In a Girl's Room
2287 Words
I'm already in front of Lady Mila's door. Knocking twice, I say, “It's Leo, my lady.”
“Coming!” I hear from the other side.
While waiting, I come up with ways to ask her about it indirectly. Although, I figure it might be useless since she is very clever. I have no choice but to be straightforward.
She opens the door and looks at me while brushing her hair over her ear. She wears a sleeveless white shirt and black shorts. I guess it's her day-off or something. Makes sense, since the three Third Seaters are now here to lead us. The sweet scent from her room is distracting me.
Averting my eyes to the side, I speak, “I need to ask you something, my lady.”
“What?” she asks like she does not want to. But her eyes were widened. Does she know what I'm going to ask already?
I look around but there's no one there. This is a disturbing topic so it's bad if someone hears it. “Can I go inside?” I ask.
She swallows before smiling. “Uh… of course!”
Wait, what? She's hiding something?
She lets me in and I don't find any peculiar thing in this room. All I see is just a girl's room. “Is Lady Aurelia out on a mission again?” I ask, sitting on her bed as she lets me.
“Yes,” she nods sitting gently on her bed beside me.
Why isn't she looking at me? She's looking at the ground while tapping her feet. I feel a strange vibe right now. Anyways, “Please don't feel weird about me for what I'm about to ask.”
Giving me a quick glance in the eyes, she nods once then back to looking at the floor. “Of course!” She clears her throat. “Go on.”
I'm hesitating as I slowly decide to ask what I want to ask. “My lady… would you… uh…” Damn, I'm stuttering.
“Would I… what?” she asks in a whisper.
Damn it… here it goes. “Would you please tell me how to revive my parents?”
Quickly, she turns her head towards me with her mouth half-open. She looks like she couldn't believe what I'm asking.
“That's all?” she asks with a slightly surprised tone.
What? I thought she would be angry. “Yes, my lady.”
She frowns at me. Yep, she's angry. “Well, excuse me for a moment, I'm going to drink some water.”
The bed shakes a little when she springs up to stand. Pouring water from a pitcher to a cup, I can see her hand trembling a little. And the way she drinks the cup of water in one gulp is like what I would do if I'm upset about something. Putting the cup on the table, she walks toward me and kicks my right leg.
“Ouch!” I cry in pain. “I'm sorry for asking that, my lady!” I apologize.
“It's not about that, you stupid!” she blurts out.
“Then… about what, my lady?” Seriously, what's up with her?
Gritting her teeth, she looks to the side then back to me. “Nevermind!” she yells at my face.
I'm so confused right now.
Ragingly, she shouts, “You can't revive a dead person!”
“But there are stories about heroes being revived and the story of Orpheus and-”
“They're just myths! No one has been able to come back from the dead!”
“But deities like now, are reborn-”
“Yes, but we are not who we are in our past life! We have no memory of our past lives!”
I stand up and suggest, “Then take me to the Underworld and I'll find a way to-”
“No, you can't!”
“Why not?”
Her expression changes into sadness. She must be remembering something bad. “Nothing works, Leo,” she said in a downed voice. “Trust me.” She sits on her bed. “I know the Underworld like the back of my hand but I still found nothing.”
I have an idea of who she tried to revive so I ask, “Is it to revive your-”
“My mother? Yes,” she confesses.
“Oh…,” is the only thing I could say.
Her voice is down but calm as she continues, “After I gave up searching for answers on my own, I asked Lord Seok. I thought he knows the answer but he says it can't be done. All I got from him was, ‘If we can bring the dead back to life, then life has no point’. So I gave up on it. I haven't told this to anyone, not even my sisters or my father. You're the first I told about this.” Her tone and the mood she gives off is like she's about to get emotional.
“I'm sorry, my lady.” I sit beside her.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I am…” I can't lie about it now. “not.” Scratching my head, I knew that I shouldn't have asked her. “I'm sorry, my lady.”
“It's okay.”
Then we just sit there without saying anything. I think of ways to excuse myself out of her room but if I did, it would be rude. So, I just waited for something to happen until I thought of something to talk about.
“I'm thankful that you are here with us, my lady. I don't know if I could've stayed in the right mind if you didn't snap me out of it. And that's what I like about you.” She looks at me for seconds and it puts an awkward feeling all around us. “Not like like like, ”—that made no sense. “uh, I mean… I don't like you or anything… It's not that I hate you—uh, no, I don't hate you but just I like… you… in a way… that you show people that they are free to trust and depend on you.”
Looking at the ground, she smiles and looks in my way. “I'm glad that you think so.”
I swallow, feeling uncomfortable looking at her eyes so I look to the side. “I'm glad… that you're glad, my lady.”
“You know what? If you… want to. From now on you can call me, Mila. Just Mila.”
A sudden pulse hits my face and rushes down to my body. The feeling lingered in my stomach and limiting the air I could breathe. It made my heart go faster.
“But that would be impolite of me, Lady Mila,” I reason. “You're a daughter of the King and a Seater of Olympus Mons. I'm just a human who got lucky I get to stand on Olympus.”
She lets out a quick giggle. “No, it wasn't out of luck, remember? You are here because you decided you will. And only keep that between us. Don't call me without honorifics if there are others.”
Just the two of us? I guess that's fine. “I will, my la-” She looks at me raising her eyebrows and smiling. “I will, Mila.”
Then strangely, I feel I shouldn't avert my gaze at her eyes. I feel if I did, I lose. Is it just me or her pupils really are widening? She looks away by looking down.
Brushing her hair over her ear, she says, “So, what else do you want to talk about?”
I clear my throat before speaking. “I guess that's all.” I stand up. “Thank you for your listening to me, Mila.”
“It's my pleasure,” she smiles and takes me to the door.
I'm already outside and I notice that she is hesitating to close the door. “Is something wrong?” I ask.
“Uh, nothing,” she smiles at me again. “Until next time.”
I nod so she closes the door. She's been smiling a lot lately. I also noticed that her hair is longer than before. And her chest… she's starting to hit puberty…
What the heck?!
Why the hell am I thinking about that?!! If she can read my mind, she would've killed me! I have to stop this kind of random thought! We are in an apocalypse! There's no time to think about that, you stupid brain…
I hit my head in the hope to shake the thought off. It worked. I sigh before entering my room. Darius is already on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
“I'm back,” I said as I closed the door.
“What did you two talked about?”
“Some stuff.”
I look at the calendar on the wall and our shift is a week away. It's the 10th of July and our awaited shift is on the 19th—so far away.
“Some stuff… huh?” he smugs at me.
I narrow my eyes at him for making it sound weird. “Whatever,” I roll my eyes at him and did squats in the middle of the room, showing him my back. I don't want to talk to him after what he said.
“I have a question, Leo,” he says and I don't bother to entertain him with it. I'm guessing it's something dumb. “Twins are identical, right?”
Not all, but I won't answer.
He continues, “Then does that mean Lady Mila and Lady Aurelia will have the same cup size?”
“What the heck, Darius?!!” I exclaim, sensing if Mila is coming to bust open our door. She's not so we're fine but I tell him, “Do you wanna get killed, you i***t?!”
“Hey, I'm just sayin'.”
“Then stop it.”
“Why?”
“It's not appropriate.”
“What? Where did our time talking about girls go? We've been talking about these things for quite a long time and just now, you are trying to be Mr. Pure or somethin'? Please… Leo… don't even.”
“That was before but now, it's different. We're in a crisis and we have to think about other things than that.”
“Oh, like repopulating the world?”
“Yes, that's-” Shoot, I realize what he means just now. He laughs at me.
“That's kinda possible now, man, I mean… chicks dig us now.” He sits up with a smug on his face.
“You degenerate.”
“Don't say that you don't think about it too, I know you more than anyone here, Le-o-nardo.”
“At least I don't say it out loud without shame like you do. I know it's out of our instinct but I try to keep it off of my mind. Plus, we're thirteen-year-old kids with important roles. We don't have time to fool around.”
“Yeah, that sucks,” he says, lying down on his sheets.
As I proceed to do more squats with weight on my shoulders, I ask, “I thought you wanted to be stronger than any of the Kings of Olympus.”
“Yes, but… I don't know… I can't explain.”
“It's not important now, is it?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“I understand. You have a little sister now, after all—something you never had before.”
“Yeah…”
“Be always at her side, Darius. Don't follow my footsteps.” I stop what I was doing and put the weight on the floor. “Family is more important than dreams.”
I look at him and he nods. “Yes, it is and I will.”
Wiping my sweat on my face with a towel, I hide my sigh.
If only I realized it sooner…
And a thought crosses my mind. “Or maybe… we could do both.”
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“We could become the strongest people in the Realm so we can protect them from anyone who tries to hurt them. I just remembered what my father taught me: We strive to become strong to protect what we have. It's pretty obvious but yeah…”
“So, we will…”
I nod. “So, we will.”
What? I sense… someone… from above. A disturbing presence. To whom does it belong?
“Leo,” says Darius. “Who's that?”
“You sense it too?”
“Yes, of course. It's like this guy's n***d or something. He doesn't hide his presence.”
“Wait.”
I close my eyes to predict what will happen next.
After I did, I say, “Oh, crap…,” shaking my head. I grab his helmet and throw it at him. “He's above us take him out! HURRY!!!”
He wears his helmet, grabs his dagger, and busts the door open. He disappears. I hope the marks he prepared will get him there in time. Mila is there at her door looking at me with her widening eyes. I guess she sensed the presence too.
Do it, DARIUS!!!
- Writer
