Love beyond Death

Chapter 14

"Isn't Amarin weird lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know... I feel like he's been avoiding me. Every time I try to talk about it, he just cuts me off with other topic." Karn explained, worried.

"You said he went on a date with that girl... maybe he just wants some space?" Sujin tried to come up with an explanation.

"But I'm his best friend! I've been far longer in his life than some girl!" Karn hissed, losing his coolness.

"That's true, but... have you noticed how much time have you been spending with Ellie lately?" Sujin backfired, taking Amarin's side. After talking to Amarin, she realized that Karn is the dense one.

Her question silenced Karn and made him think for a bit. Sujin was right, he's been with Ellie every day this past week. How come he didn't realized it? She made it always so natural to meet he didn't think it was weird or too much.

They had a lot in common, she was an interesting person and started making it to the list of Karn's closer friends.

"I feel so dumb." Karn confessed, feeling guilty.

"You're not... you just haven't realized your feelings yet." She said mysteriously, smiling at how good she is at handling this kind of problems.

"What do you mean? What feelings?"

"It's not up to me to tell you... but I'll give you a hint. Haven't you noticed that you treat Amarin differently?" She fought the urge to explain that he's in love.

"We're best friends, I take him as part of my family... like a brother." Karn defended his behavior towards him.

"You see? You haven't realized it yet. I gotta go, I'm meeting with Pam soon after she finishes to go shopping. Think about what I said. And go make up with him, he's suffering more than you think." Sujin took last bite of her sandwich and ran off. It was getting dangerous and Karn was really dense, she was scared she will say something she shouldn't.

Her words repeated in his ears long after she left. How is he treating Amarin differently? They've been friends for more than a decade, how else should he treat him? He was one of the most precious people in his life.

That's why Karn rushed to Amarin's classroom to wait until he's done and talk to him. He was beyond surprised when he didn't find him there, only hearing he wasn't present even on the lecture before. This seemed sketchy enough, he wasn't the type to ditch classes. He's been so busy with school lately, fulfilling the school assignments.

Karn took out his phone and dialed Amarin's number, starting to feel worried again. He's been very weird, going to sleep early, not socializing much anymore. He'd even told Karn to stop waking him up since he doesn't have a problem to wake up on his own anymore. This limited the time they could see each other drastically, not having the same timetable and Amarin disappearing right after school. They've played LOL once that week, but that was it.

There wasn't much communication between them and Karn couldn't stand it anymore.

"Hello?" Amarin picked up after few seconds.

"Where are you?" His tired voice made Karn even more worried.

"Dorms. Why? Your lecture's just ended, right?"

"What are you talking about? I don't have afternoon classes today, YOU have. I've just heard you missed them, so I'm calling you. Are you alright? Are you not feeling well?" Karn went full-caring mode. His guts were telling him something is very wrong and that scared him.

"What do you mean? Today is Tuesday. I don't have afternoon classes." Amarin was confused.

"It's Wednesday." Karn said, also confused. There was a longer pause and then beeping.

His friend hung up.

Karn's stomach dropped to ground. He's never done this before. Before he knew it, Karn found himself running like crazy to dorms. His instincts were screaming, his body trembling from stress when he finally knocked on the door.

Surprised Amarin, looking completely alright opened the door, just to see his friend sweating and panting heavily.

"What's going on? Are you running from police or what?"

"We need to talk. Now!" Karn was losing it, not understanding anything anymore. He stormed in Amarin's room, pushing him aside a bit roughly.

"About what? Can you calm down first?" Amarin tried to quiet things down, not knowing much about what was going in his friend's head.

"I'll be calm as soon as you tell me what the hell is wrong with you. You're clearly avoiding me, we're spending much less time together and when I want to sort things out, you just brush it off." Karn said and covered his face with his palms. It sounded ridiculous, it seemed ridiculous... it was ridiculous. Him heating over minor things like that, but he was even more pissed that his friend didn't seem to care.

"I admit we've been seeing each other less lately, but we're both busy. Nothing's wrong with me, I'm not avoiding you. You're a bit overdramatic." Amarin was impressed how much was Karn able to see through him, yet not giving up.

"Overdramatic, you say..." He laughed ironically, stepping closer. "Are you dating that girl?" Karn finally asked, watching Amarin's every move.

"What? What girl? How did you even come up with that?" That question came out of nowhere and was the least expected one.

"So now you're just trying to play dumb." He stepped even closer.

"No! I'm not dating anyone! I'm single, goddamn it."

"Then why the sudden change in behavior? We've been busy before, I've dated girls before, so where is the problem?" Karn remembered Sujin's mention about him spending too much time with Ellie.

Amarin didn't move for a while, it seemed like he wasn't even breathing. Just looking at the ground without blinking.

"Don't you think... we're too close?"

Sorry for the wait! I might not update more than once or twice next two weeks, things are going to get busy :( I'm having exams at school and things will be hectic, duh. I'm sorry if you're waiting for the Halloween party, Karn finding out about the cancer or just some cuteness between the two of them... I promise there will be everything, it just takes time...

Thank you for your support, votes and comments! They always make my day.