Paper Bags

Paper Bags 19

The room was way too fancy for Haru's liking as it turned out. Sleep barely welcomed him despite the aching in his body telling him he was tired. A soft sigh escaped his lips when the silence in the space stretched for too long and threatened to consume his thoughts. Dropping his palms to the soft mattress, he forced himself to sit up.

Jason was two doors away from him. If he needed anything, if he needed a friend, he knew he could disturb the man and ask for a walk. But that wasn't as an easy thing to do now — not anymore. How funny it was that this entire journey to change the lives of many people also changed his own and his relationship with his best friend.

One second he had been trying hard to hide his attraction from Jason and the next, he was trying to run away from the attention he was getting from the blue-haired man.

Haru wasn't a coward per se, but he wasn't the most courageous person alive. This journey was one of the biggest act of bravery he had ever done in his life, but this he could do.

But feelings? Emotions?

He was beginning to realise that he wasn't very good with those things.

Whatever. If he continued to think in circles like this, he was going to confuse himself further.

Pushing himself away from the bed, he walked to the door and hesitated just a moment before he touched the cold, gold handle and pushed it downwards until he heard a soft click. The hallway outside was empty of people and besides the yellow lights creating a mellow mood, there wasn't anything else that caught his attention.

Taking a step forward and then taking a step back, he repeated this motion a few times while he contemplated the pros and cons of leaving the room. Glancing over his shoulders, it was quite apparent immediately that it was better if he had stayed outside than inside after all. Sleep didn't want him anyway, might as well waste time elsewhere and try to get acquainted to this town and get over this fear.

While anxiety thrummed underneath his skin at venturing outside alone, he would rather do this than stay here.

With the door closing behind him with a click resounding in the air, he eyed Jason's room. It would only take a few steps and then a knock to surely get his best friend's attention.

It would be that easy.

Haru walked to the elevator instead.

He only needed to wait a couple of minutes before the doors slid apart and the empty space greeted him. A shudder ran down his spine from the sudden gust of wind directly at his face as he took a step inside. Glancing at the ceiling to see if there was any vent, he tapped on the ground button on the panel near the entrance and moved to a corner of the elevator.

There weren't any vents here.

The silence in this small space was similar to what he had experienced in his room. Perhaps this was how it was if there would be no people around him — and that was such an uncomfortable thought. If this was what loneliness really was, he didn't want to experience it. Sure, the silence was nice to his overworked brain, but not like this.

Not with this almost hum in the air that breaks the second he huffed a breath or sighed.

The ding from the elevator jolted him from his thoughts as he gazed at the doors opening. A quick glance at the floor number had him frowning. He was not at the lobby, so why was it stopping at the first floor?

His shoulders tensed when he spotted Adam standing right outside.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before the man with black clothes shook his head and stepped inside. The elevator doors closed behind him once he had taken a stand next to Haru, both of his hands in his hoodie pockets.