"Urm...let's go home," Yuenelia said to Zordyz.
Zordyz nodded and started walking. He walked way ahead of Yuenelia and Aexiq, putting quite a distance between them.
She knew he won't respond much in his state. She knew...but it still hurts.
'This quiet atmosphere is killing me,' Aexiq's lips twitched. 'Number three is not acting normal."
'I take it that he won't mind me chatting with Yuenelia today? He always gets in between when he sees us talking.'
"Did you guys quarrel? He doesn't seem to look at you at all." Aexiq said to Yuenelia, realizing that she too, was spacing out.
'What's all this silence?' he frowned. 'Something's off about this.'
"Yuenelia?" he gently tapped her shoulder.
"Yes?" she finally snapped out of it. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"
"Did something happen between you two? He's not sticking to you like he usually does." Aexiq asked.
"He has a lot in mind. They're going up against other seeded teams after all. He's just tired." Yuenelia gave a reasonable reply.
It was only Yuenelia and Aexiq talking the whole way back. Not even once did Zordyz looked behind him.
When he reached the entrance of his house, he only gave a nod and quickly went in.
Yuenelia felt a twinge in her heart.
She had forgotten when it started, but Zordyz would always pat her on her head and say "see you later" before they part at the end of the day.
It was always "later" and never "tomorrow".
She asked him about his weird habit which he never told her why.
"See you later."
She can hear him saying it to her in her head.
"Well, that's unusually cold." Aexiq didn't know what to make of this situation.
"I'll see you in class tomorrow." Yuenelia smiled faintly.
Before he could ask anything else, Yuenelia has walked to her own house. The only thing he saw was her silhouette before she closed her door.
That left him puzzled.
'They probably fought? It's not my place to interfere with their problems but being in the middle of it makes me anxious,' he thought to himself and walked home.
When Aexiq was well out of sight, Yuenelia came back out again. She walked over to the opposite house and pressed Zordyz's doorbell.
'I forgot to ask Ayden how much time has passed since it happened. If he got it during the match, he's probably fine by now.' Yuenelia pondered while waiting for someone to answer to door.
There was no response...
'Aunt Milya usually answers the door pretty fast.'
After a moment, she realized that she forgot Aunt Milya has started working again.
'Mum told me about how Aunt Milya didn't have much to do, now that Zordyz is all grown up. She's working as a nurse in the hospital's O&G department, I think?'
She pressed the doorbell again and waited for a little longer.
Still no response...
Yuenelia tried the door handle and it opened with a click.
"It's not locked!"
She peeked inside. The house was very quiet.
'Is Zor asleep? Maybe I should just go home,' she thought and decided to turn back but changed her mind again.
'What if he collapsed somewhere?' thinking back to his pale complexion, her thoughts ran wild.
She checked around the ground floor before going upstairs. The stairs creaked slightly.
Yuenelia checked the upstairs bathroom first and didn't find him there.
The only place left was his bedroom.
To be honest, she had never entered his room before. The opposite can't be said with him. Back in grade school, he barged into hers all the time.
"Zor?" Yuenelia knocked lightly on his door.
When she didn't hear any sound, she opened the door. Light spilt into the dark room.
Zordyz was asleep; not in bed but on the floor. He was all curled up on the soft blue colour bedroom rug.
Yuenelia walked quietly into the room and sat down in front of him.
The only sound in the room was Zordyz's soft breathing. It seems like he already showered before sleeping. His right arm and slightly wet hair covered most of his face.
'At least he's not in pain,' she breathed a sigh of relief.
She looked around the room.
Zordyz kept it tidy and simple. There were all kinds of sports memorabilia and books on his shelves. There were also traces of posters up on his wall that's been taken off.
'It's obvious he still likes them very much. Why is he trying so hard not to show it? All because I'm taking Magic Cure?' she felt a pang of guilt.
He had always allowed her to have her way with things. They argued all the time but in the end, he would let her win anyway. He did them in such a particular manner without her even realising it.
'Why are you following me in this endeavour? You could be a sports star, appear on TV and mesmerize the whole world with your skills.'
'Studying to become a doctor is something I wanted to do, not you. I did it for you, Zor.'
Time was forgotten as she stared at him.
Yuenelia gently brushed the top of his head. His fluffy hair felt good to the touch.
As she was getting up to leave, a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.