Dullahan [ COMPLETED ]

Half a Day Out 2

CHAPTER 11: Half a Day Out 2

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The afternoon rays of the sun peeked through the overhead skyscraper buildings and lightly gleamed on my face. I shifted closer to the shade where Duan was walking on and he gave me a weird look.

"Are you a vampire or something? You don't seem to like the sun,"

I rolled my eyes, "I'd love to see you try walking under it for an hour,"

"And get a tan? Sorry, no way," He shook his head and slipped his hands in his pockets.

We walked even more as we approached the mall at the center of the city. The cool breeze from the aircon hit us the moment we entered and I inhaled deeply.

Ah, the smell of cold, artificial air.

Duan froze momentarily and stepped to the side of the wall, looking unexpressive for a while at me.

"Nervous?" I asked, rocking on my heels, smiling at him.

"There's too much humans seeing me now," He whispered, "I really should be whipping their eyes out already,"

"Don't be a killjoy!" I elbowed his side and slipped my arm around his, tugging him, "Let's see how well you could do in a couple of games,"

He gave a short questioning look that was cut off when I pulled him into the opened elevator.

"Fourth floor, maam," I said.

The pretty lady smiled and tapped the button. The faint noise from outside accompanied the soft lulling of the elevator as it moved upwards and I couldn't help but notice the woman's fleeting looks at us.

And as if Duan read my mind, he spoke up, "What?"

It was either she has the hots for Duan or something else.

"Are you two together?" She asked in a low voice, as if whispering, but her enthusiasm betrayed it.

Oh, so it was about something else and-

"Of course we're together," Duan replied just as the elevator stopped the same time my breath stopped.

"W-what?!" I screeched but he was already walking out.

The lady giggled and shooed me off, "Have fun~!"

I shot her a glare and ran off to catch up with Duan. I'm sure that by the warmth of my face, I was blushing. I mean, who wouldn't? He just stated it bluntly as if it's the most simple thing in the world. Once I caught up to him, I quickly brought my fist down to his head.

"S-stupid!!" I wailed, glaring at him and he looked at me with slight question.

"What did I do?!" He asked, rubbing the top of his hood with his hand.

"Don't reply to things like that! Do you even know what it means?!"

He stared for a minute, innocence shone in his charcoal-tinted eyes, "Well, she asked if we were together, and I said yes because we are walking together anyways..."

I blinked, trying to find a hint of mockery in those eyes and words, but found none. I calmed down, looking at my feet with slight shame.

Oh, he didn't know.

He doesn't know that 'being together' means, well, dating. Seems that back in his time there weren't much words to express love and relationships.

"Ah, n-nothing..." I gave a false smile and looked around, noting the ton of people walking in this floor, "Should we get started with the games?"

"What games?"

I pulled his sleeve again and started walking towards the left of the floor. There was a huge sign on top of us and he said it out loud, "Arcade,"

"Yep! Bet you don't have this 30 years ago," I said cheekily and dragged him in.

We headed to the counter first and I paid to get some tokens. He was still having a confused look while I dismissed it with a wave and a point to the nearest stall.

"Crane machine!" I stated and showed it to him, spreading my arms out in exageration.

"And that is...?" He raised a brow, staring at the strange and foreign object before us.

"You try to get a stuffed toy with the crane hand and you only have one chance!" As to demonstrate my point, I pushed in a token and tried my luck to get the stuffed tiger by the corner of the glass panel.

He watched my movements on the controls. Left. Up. Then I tapped the button and the crane swooped down slowly to wrap its claws on the tiger's head. Unfortunately, just as it was about to lift it up, the head slipped and it fell back into the pile.

"Aw, no luck," I said with a sheepish grin.

"Let me try," He said.

I pressed in a token and he started moving the crane. I was cheering him for the plushie while his concentration was solely on it. Unfortunately, even the machine was merciless to a headless rider. The plush fell back among the toys and the crane went back to starting position.

"Woah, you suck," Came a voice behind us.

Looking back with an unfazed composure, my gaze met Zeige's smirk, "Why are you here?"

"For fun," He shrugged and swiftly made his way through us to the crane machine.

Just as I was about to retort at him, I came face to face with the plush tiger that we were trying to get just a while back.

"It needs skill, not luck," Zeige said.

I ungratefully accepted the toy and stuck my tongue at him. Duan, on the other hand, was nodding his head with his eyes sparkling, "I understand now!"

"You don't.." I whispered back.

He ignored me and chose to pester Zeige instead, "How many years did it take you to master this challenge?"

I facepalmed, wondering to myself how short Duan's attention span is, and when I looked up, Zeige was smirking triumphantly.

"Dunno, it just came naturally I guess," He said as his eyes darted to me, "I mean, I beat Jeffy in all the games here,"

My eyes and his transmuted sparks of lightning and Duan laughed, "Wow, you probably have zero skill..."

I puffed my cheeks out, "I do have skill! I can do most games here but when it's between Zeige and I, he's always...!"

"Aha, so you are admitting that I'm waaaay superior," Zeige leaned down an poked my forehead.

"No! You're just older!"

"That doesn't mean a thing, Jeffy..."

"Well, you started playing years before me,"

"I told you, it just came naturally to me,"

"You're not sounding cool,"

"I'm not trying to. You're just jealous,"

I was about to retort even louder, but I felt a cold chill run down my spine. I searched for its source and met Duan's blank look, almost lifeless, and I couldn't help but try to escape it.

"L-let's try another game then, Duan?" I asked, slowly and cautiously extending my hand at shoulder.

He looked at me, then to Zeige, and then the usual shade came back to his eyes, "What's next then?" His voice was lighter- almost happy- as he looked around.

I mentally sighed. What was that all about? I'm sure that somehow, that glare wasn't directed to me- but I could feel it either way. Duan's silent anger could be felt that time, but to who? And why?

"Let's try the shooting hoops then," Zeige offered, slinging his bag at his back and leading the way.

Well, I'm sure I really shouldn't worry about the negative things when I'm trying to have fun. So we turned to follow him, but as I swiveled around, I couldn't help but notice the slight glint on Duan's eyes.

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TBC