Infatuation Illustration

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"Khai!" A young, pre-pubescent voice called out from afar, "Khai where are you?!"

The said young, dark-haired boy named Khai was sitting under a Cherry Blossom Tree, sketching the tree's twin from across where he was sitting. School had just gone out and children between the ages of 6 - 13 were scrambling out of their classrooms to get home, probably to play video games or voice chat with their friends, while Khai was waiting for his working mother and father to pick him up.

Khai didn't respond to the voice calling him. He knew who the owner of the voice was. And he knew the person calling him by his name was bound to find him sometime soon.

"There you are! What are you doing all alone?" Just his luck. Here was the owner of the voice. Blonde hair that shone and sparkled under the sunlight, bright eyes that stared at Khai's current project in awe. "Riku, haven't your parents arrived yet?"

Riku only smiled and proceeded to plop down right next to the male. He was 2 years younger than Khai, making Khai his upperclassman. His eyes lingered on the drawing in the older male's hands, "They said they were going to have to pick me up later. Dad needs to work an extra few hours at his work cube and Mommy is at Rika's dance recital. I don't get why she didn't just bail me out of class instead so she wouldn't have to bother leaving me here to suffer." Khai rolled his eyes at the male beside him but didn't comment on his story.

Ever since they were paired up with each other for an art project, the pesky little blondie wouldn't stop pestering his upperclassman. Khai didn't feel annoyed, however. He pretended to ignore Riku whenever he came to him to ramble about nonsense when in reality, he liked Riku's company.

"You're REALLY good at drawing." Riku complimented, smiling up at Khai with adoration, "Do you think I can be a good artist too?"

Khai shrugged, not bothering to look at Riku in the eyes, "If you're willing to go through failure after failure to improve. Get criticized for your artwork that'll help you strive to get better, and put effort into your work, then yes, I believe you can be an artist."

Riku pouted, "You didn't have to make it sound so hard." He whined, hands in his lap as he gazed at the cherry blossom tree that Khai was drawing.

"If you're willing to follow a dream to become an artist, I'll help you."

Riku's pout became a wide smile as he turned his head to face the owner of the voice. "You'll really help me?!" He asked, getting excited with the offer his friend had given him. Khai nodded.

"Whenever we have another art project, you can come to me for help. But I'm not going to go easy on you." The blondie didn't protest. He just gave Khai a big hug, dozens of verbal gratitude phrases spilling from his lips.

As time passed, Riku became one of the best artists of his art class, Khai being the obvious A student. But even when they aren't in class, the two always had at least 1 or 2 sketches on their homework, notebooks, or assignments just to cure the boredom of the lectures.

"Khai. Promise me that we'll go to the same College together,

Both boys became the bestest of friends. They did everything together and eventually became so close that their parents eventually became friends. It was like the perfect friendship. A friendship that lasted a long 3 years.

But sometimes, no matter what happens, you can't expect a 'happy ever after' to last forever.

-

"Khai..." Riku mumbled, approaching his best friend with a hesitant tone. Unlike his usual behavior, Riku was worried about something. His voice was small and hesitant as if he was scared that he was going to ruin everything with what he was planning to say.

Khai was in the middle of drawing when Riku approached him. He didn't ignore Riku like usual though. There was something wrong and he could sense it from the sense of insecurity in his voice. Closing his sketchbook, Khai stood up and faced his best friend. "What going on Riku?"

Riku was nervously chewing on his bottom lip, fiddling with his fingers as he was trying to find out a good way to form his words.

Cause sadly, he was going to be breaking a promise.

"Riku what on earth is going on? You're not yourself today?" Khai was genuinely worried. Riku had his sad moments but always cheered up with the sound of Khai's voice not ignoring him. But now, it was different. Riku has stayed nervous and doubting.

"Khai...I don't know how to tell you this but-"

"If you don't know how to tell me, tell me straightforwardly."

"But I'm going to say something that's going to hurt you."

"It'll only hurt me more if you don't tell me." Khai confronted, "What. Is. Going. On?"

Riku clenched his fists and took a deep breath before spilling out what he's been holding in, "I CANT FULFILL OUR PROMISE! IM NOT BECOMING AN ART MAJOR."

Now Khai knew what Riku was going to say was bound to hurt him. But he didn't know it was going to hurt so much. It was like a knife just stabbed him through the heart, followed by arrows to finish him off. The amount of emotions bubbling inside the 13 year old boy was insane, and he couldn't keep it to himself.

"WE MADE A PROMISE THAT LASTED 3 YEARS AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO BREAK IT?!" Khai yelled, shocking the younger male with the aggressiveness of the outburst.

"ITS NOT MY FAULT!" Riku countered, "MY PARENTS WANT ME TO TAKE A DIFFERENT MAJOR. THEY DON'T GIVE ME PERMISSION TO BECOME AN ARTIST!"

"WHO CARES." Khai argued, "YOUR LIFE, YOUR RULES! YOU CAN DO WHATEVER THE HECK YOU WANT! THEY DON'T HAVE THE PERMISSION TO BOSS YOU AROUND LIKE A PUPPETEER WITH THEIR PUPPET" It was rare to see him so mad. He was usually so calm and collected it was like he had no soul at all. But this argument proved he had one.

Riku had nothing else to say. He had no strength to say to argue anymore. So his built up frustration was in the form of falling tears. "If you can't accept that I'm going to do another major. Then leave me be. Never see me again."

Khai only paused. He's never seen Riku cry. He wanted to go comfort his best friend and tell him he was sorry, but the anger bubbling inside of him was too much. "Suit yourself." He spat.

He walked past Riku, purposely bumping into his shoulder. Both boys knew this was the end of their friendship. Both boys knew they were both in the wrong. But both boys were too young to know what they wanted.

And that, my friends, is the story on how two boys turned an inseparable friendship to a broken happy ever after.

If only they knew that 10 years later, they would be reunited again. In a rather unpredicted way.

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A/N: Chapter 1 has finished. Wow I didn't expect to write so much. I honestly thought It would be way shorter than expected. But hey, It's 2 AM what can I do?

If you liked this chapter, don't be afraid to leave a comment and a vote :3. First official Q&A will be at 50 votes!

- Etheral