"Do you want me to walk you home? Red's question soon followed as the two of them were left alone.
Solar flashed a smile on her face before shaking her head.
"There's no need for that," she refused as she looked over at the side.
Raising her right hand, Solar pointed at a tall building, just meters away from them. The tall building was lively, as most of its windows showed light inside.
"That's where I currently live."
Red glanced over at the building. As he saw it, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's near my apartment, too. Come on, let's walk together now." He faced Solar after saying those words.
"You're just near too. How come you arrived late?" Solar looked at Red unbelievably.
Red shrugged his shoulders. "I saw a crocodile on the way. It was eating an elephant."
Solar's eyes narrowed, glaring at Red after hearing all the nonsense. How can a crocodile even eat a huge elephant?
Solar shook her head. She took a step forward and heavily sighed. "Let's go now before you say more nonsense."
"Okay, Ma'am." Red chuckled after seeing Solar's reaction. Solar sounded as if she was tired of hearing any more bullshit from him.
As they walked together, an awkward silence ensued between the two of them.
"How long has it been since we last walked together?" Cutting the silence, Solar suddenly questions. Her voice was filled with curiosity.
"Hmm," Red tried to think of it. "Maybe high school?" he chuckled, as he couldn't remember it anymore.
"The time when you first dyed your hair red?" Solar slyly grinned as she remembered the first time Red dyed his hair.
It was her, who told him to do it out of teasing. She just wanted to tease Red at that time, however, she didn't know that Red would actually dye his hair in secret just to prove himself.
In the end, the two of them got badly scolded, that they got grounded in their house for a whole week.
"At least, because of you, I realized that red hair looked good on me haha."
The two of them laughed together at what Red had said because after that, Red, didn't dye his hair back to black until just recently.
Solar was even more surprised that Red's hair remained to be healthy throughout the years.
"Hey, don't laugh at me! You're even worse. Remember the time where you broke your mom's flower vase and you blamed it on your cat?" Red looked at Solar, grinning.
"Shhh!"
As the two of them reminisced about the old times, the street became filled with laughter. They realized that they had shared a lot of memories together, both good and bad.
"How about your brother? Is he doing fine already?" Solar suddenly asked in a worried tone as their topic shifted to their lives recently.
Red fell into silence after the question. He didn't know how to answer Solar.
Solar's eyes widened as she noticed the shift in Red's mood. She quickly waved her hands, "I'm sorry for asking. I didn't mean t—"
Red chuckled, disrupting Solar. At that point, the question was already nothing to him. He tilted his head to the side and smiled at Solar. "It's fine. I know that you're just worried about Jayce..."
Taking a deep sigh, "He's doing fine, I guess?" Red answered. He was also unsure of Jayce's current state.
Jayce always greets him with a smile on his face. He would say his fine, but Red knew that deep inside, Jayce was suffering an immeasurable pain.
"They still did not know about it?"
Red shook his head. "Among all of our teammates, you're the only one who knew the reason why I quit the team and the game."
Solar sighed, tilting her head to the side. Even though she wanted to scold Red for not telling the truth to their other teammates, she still respected his decision.
"You should probably tell them. Up until now, they still question why you left the team."
"I know…"
"They're not mad about it. You know them. They just want an answer to the question.'
Solar assuringly smiled at Red, even though deep inside her, she knew that it must not be easy for Red to handle it all at that time.
Before they got their last championship in the game, they experienced a lot of misfortune in their run.
Their team which had 8 members initially, suddenly became 5 at the start of the tournament. Their 3 other members, quitted, without saying any words or reason, causing a huge hole in their team.
Without a choice, they needed to continue their run in the tournament without any backup players. That's why the 5 of them had to work even harder, playing all the games left with determination.
They played the game without any rest, week after week.
However, they haven't even recovered from the loss of their 3 members yet, when Red found out about his brother's condition.
Solar couldn't imagine the stress that Red had to go through that time. It must be heartbreaking for him/
Red was their leader, but he was also a son and Jayce's brother.
"We're just here for you, Red." Solar patted Red's back, hoping that it would somehow console him.
As they arrived outside the tall building, Solar smiled and energetically waved her hands in front of Red's face.
"I'll get going now," Solar uttered as she pointed out the large door on their back.
Red smiled and nodded. "Alright. I'll get going now too."
"Goodnight and take care." Solar chuckled before flashing a sweet smile. As she turned her head back, her feet raced towards the inside of her condo building.
Red, who was left alone, took a deep sigh. He made sure that Solar was inside first before he proceeded to walk.
As Red looked at the time, he realized it was drawing near midnight, with only an hour left.
Red suddenly felt a surge of energy in his body. His tiredness suddenly disappeared.
He somehow felt like he did not want to go home yet.
"Should I go visit the hospital instead?"