What Was Once Not Mutual [hikki & Noblesse]

[hikki]

They weren't kidding when they said "Never take anyone for granted.", especially if it's someone special. This is a story about a two good friends living right next to each other, where one is satisfied with their current situation, and one isn't, how things take a turn for the worst, and then for something else.
​

 

[hikki]

Date: September 1st, 2015


Time: 5:00 AM


-clock rings-, -blind button push- Sean yawns following with a sigh as he wake up on the first day of September which is also the first day of school. He just couldn't be more excited. Sean has always been excited for school every year, but even more so because of something else. It was the day his neighbor finally returns to school after seven months in the hospital which was also seven long months of him being dead-worried since he wasn't allowed for visits due to certain circumstances. Everything was supposed to be the same, only even better because his friend who was a year higher than him before, is now his classmate.


The 7th hour has struck, and it was almost time for class. Karen arrived just a few minutes later than him. "Hey Karen! How are you? You got me worried, you know? I thought you'd already forgotten about me." Sean jokingly said with a welcoming smile. He then sees the look on her face as her seemingly quiet smile slowly wear off. Karen suddenly wore a baffled expression on her face. She told him about the incident, apologized, and quickly sat on her seat. Sean was left standing still, extremely shocked by what he had just experienced. It took him a few moments after to realize something was already falling. It wasn't his pen as he let it go. It was his heart that fell with tears from his eyes coming along with it. As the three objects reach the hard, cold ground, his pencil broke a sound, his tears broke a splash, while his heart just broke completely, shattering to pieces.


The story takes us back in time from when he had just first moved to somewhere near his school's neighborhood to live a solo life, dating December 24th of the year 2013 which is the worst possible date he could ever imagine being alone on.

 

[Woebegone]

Karen Peers


- - -


December 20th, 2013; Peers Family Household; Lovesville

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S

ilence filled the four corners of the Peers family household as it always had for the couple of years of staying at Lovesville, the family while, taking in consideration the welfare of Karen, thought it would be its best interest to move to one of the most peaceful places in the country, Lovesville.

Untrue to its name, Lovesville is no romantic place, not a bit.

Numerous times had this thought randomly barged into the young, delicate mind of Karen Peers. Always curious, Karen Peers had continuously wondered what it feels like to be on the most enjoyable state a human being could ever be in.




7:38 pm, the sun has finished its shift and now its time for the moon and the stars to handle its share of the work. It was time for the Peers family dinner. Karen was the first to arrive to the table, she neatly took a seat on the far end of the table and patiently waited for her parents her younger brother, Kyle to arrive to the scene. As if on queue with her placing her elbows on the table, the youngest member of the clan had arrived.

"Looks like I got here first."

she teased, sticking her tongue out. Her brother chuckled for a bit, Karen wasn't far ahead from her brother, being older than him for only 3 years and all.

"Well, least you can't beat me to finishing dinner."

Kyle replied. Out of the entire household, Karen find herself closer to her brother more than she is to her parents. It didn't take long, the power couple arrived. Mr & Mrs. Peers, owner to multi-million companies around the country, such a status demands higher attention and most likely, the reason why Karen wasn't so close to the two.

Despite being high profile entrepreneurs, the Mr & Mrs of the family never failed to arrive to the family dinner, as they call it, the most sacred time they could spend as a family, outside of bonding of course. The family always had the simplest forms of celebrating their dinners, it was all the typical, "How'd it go with school?" and obvious reporting to your parents over the table scenarios, it wasn't all that exciting, adding to the lack of any neighbors, Karen's life at home couldn't be of any comparison to her life at school; there, Karen seemed comfortable with doing anything, she was able to express herself as the little, sweet, bundle of joy she always wanted to be, in contrast to her home where she barely smiles and even if she does, it was one of those slightly forced smile you'd give when talking to strangers.

Karen thought she was gonna be stuck with this scenario till she graduates highschool but it seems chance or fate itself likes to play around at random times, it had caught her attention when her parents that people were about to move in, right next door to! The news excited the young teen but obviously didn't show it that much to her parents, finishing her dinner, she rushed to her room and flopped herself on her bed, screaming all her excitements on an innocent pillow.

Neighbors!? Finally! I'm close to dying out of boredom here. What should I do?! Should I greet them?! No, they might be weirded o-



her train of thoughts was cut short when Karen thought of the possibility of meeting

The One

what if the one she was destined for would be right next to her doorstep now. Needless to say, she became even more excited.



Timeskip:

December 24th, 2013 - Karen's Room


J

olly is Karen on the day that her neighbors were set to arrive. The snowy, chilly weather were no match for the bright expression etched on the face of the 17 year old. She was in her room, presumably making herself as cute as possible for both her neighbors and on Christmas Eve; impatience kept Karen frustrated as the clock continues to tick by without a stop, every second going away and not a single sign of either were showing up. The clock dictates that it's 2:17 in the afternoon, aggravated, Karen falls down limply, draining herself 'cause of the countless bursts of energy she did while waiting for her new neighbors to arrive, the silly, energetic teen slowly fell into a slumber.

 

[hikki]

The clock ticks, with the big hand pointing at 19 and the small one at 2. "Arrived!" Sean shouted as he let out a huge foggy sigh from walking up the spiral stairs with two heavy luggage carried on both of his hands and a backpack on his back. "Oops! I shouldn't. I wouldn't want to bother my neighbors and leave a bad first impression." he told himself as he cover his mouth with his hand after placing the bags on the ground in front of the door and turned his head left and right to see if someone heard and noticed.


As he open the door, a shroud of cloud enveloped him like a loved one who was always away for a long time suddenly returning out of nowhere to give a big hug. And as the cloud vanish, Sean heavily coughed, so much so that his eyes began getting teary. And by then, he thought he'd discovered a new sense of taste the world has never had before. It was the taste of dust in his mouth. But it seems that Sean was only a bit disgusted and more dumbfounded when he saw the many kinds of bugs crawling on the ground, spider webs on the ceiling, and worn out paint on the walls. Immediately after the distinctive sight, his one strand of hair that is always standing up started to tingle. It was his 'responsibility instinct' telling him he should do something about the place. Given just a few hours, everything was already sparkling clean.

Spoiler

After putting out his things and placing them where they should be, Sean went for a nice and warm bath to relieve himself from the stress and to forget the wintry coldness of the day. "I'm really living alone now, huh? What kind of parents leave their son by himself? So much for christmas.." he muttered with a huge grinn on his face almost laughing. His words being deceitful than they seem, Sean was really happy about not having someone else to authorize him because of his 'I can do it myself, I don't need anyone.' attitude and out of excitement, he ran out to the balcony with nothing but a towel covering his lower part of the body with a glass of milk on his hand almost spilling as he stop. And like the traditional, with his left hand on his waist, Sean's body bent backwards as he chugged quickly on the glass of milk like there's no tomorrow.

 

[Woebegone]

December 24th, 2013 - Karen's room



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T

he sudden chill that entered her room, unintentionally woke up Karen. She bolted up from her bed, screaming, it wasn't that she had a nightmare, it's just that she was a bit surprised with the amount of time she possibly had wasted by taking that nap. Night has made its presence known once more, it appears as her room found itself drenched with the darkness. The first thing that entered Karen's mind however, was her neighbor.

Oh my god, have they have arrived!? I hope they haven't yet but-



she wanted to take a peek on her newly arrived neighbor but her brother made it mission impossible as soon as he entered the room.




"Oi, where have you been? I've been sitting on there alone for 15 minutes now. Mom and Dad aren't here yet and you're late."

Kyle uttered, obviously not amused.

"Oh, sorry. I kinda fell asleep so, yeah."

Karen responded, sticking her tongue at her brother and immediately rushed downstairs.




"Wow, you're right. No one's here yet. This is rare, what are those two up to?"

Karen wondered, quizzically looking at her brother to which, her brother merely responded with a shrug. Impatience and most likely, hunger took over the two and went on ahead with their dinner without their parents and as if on cue, the two, after making half-passes on another, went towards their rooms.


With her brother and dinner out of her way, she could finally take a peek if her neighbors had arrived to which she frankly forgot to simply just ask her brother earlier if they did. Wafting her curtain away from her window, much to her surprise, her neighbor was in plain sight from her room, in fact,

naked sight

from her room. Her neighbor was drinking some white substance, possibly milk with only a towel blocking his privates from view.

"What the heck are you doing wearing only that at a cold weather like this!?"

The young maiden questioned her new neighbor. Oddly enough, this resulted to be her first sentence she ever uttered to her newly arrived neighbor.

​

 

[hikki]

As Sean finish off his milk, someone came almost out of nowhere. It was from the window on the house next to his. After hearing the other person's comment, the two had a sudden awkward pause as he stand still and is still in his drinking position even after finishing up the beverage. Suddenly, a cold breeze of wind blew past the gaps of the two houses and everything was still fine until a towel fell off, almost as if destiny itself was giving the innocent young maiden something very majestic to feast her own eyes upon as a gift for christmas.


In a cold and peaceful day in the town of Lovesville, two distinguishable sound echoed as far and loud as one could possibly get it to. It was the same two people in front of each other screaming the hell out from where they're standing with the male being undoubtedly louder. Sean quickly ran away from sight leaving the towel on the ground and dropping the glass to be broken and shut the curtains as quickly as he could without showing more of himself than he should have.

 

[Woebegone]

December 24th, 2013; Karen's room



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H

ow easy it was for innocence and purity to be stained that the young maiden who goes by the name of Karen Peers's young mind to be soiled by the true sight of horror, a young man, a stranger's, privates. The two exchanged shrieks, obviously with the male screaming louder and the female, "covering" her eyes, but she admittedly took a peek of one or two. With the male exiting the scene by entering his room, Karen took cover under her bed. Her excitement was outmatched by a singular scene, the first scene she and her neighbor had and a potentially lover! He was right about her age, at least, that's what he looked like.




That was too adventurous...too adventurous

.

Karen's thoughts were being drowned by the recent scene and she had gotten a visit from her brother and a couple of maids to which she quickly dismissed as nothing, she was just fangirling, she said. Minutes later, she headed towards her window again, putting her elbow on its frames, laughing how silly and awfully embarrassing the event was, opting that the young man would do the same and confront her, properly this time.

 

[hikki]

"Man, that's so embarrassing! I didn't expect for someone to actually come out there and see me like that. She must have thought I'm some kind of a pervert. Don't worry, self. You just have to avoid being seen by her whenever you go out." Sean's train of thoughts which really weren't the brightest kept on piling up. He thought it best not to go to the balcony anymore.


Grrr!! His stomach grumbled. Sean was just so busy packing things up so early in the morning that he couldn't even have breakfast and decided to go to the nearest convenience store and inconveniently, he had to pass through that girl's house to proceed to his destination. As he casually go out of the house, Sean was very conscious of what just happened and looked at the window where he got seen from and there, he saw the same girl who kind of looks asleep from afar. Sean was alarmed that his walking pace went faster until he had passed the said house.


On his way to the store, it would always seem that if girls weren't giving him the eye, someone else was giving him a piercing look, of which he just can't look back at but most times, people just avoid him completely because of the naturally hostile look on his face, especially his eyes. -sighs- "Ah.. There it is. Here we go again.." And as it seems, Sean just doesn't care about people misunderstanding him anymore, looking not left nor right except to where he's headed to.

Spoiler

The decorative bell on the door rings as he open it with one hand tucked in his pocket. "Welcome to- our.. store.." The store clerk's voice shrunk when he saw Sean's face. He grabbed what he needed and after paying, Sean insists for the man to keep the change as a tip with a forced and stiff smile on his face. "Y- yes Sir!" The clerk's face was saying he's frightened instead. -sighs- Sean shakes his head tilted down with his eyes closed as he leave the store.


On his way back home, Sean kept glancing over the park on the other side of the road. It was the hotspot for couples most girls in his class kept discussing about. Full of cherry blossom trees that paint the scenery pink, dim lights to be lit at night, a couple of wooden benches facing the lake which separates the two areas of the park, and one small arched bridge that seems to be made of huge, round rocks cemented together which connects the whole place together. The town really does live by its name that even someone who's as hopeless as Sean couldn't help but be interested.


The boy became cautious again until he noticed the girl was no longer by the window. "Well, she was actually kind of, sort of cute though.. More importantly, I can't just keep this up forever! I just have to apologize.. Yes.." The thought crossed the young man's mind as he walk up the stairs. Sean went to hang out to the balcony as he wait for the cup noodles he's holding to be ready and also hoping for that person to show herself and to confront her, properly this time. After eating, he leaned towards the wall seated and facing the road outside and waited hours for the girl before eventually falling asleep.