N I C H O L A S

The five boys spent the next day in search for people whom they could interview, but as it turned out, nobody knew Nancy Green well enough. Many used to share their classes with her, but just like Luca and Eve Winters, they hadn't been very close to her. Hence, Luca took the lead in writing this next draft for their newspaper, regarding the memorial on Sunday morning.

Even though very few people had known or even heard of Nancy, almost everyone showed up to her memorial on the following morning. Everybody had worn their best black clothes, there to pay their respects and condolences. Hymns were read and sung, they were asked to pray, and at last the dean made a moving speech about what a brilliant student she was and how she was going to be missed.

Once the memorial came to an end, the crowd left the hall one by one. The day wasn't, by any reckoning, a cheerful one, although the sun had finally made an appearance after days.

"Okay, so what now?" Shawn asked, already looking for the next thing he could do to keep himself occupied. "How about we go out for a change? The weather's great for a walk around town."

"Isaac, Luca, and I were actually thinking of having a study group in the common room today," said Arthur. "You can join us, if you like."

Shawn groaned, throwing his head back. "Ugh, fine. But just because there's a pool table there."

"How about you, Niko? Would you like to come?" Isaac asked, but he received no response from him.

"Niko?" Luca turned around to see what was going on and why their friend was failing to answer them.

A few steps behind them, they found Nicholas staring at something in the distance.

"Niko!" Shawn bellowed, finally getting his attention.

"What?" Nicholas questioned, still looking rather dazed for some reason.

"Study group. Today. In or out?" said Arthur.

"Or a game of pool. The choice is yours." Shawn shrugged with a grin. "Although I think the right choice is pretty clear."

"Er... actually, I think I'm going to skip it today. I'm sorry, guys," Nicholas said distractedly as his gaze kept wandering off. "I'll see you later."

Waving them goodbye, Nicholas left the four boys confused as he walked away and down the campus, through the grass lane.

The golden sun dribbled upon the lake, where Nicholas was headed. He had seen Eve Winters walk in this direction, and so his eyes travelled all around, stopping only when he finally sighted her near the lake. With the morning sun in her hair and her legs gracefully tucked beside her, Eve was sitting down on the grass, underneath a tall willow tree. She had a book in hand as her blue eyes moved along the lines.

He watched her from afar for a moment longer as a light breeze stirred amidst the tree branches and her golden hair, brushing through them in harmony. The name 'Eve' suited her, Nicholas thought, for she looked like she belonged to the Garden of Eden; ever so heavenly, ever so blissful.

Taking in a deep breath, Nicholas began to walk closer toward her, clearing his throat lightly to announce his presence. When she looked up at him, the dreamy look in her eyes slowly faded, for she was dragged back to reality and away from the world of her book.

"Hello." Nicholas offered her a little smile, though he knew he had to do a bit more than that to make her forget about their unexpected and blunt approach two days ago.

"Hi," she said awkwardly, forcing a polite smile in return.

"Look, I'm just going to cut to the chase," Nicholas began to say. "The other day, when we came to talk to you at dinner... I think there was a misunderstanding. We wanted to talk to Nancy's friends about some of the good memories they'd had with her, so we could write them in our paper for her memorial. But I'm sorry if we came off too strong and scared you. That really wasn't our intention."

The girl was silent for a while, taking in his words.

"Oh..." She placed her bookmark between the pages of her book and closed it, looking down at it absently. "I'm sorry, too, for running off like that. It's just that... it had been a long and difficult week."

"I understand." Nicholas nodded his head, falling silent. After a pause of a second or two, he pointed at her book, saying, "So, what are you reading?"

Her smile looked genuine this time as she raised her book for him to see. Nicholas walked a bit closer and leaned in to read the title.

"Little Women?" he said in fascination. "I love that book."

"You do?" Eve beamed up at him.

"Of course! I mean, I can't say it's my favorite, but I think I must've read it at least three times."

"You must be a book-lover, then."

"Oh, yes. Definitely. That's half the reason I'm studying Literature," he explained. "You and I actually share a lot of classes together."

"Yes, I've seen you a few times before," she recalled, a blush descending on her bright cheeks as she looked away again.

"Would you mind if I joined you?" Nicholas asked courteously, gesturing down at the empty space beside her on the grass.

"Not at all," she said in her soft and welcoming voice, and so he sat down beside her, leaning his back against the tree trunk.

"Is it your first time reading Little Women?" Nicholas questioned, keen on drawing her into a conversation.

"Sort of," she replied quietly.

Nicholas chuckled lightly. "What do you mean sort of?"

Eve paused, as though thinking whether she should be telling this or not, before finally continuing with a half-smile, "I remember finding this book in the attic when I was a kid — I wasn't really supposed to go up there, but I was curious to see what it looked like. And between all the useless things they kept up there, I found this one book... It was covered in dust and looked very lonely, so I picked it up and read the first few pages, and I fell in love with it right away. After that, I would sneak up into the attic every day to read a few chapters. But one day, around a week later, when I went up there, I found the place completely empty. They had cleared out all objects in the attic, and the book was gone with them. I never got to know how the story ended, so I borrowed this from the school's library last week to read again."

"Why didn't you take the book down from the attic and to your room, then?" he mused. "That way you could've read it without having to sneak up into the attic each time." By the look on her face, Nicholas could tell that he had touched upon a sensitive matter to her, and he immediately regretted it.

"My family had sent me out of the city and to a foster house during the war," she said, each word spoken hesitantly. "The family who took care of me there were very strict, so I didn't want to take the book away, afraid that they would notice it was missing."

Nicholas had been very young at the time of the war, but he could still remember his parents talking about the news of child evacuation in London back then. In fear of bombing, the families used to send their children out of the city, so they could temporarily live somewhere safer, until the war was over.

"Well, at least now you can finally enjoy the book without having to sneak around," Nicholas said with a playful grin, trying to push down the growing apathy between them and lighten the mood.

"Does it end well?" Her blue eyes bore into his brown ones while she spoke, as though he yielded the answer to all her questions. "The story, I mean. Does it have a happy ending?"

Nicholas held his breath for a second longer as he looked back at her. "Not entirely..."

"I see," she whispered, delicately running her fingertips over the book's cover.

"But you know what?" Nicholas said quickly, causing her to glance up at him again. "Just because the author decides to end the book, doesn't mean that the story's over. Whenever I don't find a book's ending satisfying, I just continue the story in my head and change it however I like."

"That's one way of dealing with sad endings, I suppose." She grinned.

"Oh, but there's no such a thing as a sad ending." Nicholas shrugged, smiling heartily. "Endings don't exist, if you ask me. And neither do beginnings. Life existed before us, and it will go on even after we're gone. We're only a small part of this never-ending story, and we get to write our part however we like, while we have the chance."

She let out a giggle at those words. "You talk like a pretentious poet."

"Hmm... Can I tell you secret?" he said with a serious expression. Eve leaned her face closer curiously and so did he, until Nicholas whispered in a dramatically-dark tone, "That was the best compliment I have ever received in my entire life."

She then laughed, and the sound of her blissful voice could put a stop to the nightingales' song.