"Uh…" Cupid breathes out a long sigh, he looks around the classroom then walks into his class and taps a girl on the shoulder: "Kari."
"MY GOD! Who…oh Cupid…yo, what's up." Kari jumped like a cat before turning her face back and breathing a relieved sigh.
"You have a bike, right, Kari?"
"Yeah."
Cupid then pointed his hand at the door: "Someone from class A-1 needs to borrow it for a moment."
"Uh…"
"Heos needs to borrow it."
"Don't know that guy…" Kari put her hand into her pocket and pulled out a small silver key. "But I'll lead it to you, just keep an eye on it, ok? But you'll own me once, what ya think?"
"Uhm…sure. Owning you a thing is way better than owning Noah or Isa…"
"Hahaha…nah, they would bust the hell out of you like their personal labour worker. Remember how Riley got caught up by Isa last year?" She asks with a cheeky smile on her face.
"Yeh…it was hell for him…"
"Bet…"
"What happened back then?"
Liu suddenly jumps in at the middle of their conversation…and also in the middle of their classroom…
"You can't just come in like that…"
Cupid wanted to say something but Kari immediately cut him off: "He asked Isa to help him with some advanced chemistry homework, Isa ended up asking him to buy her a bunch of snacks and drink."
Cupid slowly turns his head over to look back at Kari before slightly frowns at her.
"What?" Kari shrugs, "Just saying the truth…ok, sorry for being a noisy person."
"I'm telling class president to cut you off from Noah table next time."
"Hey! No fair, Cupid! He's one of my most important sources of information income, you know?!"
"More like a gossip business…"
"Alright, alright you two." Liu walks in and tries to stop the two before their chit chat can get any longer: "There's a dead man out the door that we need to worry about, not this gossip business shit. Also, it's after school, who cares if I walk into the wrong class, the teacher is not even around."
Kari nodded her head and said: "I still have work at school, so go ahead and use the bike. You guys can borrow it for uhm…an hour and a half."
Liu made a small whistling sound: "Thanks, ya really helped us alot."
"Thank you, Kari."
"No pro." She had a big smile on her face then hit Cupid on his shoulder: "Borrowing the bike for a bit won't be a problem, just remember to keep an eye on it, if it broke I'll blame you all…that my bike I got from my cousy passed down to me."
"Alright…"
Cupid gave her a small nod, finally everything went back in place…but then he started to see where the problem lies…
Wait, if I have to keep an eye on the bike…does that mean I have to go with Heos back to his house?! "Hey wake up." he kicked Heos in the leg and put the key on his chest: "I got the bike for you, if you broke it, me and the bike owner will crack you in half."
"Such a scary way of words…" Liu whispers to himself: "But I did threaten him today too."
"You did?" Cupid asks as Heos slowly standing up.
"I…forgot to buy him some lollipops at the cafeteria…" Heos explains: "Sinon also asked me to write down some notes about some subject that he missed out on…But I forgot…some…so now both of them are kinda mad…"
Liu slapped Heos on the back: "What ya saying? I'm not mad, I mean I did get pissed off for a moment and Sinon too, but we're not mad 'mad', whatever, just get going and get that paper the president needs before you make another person piss off at you."
"Ok…Right!" Heos looks at Liu and looks back to Cupid: "Thank you…" his hand holds tight to the key.
Cupid bites his teeth, looking at this guy happy makes his chest hurt somehow…It's like catching a heart failure…
"I wish the council president would just cannibalize you at the spot…"
"What do you mean by that?! My meat is not that good…!" Heos face quickly turned pale again.
"Chop chop, get going you two." Liu slapped his hand together to make a loud noise.
"Ah, right!" Heos and Cupid rush to the parking lots
"That's Kari's bike." Cupid pointed at a bike with a gray jacket hanging on it, it was one of Kari's favorite jackets she sometimes wore in class.
"Get on, Cupid." Heos take the bike out and Cupid sits on the back of the bike.
This is kinda weird…Cupid thinks to himself. Do I really have to put up with him like this…
I mean I can just go home and let him just solve it on his own…or do I just jump off from the bike and…no no, if anything happens to the bike how will I talk to Kari about this…
Kari look easy going but if anyone touch her bad heart, it's bad, BAD.
"Ok…uhm…hang on somewhere I guess…" Heos about to cycle with his full speed so he'd better warn Cupid first.
Cupid grabs on to the bar at the back seat, anything but holding on to this guy…guess I have to go with him, no time for second thought about this we need that paper…ugh…whatever!
"Ready?"
"Yeh."
"Ok! Let's go."
Heos cycling the bike straight from the parking lot to out of the gate: "We'll come back right away sir!" He screams as loud as he can so the school guard can hear him: "I hope he doesn't close the gate when we get back…"
"I don't think he will…keep your eyes on the road, if you crash…There won't be any Hoes by tomorrow."
"Right, sorry!" He has no idea if Cupid or the bike crash is going to kill him first but Heos quickly turns his head to look at the front road.
Cycling through the road and letting the wind blow into them, mixed with the cold winter air…it's a good thing Cupid wears a thick jacket today or else he would turn into an ice cube at the back seat…
"My house is not too far, I think if I go at this speed we'll get there in fifteen minutes!"
"Ok…" Cupid was about to ask him to slow down; they might bump into a rock or something, but they don't really have time to go any slower.
They cycle out of the main road and run down to the middle of a grass field.
Uh… It's been a long time since Cupid got to see a big field like this…and for some reason Heos just started talking about himself.
"Me and my neighbor sometimes play football around here, and one time we accidentally kicked it into someone's house and hit their pet chicken in the head…" Heos laughed when he remembered what happened to him and his friend in the past.
"Uh…"
"The chicken is fine…but we got a half-hour lecture after that. Then, when I got home…my big sis laughed at me like 'Ay nako! how bad luck can you be to literally hit a chicken on its head!'."
"Must be fun."
"Huh…? Yeah! It was fun! We even tried to steal some starfood from the neighbor's house…"
"Did you succeed?"
"Hm…kinda, some got bruised, some are too old to eat, but we did get some good ones."
"Uhm."
"Ah…now talking about all that, I really do miss the olden days…!" Heos breaks out a big smile: "When my pops was still here with us…"
"Ohm…"
"No, I'm not saying that he's dead or something, pops just went back to his hometown." Heos feels like Cupid is listening to him, and somehow it makes him want to talk even more, maybe because Cupid doesn't usually feel this calm and quiet around him…it feels rather strange but somewhat a wonderful feeling.
"…so you stay with your mom and sis?"
"Yeah! I also have a little sis too. But we send her to kindergarten quite often these days, we're all busy after all…"
"Right…" Cupid found this bike ride…quite enjoyable. He loves seeing the sun slowly fall down, the red-ish sky mixed with a bit of yellow…the wind blows, and the grass slightly waves at them. "Busy…" sometimes Cupid wonders, if we were all free from work and school, maybe we can live our true life…maybe we can be free to do what we dream of…maybe it easy to catch the sun coming down on the rice field like today but…"We all have work to do…everyone is busy…"
"Yeah…" Heos nodded: "We all have to go to school…to study…to get a degree and go to work…"
"Yeh…this world is not so kind to the poor…" Cupid nodded his head slightly.
"My family moved to lots of places before settling down here…and I kinda learned that the hard way…when we were young, my sis said when she grew up, she'll be the CEO of some big company, so we don't have to worry anymore. I think it's kinda funny, even if she doesn't want me to mention that dream ever again."
"I think she realizes how hard it is to be a CEO."
"Hahahaha! I think so too!"
They're still just kids after all…Cupid and Heos and Nova and Yunne and everyone are still just kids after all…
We're all just some kids living in this small town. But the world forces us to learn things too fast…maybe we were never ready for anything to come.
Three more years and they'll be graduates…thrown into society…and working their way through life.
Guess that's just how it is…
Heos suddenly stops the bike: "Uh…Cupid? I think we have some problems ahead…"
"What?" Cupid led over from the site that got covered up by Heos back: "Ugh…seriously…?!"
-o-
"Rose, are you sure we can walk home after school? I mean, you're still busy right…?"
"It's fine, Yunne, I have dealt with most of the important ones already."
"Oh…is that so…that's great!"
Yunne look back and fort, nervesly grabbing her bag. Oh no…oh god how do I say this to her…like do I just 'Hey Rose! So I just randomly sign up for the marathon, please come watch me lose this match patheticly'???
No what are you thinking Yunne, be normal, just say something!
"So, Rose…!"
"Yes Yunne?"
"I…I just…got into…you know, the activity for the festival."
"Oh my! Which activity are you going to join in?"
Seriously, Yunne wonders why people call Rose a person that's 'hard to talk to', she is as wonderful and lovely as she is! There is nothing needed to change about her. More likely…Yunne should be the one who needs to change…to be a better friend…for Rose to play with.
"Well…" Yunne look away for a moment before turn back to look straight into Rose face: "Marathon."
"Cooking?"
They said it at the same time.
"Wait, what, marathon?!"
"Y…yes…"
"Yunne…you…plan to join…marathon?! What? You…you join an activity in the winter festival? Alright but MARATHON? Yunne, I thought you have never done any running sport before
"Well…yes…I never…fo this before…"
"Then...what do you mean you're joining marathon?!"