The boy bent down, his face close to the water in a rain-filled puddle on the sidewalk. Reflections of passing car headlights danced across his eyes,
but he was oblivious to the city's rush. Beside him, his shy,
reserved friend crouched,
his cute face peering intently at the water with a soft, contemplative gaze.
Ethan, with a flushed face, looked up, breaking the silence. "Why are we squatting here, looking at the puddle?"
Aaron, still staring at the water, shrugged. "I don't know. I thought... escaping the guards would lead us to something fun."
He sighed, his gaze drifting away from the rippling reflections. "Guess we ended up here instead."
Aaron frowned, watching the water ripple. He really thought they'd find something exciting after slipping away from the guards.
Maybe a hidden alleyway or some fun, secret spot no one else knew about.
But now, here they were, crouching by a puddle, and he wasn't sure why. He sighed, feeling a bit foolish. Wasn't this supposed to be an adventure? Where were the fun places he imagined they'd stumble across?
Ravenhill seemed quite boring!
Flashback
At Ethan's apartment, Ethan's voice was shaky. "Hey, Aaron, what are you doing at the window?"
Aaron smiled at Ethan. "I'm looking to see if the bodyguards are actually watching."
Ethan paused, his mouth slightly open, his eyes curious as always. "Why are you hiding from the bodyguard?"
Aaron shook his head. "SHROOK! Don't you know? I want to go explore Ravenhill with you, and I don't want any of Chris's bodyguards coming with me."
Ethan was confused by Aaron's assertiveness. He fell silent, avoiding any excessive comments.
"Okay, sure. When are we going? How are you going to avoid the bodyguard?"
Aaron rubbed his chin, walking back and forth in the room.
"I don't know, but somehow we will find a way." As he said this, an idea was forming in his mind.
He went back to the window and looked below again, staring at the bodyguard.
Ethan, the whole time, just sat down obediently, watching every one of Aaron's movements. Ah, no one knows the thoughts in his heart.
After a while, Aaron came back. "Ethan, let's go out for a while."
Ethan did not know why, but his tiny heart had a bad feeling about this. That Aaron was up to something not good.
His face flushed, and Aaron dragged him out. Opening the door and speaking slowly,
he sneaked out of the house with Ethan, as if they were thieves trying to escape from a house they had just robbed. Even though the house was Ethan's own. Very funny.
"Aaron, what are we going to do now?" Ethan's heart was panicking.
He hadn't been in such a situation before, although it looked fun—playing as a runner from a scary bodyguard.
The feeling was so strange. He was not familiar with it, and he couldn't help but ask questions.
Aaron jiggled at his question. He ruffled Ethan's hair. "Ethan, can you keep quiet for a moment? I'm busy, for real." Aaron's blood was burning with excitement.
Today, he would escape from these bodyguards. Back in Rosewood City, when his father locked him up in his room,
he didn't want him to go anywhere, nor did he want him to play around with other fellow senirips.
Because he was a so-called Crown senirips. He wasn't the type to stay and obey.
He didn't want to put on the fake pretense of being elegant at all. He wanted to be his free self.
The one thing he hated the most was being controlled.
And Kris seemed to want to control him. Aaron used his finger to shush Ethan's mouth, holding him and taking him along the corridor.
All of a sudden, footsteps started pounding. Aaron's heart skipped a beat. "Ethan, it seems they might be coming." Ethan turned. "Who are they?" Ethan's heart was panicking.
Without further thought, Aaron held Ethan's hand.
His legs moved faster than wheels, dragging Ethan along with him. All this caused Ethan to pant and breathe heavily, his face flushed.
Aaron didn't know what to do. Somehow, they both found themselves barging into someone elses room. It was quite awkward.
"Aaron, we are in someone's room." Ethan turned to Aaron, frowning.
"Yes, I know we are in someone's room." Aaron didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Now, what had he gotten into? He just wanted to explore Ravenhill.
But now, he was in someone's room. "Aaron, what if it's a bad person's house?" Ethan was always so cute.
But right now, his comment was making Aaron panic. Yes, now, Ethan's imagination started running wild in Aaron's mind.
What if he was a bad person? What if he was a serial killer? What if the person was going to eat them? And as Aaron thought about that,
he couldn't help but voice out his thoughts.
Tears started coming from Ethan's eyes. He began crying, his face flushed. Now, his head was also filled with the ideas of Aaron.
The imagination was all running wild. What if the man was a serial killer?
"Ethan, please stop talking. It can't be a killer's house." After Aaron said this,
Clink! Clink! ...clink! Creaking sounds were heard from the room. Ethan bit his lips,
his body shaking slightly. He shifted, moving closer to Aaron.
"Are you okay, Ethan? Calm down." Aaron held Ethan and hugged him,
his eyes still focused on the place where the noise came from.
The clicking sounds grew louder. Ding, clink, clink, clink, clink.
Footsteps echoed as a knife appeared in the room. Aaron and Ethan couldn't look away.
Ethan held Aaron tighter. Panicking, Aaron said, "Ethan, I think this might be our last moment, so I want to tell you something.
I've always thought you were really cute. Since this might be the end, I'm seizing the chance to tell you this. So, Ethan, before it's too late, why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"
Aaron was excited and scared at the same time. Ethan, clearly unnerved and biting his lip, was about to respond,
when the approaching figure came into view. The moment was ruined for Aaron—it was Lala, the one who had helped him before.
"Hi, it's you again," Lala said with a big smile, greeting them warmly. He didn't ask why they were in his house or suspect they might be trouble. The situation felt very awkward....doubly so. As Aaron smiled awkwardly at the kind Lala, he said, "Um, please forgive me, sir. This is an accident. I was just trying to escape from my bodyguard, and my friend and I accidentally ended up in your room."
Ethan, looking sheepish and attempting to be charming,
gave a cute smile, waved, and nodded his head to show he was sorry too. Lala couldn't help but laugh. "You're quite funny. By the way, did you say you needed help?"
"Yes, I do need help," Aaron said, smiling and stepping forward, desperate. Lala replied, "I have a back door you can use." Aaron was grateful. "Thank you," he said.
**Flashback Ends**
Aaron turned to Ethan, getting up and dusting off his pants. "Shall we go see other places?"
"I don't know," Ethan blinked. There were no other places to explore.
Although the city sounded awesome, there didn't seem to be fun anywhere, as there was no guide.
"Come on, we should go; it'll be fun!" Aaron said, noticing Ethan's reluctant face and convincing him with a smile,
dragging him forward while waiting in a secure corner of the road with cars passing by.
Silence. It seemed there was a long moment of silence. Aaron hesitated to look at Ethan.
"Did going out cheer you up a little bit?" he asked, his eyes meeting his boots.
Ethan was quiet for a moment and seemed to think before responding.
"Um... yeah, it was fun staring at the water and at that moment too when we thought we were at a serial killer's house." He laughed at the end.
Aaron laughed too; at least he got to cheer him up. But what he paid for it was not small.
He wanted to cry. He had lost the fun in wanting to go out.
Home could be more interesting than roaming unknown streets or cities.
"Don't we have smartphones? We can search for a good place to go," Ethan suggested, wanting to lighten Aaron's mood.
Although Aaron seemed to act tough and wanted to be the one to cheer him up,
he still noticed the low mood of his friend, so the idea couldn't help but come to his mind.
He wondered, in the first place, why he had to let his fellow beautiful senirips suffer for some time.
"It's a good idea... it kind of slipped my mind."
Aaron laughed awkwardly, smoothing his green hair. He sighed, feeling ashamed. His cute friend was sharper than him; why was he so confused in the first place and didn't come up with such an idea?
He sighed again, but the mistake was already made. He just hoped his sincerity wouldn't make Ethan uncomfortable.
"No problem," Ethan replied, his face flushed.
Aaron turned to his smart brain and typed on the search bar: BEST PLACES IN RAVENHILL CITY.
Different searches concerning Ravenhill soon popped up:
[Ravenhill Plaza]
[Palate Taste Voyage Restaurant]
[Ravenhill Academy]
[Ravenhill Library]
[Shadow Lady Night Club]
Aaron turned the pages of his screen, going back to the first page because it caught his attention more. He wasn't really focused on the other places.
"First location, there's a location here," he pointed the phone at Ethan, reading it.
He brought the phone closer to Ethan's face, reading it out loud.
"It says Ravenhill Plaza."
Ethan stared at the name on the screen and nodded his head.
"Plaza??... It sounds nice."
Maybe it would be interesting to go there.
Aaron laughed. "Yeah, right."
Meanwhile...