Summer season of August [Daerin]

Chapter 10

June 21, 2015

"I believe that ghost exists. I feel like they wander around when they died without even having to fulfill their dreams."

Surely, she believes in everything that seems unbelievable at all.

"I saw you at school but you're as cold as ever. Are you a main character in an anime?" she asked with a chuckle. My head remained down, shut eyes, and a numbing arms. I didn't know that she'll approach me from the window of her room.

"What if there's a ghost behind you? Or above you? Maybe the ghost is just there by your side...what if the ghost is up your shoulders?" she said again but this time, I shrugs. "Ah...Sully should pick me up by now. Why is
that girl taking so long?" she babbles.

When Danielle went silent, my heart skipped a beat. Did she get tired of talking to me?

I lifted my head to see her. I panicked and fell on the floor when I saw her perfectly looking at me.

"H-Hey! Are you alright?" she asked. I let out a groan as I get up. Stupid chair.

"I just fell from a chair and you're asking me if I'm alright?" I sarcastically asked. I opens my still,
shut eyes, when Danielle laughs.

She's laughing while clapping her hands.

Weird...but cute.

"At last, you've said some words now. You're improving, Hae!" then, Danielle gave me thumbs up. My heart thumps in a reason that I don't know and I will never know.

"So...what's going on inside your mind?" she asked. She sounds like that of a meme I've viewed.

"Have you dated anyone?" I finally asked.

"Nope, none of them who showed signs ask me for a date." Danielle responded together with her cute pout, "I remember liking someone in my class...he stopped talking to me..."

"What's his name?" I curiously asked tho I know it's Sunghoon she's talking.

"Ah...he's Sunghoon. He's tall, smart, kind, handsome, and everything you'd wish for a guy." Danielle stated while smiling. I can't help but to smile too. But that Sunghoon isn't a man. If he's a man and he got that message I've put in his locker, it should've boost up his courage to pursue Danielle but he's none other than a guy who only wants easy- to-get girls.

"Do you want to have a dog with its tail down?" I asked.

"Of course, when dog's tails are down, it means they're scared." she responded.

"Exactly, who wants a scared man?"

"Uh...what are you pointing out? I thought we're talking about dogs?" Dani's confusingly asks, "But...I'd still take a scared dog. I'll take a good care of that puffball until it finally wag its tail."

She sounds so pure...

"We could've been playmate before, y'know?" Danielle stated which caught my attention.

Yeah. You're right, Dani.

"But you're too cold. I'd take a scared puppy but a puppy who couldn't get excited of me arriving home, a puppy who wouldn't wag its tail as I call its name...would make me sad that I wouldn't want to take care of it at all." she said with her gaze pinned in my eyes.

"We don't have any pets so I couldn't find a proof that there's such a puppy like that." I answered. As far as I know, puppies love their owners.

"I met one. That puppy made me so lonely for years." Danielle bitterly smile. I don't know why her bittersmile hurt me. I just know when people give out a fake or genuine expression.

"If you're a season, you'd probably be a winter..." she mumbled, "A season as cold as ever..."

"Sometimes, there's a warmth behind the coldness that you feel." I said. It was an offensive statement because it came from Danielle.

I know I'm not good at expressing my feelings but I never knew that she thinks of me as a cold being...like how she compares me to winter season.

She hurt me for the first time. Am I really a cold being, buddy?

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