Chapter 40: Moments Defying Reality [Part One]
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“Oh my god. You can’t be serious…”

“Hey what’s wrong with that? So what if I play soccer now?”

“But ballet? And here I thought Jason’s sewing ability is lame.”

Ulrich rolled his eyes and rested his cheek on his fist, “That’s it. No more stories of my childhood.”

Cornelia laughed gracefully as she poked her fork into the steak. They had already settled in and received their food, and the ambience was mystifying. Their table was situated right at the edge of the building, beside the glass panel, so Cornelia was able to view the millions of tiny lights one hundred stories from the ground. Unlike themselves, there were more adults in the restaurant, and with the symphonic band churning to classical melodies, some chaperoned to the wave of music.

Even though Ulrich had asked her to the outing, Cornelia just didn’t feel so comfortable. They had been talking quite frequently now, but she just felt a little disturbed. Cornelia wanted to know more about him, but she couldn’t understand why there was a feeling of uneasiness inside her. “Tell me about Phoenix Academy. I’ve heard that it’s the most prestigious and smartest high school in the world,” Cornelia grinned, trying to keep her calm posture. “Why come to Kadic? Didn’t you have friends that you did not want to leave behind?”

Ulrich sipped the juice from his glass before answering, “I had a ring of close friends; Pendragon, Tamaki and Claire. I was in the same class as Claire, because we were the two-stars…”

“Two-stars?” Cornelia wondered aloud.

“The institution has a prejudice system. Sure, it is known as the academy which provides with today’s generation’s geniuses or what-not, but within its grounds, not everyone is treated that way,” Ulrich explained, gazing at his own food. “There are one-star, two-stars and three-stars. Three, being the best elite students of the entire school. Each of the star-groups even has different uniforms. My two other pals; Pendragon and Tamaki, were three-stars, and there was a rule.”

“ ‘No one from any star-group shall ever speak, talk, meet, gaze upon, or have any form of communication with another star-group within school grounds.’ ”

“Harsh,” Cornelia tried imagining such marginalized student body.

Ulrich sighed, “Yeah, well…one day, Pendragon and I found a classroom in flames during lunchbreak. From the floor right outside of it, Pendragon picked up a stray lighter, probably the one which caused the blaze as it was empty. However, when our Director came, we were blamed for the damage. There were tons of heated argument, and Pendragon’s parents found me to be of bad influence. That was when the Director realized that I was a two-star. So for breaking the rules and being wrongly accused even though they eventually caught the real culprit, I was expelled.”

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Cornelia now didn’t feel like finishing her steak anymore. “But do you still at least, write or…”

“No,” Ulrich’s voice grew sterner and had a hint of anger. “The day that they expelled me, was the last day I saw them. I’ve never spoken to them since.”

Now, Cornelia felt guilty of asking. She had unknowingly accused him of leaving his friends behind without knowing the true meaning of it. “I’m so sorry…”

Ulrich slanted his utensils diagonally to the side of his plate and plastered a fake smile on his face. “It’s okay. What’s done is done, and I can’t cry over spilled wine…”

“Milk.”

“Fine,” Ulrich chuckled. “Do you want to dance?”

Immediately, Cornelia felt her cheeks glow red, before stammering, “Alright.”

♥

“Oh my god, David! Look,” Kiara stared dreamily as she saw the ‘targetted couple’ rise from their seats to chaperone. “They’re gonna dance.”

"Kiara, where is your father bringing you for Summer?"

"Oh, I don't know, but it's a modelling holiday so you're obviously coming along," Kiara said, continuing to stare at both Cornelia and Ulrich dancing. "My dad has already informed your dad anyway."

Kiara and David had arrived only fifteen minutes ago. They had spotted the ‘targetted’ couple sitting right at the edge of the building, so Kiara asked for a spot that was five tables away and it gave them a perfect view of them. At first they looked fine talking to one another, and Kiara had been staring at them since. Even the waiter had to call her several times to snap her out of her dreamy daze.

“Waiter, I did tell your other fellow colleague that I want this chicken meat dry. Remove the sauce.”

As soon as the waiter left, Kiara eyed him suspiciously, “Why? And you didn’t tell the…”

Her words were caught in her throat when the waiter approached the table back and placed the ‘modified’ order in front of David. When the waiter left them alone, David fished out a vial from inside his coat and pulled out the cork. Leaving Kiara speechless, David then slowly poured the blood from the vial onto the ordered chicken meat so it’d looked like chilli sauce.

Kiara was about to protest when David traced a circle on the glass panel beside them with his pinky finger of his left. Suddenly, although not obvious, the glass forming that circle vanished, as if it was a hole perfectly punched through the glass panel. David then grabbed his glass of juice and without hesitation poured the juice outside of the hole, outside of the building. “David?!” Kiara gasped at his act. “What the hell do you think you’re…”

When the glass was empty, the hole filled up and the panel was finally replaced, but then, David took out another vial of blood and poured the thick liquid into the glass cup before sipping bit-by-bit. Kiara rolled her eyes and finally started her meal.

It was true that she had promised David that they could bring some ‘blood bottles’ from the storeroom of the field, but she didn’t anticipate that he’d drink it in public. “How does it taste like?” Kiara accidentally blurted, but in the end didn’t care.

“The chicken is very tender,” David said after he tore the chicken meat in two with his teeth. “But I think mine is over-cooked.”

“I meant the blood,” Kiara sighed and eyed David. She knew that she was referring to that from the beginning, and David used to always have a knack in diverting the situation in a twisted way.

David averted his gaze to Kiara’s. As usual, he had an expressionless look, neither smiling nor frowning. “It’s delicious and addictive,” David spoke as he lifted his glass of blood to his mouth. “It’s almost as if the trigger factor is the alcohol from wine.”

He stayed silent for another few moments but continued again, “Even though I already told all of you about how it got me affected, the thing was, I tried to surpass the hunger. Everyday, it was such a pain to even stand beside you. And when I accidentally bit you…I realized that I had to be the one in more control over myself. That was why I couldn’t bear to even enter the infirmary while you were still recovering. I just…”

“It’s okay, David,” Kiara exclaimed as she saw that he started to look hurt. “You don’t…have to tell me.”

“No, that’s not it,” David locked his gaze into her eyes. “Yesterday you looked so furious about wanting to know about everything. The thing is, I can’t. It just pains me to tell the horrid things I did after fourth grade. I’m sorry but I just can’t bring myself to say. I really want you to know, but…I just don’t want your opinion of me to change because of it.”

“I don’t know whether you remember,” Kiara murmured sadly. “There was a time after one of our modeling session. You told me to promise not to abandon you if you weren’t yourself or acted differently. When you changed into a vampire, did I abandon you?!”

Kiara started to raise her voice, but David just kept quiet. “When I realized that you were the one who attacked me, did I abandon you?”

“When you had to obey Cyrus’ order and didn’t even hesitate to execute her order to kill me, did I abandon you?” Kiara’s voice suddenly grew softer until it was like a whisper.

David stayed quiet but then realized that Kiara had started to have tears trickling from her cheeks. In the fourteen years that he knew Kiara, he had never seen her cry before. When he was young, she had always been very close to him, not failing to be a good friend. She had always tried to cheer him up when they were little, and all she did was to just make him happy. And now, for the first time, after whatever she had done in the past, David had repaid her kindness by hurting her. He’d cast himself away even though she was reaching out to him, and he would always distance himself from everything. Even feelings and words…

“Apparently, you know how to upset a beautiful lady,” a voice came from beside the table, and at the same time both Kiara and David looked up at the extra person.

Austin was clad with the similar penguin suit, but unlike in school, his hair was neatly combed to the side. He looked much cleaner and his posture was more upright and turgid, as if he was a soldier at command. For once, Austin looked…presentable. “What the hell are you doing in here?” David scowled at Austin distastefully. “Were you spying on us?”

“Oh dear, no,” Austin said with a fake British accent. “You are currently dining in my father’s restaurant. I have the right to move around the premises. I hope I don’t bestow any inconvenience upon you.”

David ignored him. In school, he was a rebellious guy, not even worth of gaining favour even from the ‘popular crew’ of the academy. And now, he’s acting all posh and gentleman-ly. It was a surprise that his English was so perfect. “Shall we dance together, Milady?” Austin held out his hand to Kiara.

“I...I...”

“I’m sure this one dance won’t do any harm,” Austin charm his words. “Take it as a thank-you gesture after saving your life on the day I brought you to the infirmary when you were injured.”

Kiara looked to David for help, but he was looking outside the building instead, ignoring everything. She then took Austin’s hand, and stood from her seat. “One only,” her voice trailed away as Austin guided away from the table.

David sat there alone with his half-eaten chicken meat. He wanted to check on them, but he felt that doing that was like admitting defeat to Austin. “Kiara,” David muttered to himself with sorrow in his voice. “Don’t you know? I really really loved living in the past. It was because there was just me and…you….”

★

“Oh my...” Tiadora gasped when Jason removed the large cloth from this bulky object. She didn't know what the weird-looking object was, and her confused expression made Jason smiled gleefully.

He took out a red odd-looking sphere and placed it on Tiadora's head. Tiadora wanted to protest, but this was Jason's time, so she trusts that he knew what he was doing. “This is called a helmet,” Jason held onto the helmet after buckling the strap. “And this behind me is a motorcycle.”

"This was last year's birthday gift from my parents,” Jason continued as he traced his hand across the rich silver. "The jet was two years ago."

"Jet?"

"Remember? The vehicle that we use to fly to the island that had the Sapphire Crimson?" Jason recalled as he took Tiadora's hand and guided her towards the motorcycle. "The one when we jump from the sky?"

"Oh! Yes, I remember," Tiadora recalled the frightening moment back then.

“What in the bag?” Jason pointed to the black haversack that was so small in size, Tiadora’s long hair covered it.

“It’s nothing really,” Tiadora gave an uneasy smile, hoping Jason wouldn’t ask what is inside.

“If it’s nothing, then I suppose I have to believe you. Alright,” Jason got onto his bike and urged her to do the same. When she was seated, Tiadora heaved a sigh of relief that she was wearing jeans. “Now, to ensure your safety, you must always hug the person in front of you.”

And when Tiadora obeyed, Jason turned back and gave an innocent smile. “Here we go!” he started the ignitions and the engines glow to life. The silver motorcycle zoomed off from the academy’s car park to the streets of Seattle.