Those beautiful eyes and that beautiful smile of yours was all I could think about.

As my hair blew lightly with the wind...

As my heart beated wildly in my chest...

As I whispered a yes so quietly that I doubted whether I said it or not...

But I knew I said it.

When you smiled so brightly with your cheeks so red... I knew I would never forget this moment.

Only if I could go back to that moment...

Maybe none of this would have happened.

Maybe... it wouldn't have come to this.

XXX

"Chloe? Are you listening to me?!" A voice asks before two fingers are snapped in my face, breaking me out of my reverie.

"Huh? Oh.... yea, of course I am!" I reply sheepishly.

My best friend looks at me in complete disbelief before she picks up the strawberry smoothie cartan from the table. Her long fingers wrap around the cartan, her silver ring glistening because of the sunlight falling on it as she opens the cartan with the straw.

"As I was saying and you weren't hearing, There is supp-" She says, before she is interrupted by a high pitched voice shouting "Chloe! Someone's here to meet you!!" Before bursting into giggles and rushing towards her group of friends.

My best friend follows the giggling girl who was animatedly telling her friends something in a rushed tone with her eyes, which were filled with irritation.

"I swear to God, One of these days, my ears are gonna bleed listening to her." She says, irritated, as she slurped on her smoothie.

Rolling my eyes at her antics, I get up from my chair slowly, feeling disappointed.

I really wanted to eat with my best friend after I couldn't from so long.... But why does anyone even want to meet me?

With a sigh, I drag my feet all the way across the room to the classroom door. Few of my classmates burst into giggles as I passed them, making me turn my head to look them.

A group of girls stood there talking to each other in whispers which were followed by giggles again. Shaking my head, to erase my weird thoughts and the gnawing feeling in my chest, I pull open the door and step out into the corridor.

Looking around the corridor, I tried to find the person looking for me but couldn't. A few students lingered in the corridor chatting and eating with their friends. With a sigh, I turn back to head back into my class, when a piece of paper on the floor caught my eye.

Picking the blank paper up, I turn it around to find something written on it, in an elegant cursive writing.

Looking at it confused, I fold it neatly before putting it in my coat pocket. I debate for a while whether or not, I should go meet this stranger or eat my lunch but in the end, I make my way to the junior library on the second floor because it would be rude to never meet someone who's waiting for me.

Opening the wooden door, I step in the carpeted room. The smell of books fill my nose, making me happy. The library was illuminated by the sunlight filtering through the windows and in middle of the room filled with books, he stood there, half of his face covered with shadows, the other highlighted from the sunlight falling on his face as he tilted his head smiling at me.

"Hello!" He said, his deep voice making butterflies dance in my stomach.

"H-Hi." I reply, stuttering. My heart felt as if, it was about to burst and his beautiful smile was doing nothing to help my situation.

"I know this sounds a bit sudden-" walking towards the window, he picks up the small mini globe with snow swirling around inside it - "but would you like to enter a singing contest with me?" He asks, his eyes filled with hope.

Why would he wants me to join him instead of someone else? I'm not even that good at singing.

"Well, umm I ca-" I say, trying to reject him, even though my heart was shouting at me to accept, when I was interrupted by him.

"You don't want to?" He asks again, tilting his head. He looked at me so sadly that I knew, I had no choice but to agree and from that moment on,

Is how everything changed.....

For the worst.....

XXX

Time passes by fast. Two months are over and so is the contest.

I stood outside the contest hall, rubbing my hands together to create some warmth. Night times here were colder than back home.

A starry sky stretched over ahead, visible as far as you could see. The stars twinkled brightly as if dancing with each other and telling them about something.

And for a moment I thought, it was me, who they were telling something too...
Something like a war-

"I can't believe it's already over." A voice says, from beside me, making me jump away in fear as I clutched my chest tightly.

"YOU SCARED ME!" I shouted at him, breathless. Taking deep breaths, I gave him the best death glare I could muster.

"You looked so cute though, like a deer caught in headlights." He says chuckling at me as he shook his head slightly.

"Hahaha, so funny." I reply, dryly.

I am angry, is an understatement! I am completely pissed off!! I can't believe he laughed at me! The mere audacity!! But it's not like I'm gonna say anything..... The way he laughs is soo beautiful somehow...

"I can't either." I reply, to what he said before.

When all this is over, will I ever get a chance to tell him, I love him? That being able to stay with him for these two months was nothing but pure bliss for me.

"It was fun... Being able to participate with you-" he says, coming to stand in front of me-" Well it's late now, you should probably get back to the hotel."

"Yea... that's right, I'm gonna go then. Good night!" I say, trying to fake a cheer. When I could taste the disappointment on my tongue.

But it seemed like he had other plans because before I could move, he bent down a bit, getting so close to me that I could feel his breath fanning on my face.

The moon behind him casted shadows across his face, making his eyes look darker than how they originally are. The starry sky behind him looked eternal and it felt like there was something in his dancing, something I couldn't catch, like something hidden in plain sight.

"Come find me in the flower park at ten pm, I want to tell you something." He whispers in my ear, his deep voice sending shivers down my body as a blush covered my cheeks.

"Here all removed!" He says, taking a step back as he offers me a tag, I didn't know about.

"O-Oh thanks!" I say, sheepishly as I take the tag from his hand. My cheeks feeling even more warmer.

I can't believe I forgot to cut a tag.

"I'm gonna go now!! Goodnight!" I say, hurriedly, as I walk away fast, to escape the embarassing thing I did before I stopped in my tracks and called out for him.

"What?" He answered, shouting back because of the distance.

"It was fun! Singing with you and being with you!" I told him. Although, I couldn't see his face clearly, I somehow knew he smiled at me and that's why I left that place with a smile on my own.

XXX

As I walked back home, I pulled my jacket further onto me, to warm myself.
I put my hands in my pockets to warm them up, only to hear a crumbling sound.

Curious, I take out the tag folded neatly in half. The same tag he took out from my jacket.

Reading it, I realised that something was wrong with it because the tag didn't belong to me, neither did the bouquet of Irises mentioned in it.

XXX

"I'm here" I said, panting as I put my hands on my knees to get some support.

I stood there waiting for a while as I looked around trying to find him.

"Hello? You here??" I repeated only to be meet with silence again.

Maybe he's running late.

XXX

"He isn't here" I whisper to myself, as disappointment took hold of me.

Was he just joking?? Was it just a prank?

Feeling foolish, I stood up from the swings and started walking back but before I could, I felt something heavy hit the back of my head and

Everything faded to black.

XXX

The boy pushed his shovel further into the soil before pulling it out and throwing the mud aside. The boy seemed to be digging a hole or something more like a place to bury someone.

When he was done, he threw the shovel at the side. The shovel landed with a loud clank disturbing the otherwise quite atmosphere.

The boy grabbed the white body bag which was near the deep hole and easily just threw it down the hole. Wiping the sweat on his face with his shirt, he took a deep breath, as if he was trying to control something in him. His previous actions created stains on his white shirt.

But he didn't seem to care about this at all, as he picked back his shovel again and filled the hole back with the soil, he previously took out.

Your heart starts beating so fast, that you can't hear anything other than that. You want to run, your mind screams at you to get out of there but you can't run. All you can do is, stay quite and hidden because if he finds you, he might kill you as well.

The boy pulls out a few flowers from another small bag and starts planting them on top of the grave. You stand up, trying to take a chance out of here and inform the police about this but before you could even run, a branch breaks under your shoe.

The boy slowly turns his head in your direction, at the same time, the moonlight breaks through the dark clouds, allowing you to finally see clearly.

It was not sweat dripping down his face but blood.

And on his face was the same smile as that of a kid, who found his new toy.

And the flowers he planted were Iris.....

The flowers which shared the same meaning as your best friend's name.....

X-X

1779 words.....

Haiiiiiiiii!!!!!
How are you!????
And how do you like this so far???👀
Also, just in case any of you have confusions
Chloe and Iris both means Hope!
Which was the name of this chapter before....

Well!!! See you all in next chapter!
Have a good day or night!