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• Drowned_In_The_Water
: 𝑇𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝒉𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠𝒉𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘— 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝒉𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑛. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒, 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝒉𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑡𝑐𝒉𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝒉𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝒉𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝐼.𝑀𝑈𝑆𝑇.𝑃𝑈𝐵𝐿𝐼𝑆𝐻𝐸𝐷.𝐼𝑇. 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝒉𝑎𝑡. 𝑆𝑜 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝒉— 𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠.
𝑃'𝑠: 𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑐𝒉. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑚'𝑘𝑎𝑦?
＊✿❀ • ❀✿＊
—IT IS AN UNDENIABLY BAD DAY. For Aether, at least. It is truly the worst day ever. He couldn't believe that so much could happen in a single day, that even him who's always so calm and bright would be overwhelmed to the point he disregard his health and any thoughts of going back home.
Funny how the sky seems to know he has a worst day, and it's intention might be nothing else but to further add into his suffering as it chooses that it's the best day to make it rain.
And just like his mood, the clouds were dark, rumbling with sound of thunder as it prepared for the heavy downpour that's about to happen.
'What to do?'
Aether couldn't described what he feels at the moment. His eyes were blank, but it has the obvious emotion of sadness and frustration. What do you expect? Compared to his twin, Lumine, who's composed and more mature— him, on the other hand, is more emotional. He couldn't get himself to cheer up at the moment because it's like the things he worked so hard to do crumble today just like that, without any warnings.
As he sat there in an the abandoned playground near his house, he felt the first drop of rain his his forehead. Quickly like the pouring rain that drops down on the land, his head, too, lowered down as he close his eyes, trying not to let the tears fall. Tears that build out of frustration, emotions that he's unable to manage properly obviously got him overwhelmed.
He was sitting in the end of the slide, his knees bent upwards while resting his elbows on it.
He tried not to think of it. He really tried.
But it seems like trying won't do. Because like they said, the more you try not to think of something, the more your mind plays negatively with you, actually bringing up the thoughts you wouldn't want to have at the moment.
That's exactly what happened.
Aether couldn't prevent his own thoughts from bringing back the earlier situation he was in. Voices of many people, mixed up negative situations and the possibilities all drilled into his mind like pins and needles with the sole intention to hurt.
“Sorry, I woke up late so I didn't manage to make breakfast, I'm really sorry.”
“Tsk, the big-shot of Teyvat Academy has arrives.”
“It appears your partner ditch you. Although it is not your fault, I'm afraid I cannot give you a passing grade— considering that the project that is shared between you and your partner has been split in half. Meet me at my office later, then we'll discussed this. For now, go back on your seat. ”
“What the— are you blind!? Look what you did, you spilled a soup on my shirt! Do you know how much this cost?!”
“What do you think you're doing holding my girlfriend like that? You want a fight? I'll give you one!”
“Mr.Lan, Mr.Aether! In my office, now!”
“You guys are having a detention after school, don't even dare to skip it or else..!”
“I hate to say this, but I can't have an employer who's always late. I'm sorry Aether, buy you don't need to come back here tommorow. ”
“You're fired. ”
The chains of negativity linked one after another, and now it was strong enough to bound him. Aether couldn't help but tremble in the cold, clutching his head when it started to feel painful.
He couldn't help but cry despite not wanting to.
Never did he expect to face something like this. Yes, he expected bad luck to come his way like a falling meteor, but he never would've thought it's actually a meteor shower headed his way.
Aether squeeze his eyes closed, wiping the tears in his eyes only to realized that— his face were dripping with water. No. In fact, his whole body is already soaked wet due to the heavy rain.
He was about to curse loudly and be mad when all of a sudden, amidst the sound of the strong rain droplets, he heard a confused him and a calm, collected voice.
“You don't look okay.”said the voice, and it startled Aether.
However, he didn't look up. His eyes snapped open but he stilled, glaring at the ground with a frustrated frown. He was already driven by his overwhelming emotions, which is all a piled up negative feelings that he couldn't help but grit his teeth and snapped at the person who dared interrupt his plan to scream and vent his feelings.
“Who are you? Why do you even care? ” he asked. Clearly he didn't recognize the voice, so obviously it's a stranger. He refuses to look at them, however, still having a slight sanity to remain his glare focus on the ground instead of a living, breathing person that has emotion.
But shockingly, instead of being offended after being snapped at like that, the stranger let out an amused chuckle.
Aether could feel the rain suddenly stop, or that something is blocking the rain above him, before he heard the stranger again, strangely speaking in an amused tone.
“Ah, you look really cute.”
‘What the...?’
After that, Aether who's been stunned at the answer of this stranger couldn't help but look up, and his eyes widened. Pair of indigo eyes stared back at his own golden ones, and Aether clearly saw amusement and worry lacing in those eyes.
The amusement, understandable. Even though Aether doesn't have an idea why the stranger is amused, he clearly heard the amusement in her tone before so it's no surprise to see amusement in her eyes. But why worry, though? Why would a stranger, wo he clearly doesn't know, worry about him?
Aether thought, perhaps he knew her from somewhere and just forgot? But then when he examined her face, he couldn't help but be in a state of awestruck.
He could described her face in one word; Beautiful.
In a sentence; An angel in a mortal body.
It's a given that Aether, who attended a famous academy, already met many people with unmatched beauty (and him being one of them), but he had never seen someone as beautiful as the one standing in front of him, smiling gently like an angel as she shared her umbrella with him.
Clearly, Aether has a sharp memory. He wouldn't forget easily, and given that this person has a face like this that obviously scream beauty, it's impossible for him to forget it.
So, it's confirmed he didn't know this person.
Who might she be?
“Take a picture, that would last.”
“....pardon?”
The stranger smiled at him, and Aether could tell that she once again felt amused.
She pointed at her face with a free hand, her smile serene and genuine as she spoke unhurried. “I said; You can take a picture, if you want. You're staring.”
Aether was like ‘Oh...’ when he heard that, but the when it fully processed in his mind his face turned vermillion as he gape, speechless.
“I— I uhm...apologize.”
A hearty laughter escaped the stranger's lips. “It's not a big deal. I'm just teasing you.”then she reach her hand all of a sudden, causing Aether to flinch back when she reach for his hand. The stranger paused, but said nothing and quickly pulled his hand. To his surprise, the stranger gave the handle of the umbrella to him.
“Here. Take this and go back home. Your sister is probably worried about you.”is what she said, before she winked and took a step back.
Her indigo eyes that exude worry previously, now holds a hint of relief. She flashed him a gentle smile, as though she's glad that he was now being shielded by the heavy pouring of rain, clearly disregarding her own health just for him, a complete stranger. It was suspicious, but the genuine concern her eyes have for him made Aether unable to react quickly as he watch he hand moved to cover her head by pulling the hood of her jacket, then waving him good bye as she runs away.
Aether's jaw dropped. “What just... happened?” he asked himself, still in shocked. Then, he look at the umbrella he's holding and now, many questions appeared in his head one after another.
But the question he really wanted to know the answer of is—
‘Who is she?’