... Gemini closed the door behind him, the sound of the rain still heavy against the window. He stood there for a moment, his jacket damp from the weather, his hands tucked into his pockets as he let the strange quiet of the room settle around him. The brief encounter with Fourth lingered in his thoughts like a memory not yet fully formed—unsettling, but in a way that left him feeling more alive than he had in a long time.
His gaze moved over the room, lingering on the simple, familiar surroundings. The apartment was modest—furniture worn in places, books scattered on shelves, the faint scent of coffee lingering in the air—but it was his sanctuary. There was comfort in its solitude, in the way it didn't ask for anything more than his presence. Yet, tonight, it felt oddly empty. The walls, usually so still and unbothered, seemed to echo with the weight of the unspoken connection he'd felt earlier.
He glanced out the window again, but the street was empty now, the rain beginning to let up. The glow of the streetlights reflected off the wet pavement, casting a soft golden hue on everything. It felt like a different world outside, one that he was momentarily disconnected from. The air had a quietness to it, like the calm after a storm, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something still lingered, suspended in the cool night.
He felt like he was waiting for something, though he couldn't quite pinpoint what that something was.
It wasn't just the rain or the storm that had drawn him into the café today. It was the pull, the strange and unexplainable connection he felt the moment their eyes met. He hadn't been expecting it—hadn't even known it was possible—but the way Fourth had looked at him, that brief exchange, felt like a spark igniting in the middle of a downpour. A meeting of fates, almost. Their eyes had locked with an intensity that left Gemini feeling both unnerved and oddly exhilarated.
Gemini shook his head as if trying to clear the fog that seemed to have settled around his mind. There was no reason for this. It had been a simple encounter, nothing more. He shouldn't be thinking about it so much. Yet, no matter how many times he told himself that, the memory of Fourth's gaze wouldn't fade. It was too sharp, too vivid, like it had carved something into him, something he couldn't quite understand.
But he couldn't help it.
He moved toward the small couch in the corner of his living room, dropping his jacket onto the back of it before flopping down. The cushions sagged slightly under his weight, the softness a brief comfort as he pulled his legs up and rested his feet on the coffee table. His eyes roamed over the few items scattered around his apartment—a reminder that his life had always been solitary, quiet. He liked it that way. He had always kept to himself, focused on his own world. But now, in the afterglow of his brief encounter with Fourth, he felt like something had shifted inside him. It was as if the routine he had so carefully constructed had been disrupted by the smallest of things, a fleeting moment he couldn't seem to shake.
Was it just the rain? Or had something deeper begun to stir within him?
His thoughts spiraled, as they so often did when his mind couldn't let go. He picked up his phone, staring at it for a long moment, almost as if waiting for some kind of sign. The silence between the keys was thick, an oppressive stillness that seemed to match the quiet of his thoughts. He scrolled through his contacts absentmindedly, stopping when he saw Avery Siriwat's name. She was one of the few people he spoke to regularly, a constant in his life, even if their interactions were often brief and casual. She was the one person who didn't question his distance, didn't push for more than he was willing to give.
He hesitated for a moment before typing a quick message.
"Met someone today. Don't know what to think."
He quickly hit send, setting the phone down on the coffee table. He wasn't sure why he'd reached out to her, but something about the situation had caught him off guard. He just needed someone to talk to, even if it was only about the smallest of things. The thought of keeping it to himself felt heavier than usual.
Minutes passed, the quiet of the apartment stretching on as he stared at the phone, willing it to ring or buzz or do something. When the reply finally pinged through, he picked it up with a sigh of relief.
"Oooh, interesting! Tell me more! Spill the tea, Gemini."
A laugh escaped him before he could stop it. That was Avery for you—always with the playful banter, always ready to pull him out of his thoughts and into her world. It was a small comfort, and it felt good to hear her voice, even in a text. He responded with a quick message, though he still didn't know how to explain the weirdness of it all.
"It's nothing. Just met a guy in a café. Shared an umbrella. Nothing more."
His thumb hovered over the screen, wondering if he should add more. He could say something about the way Fourth's eyes had made him feel, the way his presence lingered like a shadow. But something stopped him. Maybe it was because he couldn't fully articulate it himself, or maybe it was because he wasn't ready to explore it yet. So instead, he hit send and put the phone face down, unwilling to dive any deeper just yet. It wasn't like him to be so unsure, but this whole thing felt different, and he wasn't ready to unravel it. Not yet.
Minutes later, Avery responded, her message as lighthearted as ever.
"Don't play coy with me, Gemini. You're not fooling anyone. I can tell when you've got that look in your eyes."
Gemini stared at the screen for a long moment, then let out a deep breath. What look? He hadn't even realized it himself. He wasn't sure if it was the words or the recognition in her tone that unsettled him, but something in his chest tightened. He quickly typed a response, trying to brush it off.
"You're reading into it," he typed back quickly. "It was nothing."
But even as he sent the message, he knew it wasn't true. It was something. He just wasn't ready to admit what yet. Not to Avery, and not to himself.
The conversation with Avery didn't offer much more than that, but it gave him a little clarity. He didn't have to figure everything out right away. The whole thing could just stay as it was—a brief encounter, a fleeting moment. After all, he had never been one for rushing things. There was no need to hurry.
As the hours slipped by and the rain finally tapered off, Gemini found himself unable to shake the feeling that something had changed. He didn't know where it would lead, or even if it would lead anywhere at all. But as he stared out his apartment window, watching the clouds part to reveal the stars, he felt a stir of possibility. Maybe it was the rain, or maybe it was the uncertainty of it all, but something inside him whispered that this was only the beginning.
He knew that he would probably see Fourth again, even if it was by coincidence. The world had a funny way of bringing people together when you least expected it. And as the thought settled in his mind, it didn't feel unwelcome. There was something thrilling about it, a quiet excitement that hummed just beneath the surface.
Later that night, as he lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, Gemini couldn't help but replay the encounter in his mind. He thought about the way Fourth had smiled at him, the subtle intensity of his eyes, the way his voice had seemed to linger in the air between them, like the echo of a half-formed sentence. He thought about the feeling of the umbrella pressed close between them, the warmth of their shared space in the cold rain, the momentary intimacy of it.
There was something undeniably magnetic about Fourth—something that made Gemini feel both uncertain and curious. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he didn't want to ignore the feeling. Not yet.
For the first time in a while, he found himself looking forward to whatever might come next.
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𖣘the end of chapter 1༄