And there was Kim, welcoming him warmly.
Only two or three of his steps were enough for him to be a few inches from Tanou, Tan unconsciously backed away until his back ran into the closed door, the last blurry and busy months didn't prepare him to see Kimi again, much less to live with him.
"What are you doing here?!" He screams as he grabs him by the collar of his shirt. "I told you not to appear before me anymore. Why did you come?"
Tan was stunned, it was the first time he had seen him so upset, in the past whenever Kim bothered him he would smile cheekily, however at that moment he looked furious and helpless, his breathing was shaking, his eyes were beginning to get wet, he seemed to hate that Tanou was there, even more than Tanou was.
"Do you think I came of my own free will?" He told him while trying to get out of the grip.
"You could resist if you didn't want to, if you had called me I would have done everything in my power to avoid it."
"Why would I call you?" At last, he managed to free himself. "I didn't want to, but there's no going back. Do you think I'm happy to see you again, idiot?"
"Give me that," he took Tanou's bags before he could avoid it. "You'll go out the back door"
He pushed him out of the room.
"Enough already! I can't leave Kim, my uncle will kill me if I escape:"
"I'll kill you if you stay!"
Tan looked at him in disbelief, his breathing seemed even more agitated, his face was red and a tear was sliding down one of his cheekbones, Tan was starting to feel nervous, Kim looked desperate to get away from him, somehow that rejection made him feel sad, he came to think that they could at least make a truce and prevent their last years of school together from being horrible.
He took him by the shoulders and spoke in a low voice.
"So, I need you to listen to me and trust just this time that I'm doing it for your sake. You have to go now that you still have a chance, forget your bags, go out the back door, I'll talk to your uncle."
Tan never thought he heard words like that coming out of Kim, he made him hesitate, but the memories of all the fights and times when each other's life was upset were stronger.
"Leave me alone!"
He shoved it away from him and ran upstairs, ignoring his request, thinking it must be just one of his tantrums.
Tanou didn't know what was higher, he only went up the stairs two steps at a time until he reached the terrace, there was a large room with glass doors covered by red curtains on one side and several tables with their respective wooden chairs on the other, the rest was just space, Tan stood as close to the edge as possible, the sky was blue with no clouds and the sun was blinding him.
"Why haven't you stopped being an idiot? Is it so hard for you to stop driving me crazy? As much as I want to, I can't leave! I'm not like you, I don't do what I want!" He screamed in an attempt to vent his frustration.
"You haven't been in this place for fifteen minutes, and you want to jump off the terrace, it's a record," When turning to see the owner of that place, the voice found a boy with dark hair and glasses, wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans blue "the others have jumped to the fifth day."
From the comment, he seemed to be joking, but his face remained impassive, not knowing how to react. Tan smiled restrained.
"Get away from the edge, it's a nice day to watch someone die."
The boy with glasses a bit back a smile.
Tanou chose to do what was reasonable and take a few steps back, dying at sixteen jumping off a terrace seemed too dramatic for his taste.
"I'm Tanou Darawan" he extended his hand towards the boy.
"Luk Fischer" he replied with a firm handshake.
"So Darawan, I know this place is detestable, but what happened to make you hate it as soon as you arrived? You can not tell me if you don't want to."
"My roommate... He's something ..."
He didn't want to divulge his complicated personal relationship with Kim as soon as he arrived, so he didn't know what words to use.
"A cretin? An asshole? A brainless idiot?"
He was surprised by Luk's direct and slightly rude response, but he nodded agreeing with him.
"Something like that."
"That's how Ezkara is, you'll either get used to it or throw it from right here, the first thing that happens."
They both laughed, dispelling any trace of tension or bad mood in the environment.
"What's wrong with this place? You're the second person to tell me that being here sucks and down there Kim begged me to leave."
Luk's eyes widened, he snorted and ruffled his hair uneasily.
"Did Kim tell you that? It's very strange." He sighed and changed the subject quickly.
"Living here can be difficult for those who are not used to following orders"
"Are the managers strict? " Asked Tanou.
"Very strict, they are scary."
"Dwarf!" A tall boy who looked older than the other two addressed Luk. "Stop flirting with the new one and continue with your duties if you don't want to be betrayed with Ohm."
"Don't say stupid things!" Luk yelled at him as he walks towards the stairs with slightly flushed cheeks.
The boy looked at Tanou carefully, seemed to be looking for something to criticize, shook his head.
"We already have enough problems to deal with him now," he said to himself, but loud enough for Tan to hear him." If you cause any inconvenience to Luk or me you'll regret it."
He turned around intending to leave, but stopped to say:
"Let me give you some advice, it's free so take it; follow the rules, to the letter, do not get carried away by your emotions, and do not come yelling at the roof, here the walls, the ceiling, and even the sky have ears."
Tan didn't have the opportunity to speak, the behavior of that boy seemed too strange and his head began to concoct theories. Anger? Fear? What led someone to act so hostile for no apparent reason? What was going on at Cloudhouse?
He returned to his room feeling confused and heated from having spent so much time in the sun, enough vitamin D for just one day, when he arrived he didn't find Kim, he sighed with relief, although he was still heated, so he began to unpack in search of his towel and some clean clothes, went into the bathroom, from the shower he heard the muffled voice of Kim and someone else, he finished washing and came out already dressed.
He knew something was wrong when he saw the bruise on Kim's cheekbone and broken lip, he instinctively leaned closer, ignoring the boy next to the black-haired man.
"I suppose you're the new one, my name is Ohm" greeted the boy with short hair, marked muscles, and small eyes. The same Ohm with whom they would accuse Luk?
"I'm Ryan" An older boy with blond hair smiled.
"Hi," he replied with a simple bow "my name is Tanou".
Kimi kept her head down, not looking at him or speaking to him as he had done earlier.
"So you are the famous Tan, the boy for whom Ezkara becomes more stupid than usual," Ohm says raising an eyebrow at Kim.
Kim continues not reacting, as if he had never been mentioned in the conversation, he ignores us completely. The two guys said their goodbyes with some friendly pat on his back.
"Change your clothes" Kim demanded when he finally decided to speak.
"What? What for?"
"You can't miss your homecoming party, that would be rude."