The next morning Arek stares at the jeans, refusing to budge up his well-muscled thighs, and falls into contemplation. Was I really that tiny back then? As he bends to pull the jeans off, the too-tight white shirt he found in his closet displays every inch of his abs rippling. In fact, this shirt itself is one that was previously too large for him and he'd never worn it. Now? Arek looks down at the tight shirt hugging every muscle, every inch of his abdomen, and sighs.
Finally, at 5 am in the morning he goes to knock on Sayan's room. The door opens a second later and a surprised looking Sayan blinks at Arek (who'd previously have the world end before he woke earlier than eight), having just changed into an outfit for his early morning run. Taking in Arek's outfit - a white shirt erotically hugging his chest not covering a thing and bulging underwear (the jeans didn't fit) - Sayan's lips twitch.
"Can I borrow clothes?"
Wordlessly, Sayan hands him a jeans and t-shirt.
"Um, can I borrow underwear too?" Sayan pauses, then looks downwards in a particular direction.
"Uh, it's a little too tight..." Arek scratches the back of his head. Sayin wordlessly turns back in and returns with a balled-up underwear which he thrusts into Arek's chest. As he leaves, Sayan watches his retreating back. It wasn't clear before, especially since he still looks slender in loose clothes but...that brat's really grown. He's actually almost as tall as me now, right? And his figure too-what am I thinking? A brat will always be a brat. Sayan turns back to getting ready for his run.
Meanwhile Arek throws on his brother's clothes, marveling at the fit. He watches Sayan head out for his jog then returns to his room, lying facedown on the bed. What do I do now? Suddenly, a beep startles him. Looking up, Arek sees his phone lying facedown a few inches away from him on his shelf. Did my brother keep this charged? Sweet!
Bouncing up, Arek grabs the phone and instantly a familiar screen comes alive. Oh I have to unlock it, how? Oh yeah. Arek holds the phone up, allowing the scanner to scan his face. However, after several moments the phone refuses to unlock. Furrowing his brows, Arek turns it this way and that, yet it refuses to unlock based on his face. Facial recognition isn't catching my face...does that mean I've changed that much? Arek wonders touching his twenty-five-year-old face. Oh well, let's try password instead. Arek stares at the keys before him and falls into contemplation.
I think my password was...Several moments later he lies facedown on the bed, the phone locked for ten more minutes. Alright, this is my final try...Gritting his teeth after ten minutes have passed, he inputs 666 and the screen finally unlocks. 666, isn't that an "evil" number or something? Why was this my password again? Oh yeah, I think one of my friends dared me to use it...At the word "friends" Arek's mind brings up an image of some vague figures, yet their facial features are unclear. Dang, how come I don't remember any of them?! Holdup, let me check out their social media.
Scrolling over to Instagram, Arek opens the app and gazes at the thousand plus followers in contemplation. So I do have followers...then how come I don't remember anyone? Arek looks at the follower's faces, mostly guys, some blonde, some with brown hair, others with red or black, mostly white with square jaws wearing branded clothing. Their faces look vaguely familiar, names occasionally jogging bits and pieces of Arek's memory. Yet it's not until he comes across a particular curly dark-haired, blue-eyed, smiling face that a memory clearly hits him. That's...Alejandro. The boy's large blue eyes look like an endless sea and his quicksilver smile is mesmerizing. Arek gazes down at him in contemplation. Alejandro, my best friend...and crush.
Arek spends several hours gazing through the stories and posts of his rich friends, yet soon enough his eyes grow cross-eyed as he sees the nth person who's bought their third private jet and the nteenth person getting tanned at the beach. Even Arthur has gotten bored of exploring his new domain and has come to engage in his favorite pastime, pulling on and chewing Arek's hair. Sighing, Arek sits up and the mongoose squeaks in indignation.
So...what now? Arek looks around the empty house and falls into silence. I'm home, yes. But what do I do now? My brother left for the company earlier and now I'm left in this empty house... Sigh...What did I do before? Arek contemplates, leaning against the couch. I...there was school, right? Then...I probably hung out with my friends, right? Arek scratches his head trying, once again, to bring a clearer image of the hazy images in his head. Seriously? Arek glances around the room again when a postcard in an obscure pile of mail tossed casually on the couch catches his eye. He glances at the images of zebras and lions, and falls into contemplation.
Several moments later he's outside on a stroll towards the local zoo. The distance would be at least fifteen minutes by car but Arek jogs it in twenty. Arriving at the entrance, he slips inside. His local zoo is one of the few free zoos in the country thankfully, otherwise, Arek wouldn't have had the cash to pay for it, he realizes, touching his wallet with a grimace.
Once inside Arthur (who Arek casually stuffed into his shirt while passing through the entrance to avoid detection) absolutely goes wild, running about, slipping into each cage one by one. Arek keeps a careful eye on him to make sure that someone doesn't mistake him for one of the zoo animals. Winding around the hippos and lions, they eventually land up at the mongoose enclosure.
Arthur scans the sleeping and lazing mongooses. Then he looks down at himself. Then he scans the mongooses again. Finally, he turns away disinterestedly. Arek prods him with his finger. "Look buddy, it's your friends," The mongoose throws him a dirty look as if to scorn his thoughtless remark. "Okay, okay." Arek says, lifting his hands in surrendr. "Let's go somewhere else. Felling the sun beating down on his back, Arek decides to go to one of the indoor parts of the zoo.
Selecting a random building, Arek steps inside, sighing as the cool air conditioning hits him. Arthur follows him in disinterestedly, then pauses, his whiskers quivering. Arek furrows his brow, about to bend down to check if he's okay when suddenly Aurthur is off like a bullet. Arek hastily rushes after him. Several minutes later, he finds Arthur plastered against a glass wall, hissing. Glancing inside, Arek immediatly blinks in realization as he sees the bronze, coiled cobra in the center of the cage.
Ah, mongooses and snakes: natural enemies. I guess we're in the reptile enclosure. Arek muses, peeling his furry friend from the glass. Well, let me get this guy out of here and away from the snakes-
"...Arek?" Arek blinks, spinning around to see-
"Alejandro?" The familiar dark haired, blue eyed boy blinks at him in surprise.
"Oh wow, it really is you! I only recognized you by your limited edition shirt. You've really grown in the past couple months, looks like abroad's been treating you well." Alejandro says, flashing his familiar quicksilver smile.
"Um, yeah-"
"Hisssss!" Arek yanks Arthur back as he makes another jerk towards the snake cages.
"That..." Alejandro looks down at the mongoose, stunned. "You..."
"Oh uh, he's my pet! ...From abroad." Arek attempts his most convincing smile.
"Oh from abroad, wow. You must have had an amazing time, with your brother paying for everything and all, even for exotic pets..." Alejandro laughs good-naturedly but something in that laugh causes Arek to pause and furrow his brow. Looking down, he watches Arthur continue to hiss at the cobra. As he does so, a sudden memory strikes him.
"He's not even blood-related to you, right?"
"Yeah but..."
"And now that your dad's not there anymore what do you think he'll do with the money?"
"What do you mean, do?"
"I mean, haven't you seen those TV dramas and stuff?"
I look up at him. He doesn't have a rich family like me but...he's one of the smartest people I know so...
"You really think my brother'd do that to me?"
"Stop saying brother, he isn't even your brother, right?"
"Well, yeah but...do you really think so?"
"I do."
"Then what do I do?"
"Run away from home. That way you can make it big yourself and come back and-"
Arek blinks coming back to the present, hearing Alejandro calling his name. Looking up at that starry, blue eyed harmless smile Arek blinks.
Snakes, huh...
KK, just give a conclusion eventually.
I will, I definitely will, I promise! It might be slow, but it'll get there for sure.