What Are We Searching For, Really?

17.

Warning: some mature content ahead around 2/3 down the chapter. Skip past if you're not into it

My stupid self just stood there, one hand on the half-closed door; my eyes trembling slightly as they stared at the person in front of me.

"Listen, I-"

Austin pushed himself off of the wall and took long strides toward me, running a hand through his slicked-back hair. "I want to get mad at you for doing all those things with...him." He stopped right in front of me, his soft eyes staring into mine. My hands found their way to his, gently tracing his arm to find a sense of comfort.

"But I can't, because I heard what you said at the end."

A small smile broke across my face as I slid my arms up and wrapped them around his arm. "Come on, let's talk while walking."

"Where are we going?" Austin's voice sounded sweet as usual, making my heart swell.

"Your place."

—

After an entire bus ride talking about what really happened yesterday and our feelings on this topic, we finally arrived at his apartment.

I've never been there before. It was in a building similar to a condo, where all buildings in the estate looked identical: a blue, white and gray grid pattern. While getting there, we passed by a whole row of different entertainment; karaoke rooms, swimming pools, clubhouses, a gym, dance rooms...so forth.

Still in the same position as when we left school, me clinging onto his arm, we ascended to the top floor in the lift.

"It's so cool that this lift is see-through!" I tugged Austin over to the back where you could see outside the building. "Everyone is so small on the streets. I wish I lived here in Cinders too."

"Is Eoma really so different to this place?" he asked, tilting his head and looking at me. I nodded.

"Hella different. We have houses. Nothing looks like this."

I continued to look outside, surveying the entire city that reached till the level horizon. Cinders is really big.

There was a weird energy going around in that lift. I could feel Austin's eyes on me, but I was afraid of what was going to follow if I returned his gaze.

We both were startled when the lift went ding! and the doors slid open. In silence, I followed him down the long stretch of the hallway, glancing left and right at the porcelain-white doors. The marble floor echoed our footsteps as we reached the end of the corridor. Contrary to the rest of the doors on the left or right, this one was facing the front.

"Say...why are we coming to my place, Wonton?" Austin asked quietly, pressing his hand to the security scanner. It quietly beeped after scanning and the door slid open.

"Well, I just kinda felt like it, you know? I've never been here, either," I replied, smiling. We both entered the room and I gazed around in surprise, taking off my shoes.

It was a really weird house.

First of all, there was no living room. All I saw in front of me was a hallway with doors on both sides. Between those doors were glass panels, where the only source of light leaked in. At the end of the corridor was a circular window, set deep into the wall. The glass was so far away from the surface of the wall that you could sit in the cutout area. A basket of weeds and lavender hung on top of that window, its scent prominent in the house.

"This is the weirdest apartment I've ever been in," I thought out loud. "There's not even a living room."

"Actually, yeah, there is." Austin walked into the hallway until the third door and pointed to the left. "That's the living room."