Chapter 21: Night’s Stalker No More
"I’m sorry, Noelle."
I pouted after hearing Ace say that.
"Something came up today. I can’t go to the ice cream parlor with you." She said as she picked up her bag. It’s dismissal already. "I’ll go with you next time, I promise." I waved my hand at her and bid her goodbye. It’s not like I could be selfish and force Ace to treat me to some ice cream today. She’s busy working part-time jobs, after all.
It was still too early for the advanced classes’ dismissal, so I stayed alone inside the classroom. "You’re still here?" I looked in the direction of the door and saw Andy. Right, he’s a member of the student council, and he’s also our class representative. "You forgot to take off your ring again. If you lose it, you’ll cry like before, do you remember?" I noticed that I had forgotten to take off my favorite ring.
It’s a glamorous golden ring with a garnet gem in the middle. My daddy gave it to me on my 16th birthday because I fell in love with its beauty. I always put it in my jewelry box whenever I go to school because I almost lost it before. And I would only wear it to sleep because I feel protected when I have it. It’s like a protection charm to keep away bad dreams.
"Thanks for reminding me," I said as I placed it in my bag’s inner pocket. "Are you going home now?"
Andy frowned. "No. They’re making me write tons of things again. Oh, the consequences of being the student council’s secretary and the vice-president’s absent again." Andy said as he bid me goodbye as soon as he got what he needed. Ace’s the student council’s vice-president because she wanted to get the scholarship, but she’s also busy with her part-time job.
It’s almost time for the advanced classes’ dismissal. Should I wait for Night outside? I want to introduce myself to him properly this time. A-Also I’ll apologize if he indeed saw my underwear. That was inappropriate of me as a lady.
I wore my bag and walked towards the hallway. As I left the building, I sat on the bench near the flowerbed. You’ll pass this way if you’re going home through the main gate. That’s why it’s the perfect place to wait for Night. I waited and waited, but what’s taking him so long? Some of his classmates have passed by, but he’s still nowhere to be found.
"It can’t be." I stood immediately as my head turned back to their building. "What if he chooses to go through the back gate today?" That’s what I thought, not until I saw Night walking out of their building which quickly made me sit back on the chair.
I tried hiding my face using the newspaper on the bench. I don’t know who owns the newspaper, but it could help me hide for a while since I need to find the right time to talk to Night. Maybe if he goes through the busy street, I’ll just greet him and say something as an excuse to keep the conversation going. Yup! That should do it.
And so, that’s what I did. I followed Night behind and took some of his pictures using the new camera daddy bought me. ’Even his back looks so cool, and I couldn’t stop staring at him.’ As soon as we got into the busy street, other people’s voices almost distracted me. There are too many people today, causing me to stumble as I try to follow Night, even with people being in the way.
"Ah!"
I almost lost him when he suddenly turned to the back alley of the karaoke place that Andy kept telling me about. "I know you’re following me." I froze from where I was standing as soon as I heard Night say that. Is this my chance to introduce myself? ’Of course! If this isn’t the right time, then until when am I going to wait?’ I took a deep breath—
"As expected."
I was about to say something until someone suddenly appeared in front of me, and it caught me off-guard that it left me speechless. "What do you want?" Night was still facing the other way, but his voice sounded weird. It’s as if he’s trying to warn this person behind him. But why?
"I want revenge." The man behind Night said, which made Night turn around, causing me to hide behind the huge trash bins near me. I almost got in between their fight. "How could you take my parents away from me?" Is this an act or skit for something? Am I getting in the way? Are they shooting something? I don’t understand. What’s going on?
I peeked and saw how Night’s eyes changed. There was tension in the atmosphere, and it felt like I should leave soon, but seeing this different side of Night made me want to capture every moment. So, I took my camera out and snapped some pictures. ’Should I take a video of Night? Since he might be speaking with this other guy longer. I could hear his voice more.’ And that’s what I did.
"It isn’t part of my duty to deal with your kind."
Hearing such mean words from Night’s mouth felt bad yet also cool. The loud sounds of the cars in the busy street behind us caused me to grimace as I couldn’t hear anything else after that. How will the camera hear Night if I can’t hear him from this distance? No, let’s trust this high-quality camera.
When I was focusing on the camera, the unknown guy suddenly pulled a punch on Night which he didn’t avoid. I gasped in surprise, but Night pulled something out of his right leg. It was too fast, and I didn’t even understand what happened, but the unknown guy fell to the ground with red liquid coming out of his head. There was no sound; only the people in the streets were the only thing I could hear.
Night turned his back, and I stood up, but I accidentally dropped my camera, which stopped Night from walking away. He turned to me with those dead eyes, making me freeze. ’W-What should I do?’
I gulped as I watched Night walks toward me. He stopped right in front of me, and I couldn’t breathe as I could smell his scent. Night doesn’t smell like that nose-punching scent from cologne men use nowadays. Instead, he smells like a flower. A fragrant smell of a flower that makes me go crazy.
My heart’s going to burst, but I’m somewhat scared of what he will do. Night picked up the camera from the ground, and the video started playing. He witnessed how I was spying on him. "You took this?" I blinked hundreds of times as I nodded, feeling fear all over my body. ’Is that other guy dead? What happened? Are they really shooting something?’ I was confused.
Night dropped the camera to the ground. "Stop following me around." He said as he stomped on the camera and wrecked it. "If you don’t shut up about what you saw today, you’ll be next." I gulped as he moved closer to my ears. "I don’t hurt women unless they get on my nerves." Night turned his back on me after saying that, and my legs gave out as soon as he was nowhere to be seen. I still can’t believe Night talked to me.
"W-What was that?"
Despite being flustered about what happened, I didn’t forget about the other guy. When I was about to look at him, I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. "Miss, I think you should go." It’s another guy who looks like he’s the same age as me. Long hair that’s tied up in half ponytail, and he’s wearing a black suit as if he’s going to attend a party. He smiled at me and gently pushed me off the back alley.
’Who was that? What just happened?’ I thought. Don’t tell me... Night shoot that guy in the head? I mean, there’s no way. Maybe they’re just acting. That’s right, Night might have been hired to act as an extra in some kind of action drama. That’s also why he accepted that punch before.
That must be it.
...
I was really naïve back then. Denying that Night is a murderer, even though he has the guts to murder someone in broad daylight. That reminds me, that unknown guy also lost his parents to Night. At least that’s what I thought before about myself, but that guy lost his family. And also, that long-haired guy was Kenji. Although he has already cut his hair short, that explains why he looks so familiar.
After that encounter, when I went home, I also lost everything, and he’s in the middle of that change. I am no longer obsessed with him, and I despise him.
"Milady?"
I shook my head to remove those thoughts from my head. "Let’s just go back to class," I said as I walked back towards the classroom, and Kaoru followed me without asking any more questions. It’s useless to think about the past. It won’t help me now anyway. I already know that Night isn’t like what we expect him to be, which teaches me a lot.
"Right, I still need to go to the faculty room later."
