Deen silently sits at the windowsill of her studio in her apartment. She silently listens to the honking of the cars, the low chatters people made that she can somehow hear in the slightly opened window, can even hear some barks from the dogs that roam the street, even some meows are there too and loud shrieks that the kids let out while playing at the park just below her place. The sunset looks good today, one of the reason why she chose this place is because she can watch the sunset in her studio's window and the river just outside her room when she needed to relax and to think.
She sighed and rests her head at the wall and propped her left feet in the windowsill while her right feet is left hanging barely meeting the floor. She dropped her left hand in her thigh while holding the book she's been reading open, making sure that it wont close while she rest her right hand in her tummy. She closes her eyes and listens to the noise outside.
She's been sitting there for hours trying to clear her mind and to maybe start painting again but she just couldn't make herself pick the paintbrush that she has dropped in the floor near the half done canvas. She even tried reading but no words are entering her head and it only makes her more frustrated. And when she tries to take a deep breath, only then that she realized that some of her paint cans are still open and the few paint tubes that she needed are scattered in the table where her palette is and the paint in there has dried already. She's still wearing her white shirt that she always wear whenever she paints and there's a new paint in there adding up to the already-there painting from her previous works. There's also paints in her arms and neck, a few in her legs that she don't know how it got there. She winced just imaging how hard those will be removed later when she takes a shower.
She hears the footsteps first before she saw who it belongs to. A tired sigh was heard before the person came into her view handing her a coffee from the cafe she frequents. "Heard you went missing again. Your classmates said you didn't attend your classes for days now and the barista said you never came at their cafe as well." Astra said while moving the chair that Deen uses when she's painting near her and joined Deen at watching the sunset in her window. The chatters below are slowly dissipating along with the kids that are still playing and as the minute goes, the noise outside starts to be silenced and only the sound of the cars are heard.
Deen took a sip of her coffee and scrunched her nose when the cold liquid touched her tongue. "Coffee's gone cold." She said but still continued sipping it. "You can heat it up if you want." Astra answered. Deen looked at her in the corner of her eyes and noticed how tired she looks and that her eyes are quite red indicating that she's been crying and Deen feels bad for not noticing nor hearing when Astra came. She wants to ask, she really do, but their friendship is quite strange in a way that they don't ask each other what's wrong and only wait for when the other opens up. They're the type to come and sit beside the other silently and not say a single word and they already understand that the company is what the other one needs, not a conversation.
"How long was I out?" Deen asks after finishing her coffee. Astra checks the time in her phone before looking at Deen who is already looking at her. "I was here since two hours ago. You seem to be out of it already when I came so I don't really know. I don't even think your mind actually registered that I gave you a coffee, you just held on to the cup when I handed it to you and didn't make any move to acknowledge my presence. This room reeks by the way." She said before standing up, opening the lights and going to the table to close the tube and cans, she even picks the paintbrushes and put it at the brush basin for Deen to clean later. Deen watches Astra clean and put the paints in the places where she puts them and moves the table back at the corner of the room. It's when she's done cleaning and asked Deen to open the window fully that she went in front of the canvas to see what her friend has been working on for days that made her MIA.
"Oh? Isn't this Ash?" Astra asks and looked at Deen who finally stood up and returned the book she's been holding at the book shelf that she and Tungsten once assembled when they started hanging out more in her apartment because guys are off limits in the dorms.
Deen went to stand beside Astra and did an over all at her painting. "You know him?" she asks. "Girl, everyone knows him and his brother. The only ones who don't know about them are the people who lives under the rock and people who has boring lives as you who don't know what social media is." Deen rolled her eyes at her. "I know what social media is and I have instagram." She said while walking out of the room and goes to the bathroom to wash her hands. Astra followed her and crossed her arms while leaning at the door. "That's the only thing that you have and you barely use it. You only get to open it when you post your works because one of your professors told you that it will be good for exposure."
"Still a social media." Deen murmurs and finally faced her friend with a raised eyebrow. "Are you a fan too? Ryu is a fan and I'm not sure if the one who commissioned me is a fan, gave us Ash's agency address for the delivery." She informed her friend who let out a silent shriek and jumped in front of her with excitement. "That's so cool, oh my gosh? Is the pay good? Most of their fans knows how to spoil the guys and you must have caught their eyes so they asked you to paint him. And his birthday is near is that a gift?" Deen rolled her eyes and pushed her softly to walk out of the room. Astra followed her and even latched at her arm as she lead them in the kitchen. "Come on Deen, answer me." She whined. "Yes. It's a gift and the person who requested wants to be anonymous, just told Ryu to write Z as the sender." She answered and that made Astra to shriek and reach for her shoulders to shake her. "Oh my gosh. You're really so out of this world! That's him, that's his brother, its Zirrius. Man, I can't believe Ryu didn't tell you who Zirrius is." Deen frowns at the familiar name and remembers how shaky Ryu's voice is when he's informing her about the commisioner the other day. Now that she actually thinks of it, the shaky way that Ryu talked to her is the one he actually do when he's trying to contain his excitement. She asked him if what's gotten him so happy when he called but he only said that its nothing and that's it, he only called to inform her about the commissioner and how he paid them twice the usual price of her paintings. She thought that the excitement is because of the pay, she never considered that the reason of his stuttering is because he talked to a celebrity. And now that's actually flattering, to have a celebrity appreciate her works.
"Z? Is that his stage name? Lame." She asks. Astra rolled her eyes at her, "Seriously? That's the one you noticed first? No, that's not his stage name. They use their real names but Zirrius sometimes use Z to sign because he's way to lazy to write his complete name, according to him." Deen only nods at her and opened the fridge to grab something for them to eat. There's a lot of packed foods there that Jrey diligently cooked for her and the other two whenever they come in Deen's place without her because none of the three knows how to cook and they can't order take out at all times.
Astra waits patiently for Deen to put the food in the microwave before excitedly pulling her in the chair next to the kitchen island and showed her pictures of Zirrius since she already knows what Ash looks like, Astra's words not her. "Look, look at him. Isn't he gorgeous? Very handsome. I really don't know what adjective to use but you get me, right?" Deen zones her out right after she saw the pictures. She can't believe that she's seeing this right. Even blinked her eyes multiple times to make sure that she's seeing the right face and not her mysterious friend who shares the same name as this celebrity. She thinks of the times that she met Zirrius and his strange use of too much clothes suddenly made sense. The caps, the bucket hats, especially the face masks during the night, even his strange avoidance of crowds finally made sense. Deen didn't really think too much when Zirrius once told her that they should avoid a crowd and comeback later whenever people crowds a painting since even she don't like crowds, she thought that its the same for him but guess she's wrong.
"Is Ash grumpy?" She asks, cutting Astra's story telling about the duo's accomplishments. Astra only looked at her with a raised brow before saying "yes" and continued telling her more about them. She remembers the times that Zirrius always sigh whenever someone calls him nonstop and how he always tell her that he needs to go because someone's grumpy. She thought that its a girlfriend or his mom maybe but turns out it's just a worried Ash who always checks up on him and reminds him to come home when the time for him to stay out is up. She let out a small smile and scrolled more of the pictures in Astra's gallery and even watched some of the videos saved.
"I heard that Astra's trying to recruit you in her fangirling." Jrey said right after Deen sat beside her the next day. The two of them decided to meet at the library after their class and wait for the couple there before heading out for lunch. "Words do really travel fast." Deen said. "We're roommates. So of course I hear everything that happens in her day. And just a warning, better get ready cause the next thing you know, you'll be sitting with us in concerts." Jrey teasingly said and Deen lets out a groan imagining how much of a pain in the ass Astra might be once the duo announces a concert. She hates a crowd with a passion. Always making sure to avoid them if she can but its always hard when you're friends with people like Jrey and Astra who loves to drag her everywhere or with Tungsten who sometimes drags her in a night market when he's feeling like it and none of his friends wants to join him and if Astra is way too tired to accompany him and Jrey is locking herself up in her studio. Ryu loves to drag her too in parks and during evenings or night for street foods that she actually finds enjoyable if there's only few people around.
"Why does everyone seems to drag me everywhere?" She asks finally realizing that everyone drags her everywhere whenever they wanted to. Jrey laughs at her glare. "That's because you rarely go out and everyone wants to air you. We know your dislike at crowded places but it's what we enjoy and wants to explore. You also needs some sunlight in you because look at you, you look so pale! If vampires exists, we'll think that you are one." Deen rolled her eyes at her and slumps at the table with a grunt. "If I am a vampire, you'd be the first person that I'll drain from blood." She said making Jrey laugh loudly that earns them a glare from the librarian.
"What's taking those two so long." Jrey mutters after a while before cheking her phone for the time. "Oh, they said that they wont be joining us today." She showed her phone to Deen and earns a nod. Deen stood up and wait for Jrey to fix her stuff before the two of them walk out of the library and went at their usual cafe since the two of them are craving for crepes.
"Did Astra told you something as to why she came home with red eyes the other day?" Jrey asks while they're on their way to the cafe. Deen remembers Astra's puffy eyes yesterday. Astra seems to be crying a lot lately but she refuses to tell Jrey what's wrong and Deen usually don't ask and waits for them to open up to her. Tungsten has been busy lately so they don't see him a lot and even he don't know what's wrong with his girlfriend. Everyone's worried but the only thing they can do for now is to wait because Astra would snap at them if they insist on knowing what's wrong and she would ignore them for so long if she gets pissed.
"We really can't do anything for now not unless she tells us what's wrong. We're having a waiting game again for this." Deen tells her and the two of them fell silent after that. Thoughts being occupied as to how will they help Astra if she won't tell them a thing.