Julia was having difficulty coming to terms with the fact that she had lost an opportunity for an exciting and fun time immediately after Sylvian left for the classroom.
"Uh, excuse me?!!??!!" Julia yelled just after almost jumping off the bench and yelling out loud to ask Sylvian where he was going, "By the way, the teacher can see you right now! And what do I do with everything on my plates today?" Julia was stressing out about having all these new responsibilities that she never even thought about prior to the day.
The door flew shut of the courtyard. Julia gazed into the bench that had been occupied only a moment before by Sylvan, and contemplated her practical issues now that they were completely her responsibility.
"ARGH!! This is crazy!"
Julia ran her fingers through her hair and looked around.
Everyone in the campus was either laughing or discussing a particular class topic or flipping through a class topic in their respective books.
Julia reached to the class and sat back down in her chair and was curled up and muttering to herself about what she just did to herself.
As attendance was called,
"Sylvian?"
Complete silence.
Multiple people turned their attention to Julia. At that moment, Julia's spirit left her body. Finally forcing a smile after what seemed like an eternity of tortured waiting.
"I think he has something else to deal with, and he should be here soon."
The teacher continued to stare. Julia forced an even bigger smile. He finally moved on.
Julia quickly sighed and thought, "Wait until his ass comes here."
The next place was a stop at the corner market, then onto a pharmacy store where he picked up some medicine, drinks and snacks for Akiel, trying to remember which were his favorites.
"I will drag you out myself if you don't come out," he yelled.
It was impossible to miss the mansion.
The massive iron gates, the guard at the entrance, and so much wealth it didn't seem possible.
"I forgot how rich he is," Sylvian muttered to himself.
He explained what he had to say to the security guard, he got in after many looks of displeasure. It was too quiet, too neat, too big. Upstairs, one of the housekeepers guided him to the door of his bedroom.
"This is his room," they said, pointing to the end of the corridor.
Sylvian approached the door and rapped his knuckles against it once.
Nothing.
He knocked again.
Still no response.
For a third time, he knocked with more force than before.
Once again, nothing happened. As Sylvian was setting the foods and medicines out of his bag next to the door, he talked to himself by saying "Seriously". He then turned to pick up his bags, but before he was able to do so, the door to the bedroom opened and before Sylvian realized what happened, he had been pulled into the room from behind and the door slammed shut after they entered the room.
Akiel was standing in front of Sylvian, and the look on Akiel's face was terrible.
His hair was dishevelled, he dark circles under his eyes, and the bedroom had been made so dark that there were dark curtains on the windows, so no sunlight could enter the room.
"Wow. You look like something that crawled out of a Victorian novel," said Sylvian.
Akiel just stared for a few seconds and smiled weakly, before he could say anything Sylvian's phone rang.
Julia. Akiel immediately moved in closer.
"Please don't tell me that's Julia," he said very seriously.
"It is."
"My God, you're going to die."
"I know."
Sylvian knew exactly what Julia's messages would say: threats, panic and a lot of theatrics with claims of physical violence if she did not have him back by a certain time frame. Akiel laughed. A true laugh.
"When did she get like this?" he inquired.
"She has always been like this," Sylvian answered.
"No she wasn't, she used to be sane."
"You were never the issue before."
Once Akiel realized what had been said, he laughed again. For just a tick, the weight of the world felt a little lighter. Sylvian stood up, grabbed his bag.
"You're leaving so soon?" Akiel enquired.
"What did you think?"
"A hug?" Akiel questioned.
"Definitely not." Sylvian dimissed his open arms.
Akiel clicked his tongue against his inner cheek in annoyance.
Sylvian placed the medicine and snacks in his lap.
"Eat, take your medicine, open the curtains, and let the people who are worried about you know you're okay."
"Yeah." Akiel looked away pouting.
"Dumbo." Sylvian quietly mumbled.
They were quiet for a bit and it was no longer awkward.
Sylvian turned to leave. He opened the door.
Someone grabbed his wrist.
He turned slightly.
"Akiel."
Before he could respond—
Akiel kissed him quickly on the back of his hand.
Everything stopped.
"…What was that?" Sylvian asked blankly.
"A thank you in advance." Akiel winked.
"That's not a thing." Sylvian pulled away his hand.
Akiel smirked and slowly looked up, "It is now."
Then.. SMACK!..
"OW!" Akiel held his head and looked at Sylvian with puppy eyes and the pout already forming dramatically.
Sylvian wiped the back of his hand carefully, his ears turning pink and blush creeping from his neck, "Normal people thank others!"
"I did!"
"That was illegal."
"And I have no feelings of guilt."
Sylvian rolled his eyes, grabbed his bag once more, and left before anything else happened.
The door clicked shut.
There was no noise.
Akiel stayed there for a second.
After that, he looked at his snack; after that, he looked at his medicine; eventually he chuckled to himself as if he'd stumbled across something he'd never seen before.
He did not feel fully devoid of light for the first time in quite some time.
Maybe everything will be alright now.