Chapter II: Cruel-some Universe

With a soft slam, the female's journal was shut closed with one gloved hand after she finished reading her small story. Her lips were curved up into a genuine smile, satisfied from her work. And since there's nothing else she'll be doing, packing up and going home was the first thing that came in her artistic and creative mind

The ballpoint she used on writing, swiftly and gracefully twirled around her fingers before storing it in her bag along with her precious notebook

In the middle of storing her belongings in the small pastel blue satchel she brought along, her humming stopped as her ears perked up when she heard scuffling of snow under one's shoe. Her heart skipped a beat when she also picked up the sound of someone slightly struggling to breathe

Suddenly, a pair of pale hands clasped onto the metal armrest of the bench where she sat, almost making her jump out of her skin  in fright. She instinctively whisked her head to look and dove a hand into her bag, immediately clutching on the item she always bring along as the feeling of safety and courage surged in her veins

However, the sight of a man, which came out of nowhere, made her blue with a tint of green coloured eyes grew wide under her spectacles, both surprised and confused

She clutched tightly onto the item in her bag as her heart pounds against her ribcage, while keeping in mind that she should be alert. But once the man raised his head, her eyes immediately softens as worry emerged in her pools of earthy pigmented eyes from the expression she saw

The look of pain was the first thing she noticed, aside from the fact that he's extremely pale, causing her to loosen her hold of the item in her bag. She watched him part his lips to let out a groan filled with evident pain, and she took it as a cue that he is indeed in pain

The stranger then shot one pale hand to the side of his, once again, throbbing head. He furrowed his eyebrow down into a frown, and duck his head down with a loud groan that almost sounded like a scream

The unique eyes of the female grew wide as small dinner plates, before shuffling on her things, letting go of the item in her bag, and closing it. She hurriedly dashed for the man's aid just before he could fall on his knees, and knelt down beside him on the snow coated grass

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked, almost immediately, but the only response she received were the puff of clouds forming from every exhale the man would make

She scooted closer to the man to see if he's on conscious, but she abruptly stopped when the strong scent of alcohol and cigarettes coming from the man's breath greeted her nostrils

He's obviously drunk

She grimaced from the sudden scent, but if it wasn't for the man to suddenly clasp the other side of his head with his free hand and slouched down with strained groans of pain coming out of his mouth, she would've thought twice and backed away, but she stayed. Instead, she tenses up and fidgeted when she clearly doesn't know what to do, so she only did what her mind could think of

With her gloved hands, she grabbed each of the drunk man's pale wrists, pulled them off the side of his head, and began shaking him with enough strength to try and make him snap back to his senses

*~*~*

The drunken man was slightly pulled back to his senses and back to reality, after feeling the throbbing of his head lessen its intensity, but it was still present. And also when he felt his hands were suddenly yanked off from clasping both sides of his head, then shaking him in a slightly rough way by whoever that held him

The persons's hand firmly gripped each of his wrist, but gently at the same time

"Hey..."

He heard a voice, but it felt far away from him that it was nearly a faint sound and slightly muffled at the same time. Though one thing's for sure, it was a female's voice

"Look at me..."

There it goes again, hearing the same voice, but this time it was gradually getting closer. He then tried doing what the female have said, but his eyelids were getting heavier that he could barely keep them open

He doesn't know if it was because of stress, his headache, or being tired; maybe a toxic mixture of all

Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation cup his flushed cheek, tickling his pale skin but it felt comforting as well. The warmth can still be felt, despite the roughness of the leather gloves she wore on her hands

He then tried to open his heavy eyes again, and like what he did earlier, he firmly blinked a few times to slightly clear out the haziness of his vision. And once it slightly cleared, he was greeted by the female's pair of uniquely pigmented eyes, that looked at him straight back at his small dark brown ones

He stared back into the unique pair of eyes, as the female did the same to his small ones. They locked gazes, both were lost in each other's stare. His heart thumped softly and felt as if the time froze when he saw the warm yet worried look she's giving him

Then something inside him made him realize and feel that it's the only thing he ever needed after his long hardship

His heart sunk, he felt butterflies, and couldn't help but tear up just by how this stranger looks at him. He was a mess, a fucked up mess that bottles up his own feelings, and hides it with an unreadable look or one of his signature gummy smiles

But ever since he became the kind of person that hides their feeling, he wished-- no, he wanted to meet someone who could look at him closely, close enough to notice everything that he hides and also see how fucked up he is

And for him, that's what he saw within the warm eyes of the young lass in front of him. Someone who could see everything that he have bottled up for a long time, and would give him a shoulder to cry on.

But even if he wants to believe it, he would deny. Because in reality, he knows that there's no one that could do that

Who could see through him better than he sees himself? The last person he knows that could do something like that, left him, and almost a month have passed

He could feel his heart painfully thump against his ribcage, upon remembering the heartbreaking memory on when the person he relied, trusted, cared and loved, left him. Leaving him alone with a hole in his heart that's gradually shattering into pieces as the times flies

He didn't know that heartbreaks would hurt this much

Even more tears threatened the back of his eyes, when he realized that the young lass in front of him was a complete stranger. He felt dumb to even think that she could actually see through him just because on how she looks at him

However, if the warm stare of the young lass brings that kind of feeling inside him down to his core, then he wished that this cruel-some universe would at least let him look at the comforting pair of orbs in front of him... just for a few more seconds

But the universe, which he finds cruel-some, seemed to be against his wish. His vision began to gradually get blurrier as his eyelids grew heavy, along with the tears pooling at his eyes

His heart thumped painfully, as the tears in his eyes wasn't containable anymore, causing them to fall on his flushed cheeks; one after another. And he briefly saw the shock in the female's eyes when his tears fell, but despite the change of expression, he could still see and feel the warmth within her gaze

He then began to feel himself become weak and woozy, before feeling himself falling forwards while on his knees. But instead of feeling the cold and prickling snow bite his pale white skin, he fell on something warm and comfortable

And then everything went black

*~*~*~*~*~*

안녕, 친구! 🤘🏻 Here's another update for you guys <3 I luv you~

And I hope that no one is annoyed from my addiction towards cliffhangers 🙊 💕Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! 📖💕

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