Chapter XXXIII – Time Flies

Knocking on Irene’s apartment door, Arthur looks down the empty hallway assuming he remembered correctly where she lived. He bought drinks with her having invited him over to have fun. It was Friday night meaning no school tomorrow. Since Arthur went home first to help Ryung throw some stuff out of the house, he had just enough time to get changed into something more casual.

Opening the doors, Irene looked him straight in the eyes and gave him a heartwarming smile. She had her hair tied up into a ponytail and was also casually dressed, wearing an antique white thin hoodie and plain black pajama shorts.

“Hey,” she said stepping to the side allowing him to enter. “Do you want slippers?”

Walking inside, he placed the bag on the floor before taking his shoes off.

“No need,” he said noticing she was walking around barefoot.

“If you change your mind they’re in the drawer over there,” she pointed with her finger.

“Thanks.”

He looked around the small hallway noticing a closed-door across him with a doorway flanking it to the left, leading into the living room. There were loads of shoes, jackets, and coats making the place feel a bit cramped. A small shelf stood along the right side wall with keys, a notepad, and a photo of Irene when she was younger and another girl that looked just like her.

“Is that Amelia?” he asked approaching the picture.

They were in a park he couldn’t recognize. Irene was at most around thirteen years old while her sister looked around Irene’s current age.

“Yeah, that’s my sister,” Irene said approaching his side. “I believe I mentioned she’s in the UK, but hopefully you’ll meet her sooner or later.”

“What’s she like?”

“The complete opposite of me. An early bird that always wakes up around six in the morning, and likes to hit the bed early. Used to nag me all the time to wake up and have breakfast with her but I’m impossible to wake up if I sleep in. She’s also hard-working and focuses on impressing our parents a bit too much, while I was more of a troublemaker. She tries to be friendly with everyone and it sometimes burns her, but I admire that about her. She is also very loyal. . . And caring. . . Not to mention smart as fuck. Iseul and she are alike in that sense, and I bet they’d be good friends too. Oh, and she gets scared easily, but I love that about her.”

“Sounds to me like you two are really close,” he said smiling.

“We are,” Irene said while losing herself in thoughts.

“You miss her?”

“Sometimes. . .” she sighed proceeding towards the doorway. “Come on, let’s go to the living room. By the way, the door leads to the bathroom if you need it,” she knocked on the closed door.

The living room was spacious with a large couch in front of a 40 inch TV, and a wide coffee table. The kitchen was part of the living room, having a bar separating it. The dining table was shoved along the right side wall, behind the couch, and on top of which were a bunch of freshly purchased groceries that haven’t been shelved yet. There was only one other door that led to what Arthur assumed was Irene’s bedroom, but it was closed.

Irene took the drinks out of Arthur’s hand and carried them over to the kitchen.

“Would you like anything to drink?”

“Just water for now,” Arthur said looking at the closed door. “Is that your room?”

“Ah. . .” she sighed glancing towards it. “Yeah, but you can’t go in there right now.”

“That doesn’t sound very fair, now does it?” he chuckled.

“It’s a complete mess in there. I didn’t have time to clean up. So yeah. . . It’s off-limits.”

“What if I try to sneak in?”

“Then I’ll get angry at you for lying to me the other day,” she looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

“Fine, fine. . .” he sighed with a smirk painted on his face. “There’s just no winning with you sometimes.”

He was obviously teasing, but Irene was too focused on preparing the snacks.

Giving up on the idea of going to her room, he crashed down on the couch looking at the TV which had YouTube turned on, but nothing actually playing.

“Also, I didn’t wanna lie to you,” Arthur said looking towards Irene. “Tjay wanted to keep quiet about everything.”

“Well, look how that turned out,” she said approaching the coffee table placing down nachos with homemade sauce and a glass of water. “They’re still not talking.”

“Spicy?” Arthur asked dipping a nacho in the light-colored sauce.

“No. I know you prefer it this way.”

Arthur chuckled but then turned somewhat serious. “You think they’ll go back to normal?”

“Probably,” Irene returned to the kitchen to pour them drinks knowing that Arthur will want some a bit later. “He needs to apologize though. . . He was sort of a dick, but she was also really intense.”

“We met the guy who gave her the letter,” Arthur said breaking his promise to Tjay to keep quiet about it, as he had no intention of lying further.

“Oh? What’s he like?” she asked curiously, sitting down next to him.

She turned towards him with her legs raised, sitting cross-legged.

“Honestly? Good looking, confident, a bit taller than me, and seemed like a good guy. . .”

“I assume Tjay asked you not to say a word. Don’t worry, I won’t tell,” she smiled leaning to the side.

“Thanks,” Arthur grabbed the glass of water.

“Though maybe I should be jealous that she gets attention from such a guy,” her words made Arthur choke on the water making her laugh.

She was clearly joking, but Arthur was caught off guard.

Repeatedly coughing, he looked at her and shook his head. “There are plenty of guys that would love the chance to date you.”

“Well,” she smiled wiping away the water from his chin with her sleeve. “In that case, I imagine they’d be quite jealous to learn you’re at my house, alone.”

“You kidding? They’d strangle me. It’s bad enough already, but this would start so many rumors.”

“You worried about people starting rumors about us?”

“If they wanted to they’ll talk about me regardless, so it wouldn’t change much. However, I don’t like the idea of dragging you into all that.”

“I-” she wanted to say something but was interrupted by a loud notification on her phone. “Sorry. . .”

“Everything alright?”

“Oh! The results came in,” she looked at her phone somewhat eager. “Check your phone, yours should’ve arrived as well.”

“Results?”

“Midterms,” she said focused on her scores.

Arthur took his phone out and opened up his email. There was a mail sent by the school which Arthur assumed was the one Irene referred to. Opening it up, he saw that for the most part, he got between 88%-92% in almost every subject, except for English where he got a perfect score.

“Satisfied?” she asked.

“I might have stumbled on more than one question, but the results are satisfying.”

“Told ya that you should double-check everything.”

“I’ve just forgotten some stuff. Haven’t really studied diligently.”

“Sure, sure. . .” she repeatedly said knowing she was right.

“What about you though?”

“Good enough,” she said wishing to hide her success, but her excitement was obvious.

“Let me see. . .” he demanded her phone.

“No way,” she turned it off and pulled it closer to her chest.

“Irene. . . Phone,” he kept insisting with his hand out.

“No!” she protested laughingly.

“Then you give me no choice,” Arthur said with a mischievous grin.

Irene knew right away she was in trouble, but before she could react Arthur had already acted out. Grabbing her barefoot leg, he pulled it by the ankle and trapped it between his thighs before ruthlessly tickling her. Bursting into laughter, kicking, and yelling at him to stop, she quickly caved in and threw her phone at him. She knew he wasn’t going to stop otherwise, having already refused his request to see her room.

“Stop!” she yelled out helplessly having already surrendered.

Arthur let go of her foot and picked up her phone.

“You’re mean!” she said laughing while wiping her tears away.

“And you need to unlock your phone or else. . .” he handed it back to her.

She shook her head still laughing lightly while pressing her finger along the screen to unlock it.

Having a look, the email was still open. She mentioned that her sister was the complete opposite of her and along the line told him that Amelia was hardworking, but that wasn’t true. Irene also worked hard on everything she did, even if she didn’t want to admit it. At school, she’d pay close attention in class and always tried her best, and since she stayed up late all the time, he knew she studied hard at home. As a result, her scores weren’t surprising at all, having all her grades in the mid-90s percentile.

“Good job,” Arthur smiled looking at Irene, handing her the phone back.

She averted her gaze blushing slightly at the compliment.

“I just had to show my parents that I’m not gonna fail cuz I’m not with them anymore,” she tried explaining, almost as if she was embarrassed.

“Well, whatever the reason may be, I’m glad you did amazing. Keep it up.”

Taking her phone back, she smiled shutting her eyes for a moment before looking back at him again.

“Thanks,” she said with a soft-spoken voice.

They talked about the tests for a while before a group message arrived where Tjay bragged about doing better than Max. His total was 655/800 total, while Max managed a score of 621. It was shocking to learn that Tjay did better, but stranger things have happened in the past. After a brief chat, they decided to all meet up tomorrow around noon at a park near the school. Tjay was eager to win yet another bet, looking to get a 2-0 sweep. Irene and Arthur soon turned off their phones.

“You nervous about tomorrow?” Irene asked somewhat worriedly.

Regardless of what she said, Irene didn’t really like the idea of them fighting, even as a spar.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so,” she sighed.

“Now on to important things. You got loads of anime to show me.”

“Right! I’ve prepared a list. Some of these are your standard mainstream anime, so we are bound to find something good.”

“What about the ones you like?”

“I mean, I won’t recommend anything I dislike, but I won’t force you to watch my favorites. First, we need to check if you even like anime,” she explained awkwardly.

“Well, let me hear it then,” he focused on every word she said.

“I guess we should avoid long shounen anime, for now, so. . .” he watched her unlock her phone to look over a prepared list. “First up, Jujutsu Kaisen. It came out recently, and it’s one of my new favorites. Action-packed anime that has the MC, a high school kid, introduced into a whole new secret world of sorcery. Without spoiling it, it’s a bunch of action with them fighting against curses which take shape of monsters. It’s really cool! If you don’t want anything fantasy-like, then we have a sports anime Haikyuu, which is about high school volleyball. You’ll have to believe me when I say that the art and the story are stunning. And if you’re into something that’ll really pull you in and isn’t that short, we can watch something along the line of Death Note, a mystery, suspense type of anime with supernatural aspects. The story is about a high schooler who is a genius who one day randomly stumbled upon a notebook that had its own set of rules, capable of killing anyone as long as he wrote their name in it. There are 37 episodes though, so we won’t be able to finish it tonight. For romance. . . I’ll have to go with my favorite, Horimiya. It’s a sweet romance between two high schoolers. . .”

“Loads of high schooler anime,” Arthur chuckled.

“Well, they all start that way. . . I mean, the ones I’ve picked,” she sighed but was excited to talk about it nonetheless. “If you wanna just watch a movie, we can do that.”

“No, no! That’s not what I meant. I was just joking around. Please. . . Go on.”

“Alright. . .” she took a deep breath then looked back at her list. “Other action type anime with a bit of a horror, but not scary, would be Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan, Berserk, and let’s say for example Parasyte. Tokyo Ghoul is-”

She kept talking about anime for another solid hour before finally ending her list. Arthur tried to listen as diligently as possible, but he was swarmed by information. Eventually, she shifted off the mainstream stuff and the two eventually chose to watch Grancrest Seneki. It wasn’t your typical go-to anime, but it intrigued Arthur. It had fantasy, drama, action, and even a bit of romance which Arthur wouldn’t shy away from.

As soon as it started, Arthur was already taken away with the style that anime had. Much different from regular TV shows, but intriguing nonetheless. He found many similarities between the world he lived in and the show that they were watching.

After finishing the first episode, it was safe to say that Arthur was already hooked on the idea of watching more. He found it unbearably cute how Irene looked at him every few minutes just to see if he was having fun or not. They watched with English subtitles since Irene preferred it that way.

Episode after episode, the two constantly kept discussing every scene and having a blast. Arthur was extremely talkative when given the chance to discuss something he formed an opinion about.

“Aishela is totally the best girl! Right?” Irene said laughing as she looked at the purple-haired, battle craving mercenary. “But I love Siluca as well.”

“Yeah, Aishela is quite something,” he said chuckling but remembering a few people just like her in the past. “Though Siluca and Theo are perfect for each other.”

“Well obviously!” she kept laughing but was quick to play the next episode.

Eventually, Irene made them some food to eat, toasted sandwiches with ham and cheese.

Without realizing it, the two watched anime past midnight. The 24 episode show had more than enough watch time to keep them up all night. Looking at the time, Arthur’s eyes went wide. He also had a missed phone call from Sophie and so did Irene. However, since Irene didn’t respond, Sophie assumed they were still together and decided not to worry and call more.

“Shit, it’s already 2 AM. . .” Arthur sighed. “I should get going.”

He was mildly disappointed that they didn’t get to finish the anime.

“Stay the night,” Irene said grabbing his sleeve while tucked under a blanket that she grabbed a while back since it was getting cold.

“I don’t know. . .” he hesitated.

“I’ve already stayed over at your place, it’s no different than that. Besides, it’s really late. There are no buses and I ain’t letting you walk home. Besides, don’t you wanna finish the show?”

Her proposal was tough to refuse as he was dying to find out what happens next. Besides, not like he disliked the idea of spending more time with her and staying at her place.

“I could make us more snacks,” she pleaded.

“Guess I could crash on the couch,” he sighed but smiled excited to stay the night.

“Great!” she said cheerfully pulling him in closer by the arm while playing the next episode already.

“Let me just message Soph.”

“Alright. I’ll just go to the bathroom while you do that then,” she said running off, her footsteps echoing in the dark and quiet living room.

Left by himself, Arthur looked around and chuckled. Never in a million years did he imagine his night would go this way.

Sending a message, he waited for Irene to return.

“You ready to keep watching?” she said coming from behind, placing her cold wet hands on the back of his neck having just washed them with freezing cold water.

“Augh! That’s cold. . .” he squirmed shockingly.

“But you’re so warm,” she laughed before jumping back on the couch.

Without saying a word she played the next episode and leaned against him, placing her head on his shoulder while tucking both of them under a blanket. Grabbing the bowl of what little snacks they had left, she stuffed her mouth full.

“Want some?” she mumbled while chewing, meanwhile holding a few in front of his mouth.

He glanced at her and gave her a nod opening his mouth. Without looking, she put the food a bit too far in making his lips gently touch the tip of her fingers. She pulled her hand back slowly and while Arthur was focused on the show, she rubbed her fingers together with a smile on her face, blushing slightly.

“Thanks for inviting me over,” he whispered smilingly.

“Come over whenever you want,” she whispered back to him.

“Don’t mind if I do then. . .”

Hours passed and the two finally finished watching all 24 episodes, but by the end of it, Irene was barely staying awake. Arthur let her rest on him, as she slowly drifted to sleep. He knew they couldn’t really sleep like that, so he decided to carry her to bed. However, Irene reacted to the slightest hint of movement as he was trying to get up.

“Hmm?” she mumbled. “Sorry. . .”

Irene mustered up the strength to get up.

“Want me to carry you to bed?”

“Umm. . . No,” she said walking wobbly. “Let me get you a pillow.”

“Alright. . . Need help?” he was worried watching her move around.

“No, it’s fine.”

She entered her room, but Arthur failed to see anything due to how dark it was. Moments later Irene returned, but he forgot to ask for a blanket. Not wishing to wake her up fully, he kept quiet knowing he’ll be fine without.

“Here you go,” she mumbled with her eyes half-closed.

“Thanks,” he took the pillow and placed it on one end of the couch. “Sleep tight.”

He turned off the TV, laid down on his back, and closed his eyes thinking about the night he just had. However, there were still more surprises to be had as he suddenly felt Irene leaning into him. Opening his eyes, he saw her collapsed next to him, with one arm wrapped around him. Her head rested on his chest as she covered both of them up with the blanket they used before.

“Irene?” he whispered confusedly.

“My bed’s a mess. Sorry. . .” she mumbled with her eyes half-closed.

Before he could even say anything, she drifted back to sleep. Obviously, Arthur didn’t mind but was instead worried about her comfort. Making sure that she was properly covered, he felt her snuggling closer to him. With his hand under her, he adjusted it slightly where he could hold her in place, before closing his eyes again and slowly began falling asleep.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.