuminated stars. Satisfied, you went to the cashier to ring it up so that you can go home and set this up in your room immediately. But heading outside you saw puddles of water on the road and yes, it's raining again. Glad you did bring your umbrella.

Holding the paper bag, you went outside to go home, but as soon as you stepped your foot out of the store, a boy suddenly bumped into you causing you to stumble on your feet and start to fall when, fortunately, someone caught you behind. You looked behind and saw a boy in an orange hoodie. He is slightly taller than you and his bangs are covering his face, maybe it's wet because of the rain outside but you can't help but notice how bright his eyes are behind that hair. Those pair of fiery orange eyes looking straight at you. You felt warm inside despite the chilly weather, feels like the sun was on those orbs, and it was enough to melt you whole.

"Sorry." You said before putting a distance between the boy. "It's fine, sorry too." He shortly replied. You bowed and were about to take your leave when a hand tugged your shirt behind. You looked again and saw the same boy with the star decor in his hand. You checked your bag immediately and your stars were not there, they must have fallen when the man bumped you earlier. He handed the stars to you before taking his leave, "Be careful." he said. "Thank you." You replied with a small smile.

You watched him walk away with his orange hoodie covering his already damp hair and there you noticed, your stars... are shining brightly.

How clinchè. You need to finish that book immediately and.. take back what you said earlier.

"Might be it, I don't know. Whatever." You mumbled before taking the other way home.