Amongst the swirl of unpredictable events, one would end up following the steps of another person that would suddenly make them do things they could never envision themselves doing. This was also how it came to pass Edric. Having two husky men chasing on the tail, he was running down the streets.
However, he was not alone. If yesterday somebody had told him that he would run off a fight, first and foremost when the opponent was Micheal, he would've laughed it off, calling it crap happening never on his nelly. But today, there he was.
Yesterday, if somebody had told him that he would leave a hot, sexy girl in the club waiting and be running in the streets with a girl dressed in jeans and shirt, he would not lay his ears on the nonsense the person was sprouting. Without a doubt, that was nonsense. And why would he run in the first place? He never ran away. He would fight, fair and square.
Tonight, there he was, panting, taking turns, rounding corners, running past everything out in his way at the moment. He didn't even know why he ran, to begin with. He could have easily fought those three, well, if they wouldn't come at him all together. Perhaps, he acted on impulse. Just like a cop would shout 'Hands up' and an innocent would raise his hands in the air although he might just come out of a bathroom, when the girl said 'run', he also started running without seeing where he was running to or why.
Being out in the streets in the chilly weather was not a good idea, not to mention the cold breeze sneaking through the opened area, enjoying to tingle his broad uncovered chest, nevertheless, the bodies secreting a large amount of adrenaline, exciting their nerves, enhancing their physical strength as they were still running, their blood flow increasing kept their bodies warmed.
After jumping over small wooden carriages, dropping some garbage cans on their way to slow down the two chasing bulls, might as well colliding with a fruit stall that shortly had oranges and apples rolling down the steep slope, the girl muttering sorrys to the old woman, contemplating whether to put a brake on the accelerator and help her collect them, following with a strong refusal from the boy as he shook his head and grabbed her wrist to continue the seemingly never-ending race, they somehow managed to outrun those men as they reached over a small footbridge that was joining the two green sides of a park.
The water, in a moonlight tub, looked talking to the moon in the serenity, the zesty fragrance of gardenia flowers scattered all around the place. After steading the shaky and irregular breaths, the boy and the girl looked at each other and soon after a wholesome chuckle filled up the place.
Edric had forgotten the last time when he laughed from the bottom of his heart. Maybe, on the silly joke of his mother that the woman pulled out to lighten the aggressive mood of her son after getting into a little argument with his dad?
"You're the one little kitty who fearlessly tries to snatches a piece of bacon from a dog's mouth despite his size, and when the dog barks, you speed to save your life, forgetting the dropped piece on the ground. Aren't you one, kitty?", the boy smiled, not a mean, mocking smile, well, a little bit of sarcasm might be laced.
"Kitty? I have a name", upon hearing the boy calling her the name, the girl stated but she wasn't offended at all. This was the first time when someone didn't call her a 'nerd' or 'scientist' or a 'professor'. Being called a scientist wasn't the problem.
Having addressed as one in the parties indeed was. Everyone would rotate their necks to see the mentioned face, the pride of their country. More accurately, it could be less embarrassing if she wouldn't hear them whispering 'She is so young'. That should have been taken as a compliment, right? Nonetheless, not when she was treated like a baby at home.
"We all have one", pulling the ringing phone out of his right pocket, Edric flashed her one more smile. A dimpled smile! The boy needed to stop sending those, as the professor was holding the urge to pinch that tiny dimple. He wouldn't mind if she did so. Would he?
"Do you want me to formally ask your name or will you just shoot it?", not glancing at the screen to see who could be calling, he pressed the side button to put it on the silent and shoved it back inside his pocket.
He thought it was the blonde girl who was calling him but what he did not know was a third person standing on the balcony after he left, watching how the boy pushed himself into someone else's fight and how ridiculously he ran off with the same girl from two nights ago, Natalie.
Since the night of their little conversation when Edric walked past her, ignoring as if she never existed, she had been trying to get the boy but it seemed as he didn't leave any stone unturned to send her calls to a voicemail. Tonight, she was drinking with her friends at the bar when Edric walked in with a girl.
Seeing him not acknowledging her readily noticeable presence, she decided to talk to him. But when she reached upstairs and saw Edric staring at something, she realized that it was the same girl he carried to a cab. To the model who was dressed in a white strappy dress, knee-high tall boots hugging her thighs, alright, if the model were to put aside along with every girl in the club, the girl Edric was gazing at looked like a high school studious, boring girl.
After some time, the girl got up from her position and walked to the back passageway. Gazing at her scornfully, Rachel strode towards the boy but before she could call for him, she saw him going after the girl, leaving the blonde standing there after saying he would be back in a minute.
What had gotten into the boy?
He had never left a one-nighter, not until he would do what he was pleased to do with them. The curiosity directed her to follow them. She stood behind the wall, listening to them talking. The model had no scruples to eavesdrop but when she heard Edric mentioning what he actually loved, she stayed back. Was he flirting with her?
The girl was also left surprised when the professor hurled a pebble at someone who was supposedly down in the street. But what surprised her more was Edric following the girl. When both of them were gone, she stepped out on the balcony and saw the boy the girl had targeted was Micheal, her ex-boyfriend. Well, they only dated for a month. Now, simmering in enviousness for the new girl, she was calling the boy who didn't reply again.
"Scarlett", the professor didn't tell him the full name. What if the fused bulbs of his brain also decided to flicker on and, to the dismay of the professor, would recall a memory of the professor standing in the white coat in a science blog?
At midnight, did she run all the way here with the boy to have him knowing her as a nerd? Really, not. Even though she was not going to have anything with the boy, she had decided, she still would prefer it this way.
"Undiscovered galaxy on, Edric", she waited for the boy to say something, but he looked rather absorbed in some deep thoughts. His gaze was fixed at the girl but his mind was certainly somewhere else.
His hand subconsciously slipped in his left pocket as he took out something. Then, he held it in the air, the chain passing through the gaps between his fingers as a heart was dangling from it. Necklace. A small bloody red heart-shaped necklace.
Edric stepped forward, closing the gap between them. The professor, for some reason, neither moved nor stepped back. Letting the boy do whatever he was about to do as she continued admiring the necklace in awe when the boy stood a foot away from her. Opening the hook, he lifted his hands on either side of the girl while leaning his face closer.
In the next moment, the lock was secured behind her neck, the heart resting on the chest of the professor.