Ronald heaved a sigh of relief at the shift of attention from him to Eunice.
He turned to Sil who was staring into space quietly, his gaze ambiguous.
'He doesn't seem drunk. Is this what Derrick meant by a personality change? I wonder when they drank, and he managed to get this strict guy drunk?'
"Hey, Sil what's going on in your mind?"
Ronald asked, his full focus on the unusually drunk Sil.
"There. That person, why is her hair green?"
He pointed at Eunice as she laughed with and at Camila and Jackson.
"What?", he asked stunned.
"It shouldn't have been green.", he mutters.
"Why? Do you hate the colour?"
The protagonist of their discussion leaned in, and asked.
"It's just an odd hair colour."
He responds back, his voice flat and steady.
Eunice giggled and touched her short curly hair.
"It's dyed. I dyed it because of someone. But what about you? Would you like to dye your hair as well?"
She asked, purely curious.
Sil touched his slightly long black hair, and nodded.
"Yeah."
"So what colour would you change it to?", Micheal asked from beside him, and put his phone away.
Sil stayed quiet for a while, and eventually closed his eyes before saying;
"Black."
"Why black? It's such a generic colour?"
"And you already have it so-"
"No. A different shade of black. Like jet black."
His response was concise and short. Although he seemed sober, his speech and movements were slow, and he seemed as if he'd fall asleep at any moment.
"…"
There was a very awkward and very welcomed silence in the room, as Sil slowly dozed off, and everyone, well, were bewildered.
"Huh… What about eye colour?"
Camila suddenly stepped in, turning away from Jackson who had previously seized her laptop, and breaking the awkward silence.
Sil slowly opened his eyes, and turned to her. His gaze indifferent, yet sharp.
He didn't say anything and simply looked at he.
That action made her uneasy, and-
"Ooh if I wanted to change my eye colour I'd go for gold!"
Eunice spoke up, interrupting whatever was going on.
"Purple.", and Jackson joined in.
"Blue…", Derrick who was feeling dizzy, raised his head and joined in.
"I like my eye colour.", Micheal softly chimed in.
"Umm pink?", Ronald hesitantly replied when all eyes fell on him.
"What about you?", Eunice asked Sil once again.
"You can't choose black this time.", Derrick said casually as he refilled his glass with water.
Sil kept quiet for a while before speaking up.
"Okay then… Grey or green."
He said with an unusually bright smile.
…
'It seems they're all having fun.'
Ronald thought as he watched them all with a warm gaze.
'Yes this meetup was fun, any later and they'd all be too busy to even eat, not to mention hanging out at the same time, especially Sil.'
'What was I so worried about?'
He thought the moment he took notice of the calmness outside. It wasn't raining, the sky was just dark and the wind, cold.
And they were just scared by the mere weather.
But as usual, he really should've known better or what happened next wouldn't have happened, and their friend group would still be together.
But that was a thought for another day. As for now…
A pair of dark black eyes stared at the laughing group. Their laughter was infectious and the atmosphere warm and comforting.
He looked away from them, then turned back to the space he had been staring at, before shifting his gaze away.
His thoughts, obscure, and his gaze gloomy.
He turned to the group once more then back to that space again.
With a slight chuckle, filled with self mockery, and a wry smile on his face, he muttered.
"Damnit, I'm drunk."
…
'Ugh, what happened? Why does my head hurt so much?'
I tried to stand up but my body felt heavy, and my head throbbed with every thought that passed through my head, making impossible to remember anything.
"Yeah, but it was really weird though."
"It was your what? Third one?"
"No! The fourth interview!"
'What annoyingly loud voices. Arghh where am I?'
I managed to pull my body up, and it was then I realized I had been lying down uncomfortably on a table.
"Huh? Oh look, our youngest is awake!"
"Hello Sil, how was Dreamland?"
"Come on, stop acting as if you didn't blackout as well, Micheal!"
"I woke up earlier than he did."
Ignoring the annoying voices, I finally managed to get on my seat, but with each step I took, or rather tried to take, the more my head pounded.
Now standing up, I felt nauseous all of a sudden, but I resisted the urge to puke and looked around, meeting unfamiliar faces.
"Huh? Sil what happened?"
'Why are they calling me that?'
I thought, and glared at the person who called me Sil, but felt another spasm in my head.
'Dammit, I need to get out of here.'
I tried to walk, but I stumbled instead and almost fell.
But a guy with curly brown hair and light blue eyes filled with worry caught me.
"Sil?"
"Dammit, don't call me that-!"
I tried to yell, but ended up lowering my voice instead.
Yanking my arm from his hands, I walked off.
"Hey sil-"
"Don't call him that!"
Derrick suddenly shouted, stunning everyone in the room.
"What…?"
I turned around, upon hearing a barely familiar voice.
Red hair, black eyes.
I didn't recognize the person, but they were oddly familiar.
Derrick glanced once at Sil's unfamiliar eyes, before turning away.
If anyone had looked closer and were not fully focused on the odd Sil, they would have noticed Derrick's trembling hands..
"Why shouldn't we call him that?", Camila asked, eyes on Sil who was determined to go outside.
Derrick seemed unwilling to answer, but in the end, talked.
"Remember what I said earlier?"
"About being drunk?"
"Yeah he-"
"Sil!"
I ignored their pointless chatter and decided to focus on leaving this place, but as I headed towards the door, it suddenly appeared, again.
Out of fright, I missed my step and stumbled.
Someone called out, but I was frozen in place.
"Sil?"
It was a lady with green coloured hair.
'No way…'
My breathing hastened without my knowledge, and my mind blanked out, my full focus on the peculiarity of her hair.
'Did they-'
"Leave him alone! Just leave him.", Derrick suddenly shouted again, and walked towards the door.
Once there, he opened it.
"He just wants to sober up.", He said weakly, and it was then Ronald noticed his peculiarity.
I watched the red haired guy open the door and decided to leave first then sort out the problem later.
Yes later.
Saying nothing, I walked away, then ran and suddenly found myself in the midst of people.
'How bothersome…'
I didn't know where I was, but if it was what I thought it was, then there was no need to.
…
"What the hell Derrick?! Why don't you want us to go after him?!"
Jackson argued with Derrick who stood by the now closed door with a lowered gaze.
"It's nothing, you just can't."
His voice, akin to a whisper, was barely audible. But was fully heard by all the occupants of the silent room.
"Is there something wrong with him?"
Micheal asked, while Ronald just watched.
"…"
"You know, something could go wrong if he's left all alone."
Eunice tried reasoning with Derrick, while Camila held Jackson back.
"I-"
Derrick tried to speak but someone stopped him with a pat on his shoulder.
"It's okay, Derrick. I'll go find him, and get him to sober up. In the meantime, stay here and calm down, nothing bad's going to happen."
Ronald said, and tried to get him to leave the door.
Derrick stared for a while and was about to refuse, when Micheal pushed him aside and ran out.
And Ronald followed after, still saying everything gonna be alright.
Jackson followed suit, while the remaining girls exchanged glances then turned to Derrick on the ground.
They stepped up to help him up, but…
"I can't go…"
He muttered, despondent.
"I'm sorry, Sil."
He squeezed his fists tightly and silently prayed, he would be alright.