7 First Day at The Senior Secondary 7

Lili hastily dropped her drier on the dressing table and rushed to find her phone.

There she found two mised calls from her mother and one from Genea.

They must be worried sick.

She quickly dialed her mother's phone number.

"Hello ma.."

"Oh darling where have you been? I called you up twice but both of the times it kept ringing and nobody picked it up. You know it very well how much opposed I was to your decision of staying so far away from home. Now you don't even answer to my calls. Do you even have an idea of what kind of bad premonitions I had?"

Lili's mother complained without a stop and all that Lili could do was to listen.

"Yeah ma, I am sorry, I was just showering and forgot to put the phone to ringer before leaving for the bathroom."

"You haven't been showering for an hour as you do, have you?"

Lili: "..."

"Lili, that's school dorm, you can't empty the water tank of that place as you do in your home. You need to understand these things darling."

"Yes ma, I understand. It won't happen again"

Lili and her mother then chatted for a long time. Lili described every little detail of her day and her mother listened to her patiently. But she carefully omitted the part of the day which contained the boy.

"And, other than studies and meeting Genea, anything else?"

Lili knew her mother very well so she knew perfectly that where her mother was driving things at.

But still, she decided to play naive.

"Nothing else..what can it be?"

"Don't tell you didn't meet any hottie?", her mother teased.

Though Lili was perfectly aware of her mother's intentions, when she heard the direct words of her mother, her heart felt a sudden pang of emotions and she blushed ceaselessly.

"Oh..yeah.. about that. There is a guy. He saved me from falling down in the morning and then continued to stare at me weirdly in installments for the rest of the day. That's all", said Lili, desperately trying to sound casual.

"...till now", teased her mother once again.

"Ma..!

Okay, I'll talk to you later because it's already dinner time now."

"Okay darling, have fun. And don't forget to call up before going to bed."

"Yes ma..bye".

She hung up, and then rushed for the canteen.

She quickly grabbed some dishes and sat down on a table at the corner of the room.

Once seated, she started munching at her food

That is when she realised she was quite hungry.

As she was eating alone and had forgotten to bring her headphones, she was a bit bored.

Then she realised she had also seen Genea's missed call but she hasn't called her up yet.

So she decided to check what she was doing.

The call was picked up just after two rings.

"Hey, were you sleeping then? That is why I didn't call you up once again after it was not lifted the first time."

"No, I was showering without putting my phone to the ringer."

They then chatted on their phones until they finished their dinner. Then they hung up after going back to their respective rooms.

Lili decided to go to the bed immediately and sleep.

She climbed onto the bed and lied down.

Just after she closed her eyes, her brain wandered back to the boy and gradually she felt her heartbeat speeding.

She tossed and turned on the bed for sometime, but still couldn't sleep.

Eventually she decided to get up and take a walk in the garden.

-

"Uncle, aunt.." cried a little girl of thirteen or fourteen as she held both of the sides of her bright red gown and ran down the stairs of the white castle to greet her uncle and aunt, her long known family friend.

"Eva! My little princess, how have you been my child?", the loud and authoritative voice of the King of Westdell, which had a tinge of warmth, was heard.

"I am fine uncle, thank you", said she as she bowed down respectfully to the couple and greeted them.

She looked angelic in her red drees, her hair lose on her back, fluttering in the wind, looking like peaceful waves.

This girl, my friend since we were two. Mother and father say, we were born in the same year, in a gap of six months and I was older than her. But I remember meeting her when I was two or three, and thus she must have been two or a little younger than two.

We got along so well.

We used to play for hours.

We then gradually grew up, and eventually understood, what they meant by marriage.

Yes, they wanted us to get married.

They saw it as an alliance between two kingdoms which could strengthen the friendship of the two families.

But it meant the world to me.

I and Eva.. we will marry.

It was a dream which I had never dreamt of, before knowing their decision, but wished it to come true every moment since knowing.

I wished to protect her, to cherish her, to give her all the happiness possible on earth and even more and to love her unconditionally.