Her Knight In Rusty Armor

Chapter IV

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Spec-freakin'-tacular
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I had walked out of the cafeteria even before Kate was done chatting with those girls. Without sparing her another glance, I'd just taken the elevator to the third floor, fetched my shoulder bag, not before stuffing it with a bunch of books and had slid out of my dorm again.

This time, I took the stairs down.

The marble staircase gave off a rather haunted house vibe throughout the way down. Not taking any further note of the surroundings, I hitched my bag higher up my shoulder, only to receive a call from Marc.

This guy was always monitoring the cameras, wasn't he?

I clicked the accept button, as I always did whenever he called me.

"Ay, 'sup?" his voice rumbled through the speaker as I lifted my phone up to my ear.

"Not much," I responded. "Just got turned down by that woman on a friendly offer to have breakfast together, my damn treat, and she snatched away the meal I had ordered for her. How about you?" I finished, a part of me still seething with hatred at Kate's exasperating behaviour.

He took a while to take in my words, clearing his throat a fair amount of time later.

"That sucks," he mumbled, though I could sense him trying to hold back the laughter threatening to splutter out of his mouth.

"Nah, it's good; the waiter didn't charge me for my breakfast. Pity treats you well, sometimes."

"Now that really sucks," he gasped, as if hurt.

I chuckled at him, already missing the early morning breakfasts we both used to have together.

"Are you good?" he continued. "You're half an hour early to class, homeslice."

I felt a smirk tug on my lips as I chuckled once more. I reached the landing on the ground floor and turned right again, not looking into the cafeteria where Kate still was. She had probably noticed me, which was my ulterior motive.

"You see, it's like any other movie scene. Person one feels guilty for something they did, they run after person two to apologise for it, and finally, they have a heart-to-heart. Piece o'cake," I finished while smacking my lips and grinning mischievously. On his end, he let out a subtle cough.

"Love, this isn't a movie scene, alright? And –  ahem – you're not supposed to do that lovey dovey shit, Ash," he wheezed through an obviously overexaggerated series of coughs.

I heaved a huge sigh, quite fed up of that stupid phrase.

"I'm a picky guy and you know that, Marc."

"For all you know, she could be your next pick."

Groaning at him, I shook my head upon receiving an amused laugh from him. And with that, I hung the call up and strolled out of the glass doors, which automatically slid open for me, stuffing my phone into my back pocket.

I observed the other hostel buildings, the latter graciously built in a semicircle.

The fountain located in the centre of the chord formed by these buildings flowed generously, its sparkling waters glistening under the late August sun. Benches occupied by students girdled the base of the fountain, who were waiting for their respective classes to begin, as they chatted passionately whilst jamming to some mellow beats.

A row of neatly cut hedges lined the inner arch made by the buildings, with more benches placed by these bushes.

As I strode over to one of these benches, a familiar fragrance uplifted my senses. I scanned the surroundings with my eyes narrowed, only to find a fresh patch of lilac flowers blooming near a spot by the hedges.