With a sigh, Sedan Kleptis glances at the watch on his left wrist. According to his watch, it was currently 7:32 PM, Wednesday, August 20XX. He arrived at the establishment at around 4:25 PM, half an hour before the agreed-upon meeting time. Sedan, for the past few hours, had been patiently waiting for Myles, his supposed "Date" and "Study Partner", to come meet with him at the cafe near her college dorm.

Setting the near-empty cup of vanilla latte next to the unfinished plate of mango cheesecake, he grabbed the cell phone lying face down on the table and opened his messenger app.

"Still no reply?" Sedan muttered, quickly typing a message about leaving in a few minutes and pressing send.

On his phone screen, the message he had just sent popped up below his previously unread messages. Every 15 to 30 minutes, Sedan had constantly been checking his phone and messaging her for any updates about her situation. Stating that if she had something urgent that came up, he wouldn't mind rescheduling their plans for another day.

Putting the phone on the table once more, Sedan began to finish up the remaining food on his table. After 10 minutes, he cleaned up his table as best he could before putting a small bill underneath the empty cup of coffee and left.

...

Outside the cafe, Sedan pulled out the umbrella he stored inside his brown shoulder bag. Even though it had yet to rain, he noticed the dark clouds beneath the starless night sky and determined that it would be better to be prepared than otherwise.

After checking his phone one last time, he lightly shook his head side to side and walked away from the cafe.

He didn't quite understand why Myles had left him hanging without a word. Although they were rarely able to hang out because of their busy schedules, he was under the impression that the two of them had gotten along quite well. After all, they shared a lot of mutual interests and the hobby of reading.

'Hopefully, nothing bad had happened to her and she had just... forgot about our arrangement.'

As he thought of this, Sedan momentarily stopped in his tracks and turned toward the direction of Myles' dorm. For a moment, his worry made him consider paying Myles, his friend, a visit. It was out of character for her to do something like this to a friend. Sedan saw her as a kind, albeit introverted, individual who cares about the people close to her with compassion and respect. Something must have happened to her for her to not even be able to respond to her friend. For all he knew, Myles might have been in trouble and required immediate help!

Facing towards Myles' dormitory, he took one step forward... and froze in place.

A certain feeling of dread began to wash over his entire being. However, it wasn't out of worry for Myles... It was out of worry for his concern to be misplaced and all for nothing. Sedan began fearing not for the safety and well-being of his friend... but instead repeating a mistake he had previously made.

Showing empathy and compassion for someone who wouldn't do the same for him. Caring for someone who couldn't even be bothered with him.

Naively assuming that... He and Myles were ever truly "Friends" to begin with.

Similar to when he had–

"Excuse me!"

Snapping back to reality, he hurriedly moved to the side and allowed the young man to move past him.

"Sorry about that." Sedan hurriedly apologized to the young man. Without even a second glance, the man raised his hand and waved him off before disappearing on the next turn.

Shaking his head, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a phone number.

"Hello?" Through the phone's speakers, the voice of a young woman who seemed to be no older than 16 could be heard.

"Hey Cecile," Sedan greeted before continuing, "Is Myles alright? We were supposed to meet at the Lemione cafe about an hour and a half ago but I never got a confirmation message from her if we were still on for that."

"I've already messaged her a couple of times but she hasn't replied to any of them yet, I was wondering if you knew anything about it?"

Through the phone's speakers, the faint sound of audible chewing could be heard through the other end. Seconds pass, and after an audible gulp, Cecile finally responds.

"Sorry about that, I was in the middle of eating supper when you called me. To answer your question, I haven't heard from Myles all day as well. Have you checked in on her yet?" She asked nonchalantly, the sound of her shoving another spoonful of food in her mouth following soon after.

"No. I decided to stay at home while waiting for her to reply to my messages. Would you mind checking in on her for me?" Sedan asked as he turned around and made his way towards the bus station. While he felt bad for lying, he wasn't ready to be completely honest with Cecile... Or anyone for that matter. If he had been honest with her, he would've had to explain why he couldn't go and check in on their friend himself and that... Was a conversation he was unprepared to have at the moment.

After a couple of seconds of hearing more chewing and water gulping from the other end of the phone, Sedan heard Cecile exhale in satisfaction.

"Alright, I'll be at her place in 10 minutes."

Just as Sedan was about to thank Cecile, she hung up the phone on him.

'...Was Cecile really the right person to call for this?'