After Ruby finished talking, the figures of the little twins resurfaced in her memory. Ruby's concerned thoughts of their well-being clouded half of her mind. She hadn't gone home yet, even though she said that she could come back on weekends. Her heart coiled from a touch of forgotten responsibility.
Regrets of not declining the ridiculous bet, force Ruby enduring from going to the twins. Should she throw away the last shred of pride?
While mumbling so, Ruby pinched her fingers till the streak of redness void to whiten. She played around, eyes looking downwards as she walked into the room.
As if taking her cue, Erin instantly jumped to the door. A drop of worry tinged her eager eyes. She asked in a bit of a rush, "Did they do something to you?"
Ruby passed her by to the bed. Once her skin brushed the smooth sheet, she immediately slumped on top, burying her face in the pillow. Her low voice sounded tired, "What could have happened.."
Erin sauntered to Ruby's bed, "From what I see, your brothers didn't seem happy with you here. I kept remembering rumors of your incident and almost ran after you."
The girl in concern thought nothing of it. Ruby was annoyed for Erin putting her nose in her matters. Therefore she kept quiet the whole time Erin was preaching about Zin and Zayn's infamy since protecting Crystal.
To tell the truth, Ruby's mind had already flown to the previous talk the second Erin closed her eyes with her chin held up high, and folded her arms to her chest.
The subtle smell of grass and fresh air floating to their nostrils eased the built-up tension. Ruby's hands were lowered back to their place. A faint snort slipped out while her stretching lips bent farther, "I'm just kidding."
"Really??"
"Yeah. Everybody would change if they were in my shoes. I can't be the only one."
'Did he think too much?' The straight line between his brows faded slowly. Well, it somewhat made sense if he carefully considered the possibility.
Zin loosened on clutching the back of Zayn's collar and peered at his airhead sibling who was biting down on a smile, itching to rush forward. Zin huffed as he couldn't stand seeing Zayn's suppressed smile. He shouldn't get too excited just because Ruby was willing to spare her time. He had to etch it in his head that they couldn't use the same method anymore to forge a relationship.
Zayn nodded like a pecking chicken, "Right, right, you've changed. That's all. I get it."
Zin's gaze darted to Ruby's official smile. He tried to joke, "Then what do you mean by 'her'? Were you trying to be cute calling yourself from a third-person view?"
If the aloof part was replaced to become loveable such as when she pranked them, it was certainly something Zin wish to see. At this point, he put down his doubt about Ruby getting into the acting department because he can imagine being able to witness Ruby's cute side again.
Zin laughed when he reached that conclusion, but soon his laughter died down the moment he captured Ruby's smile stiffening and rapidly twitching.
Uh-oh. Did he guess the truth? Was Ruby wanted to look cute before?
"This-- You don't have to do that." Zin was panicking on to salvage the atmosphere. He clearly wanted to push even more effort into his words, sadly he was still awkward, not knowing if it would be the best, saying, "You are trying too hard."
The ignorant young master beside Zin jumped on, figuring out the situation, "What~ That was you being cute? I didn't catch it, though. I almost mistook it for you putting on the air."
"You, shut it!" Zin slapped his head out of habit.
"Auch! Are you crazy? Do you need to hit me like this?!"
"Read the mood, will you?! Can't you see Ruby is shy?"
SHY?
IS SHE SHY?
After all the labels of "trying to be cute," they forcibly stamped on her head, now she is shy??
Ruby's rosy complexion boiled like perfectly cooked shrimp. Her stiff smile went wayward to a wide, grinned devilish smile. For the first time ever, she got angry from embarrassment.
She was embarrassed by being misunderstood!
Out of everything, why does it have to be cute?
Was she cute?
Did she look cute?
She was trying to be scornful and displayed her hostility, though!
Ruby raged inside her heart. Yet, she couldn't stoop that low as to beat them a lesson within the academy's territory, and even so outside of the academy.
She doesn't have a crucial reason to justify her beating. Besides, it would mean that what they think was true.
Ruby hunched her back and cackled while hugging her stomach with both hands. A harsh, sinister laugh rang in Zin and Zayn's minds, making them shudder. They didn't know what is happening, but the primitive alarm bell a human had would never be wrong. They felt like they had done something that would need a time machine to help save their butt.
The cascading black hair, hanging down helplessly from Ruby's shoulders prevented them from seeing her emotions flickering in her eyes.
Ruby's voice was eerie as she said, "I will remember this debt."
"Hehe."
That was the end of the flashback about the infuriating event which happened to Ruby this afternoon.
She didn't want to remember further than that because she was also angered by listening to Erin's nonstop speech, to a state of already at the end of her rope to keep her sanity intact.
Ruby was a second away from stuffing Erin's mouth with a cloth, which regrettably couldn't be realized as a reality.
Lily came in carrying a huge bag in her right hand and a laptop in her left.
Erin got her attention stolen by the things Lily brought. She turned back to Lily before curiously asking, "What are these?"
Lily dumped them on her desk with a boom. Putting her hands on her waist, Lily's dissatisfied voice was heard.
"I saw it at the cafeteria. What is that stammering response?! And what is that nervous, jittery attitude you had?!"
"Ugh!" Erin held her chest as her leg went weak, slumping to the cold floor. Erin who was cornered couldn't help but muttered to defend herself dejectedly, "I can't help it, ah. Everyone's eyes were glued on me at that time and that was the best answer I can give.."
"What about the training we did? We had jump past that problem." Lily exhaled a heavy breath looking at the sprawling Erin on the floor.
"Please spare me... I need more time to handle this stage fright."
Next time, Erin was sure she can bravely stand upright like a warrior.
Just, not now, wuwuwu..
Ruby who was still awake, had a great time listening to Erin's sorrowful sob. She was going to sleep with her sobs serving as a lullaby.
"Hey, you. I know you're not asleep yet."
"...."
"Stop pretending. I heard you laughed at Erin."
Damn, Ruby let the cat out of its bag.
If it came to this, Ruby had no choice but to speak. Her voice was muffled when she answered lowly, "What?"
Lily coldly said, "I want to know what your motive for coming to this academy is. What's your purpose? What do you want to achieve by coming this far? What do you want to do?"
Bang Bang Bang
Bullet and bullet and hidden blade were shot at Ruby who fend it off with a single shield of a sentence, "I don't know."
Lily's voice went up a notch, "You don't know? What's with that?"
Ruby sighed. Can't they leave her alone?
She got up and sat lazily leaning on the partition bordering her bed and the bed next to it.
What she wants to do, she doesn't know.
As long as she is alive and well, she can do anything.
Ruby kindly reminded Lily in a soft tone, "You should mind your own business."
Lily's brows shot up. 'Threatening her? Not a chance.'
"I am minding my own things but you are a hindrance to it. I hate that kind of 'wherever the water flows, wherever I go.' I hate someone with no desire to seek their dreams being around me. have you never heard of the environment as important as the effort?"
"So here I am, taking my precious time to babysit you!"
"...." No matter how speechless Ruby was, she couldn't stop the gear inside her head working hard to find the definition of dream.
She doesn't understand. There was no recollection of such measly little things.
Seeing Ruby's lost expression, Lily harrumphed, nodding her head as if Ruby's reaction had gone according to what she expected it to be.
"You don't have to say it. I know you are a miserable girl with no dreams."
Ruby: "...."
It was as insulting as being misunderstood.
Ruby was displeased, however, as though Lily was blind, she went back to her desk and grabbed a book about basic knowledge of acting before roughly handed to Ruby.
"Read this book first. When you're done, I will give you something else."