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SECTION THREE Survivor.
( The tangibility of people. )
Chapter 05.
September 6, 2019.
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In which Achlys, for Junhui, would do anything.
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SEPTEMBER USUALLY SNEAKSup and all of a sudden it's autumn. August's violent pushes towards growth are orphaned and tucked into corners of sweatshirt pockets to corrode away before the month arrives again, smouldering in the flames of red, orange and yellow leaves. Summer dissolves in your mouth like sweet, sweet merengue and, then, you forget how it tasted like and are left to wait until another year rolls by, unnoticed.
With September left August's challenges and battles.
It hadn't become noticeable yet (August liked to scape without leaving traces, and let September settle sneakily, just to preserve the penury of its challenges a little longer) but Achlys found the first hints of the new month when she found Junhui alone, again sat in the balcony of the dorms.
It was strange to see him there, as if a mirror image of that afternoon, after spending a month acting like strangers in private. In retrospect, Achlys accepted she had acted out of fear and didn't know how to fix the situation anymore— she didn't despise failure (quite in the contrary, she feared it), and couldn't fathom what to do.
With heavy steps — she knew she had taken the wrong decision on August, hurting the person she genuinely cared about, but she tried to console herself, saying that she had protected him from a bigger remorse — she neared the terrace. When she stood in the doorway, aware of Junhui knowing she was there too, she took a second before closing the doors and sitting beside him. The only apparent difference between the first of August and the first of September was that, in Achlys' eyes, Junhui's smile was shallow.
He made a senseless remark on the weather — it's colder — and she searched for words. In its place, she settled for questions. Love hides in them; you cannot ask anything without giving your worry away.
