All it took was an unfortunate encounter with someone who knew much more than what met the eye. From their meeting at an adventure course to measuring the distance between the sun and the moon, there was no telling how deep she had fallen for him; n...
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28 ☆ ("PLEASE..." )
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December 9th, 2019.
Things have remained the same like a song on repeat–the same rhythm, same drop, and same outro, even if you listen to it a hundred times over. There's nothing new.
If there's any change to count, though, I've started going back to class. I still haven't gone home yet, and Mother still hasn't contacted me yet. I plan on going home for the holidays, but we'll see how far I get. Ever since we went camping, I've gotten stronger–maybe it was thanks to Hanae's criticism or Sunoo's sympathy, but I've been working toward distancing myself for the better. Riki has yet to notice, so I can't tell if that's good or not.
But, today was his birthday. It was the one day that I had to act genuine.
I decided to hold him a surprise birthday party, although it was a random Monday and we'd probably be having our final exams sometime this week. It was the least I could do for him. I decorated the walls of the restaurant with blue and black lanterns, and Hanae hanging up lines of shimmering decorations. I forgot what they were called–I just bought them because they looked nice.
Riki put down the tape as I held the lanterns in place. "Isn't your birthday coming up too, Rie?" I looked down at him from the chair. He chuckled and ripped the piece from the rest of its body, reached up, and slid it across the ceiling with his fingers. "In January. January 2nd, no?"
"How do you know so much about me? I hate talking about my birthday," It wasn't because I had a birthday or I was born. It was because without fail, every year, my parents were unable to put away their prejudice for one another, arguing pretty much the whole time. They both hate it when I celebrate with friends, but I can never enjoy it as much as I should. Maybe this year, I'll celebrate it with the group.
"You vaguely talked about it with Hanae when we went camping. She asked you what your plans were now that you were turning nineteen," Right. Nineteen. Riki was a late senior, so he was turning 18. I don't know how I feel about the almost-a-year age gap. I hated thinking about it.
