𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 ━━ nishimura riki

chapter twenty-four.

"You were better when mom was still here."

The boy stopped at his tracks and stared at the picture of him and his mother back when he was still a child. He loved her. Even after those years she was gone, he can't deny the fact that he still needed his mom's love and comfort. But no, she was already gone. And all he has left, is a portrait of her.

Shrugging off the feeling, the boy quickly went downstairs to only be greeted by his father who was fixing his things he needed for work. "Stop causing trouble for you're sibling." he said making him stop once again. He gave his father a look and instantly rolled his eyes, making his way out of his home.

As usual, there was never a day that his father has lectured him to be a lot more responsible and finally do something for his life, and not just sit around doing what he loves that won't give him and his family, benefit.

"Are you sure that we should be watching this kind of series Ni-ki? This thing is rated 18+" commented Saeyoung who was surprised at the choice of tv series Ni-ki has picked for them to watch.

It hasn't been long after they're water fight down at the forest. Currently the two are now at a tree house with Ni-ki's laptop, watching a tv series together. Unexpectedly, Ni-ki chose to watch Alice in Borderland which was a surprise knowing that the audience preference for watching is basically 18 years and above. But either way, Saeyoung did wanted to try and watch the show since teasers started popping up as advertisements in YouTube for awhile now.

"Are you innocent?"

Saeyoung shooked her head. "I'm ruined."

"So we're both at the same page, and hey! I heard this was a good show so why not give it a try?" said Ni-ki.

She did wanted too, but watching it with Ni-ki will seem a bit awkward. She prefers watching it alone. "True, but don't you think it's quite weird to watch a show with a 18+ sign with someone you're barely even close with? Especially that your watching it with the opposite gender?" the girl explained.

Instead of giving her a reply, Ni-ki ignored the girl and simply rolled his eyes and clicked on play, as the first episode of Alice in Borderland started rolling again. Saeyoung sighed in defeat.

It has been an hour since they started watching, Alice in Borderland. They already finished watching episode one and they're already off to episode two of the show. After finishing the first episode, Saeyoung slowly started focusing on the show and ignored Ni-ki's presence right beside her. She grew interested in watching and she slowly started eating the words she said an hour ago.

This sounds like a nice idea after all. She said to herself, as she munched on some popcorn while watching the scene on where Arisu, Chota, Shibuki and Karube started having supper together while discussing about their lives before entering an entirely new world where they got stuck into this death-defying nightmare.

"The only thing we could spot in this show is definitely violence rather than─" Ni-ki got caught off when the scene of Shibuki moaning started playing on the screen. Ni-ki and Saeyoung's eyes widened as she immediately paused the show and Ni-ki immediately moved his laptop away from them.

A moment of silence enveloped the atmosphere, as the two stared off at different directions after what they just encountered. "You're absolutely right. I regret watching this with you." Ni-ki said, biting his inner lip.

"You think?"

Ni-ki sighed and went to grab his laptop again while Saeyoung continued to stare off at a farther direction. From the start, she knew that this was a bad idea, if she were with Chaeji or Mijin they would have went on to another tv series as if they saw nothing, but with Ni-ki? It was disturbing.

"Hey umm, what's you're favourite anime?" Ni-ki questioned trying to start a conversation. He sat closer to Saeyoung and placed his laptop in front of them again.

"I guess I like, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. Have you heard of it?" she answered.

Ni-ki shooked his head. "Irregular at Magic Highschool? Well no, not really. But maybe my sister knows about it, I'll ask her later."

"You have a sister?"

"Yep. She's actually just a year older than me, Konon was born the same year as Jungwon hyung but Jungwon is just about months older."

Ni-ki started typing in his laptop again and Saeyoung stayed quiet watching him. Stuck at her thoughts, she felt confused about herself and the way she acted earlier and the days before. She was disappointed and tried to avoid Ni-ki as much as possible but now, here she is, alone in a tree house with Ni-ki, their uniforms soaked, Ni-ki's school blazer wrapped around her and now they're talking as if nothing bad ever happened between them.

Saeyoung felt lost. Was this even right? Or is it wrong?

All of a sudden, Saeyoung heard her phone vibrating making Ni-ki turn his attention to Saeyoung. The girl grabbed her phone and saw the caller, it was Nina. She wondered why she was calling at this time. Before she was able to accept the call, Ni-ki stole her phone away from her.

"Yah! Give that back!" the girl demanded trying to retrieve her phone back from the boy.

Ni-ki shooked his head and teasingly smirked. "I won the bet remember? So like it or not, I have instant access to this whenever I want until the deal is over." he gave her a childish smile while Saeyoung rolled her eyes and looked away.

Smirking victoriously, Ni-ki did not hesitate to answer Nina's call. But before Ni-ki would give a proper hello or greeting, Nina beated him to it and started shouting over the other line. "Yah! Roh Saeyoung! I'm in need of desperate help! Can you buy me pads? Girl, I'm bleeding! My monthly period jut came in!"

Saeyoung was sitting close to Ni-ki and she started laughing quietly as she heard her friend's cries for help, especially when she saw Ni-ki's surprised expression. He blankly stares to somewhere else and gave Saeyoung's phone back for her to answer. "I-I t-think y-you should be the one to answer this."

Saeyoung sweetly smiled at him. "Thank you!" she grabbed her phone and raised it to her ear. Nina calling her for pads is actually quite a normal thing for her. "Hello Nina! You wanted pads right?"

"Pads asap! I'm at the school's restroom, come quickly please!"

"Wait, why are you still at school?"

"Ms. Yoo assigned me to finish off some papers and stuff for the news casting and editorial team, hehe!"

Saeyoung chuckled. "Okay, okay. I'll be there as soon as I can!" she ended the call, stood up and looked at Ni-ki. "Sorry but I guess we will have to continue this next time. Nina is in need of my help right now."

"It's okay. At least I got to spend some time with you, and I'm very grateful you came."

"Well, I guess I'm glad that I didn't decline you're offer as well."

"And thank you for that. Shall I give you a ride to the nearest store?" Saeyoung nodded and gathered her things as she goes down the tree house with Ni-ki. She has to admit, she doesn't regret spending time with Ni-ki, it was really fun and she was hoping that they would be able to do this again soon.

"Oh and! The scene on where we watched that part on Alice in Borderland, let's keep it a secret between us okay? Or else people might think weirdly of us. Besides, it's you're fault anyways."

Ni-ki scoffed. "Whatever. But yeah, sure, no problemo! It's gonna be our little secret." he winked at the girl.