Kaizer's POV
The house had fallen silent again.
Not the kind of silence I had grown used to.
This one...
Felt strangely restless.
The ceiling fan turned lazily above us, its rhythmic hum becoming the only sound filling the room.
I sat opposite Iris at the dining table.
A simple dinner rested between us.
Rice.
Vegetables.
Soup.
The same meal we had shared countless times before.
Yet tonight...
Everything felt different.
...
She still hadn't looked at me.
Not even once.
Her eyes remained fixed on her plate as she quietly ate, carefully breaking the food into smaller pieces before taking each bite.
It almost looked...
As if she had suddenly found the dinner incredibly interesting.
I lowered my eyes to my own plate.
Unfortunately...
It wasn't the food occupying my mind.
The front door.
Her footsteps.
The warmth that had suddenly surrounded me.
Her arms.
The memory replayed again.
And again.
And again.
...
I tightened my grip around the spoon.
Why was I still thinking about it?
It had only been a hug.
Nothing more.
...
Then why...
Why could I still remember exactly how tightly she had held onto me?
Almost...
As if letting go would've made me disappear.
I slowly looked up.
She was still avoiding me.
A loose strand of hair slipped beside her cheek.
She absentmindedly tucked it behind her ear.
Her ears...
Were still slightly pink.
...
Cute.
The thought surfaced before I could stop it.
For a brief second...
The corner of my lips almost lifted.
Then—
Another image replaced it.
Last night.
Her fingers pressing against her forehead.
That brief frown she had hidden almost immediately.
The medicine.
The way she had casually dismissed it.
"It's nothing."
...
My expression slowly settled again.
Nothing.
That word had started bothering me.
Because every single time she said it...
Something always was.
...
She had a strange habit.
She carried everything alone.
Even pain.
As though asking for help would somehow burden someone else.
...
I quietly lowered my gaze again.
The food suddenly tasted bland.
...
Across the table...
She had almost finished eating.
Without realizing it herself.
She continued absentmindedly moving the spoon through the empty bowl.
Her thoughts...
Were somewhere else entirely.
Probably...
The same place mine were.
...
Neither of us spoke.
Not because we didn't have anything to say.
Perhaps...
We had too much to say.
The silence stretched.
Only the occasional sound of porcelain touching porcelain disturbed it.
...
When I looked again...
Her dinner was finished.
Mine wasn't far behind.
I set my spoon down.
At that exact moment—
"So..."
"I..."
Our voices overlapped.
She froze.
So did I.
The silence returned.
She slowly lowered her gaze again.
"..."
"..."
After a long pause...
She spoke first.
"...You can go first."
I looked at her for a second.
Then quietly shook my head.
"No."
"You wanted to ask something."
She gently rubbed her thumb against the edge of the table.
"...It's about yesterday."
My heartbeat unconsciously slowed.
Mine too.
I rested both hands on the table.
"...Tell me."
---
She slowly lifted her eyes.
"...You saw that thing too?"
For a moment...
I simply looked at her.
Then...
I nodded.
"...Yeah."
Her fingers tightened around the spoon.
"...Before yesterday..."
"When that man..."
"It was the same thing."
I answered quietly.
"The same golden threads."
Silence.
It settled between us once again.
I could almost hear her thoughts trying to make sense of something neither of us understood.
"I know what you're thinking."
I finally spoke.
"I asked myself the same question the first time I saw them."
She lowered her eyes.
"...I..."
My words stopped.
She rarely interrupted people.
So when she did...
It meant whatever she was about to say had been sitting inside her for a long time.
"I've..."
"...seen them before."
My brows instinctively knitted together.
"What?"
She looked at me again.
"In my dream."
...
I forgot to blink.
"...Your dream?"
She nodded.
"I don't know why."
"I didn't even remember it properly until last night."
She took a slow breath.
"I saw those threads..."
"And..."
Her voice became quieter.
"...I saw you."
Something inside me stiffened.
"Me?"
She nodded again.
"They were wrapping around your hands."
"Your legs."
"You looked..."
She searched for the right word.
"...Weak."
"I kept trying to reach you."
"But..."
"I couldn't."
She stopped speaking.
Her eyes slowly met mine.
"...Why were you smiling?"
I frowned slightly.
"You should've tried to come towards me."
"You should've..."
Her voice almost broke.
"...done something."
I didn't know what to say.
Instead...
I quietly stood up.
Walked around the table.
And sat beside her.
The chair made a faint sound against the floor.
"Iris."
She didn't look away this time.
"I should've come towards you."
The words escaped before I thought about them.
Immediately...
A pink tint climbed onto her cheeks.
She turned her face away.
"I-I mean..."
"You should've tried saving yourself."
Despite everything...
A small smile escaped me.
"But..."
"That was your dream."
"How exactly was I supposed to save myself?"
She actually paused.
Thinking seriously about it.
Then—
"...That's true."
Another pause.
Her brows suddenly furrowed again.
"No."
"That's not even the point."
"The point is..."
She looked at me.
"...Why would I dream about something like that?"
I had no answer.
None.
Because I had been asking myself almost the same question.
She watched me for a few seconds.
"...You don't know either."
It wasn't a question.
I slowly shook my head.
"...No."
The room became quiet again.
Outside...
The wind gently brushed against the window.
"Kaizer."
"Hm?"
"...Is something wrong with me?"
The question came so softly...
I almost wished I hadn't heard it.
I looked at her.
Then quietly answered,
"If something is wrong..."
"...Then it's wrong with both of us."
Especially me.
The rest of the sentence never reached my lips.
She looked down.
"...What if someone else has seen those things?"
"...Maybe."
"...Shouldn't we tell someone?"
I thought for a moment.
"I don't think anyone would believe us."
"...Why?"
I hesitated.
"...Did your grandmother ever tell anyone?"
She slowly shook her head.
"No."
"Then..."
"Maybe she did."
"And nobody listened."
Neither of us spoke after that.
Finally I sighed.
"I'll think about it."
"You don't think too much."
She immediately frowned.
"No."
"I'll think too."
I couldn't help smiling.
"...As you wish."
Her expression softened.
Then...
Very quietly...
"Kaizer."
"Hm?"
"If..."
She hesitated.
"My dream ever becomes real..."
Her eyes met mine again.
"...Come towards me."
My heart skipped.
"...Don't just stand there smiling."
For a long moment...
I simply looked at her.
Then I answered.
Very softly.
"I'll make sure..."
"...I always reach you."
Neither of us spoke.
The wind outside stirred the curtains gently.
She stared at me.
Neither of us looked away this time.
The words had slipped out naturally.
Only after saying them...
Did I realize how they sounded.
I cleared my throat.
"...Now."
"My turn."
Her brows lifted slightly.
"Hm?"
I looked down at the table for a moment before asking,
"...Those headaches."
"You get them regularly..."
"...Don't you?"
She froze.
Completely.
It was only for a second.
But I caught it.
She hadn't expected me to ask.
Her fingers instinctively reached for the sleeve of her sweater.
"They're nothi—"
"Senior Iris."
I interrupted quietly.
This time...
I made sure she looked at me.
"...That wasn't nothing."
Her lips parted slightly.
Then closed again.
She looked away.
"I just..."
"I get headaches sometimes."
"So..."
"So you ignore them?"
She remained silent.
I sighed softly.
"I know..."
"I probably shouldn't ask."
"But..."
I paused.
"...You're my housemate."
"If something happens to you..."
"I should know."
She smiled faintly.
A tired smile.
"I said it's nothing."
"It's just..."
I waited.
"...When I was little..."
"I had a surgery."
...
For a moment...
The room disappeared.
Surgery.
I remembered.
The white hospital corridors.
The smell of disinfectant.
Her grandmother's trembling hands.
My mother standing beside her.
The last day...
Before Iris disappeared from my life.
I slowly looked back at her.
"...Didn't you ask a doctor?"
"I did."
"They don't know."
My brows knitted together.
"...What do you mean?"
She continued playing with the sleeve of her sweater.
"They don't know why the headaches are still there."
"Even after the MRI..."
"MRI?"
She looked at me.
Completely fearless.
As though she wasn't talking about herself.
"I had a brain tumour."
...
Everything inside me stopped.
I stared at her.
Unable to respond.
A tumour.
Seven years old.
...
Suddenly...
Everything made sense.
The missing memories.
The blank look in her eyes the first day we met again.
The way she never recognized me.
She wasn't pretending.
She truly...
Didn't remember.
"I was..."
"Seven."
"Or maybe eight."
"I don't really know."
"They operated on it."
"And afterwards..."
"I forgot everything before that."
She smiled awkwardly.
"I don't even remember what I was like."
I remained silent.
She continued.
"My parents..."
"They probably..."
She stopped herself.
"...No."
"They definitely died before that."
"I just..."
"I don't remember them."
"I don't remember how they talked to me."
"I don't remember how I talked to them."
"I don't even know..."
"...whether I looked like them."
A strange ache settled inside my chest.
Without thinking...
I spoke.
"They loved you."
She looked at me.
"They loved you very much."
The words came naturally.
Because I knew.
I had seen it.
I had seen the way her mother looked at her.
The way her father carried her on his shoulders.
The way they smiled whenever she laughed.
She smiled softly.
"I know."
"I think..."
"They must have."
A quiet silence followed.
Then she spoke again.
"Maybe..."
"I had friends too."
My gaze slowly shifted towards her.
"But after the surgery..."
"The first friend I remember making..."
"...was Anya."
I nodded slowly.
"...Mm."
She rested both hands on her lap.
"I still don't know..."
"...why the headaches happen."
I looked at her for a long moment.
"If they happen again..."
"Tell me."
She tilted her head.
A tiny smile appeared.
"And then?"
"Will you scare them away?"
...
For a brief moment...
I wasn't sitting in this dining room anymore.
A tiny girl.
Barely reaching my shoulder.
Hands on her waist.
Looking at the scrape on my knee as though it had personally offended her.
"Don't cry."
"I'll scare the pain all the way to the sky!"
...
My lips curved almost unconsciously.
"I'll scare the pain in your head..."
"...all the way to the sky."
She blinked.
Something flickered across her face.
Recognition.
No...
Not recognition.
More like...
A feeling.
Something familiar she couldn't explain.
It disappeared almost immediately.
She smiled anyway.
"We'll see if you can."
I held her gaze.
"I can."
She looked away first.
"...We'll see."
The room became quiet again.
But this time...
It wasn't an uncomfortable silence.
It was the silence of two people who had finally allowed each other to see a little more of the weight they carried.
And somehow...
The room felt lighter because of it.
The silence no longer felt heavy.
It simply...
Existed.
I stood up first, collecting the empty bowls from the table.
"I'll wash these."
She instinctively reached for one.
"I can—"
"You cooked yesterday."
I looked at her briefly.
"So..."
"It's my turn."
She didn't argue.
Instead, she quietly let go of the bowl.
...
The water flowed softly from the tap.
Behind me...
I could hear her absentmindedly arranging the glasses on the table.
The ordinary sounds somehow felt comforting.
Then—
Her phone vibrated.
She glanced at the screen.
Almost instantly...
A small smile appeared.
"Anya."
She answered the call.
"Hello?"
Even from the kitchen, I could hear Anya's energetic voice through the speaker.
"Iris! Tomorrow. Your house. Ten o'clock. Final decision."
I shook my head slightly.
Some people never changed.
"...Tomorrow?" Iris asked.
"Yes, tomorrow! We're studying together."
"Don't even think about saying no."
I quietly placed the washed bowl on the rack.
A few seconds later...
I noticed Iris looking towards me.
She had covered the microphone with her hand.
"Anya wants to come tomorrow..."
"...to study."
She hesitated.
Then asked softly,
"...Is that okay?"
I looked at her for a moment.
It wasn't really my house.
If anything...
It had started feeling like ours.
I gave a small nod.
"Tell her yes."
She smiled faintly.
Removed her hand from the phone.
"You can come."
The loud cheer that followed made her instinctively move the phone a little away from her ear.
"I knew you wouldn't refuse!"
"I'll come tomorrow!"
"And don't make any excuses!"
Before Iris could even answer...
The call had already ended.
She lowered the phone slowly.
The room returned to silence.
I looked at her.
"...Looks like tomorrow won't be peaceful."
She looked back.
A tiny smile rested on her lips.
"...Not with Anya around."
For the first time that day...
Neither of us looked away.
---