Time passed by and we celebrated wholeheartedly.
Rachel was still there, at our house, enjoying herself with me and my family. But, the entire time she was there, I completely ignored her.
After some more time passed, everyone was done. The celebration was over. It was nothing grand. Just a small family enjoying themselves and celebrating something worth celebrating.
We cleaned the dining table and washed the dishes. Though my mom insisted against it, however Rachel helped as well.
After cleaning everything, I went to my room. I looked behind from the corner of eye and Rachel followed behind me.
What does she want now? Can't you go home already?
I opened the door of my room and entered. I sat on my bed and took out my cellphone. I scrolled through it, trying to find something interesting, but couldn't. Rachel followed after me and closed the door. I looked at her for a few seconds before going back to scroll through my cellphone.
There was silence for a couple a seconds until Rachel finally broke down the silence, "what's wrong with you? You're acting cold towards me. Why?", she said in a soft tone.
"What's wrong with me? I'm perfectly fine. And I'm not acting cold towards you.", I replied, still looking at my cellphone screen.
After seeing no change on my face and attitude, she came closer and said, "You're acting cold even now! You're not even looking at me! You're not paying attention to me! You're looking at your phone!", the tone in her voice changed. It was of anger yet filled with sadness. It was almost to the point where her tears would start falling.
"What do you mean? I'm only checking if something interesting happened in the past few days.", I responded calmly.
"And what is this about you joining the Scythe's Academy? I thought I told you it's dangerous to be a Scythe, didn't I? But you didn't listen and still chose to do it.", Rachel said as she tried to contain her tears.
"I decided I wanted to be a Scythe so I joined the Scythe's Academy. What's wrong with that?", I responded as my eyes were still glued to the cellphone screen.
Hearing my response, her voice became soft as she crossed her arms and said with a saddened expression, "but we promised to stay together forever… and you broke our promise."
We promised to stay together forever. That phrase.
As I repeated that same phrase in my mind that binded me, I glanced at Rachel from the corner of my eye and I saw tears flowing down from her eyes. I didn't understand why she would cry.
I couldn't comprehend why or how these words came out of my mouth. Maybe it was the little bit of kindness I had left inside me that took over and I blurted out, "hey, why are you crying? I didn't say anything harsh, did I? If I did, then I'm sorry."
I had never consulted someone crying in front of me, I was never good at that kind of stuff, so I had no idea what to do in that moment except for asking why they are crying.
And the inexperienced me that did not understand women at all.
I put my cellphone down on the bed and stood up.
Even though I had never consulted someone when they would cry in front of me, seeing Rachel with eyes filled with tears, a memory of our childhood triggered inside my head and I instinctively patted her head.
What…? What am I doing?
By the time I realized it, my hand was already on her head.
With the warmth of being patted on the head, and before I could remove my hand, Rachel smiled and wrapped her arms around me, "I guess I misunderstood. You're still the kind and gentle Jin I know." She said as she had a soft and genuine smile on her face.
"You were just acting cold to fool me, right?" She looked at me with her grayish-blue eyes and asked with a smile.
"Ah, yeah, I was. Good job figuring it out so soon." I blurted out with having nothing else to say.
"And about you joining the Scythe's Academy, that was a joke too, right?", she said as she looked straight into my eyes.
"Ah, about that…", I paused for a moment.
"Hmm? Hmm?" Rachel hummed in anticipation.
After pausing for a moment, I continued, " yes, I did."
"Huh?" The smile from Rachel's face slowly began to vanish however, there was still a hint of it lingering on.
"Is this also one of your jokes? You've become quite the comedian in the short time I haven't seen you." She continued.
I removed my hand from her head as I said, "I'm not joking. I really joined the Scythe's Academy. It starts on the upcoming Monday."
The smile from her face vanished, her grip on my body loosened and she retreated her hands.
She took a few steps back and said in an arguable tone, "you're lying. You're lying!"
"You promised we would stay together and even go to the same school!" She continued.
She stood in front of me as tears began to fill her eyes again.
In the midst of us staring into each other's eyes, a sudden burst of wind forced open the window. Rachel's sliver-bluish hair flowed with the cold breeze. The sight made me realize again how truly beautiful she was.
Wow…
Wait?! No!
She's using her beauty to manipulate me! I won't let that happen!
I thought internally as I stared at Rachel.
Maybe she betrayed me because I didn't meet her standards. Maybe she left me because she had enough of me. Maybe she did that just to play games on me and satisfy herself.
More thoughts flashed past my mind as I continued to look at her tearful eyes.
Or maybe it wasn't her at all?
"Rachel, listen…" I blurted out even though I had nothing to say.
She immediately responded after hearing me, "No! I've had enough! You broke our promise. You're keeping your distance from me. You're acting cold towards me."
Rachel stood close to the wooden desk and the small trash can which had the picture of us together us kids.
She looked down and whipped her eyes with the long sleeve of her shirt. If she hadn't closed her eyes and whipped them, she would've definitely seen the picture in the trash can.
After whipping her eyes, she looked back at me and said, "you're the worst!", and left the room.
I stared blankly through the door that she left open, as I closed the window and sat on the bed, contemplating what had just happened.