Music Recommendation: Dream No.24 - RIO.

  Like Roman, Julie hadn't expected the sneeze to make its appearance. And as it was unexpected, her head-butted with his head as if she had hit a rock, and for a moment, she didn't know what happened.

  She winced in pain, bringing her hand up to her forehead. Her eyes opened, and she noticed Roman touch his head while sending her a glare that made her want to pack her things and run back to her dorm and never return here again!

  Julie looked away from him while still feeling the glares sent at her.

  Dropping his hand, Roman growled, "Seriously, how clumsy are you?"

  She slightly cowered back and said, "I am sorry, I didn't know that was going to happen. But you shouldn't have done that. I told you I wasn't prepared. When you came near my nose tickled. Not that you smell bad, you smell great," when his eyes narrowed at her, she closed her mouth.

  "Stop talking, Winters," ordered Roman so that she wouldn't blabber anymore.

  This time Julie was quick to listen to what Roman said, and she pressed her lips. Internally, she couldn't help but curse herself. She glanced at him before looking away, emotions of embarrassment mixed with relief in her mind.

  As seconds passed, Julie felt the bump on her forehead enlarge, and she tried to push it in by pressing her finger on it. Thinking about what happened today in the future would be funny, and a small smile on her lips, believing it was going to be funnier in the future than now, because Roman didn't find it funny.

  "Turn this way," she heard Roman speak to her. When Julie's eyes turned towards where Roman sat, she saw he had raised his hand, waiting for her. "Let me take a look."

  Julie shook her head and said, "That's fine. There have been times this has happened and it takes quite some time before it turns to normal."

  Roman hadn't dropped his hand, and Julie sighed before turning back to face him and dropped her hand to her side. He warned her, "Don't sneeze this time." His eyes still narrowed at her, and she nodded her head.

  When Roman leaned forward this time, Julie saw his face move closer while his hand reached to pull the glasses away from her face and then trace the bump on her forehead.

  "My glasses are fine, aren't they?" asked Julie in doubt because it was only her forehead that had crashed.

  "Just so that you don't end up poking with it," saying this, he placed her glasses to the side, and Julie suddenly felt naked.

  Though it wasn't the first time for her to come in front of Roman without wearing her glasses, she wasn't used to not having it covering her face in front of others.

  He was too close, and her brown eyes caught the way his eyes looked at the spot where they had head-butted. Three minutes ago, she was in a pure panic because of Roman's aggressive way of wanting to teach her a lesson. But now, she sat in her seat, slightly relaxed. She breathed in the cologne that he wore. She didn't mean to smell him like a stalker, but he had entered her breathing space, and it seemed like an unavoidable thing to do.

  The texture of his finger wasn't smooth nor too callus, and he said, "That's quite a big bump. You look like Humpty's sister now."

  Julie's eyes snapped to look at him with a frown that he didn't miss the opportunity to tease her, and she said, "Your head is like a wall of rock that I bumped into. I told you that it is-"

  She was taken aback when Roman rubbed on the bump that formed on her head to push the bump back. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt his eyes look at her. Why was he looking at her? Asked Julie while clutching the hem of her sweater.

  Roman had often seen her without glasses when he used to come by the window of her dorm, though it had always been the time when she was sleeping. He now saw her eyes with a black ring inside and outside the iris, which was filled with warm brown colour.

  He said, "There was one time when I fell on the ground and had a bump as big as this. I didn't tend to it immediately and it took quite some time to push it back."

  Julie's eyes moved to look at his forehead, which looked perfectly fine, "I would have never guessed you to be clumsy."

  Roman rolled his eyes, "It was a long time ago," and his thumb continued to massage her forehead. He had suddenly turned gentle towards her as if he cared, and it did something to Julie. "You are going to be a disaster on stage," he said to her.

  Scratch about him being gentle, thought Julie in her mind.

  "It wasn't my mistake, something that happened out of my control," muttered Julie under breath, and she felt Roman retrace his hands back and lean against the chair. She brought her hand up, touching her forehead, feeling the bump had reduced, and she thanked him, "Thank you."

  Relieved that Roman had forgotten about having to teach her how to kiss, Julie thought this was the right time to pack her things in the bag and behave as if nothing had happened.

  "I should go," announced Julie in a hurry. Standing up, she pushed her chair back and started to put all her things in her bag. Today, she had spent too much non-study time with Roman, and her mind was turning fuzzy.

  "Already running?" taunted Roman, raising both his hands and placing it behind his head as he leaned back in the chair.

  "Yes, before you pick up any other practice session that I didn't sign up for. I will solve the problems in my dorm and show it to you in the next session," said Julie, zipping up her bag and letting one strap rest on her shoulder. "Okay, then."

  "Later," responded Roman, not making any attempt to stop her.

  When Julie reached her dorm, she caught Melanie, who had Conner over, in her dorm.

  "You finished your study session early today," commented Melanie.

  "God, how I wished to be tutored by Roman too," said Conner as if he had missed a good opportunity. "Do you think he is well versed with art subjects?"

  "I don't think so, but you never know," replied Julie, entering Melanie's dorm, and she sat down on the edge of the bed.

  "How does it feel to be tutored by the best? The first time when you stayed back to get your lessons from him, Melanie was worried that you were going to come back with bruises," laughed Conner.

  "That's because of his reputation when it comes to violence," muttered Melanie in worry. "But Julie's grades have been skyrocketing in the weekly tests so everything seems good," she raised her hand to show the peace sign. "Anyways. Julie, Conner and I were wondering if you would like to come home with us, unless you have plans."

  "We were planning to watch a movie," said Conner, raising both his arms and then saying, "The dead from the grave."

  On seeing Conner's action, Julie smiled and said, "I am not sure if I will be able to make it this time. I don't know what Ms. Piper has on her mind, but maybe next time?"

  "Of course, always," said Melanie, nodding her head.

  "Do any one of you have any wand-like objects? I think I must have left it back home while packing. For Halloween I am going to be a witch without her wand."

  Julie shook her head and asked, "Maybe we can tie a couple of pencils together and wrap it up?"

  "That will be my second last option, last being breaking a branch of a tree," replied Melanie.

  Julie turned to look at Conner and asked, "What are you turning into?"

  "A zombie. I think all the zombies could party together. Only if there was a grave nearby," said Conner.

  "Isn't there one near the forest?" asked Julie, her eyebrows knitting together.

  "Of course not," Conner laughed as if the idea of having an existing cemetery in Veteris ground itself was absurd. "Our university has old buildings, forest, but no cemetery. If there was one, I am sure most of the students would go there and smoke up and drink."

  "I think Conner is right," agreed Melanie. "I don't think anyone has ever heard about Veteris having a cemetery, but you never know. I mean long long ago, people used to bury their family members near where they used to live. This place used to be like a mini village or town."

  Julie had a confused expression in her eyes as she heard her friends talking about it. She was sure that the night when she met Eleanor and her friends in the forest, she had seen a cemetery beyond the woods.

  Maybe it was because the cemetery was located somewhere in the restricted area of the forest, which was why no one knew about it, thought Julie to herself.

  "What happened, Julie?" asked Melanie, looking at her as she had gone quiet.

  Julie said, "I thought I saw one," and it brought curious glances.

  "When was that?" questioned Conner, but Julie shook her head and smiled.

  "It must have been my imagination."

  Julie knew telling that she saw, heard and was told something would only bring trouble by going against Mr. Evans' words. When Julie returned to her dorm, the letter thief had left his response—


  'My plans over the weekend? Probably to catch some bugs and squash them under my feet. Lately, there have been too many bugs, making me want to electrocute them with the bat.

  Good for you, Troublemaker. Also, don't bring the tornado of trouble on the stage, though I do look forward to you causing trouble. It will be quite interesting to watch.

  How are your co-stars in the play? Don't trip while on the stage. You will be putting the penpalship to shame.'

  Julie smiled, reading the last line. She wrote back to him, writing—


  'Why would I trip and fall? I have perfectly good legs and shoes on my feet. My co-stars? I think you would know them better than me as you must have crossed paths with them in the detention room.

  How have you not been caught yet? Ah, now I know. Recently, you haven't been leaving many letters at my window at night. You are trying to avoid getting a role in the play, aren't you?

  A few are nice, and some are weird. The boy who plays my husband in the play keeps grinning unnecessarily and gives suggestive looks. I don't know why I got paired up with him. Then the person who plays my lover, I think he wants me kicked out from my role by scaring me. The girl who plays his fiancee is probably back to glaring at me.

  There was something that I wanted to ask you. Do we have a cemetery on the grounds of Veteris?'

  When Roman read the letter from Julie, his eyes narrowed at the last line. His lips were set in a thin line, wondering why she was asking about it.

  By the time Julie returned from the bathroom to her dorm, his reply had arrived at the window.

  'Why do you ask? Do you plan to come out from the grave in your mummy costume for Halloween?'

  Why would she ever enter the graves that possibly had spiders and insects in them? Julie asked, staring at the letter before replying to him.

  'No, I have no such plans. Closed spaces makes me feel jittery. My friends and I were speaking when they said that there's no cemetery around this place. But I think I saw one.'

  —


  2 chapters are available in the privilege, scroll over to find it.