p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"I /spanspan style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"made it through my first day back. I breezed through the classes and introductions. I saw old faces like Iris (she was happy to see me back), Nathaniel (still the uptight person I knew), Castiel (quite the troublemaker and still is), and of course, Arya. I had her in my History class with Mr. Faraize. I looked at her curiously, cupping my chin with my hand as I placed my elbow on the desk. Why can't she recognize me? Was it because of the physical transformation? Sure, my build has improved and I no longer wear those geeky glasses. I also added a few more inches to my height but why wasn't she able to see that I'm still the same old Ken...tin?/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"We were having History class that time but I paid no mind to the teacher speaking gibberish in front of the class. Actually, half of his audience was already somewhere off in Dreamland and he's struggling to get the attention of the pitiful ones who are still trying their best to get some enlightenment into their minds; Nathaniel included, of course. Arya looked interested enough to listen about how the Schism created the division of the East Orthodox and the Roman Catholic. Huh, now that I realize it, Arya is a Catholic. I guess I never really paid any mind to that. But I guess the topic wasn't that interesting enough because there were moment when she would just doodle mindlessly on her notebook./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"While I was busy staring at her, there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around in curiosity, only to see a guy smiling way too brightly and way too widely for me. He has blue hair (seriously?) and purple eyes. But examining him, no one can misplace the flashy and colorful ensemble his clothes make. I recognize him now./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Alexy, right?" I said in a good-natured manner. He grinned and leaned back to his seat./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Ah, yes, you got it right. Although. I think it's because of the clothes. Aren't they fashionable?" Alexy asked me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Violette continuously stealing glances at Alexy. I looked at the guy still grinning at me and found no indication that he's noticing Violette's stolen glances. Oh well, it's their problem, not mine./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Anyways, if you keep on staring at Arya, she might just disintegrate into a puddle with the intensity of those stares you kept on giving her" Alexy not-so-subtly whispered to me. I somehow managed to choke on my saliva and had to cough to hide the embarrassment from the stares everyone was giving me. I heard Alexy snicker behind me and I sighed in exasperation. This blue-haired is giving me trouble before I knew it./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"I looked across the room again and suddenly found a familiar pair of eyes staring back at me. They were an icy pair of orbs like always and I recognized the surprise in her eyes before she turned away. I blinked twice, still digesting the fact that I caught Arya looking at me. I decided to keep my gaze in front of the class to avoid having a heart attack from the way how fast my heart beats./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"After class, I decided to stop by the gardening club. It's been a while since I last stopped by here. I found a mop of green, wavy hair moving around the tulips in the gardening pots. I cleared my throat to get his attention. The guy looked up to find me standing there and stopped what he was doing./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Hello, I'm Jade. How may I help you?" he asked politely and smiled./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Hi, I'm Kentin," I saw a spark of recognition in his eyes as I continued, "I was a former member of the gardening club before I was sent to the military camp. Now that I'm back, I was wondering if there are tasks for me at the moment?"/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"Jade beamed happily and said, "Dear Lord, thank you for this savior! I've been rearranging plants around the greenhouse all afternoon and I need an extra hand. Would you mind if I ask you to move that cypress bonsai to the west end of the greenhouse?"/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""I can do that" I casually said, rolling my sleeves past my elbows and started on my task. Since I'm alone, I would have to drag this bonsai across the greenhouse. Old Ken wouldn't have been able to do this task but now that I've put on some muscles, the effort and strain wasn't that much unlike if I did this before military camp./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"Halfway through my task of dragging it to the west side of the greenhouse, the doors opened and I tried my best no to look up. However, the voice undid my control and made me look at her./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Hey, Jade. Um, is there anything I can do for now?" Arya asked timidly, fiddling with the hem of her top./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Ah! You can help Kentin carry that bonsai over there to the west side of the greenhouse then the two of you can harvest a few tomatoes for the kitchen and water some flowers" Jade told her. Arya nodded and made her way towards me, her eyes trained to the floor. When she was just a few steps away, she stopped and looked up to meet my eyes./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"There was a certain... something in her stance that was more than her shyness. I studied her critically as she continued on staring./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""I-Is it really you... Kentin?" she asked in hesitation and I broke out of my reverie to properly glance at her face. God, she's still as beautiful as when I left her, albeit her hairstyle changed. I grinned at her and her eyes widened and a blush formed on her cheeks./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Of course, Arya! Now where is that warm welcome I was waiting for a long time?" I teased her. In less than a blink of an eye, she crossed the distance and engulfed me into a tight, bear hug. I was surprised, no, shocked at what she did because she's so firmly pressed against me. I hugged her back, feeling like the world has finally righted its axis and everything is alright./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Kentin! God, you don't know how much I missed you, you idiot! Where have you been?! What happened to you? God, I feel like I missed out on a lot of things!" And there it was, the infamous Arya smile, the one that never failed to turn me inside out, knock me off balance and melt me into an indistinguishable puddle. She pulled away slightly to look at me in the eyes./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"I chuckled and replied in a teasing tone, "If you consider military training, constant whip lashing by my seniors and all that whatnot as 'missing out on a lot of things', it's nothing much."/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"Arya laughed and I lightly pinched her side, garnering a surprised and delighted squeal from her. She poked me on the side and I jumped away to dodge it. Before I can retaliate, Jade's voice rang through the greenhouse./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Oi! Kids, behave! And carry on with your tasks! The day doesn't last long!"/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"We were having History class that time but I paid no mind to the teacher speaking gibberish in front of the class. Actually, half of his audience was already somewhere off in Dreamland and he's struggling to get the attention of the pitiful ones who are still trying their best to get some enlightenment into their minds; Nathaniel included, of course. Arya looked interested enough to listen about how the Schism created the division of the East Orthodox and the Roman Catholic. Huh, now that I realize it, Arya is a Catholic. I guess I never really paid any mind to that. But I guess the topic wasn't that interesting enough because there were moment when she would just doodle mindlessly on her notebook./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"While I was busy staring at her, there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around in curiosity, only to see a guy smiling way too brightly and way too widely for me. He has blue hair (seriously?) and purple eyes. But examining him, no one can misplace the flashy and colorful ensemble his clothes make. I recognize him now./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Alexy, right?" I said in a good-natured manner. He grinned and leaned back to his seat./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Ah, yes, you got it right. Although. I think it's because of the clothes. Aren't they fashionable?" Alexy asked me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Violette continuously stealing glances at Alexy. I looked at the guy still grinning at me and found no indication that he's noticing Violette's stolen glances. Oh well, it's their problem, not mine./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Anyways, if you keep on staring at Arya, she might just disintegrate into a puddle with the intensity of those stares you kept on giving her" Alexy not-so-subtly whispered to me. I somehow managed to choke on my saliva and had to cough to hide the embarrassment from the stares everyone was giving me. I heard Alexy snicker behind me and I sighed in exasperation. This blue-haired is giving me trouble before I knew it./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"I looked across the room again and suddenly found a familiar pair of eyes staring back at me. They were an icy pair of orbs like always and I recognized the surprise in her eyes before she turned away. I blinked twice, still digesting the fact that I caught Arya looking at me. I decided to keep my gaze in front of the class to avoid having a heart attack from the way how fast my heart beats./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"After class, I decided to stop by the gardening club. It's been a while since I last stopped by here. I found a mop of green, wavy hair moving around the tulips in the gardening pots. I cleared my throat to get his attention. The guy looked up to find me standing there and stopped what he was doing./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Hello, I'm Jade. How may I help you?" he asked politely and smiled./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Hi, I'm Kentin," I saw a spark of recognition in his eyes as I continued, "I was a former member of the gardening club before I was sent to the military camp. Now that I'm back, I was wondering if there are tasks for me at the moment?"/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"Jade beamed happily and said, "Dear Lord, thank you for this savior! I've been rearranging plants around the greenhouse all afternoon and I need an extra hand. Would you mind if I ask you to move that cypress bonsai to the west end of the greenhouse?"/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""I can do that" I casually said, rolling my sleeves past my elbows and started on my task. Since I'm alone, I would have to drag this bonsai across the greenhouse. Old Ken wouldn't have been able to do this task but now that I've put on some muscles, the effort and strain wasn't that much unlike if I did this before military camp./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"Halfway through my task of dragging it to the west side of the greenhouse, the doors opened and I tried my best no to look up. However, the voice undid my control and made me look at her./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Hey, Jade. Um, is there anything I can do for now?" Arya asked timidly, fiddling with the hem of her top./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Ah! You can help Kentin carry that bonsai over there to the west side of the greenhouse then the two of you can harvest a few tomatoes for the kitchen and water some flowers" Jade told her. Arya nodded and made her way towards me, her eyes trained to the floor. When she was just a few steps away, she stopped and looked up to meet my eyes./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"There was a certain... something in her stance that was more than her shyness. I studied her critically as she continued on staring./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""I-Is it really you... Kentin?" she asked in hesitation and I broke out of my reverie to properly glance at her face. God, she's still as beautiful as when I left her, albeit her hairstyle changed. I grinned at her and her eyes widened and a blush formed on her cheeks./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Of course, Arya! Now where is that warm welcome I was waiting for a long time?" I teased her. In less than a blink of an eye, she crossed the distance and engulfed me into a tight, bear hug. I was surprised, no, shocked at what she did because she's so firmly pressed against me. I hugged her back, feeling like the world has finally righted its axis and everything is alright./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Kentin! God, you don't know how much I missed you, you idiot! Where have you been?! What happened to you? God, I feel like I missed out on a lot of things!" And there it was, the infamous Arya smile, the one that never failed to turn me inside out, knock me off balance and melt me into an indistinguishable puddle. She pulled away slightly to look at me in the eyes./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"I chuckled and replied in a teasing tone, "If you consider military training, constant whip lashing by my seniors and all that whatnot as 'missing out on a lot of things', it's nothing much."/span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;"Arya laughed and I lightly pinched her side, garnering a surprised and delighted squeal from her. She poked me on the side and I jumped away to dodge it. Before I can retaliate, Jade's voice rang through the greenhouse./span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;" /span/p
p class="p0" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;""Oi! Kids, behave! And carry on with your tasks! The day doesn't last long!"/span/p