DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fairy Tale. Period.
WRITER'S BLOCK: Okay, so I'm going to continue this after all. It'll be a mini-series of five chapters. And this is a long one so prepare yourself!
LOOK AT ME
Chapter Three
I rubbed my hands together, hoping to get them warm. It was still cold and raining outside and the inside of this building was no better.
"S-sir?" I called to him. My voice shook because of the cold.
Sir Gray's house was a condo unit in a huge building in the city; I honestly thought that it was an apartment or a small bungalow. For some reason, when we got here, he told me to stay outside his unit—alone. Wet. Freezing.
I slowly opened the door and peeped inside. The door opened to a narrow hallway lit with a dim orange light. The walls of this narrow hallway were lined with fragments of broken mirrors. Beside the door, there was a coat hanger, where his coat hung, dripping wet, and there was also a small shoe rack with slippers neatly piled up on it. Straight ahead, I could see what seemed like a small living room.
Clunk! The sound of something being dropped rang in my ears.
"L-lucy, you can't come in yet," his head poked out from behind the wall, wet hair sticking to his forehead.
"But sir, it's cold and I—"
"Fine, get inside."
I politely let myself in, hugging myself and keeping myself warm. It was good that the inside was a bit less cold than the outside and so I tiptoed as I casually walked around the carpeted floor.
Once I was inside, I looked around; the walls were painted white with a few picture frames which showed a handsome young man with black hair, showing off smiles and some awards; there really was a living room straight ahead, one long couch and two small ones surrounded a round, glass table with a small plant at the center. Underneath that table were magazines and some books. Behind the long couch, there was a huge shelf full of books and on the top were trophies and certificates and plaques.
To the right was a small dining table with four chairs and behind it was a kitchen with a counter with a marble counter top, two high swivel chairs and a stove. There was a cupboard that hung on the wall and it hosted plate, tea cup sets and more books. There was also a two-door fridge at the leftmost corner of the room. A huge window brought light to the dining area and the light reflected the moss green curtains hanging above it. On both sides of the window were two huge vases with bamboo-like plants.
I shifted my eyes to the left and there was a complete entertainment set under a stairway which led to two rooms adjacent to each other. At the bottom of the stairs, there was an upright piano, fully furnished and on it were more picture frames. It reminded me of Harry Potter when I saw a broom closet under the stairs; it was open and our dear teacher was being busy, stashing some stuff in it.
"Uh," he said a bit nervously, which was very cute, "I'll go get some dry towels, why don't you sit down and start checking your papers. I left an answer sheet in the folder. I'll be back."
Gray hurried up the stairs and closed the door behind him.
He seems very nervous, I thought. He was probably just shy that one of his students is with him in his own house. He probably has some dirty little secrets here somewhere.
I smiled as I immediately scanned the books in his shelf. He's a guy so I'd probably see some of those adult magazines here somewhere. I quickly but carefully scanned them one by one. Finding none, I looked up to see his awards.
There was an award for Most Outstanding Student of the Year, there were also bowling trophies, an MVP award for soccer, a plaque and some medals that hung on them. At the very center, there was a picture of him, smiling widely at the camera, holding a trophy and two plaques, medals hanging on his neck like a necklace and beside him, smiling as sweetly as he, was his mother.
"Here you go," he said from behind me.
I jumped back and immediately looked at him to take the pink, fluffy towel he was holding out towards me. He had already changed to his dry home clothes and had a towelette on his shoulder.
"Thank you, sir," I said.
He sat down on one of the small couches and gestured for me to do the same. I sat near him, on the long couch.
Taking out his pens, his phone and wearing his glasses, he started to divide the test papers and gave some to me. We immediately started checking and it was a very long, silent moment.
"Huh," he said after a while, "you got 45 percent of this exam wrong!"
Biting my lip, I leaned toward him to see my score written at the top right in red ink. I failed. Again.
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm just not good at geometry," I said. I hope that didn't discourage him. He was, after all, a genius in geometry. Failing meant that he failed as a teacher as well.
"Is there a reason why you don't seem to get any of this at all?"
"Well, I—"
RIIING! RIIING!
His phone rang endlessly in the middle of my statement.
"Excuse me, Luce," My nickname! He called me by my nickname! I didn't want to seem too happy so I fought back a smile that would probably reach from ear-to-ear. I nodded instead and pretended to check the papers but I was actually listening to him on the phone.
"Yes, this is Gray Fullbuster," he started. He made a few 'yes' after that. "Really?!"
I looked at him and he was looked extremely happy—excited even—like a child receiving a puppy for his birthday.
"Wow, I—" he paused to listen to the person on the other end of the line, "—yes, I'll call you back. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Good day."
I stared at him as he smirked cutely at his phone.
"Sir?"
"Yes?" he looked at me, still wearing the same smile.
"You seem very happy about the call," I said.
"Yeah… It was a call from a hospital in Germany," he started. "I took an internment exam there and they called just now to tell me that I got accepted!"
His excitement seemed to overwhelm him; his hands were actually shaking! If only I could tell him how proud I am of him.
I smiled at him and patted his shoulder. "Congratulations, sir."
"But, uh…" he said and looked away, "I'm actually having second thoughts about it."
"Why, sir? Don't you want that?"
"No, it's not it…" he looked at me sheepishly, "Between you and me, I'm actually scared to go abroad alone."
My heart did a summersault. We were actually sharing a secret. That makes me a confidant! Oh, joy! Oh, heavenly joy!
"Why is that?"
"I've never really done anything alone and… I don't know if I can do it by myself at a big foreign hospital."
"Don't say that, sir!" I insisted. He has to go! It was too much of a waste! "You can do anything if you believe it! I believe in you, sir!"
"You seem to know a lot about chasing dreams; as if you've got your own story? Is this about university?"
He raised an eyebrow and I felt my enthusiastic smile go down the drain. He had touched a very sensitive topic for me.
"I… don't want to go to the university," I confessed, head down. He must be thinking that I'm a real idiot; nobody doesn't want to not get into the university he was in. It was very prestigious and well-known. But…
"Why not?" he said. "Will you tell me? Is there any way I can help? I am your teacher, after all."
"I took an entrance examination to a Fine Arts school in Paris," I bit my lip in pure humility, "And they called me up two days ago saying that I passed."
"Woah, fine arts!" he said. If he was pretending then he must be a very good actor because he really looked impressed. "May I see your works?"
I hesitated for a moment, then took out my sketchpad from my bag. I handed it to him, biting my lips and hoping he wouldn't see my drawings of him.
He flipped it open to the first page, where a portrait of my friend, Natsu, was.
"Dragneel…?" he said monotonously.
"That was when he wanted a gift for his birthday," I said excitedly. Nobody's ever asked of my drawings before and so talking about them with the person whom I wanted the most was just exhilarating.
Page after page after page, he took a look at my drawings and—thankfully, he didn't see my sketches of him—made no comment.
"You should go, Lucy," he said. "I really think that you deserve to go to Paris."
"My dad doesn't agree with the idea," I confessed. "My mom's okay with it but my dad really wants me to become a neuro-surgeon."
I bit my lip again as I took my sketchpad from him. Not wanting to dwell on my own issues, I cheerfully faced him and went back to his own dilemma.
"But you really need to go, sir! You should!"
"I told you, I got my tail behind my legs in this. The whole idea sends butterflies in my stomach."
"What are you scared of, sir? I mean, you've survived almost all by yourself all this time and unlike me, I'm sure your parents will agree. Why's fear holding you back so much?"
"Even though I survived by myself, it's because I know that my family is just a call away," he said, cocking his head to the right. "But Germany… It's just too far away… And my family will be far away, too. I don't know…"
"Sir, how will you know if you won't try it?" I challenged. "Have you watched the movie '3 Idiots' ?"
"No…" he said, half laughing.
"Good!" I said, then quoted my favourite line in that movie with some changes to fit the situation, "Fifty years from now, you'll be on your deathbed; you'll remember this moment. The call was made, they were ready for you. But you didn't grab the opportunity! Then you'll spend your whole life regretting the things you didn't do and the decisions you didn't make! You'd regret this if you don't do it!"
"Lucy, I—"
"And even if you are right," I said cutting him off while I still had momentum, "and you couldn't survive there, at least you know where your limits are. But sir, there really is no harm in trying. Are you really going to let this golden opportunity slip past your fingers?"
He remained silent and I was also very embarrassed at the long speech I made. He must probably think that I was too nosy in his life. But it wasn't my fault if I cared to much.
"I'll think about it, Lucy," he said looking up to me and smiling. "But right now, we really need to finish checking these test papers."
I found it hard to sleep. No matter how much I turned, my eyes just don't seem to get heavy. Lucy's words were playing in replay in my head and there was no stopping it, not even for a moment.
Are you really going to let this golden opportunity slip past you fingers?
Am I?
For a seemingly-senseless girl, she made a lot of sense; at that sense knocked me out of myself and into the bigger picture.
Then, without even thinking, I picked up my phone, dialled a number, grabbed my student file and made plans to change my life.
Yeah, I suck. I know… -_-