Numbered

Chapter 5

I was really shocked by her decision about not playing anymore.

She loves volleyball.

Why would she stop?

What more is that she gave me the stupidest reason behind that decision of hers. Saying that she wanted to give others the opportunity to step into the spotlight in volleyball. Something really is up and she's not telling me anything.

It's been a couple of weeks since then. Even though she said that she's not playing anymore, she always go to the court and help her coach train the players although she would only help from time to time which bothered me a bit since she can just spend her time on the court and not on the sidelines.

It's currently Saturday and we're in the City Library along with three of our classmates, working on our little research assigned to us due on monday which happened to be the week of the Intramurals event of the school.

"We'll just need to add in a few more information and we're done," Wayne, one of our classmates, said as he tap along his laptop, encoding the things we had found about our research. "So look for other books that's related to our topic."

We spread out and looked for the books. Somehow, me and Alice got to the aisle of fictional books and I can see that she's interested in them. She started looking at the different titles of the books she gently touches when she slowly walked down the aisle while I just stay put.

I wish I was one of the books she touches...

I'm just staring at her while she walks away from me when I felt my heart thumped in pain.

This must be the feeling of watching someone dear to you walk away...

That thought made me sad. I don't want her to go and leave me. I also don't want to hold her back. It pains me to see her crying alone with no one to comfort her. That's why I need to be always by her side. To comfort her. To wipe off her tears. To make her smile again. That's why... even if I'm the one who'll suffer at the end, I'll stay by her side, not letting her go. Until I'm able to find her happiness.

She stopped passed midway of the aisle and took a book out of the shelf that's in front of her and she looks happy that she was able to find it.

What book is that?

I got curious so I walk towards her then stood beside her.

"What's that?" I asked looking at the book she's holding.

It's a bit thick, about 3/4 of an inch. It's already worn out as the covers are already torn that is being held up by the plastic cover. I couldn't even understand the titlte except for the the word Fairytales. Some of the pages had already torn off and just left it stuck inside the book.

"It's just a book about fairytales... The Dream of Fairytales..." she said smiling that seemed like she's reminiscing about that book.

"A book of fairytales? How old are you? 7?" I said teasing her being a kid who still likes these kinds of books.

"Shut up! It's a great book! It may just be a fantasy but the adventures and magic in the story is pure!" She said pouting where I found it adorable, avenging her book that made me chuckle at her actions.

"I prefer books with tragic stories than fantasies for children," I said looking at the titles of the books in front of me in he shelves.

"Then why won't you try reading this one? It might change your mind about books in this genre," She challenged as she shoved the book in front of my face, blocking my view at the books on the shelves I'm looking at.