Sneg finally comes back to the table but he brings two glasses on his hands.
“Here.” He says while putting the other glasses in front of me . “Your drink is already empty so I bring you another one. No alcohol in there.”
But I never asked him to..
“Oh, thank you, Sneg.” replying to him.
“Very welcome.” He sits down and takes a sip from his drink “Shall we start now?”
“But first of all, I want to make sure of one thing.” I say to all of them at the table right now.
Since Sneg came back, everyone's eyes are already looking at us.
“Actually, it’s for you, Sneg. Is it alright if Léger leads our discussion? Léger is very thorough in checking our performances before.” Looking at Sneg’s eyes.
“I don’t mind working with whoever that is. Unless that person won’t do any silly thing.” Sneg replies.
All of us exchange confused looks together from his answer.
My eyes and Léger’s meet and he seems to get my signal.
“Alright then. Since it’s eleven, let’s just discuss what songs you guys want to do for tomorrow, okay?” Léger says.
“Plus, who will replace me for making drinks for a while.” Sneg says right after Léger.
Once again, we look at each other.
That’s really unexpected.. I thought he wouldn't say anything to us..
“Umm.. I think I could help with making drinks.” Mana says “But I will need a bit more information about how to make the drinks.”
“No problem. I can teach you about it tomorrow.” Sneg replies without any hesitation.
“Is it possible if I help making the drinks too?” Brugière asks nervously.
“Whoever that is, unless they actually can help will do. If not sure then better not to, it’s only bothersome to others.” once again on point comment from Sneg.
Feels like he's very strict and doesn't really care about the others.
“Alright then it's settled what we’re going to do now.” I say to them and the night discussion begins.
After the discussion, we all go back to our room for the day.
Same night as before, I’m still waiting for Quinne and Görder to get back, just to make sure they’re alright.
It’s almost two at night and they finally show up in front of our place.
From my perspective, Quinne’s mood doesn’t change at all and Görder looks frowned.
Recalling what happened last time when I greeted Quinne and Sneg, seems like I don’t have to do that again.
Pulling my blanket over my shoulders then pretending to be asleep.
The sound of the door open and both of them step into our room.
“Move. I need to clean up first.” Quinne says to Görder.
Their voices come from near the bathroom door.
But the way Quinne speaks to Görder is really harsh just now.
Right after, the sound of the bathroom's door closed, I can clearly hear Görder sigh.
Did they fight?
Take a peek over where Görder is sitting right now.
She looks sad?
Because of that, I decide to get out of my bed and approach Görder.
First, she looks at me then throws her face away from me.
“Are you.. alright..?” I greet her nervously.
“Why do you ask?” She replies without looking at me.
“Since you’re getting closer with the twins, I guess there’s nothing wrong for me to feel a bit worried about you, right?” trying my best to respond to her as normal as I can.
From my response to her, she clicks her tongue.
“You’re just the same.” She says then stands up from her seat.
When she’s just about to open the door, I see someone’s shadow from the window.
My eyes open a bit wider because of the realization that I remember something about this evening.
Quickly before she reaches the door handle, I grab her shoulder and that makes her turn around panickedly.
“What the hell do you want?” Görder says irritatedly because of my action just now.
“Ah. It’s just that.. It’s better for you not to go out this late. The weather is so cold this evening.” replying to her, try not being suspicious.
Right after I said that to her, someone’s shadow just passed by from the window and it was clearly shown.
Because of that, Görder notices and immediately looks at the window.
The way she looks at the window, she seems a bit scared.
“Who’s that?” She says with an almost cracked voice.
With that, I quickly turn around to grab my jacket then walk to open the door.
“Quinne should be out for a minute. You stay here. I will check who that is, okay. Don’t worry about me.” After saying that, I close the door behind me.
After taking a few steps from the door, the sound of footsteps is coming from the roof.
Thankfully the sound is really small and none of them would notice it.
“Pst! Stam!” I’m calling her whisperly.
No response, no sound coming out either.
“Where are you, stam!” go to the terrace and take a look at our roof.
No one is there.
Weird.. I just heard her a few footsteps from our roof..
After a moment, Stam shows up from the kitchen, as usual with her food on her hands.
Ohh.. it’s not from our roof.
With that, I’m approaching her slowly.
“Your foods are fucking delicious, you know that? Even the fruits and bread can be this fresh.” She says and continues to eat.
“Sorry, I forgot to let you clean up in the middle of night.” I say to her, while cleaning up the kitchen where she just made the place all messed up.
“No problem. I think I saw your teammates just came. It will frighten them if I suddenly show up out of nowhere.” She replies.
“Alright then, wait here for a moment, okay? I need to tell my roommate that no one is outside since she noticed your movement before.” Give Stam more snacks to let her stay in the kitchen.
Open the door to get into the room only to find Quinne who’s preparing to sleep.
The time I step in the room, she takes a glance then rolls her eyes.
Just expected, that’s how she will respond and nothing would change.
Anyway, let’s pretend that nothing happened.
Walks toward my bed then covers up my body with the blanket.
Not long after I get into my bed, the sound of bathroom’s door opens, it seems like Görder has finished cleaning herself.
“Agatha, I will sleep first, okay. Don’t think too much about it. Good night.” Görder says then it seems like she gets into her bed right now.
The way Görder speaks to Quinne, it seems like it's true that they have a problem.
Feels like 10 minutes have just passed by and finally I can hear the sound of her chair.
That sound follows up with her footsteps and she gets into her bed.
After waiting for 5 more minutes to make sure she’s already asleep, I sneakily get up from my bed.
Gets out of the room and quickly tell Stam that she can get in now.
Both of us move sneakily together and thankfully looks like none of them noticed this.
**Next morning comes**
As usual, the food and drink groups practice and learn to make some new menus for today.
Same goes to the music group, we practice some other songs to perform as well.
While waiting for Sneg to come, we practice for our parts first.
Léger suddenly lets out a sigh after our third song.
“Are you alright, Henry?” Colombain asks him worriedly.
“I’m worried about working with him, Gofar.” He looks at Sneg place “Feels like it will be a lot more difficult..”
“It’s okay, Henry. We got your back, okay? If something is bothering you, just lus know too.” Colombain grabs Léger’s shoulder to comfort him.
Léger only responds by nodding his head.
After more than 1 hour practicing, finally Sneg shows up at our place.
As always, he has a glass of juice or anything on his hand to hand it to me.
“Let’s start.” Sneg says right when he arrives. “This is for you, Valter.”
“Thank you, Sneg.” trying to build some courage on me to ask him “But is it only just for me?”
“Who else other than you?” He asks and looks confused too.
“There are Colombain and Léger in the music group. I think it will-” my words get cut off from him.
“Nope. Anyway, let's start.” He replies then sits right next to me.
From his actions, I can feel people around me put their focus on us right now.
“Alright then. As we discussed it before, Sneg yo-” Léger words get cut off from him too.
But this time, the way he cuts him is very harsh.
Really different from me, he replies to me gently but to Léger it is full of anger.
“Where is your manners, idiot? Call me with honorifics, will you?” He’s also glaring at Léger.
The way he just responded makes all of us speechless for a moment.
That’s out of my expectation..
“I’m sorry, Mr. Sneg. Let’s practice like what we discussed last night.”
From that the atmosphere in our practice area becomes so tense.
Clearly the others are not comfortable with how Sneg just behaved right now.
While practicing, Colombain keeps glaring at him with full of anger.
I need to talk to him later on...
**Night after cafe closed** Same things happen for today’s too. All of us are doing our best and getting better performance than yesterday. “Great work everyone! Remember we need to read those feedbacks after this, okay?!” Mari announces, still with the same excitement. “Seriously, where can we get as much energy as Mari?” Mana says jokingly to me and Brugière. “Hahaha, you’re the opposite of your twin.” Brugière replies. “Mana come! Help me here!” Mari shouts from the kitchen. Mana growls from her call out. Laughing from how Mana looks desperately with her sister's free spirit. “Alright, I will walk around for a while then.” I say to Brugière and stand up from my seat. Looking at Sneg who’s still drinking at his seat then approaching him. “Sneg. Do you have a moment?” I ask him. Sneg looks at me then nods. “Yes?” He replies and puts down his glass on the table. “Wanna go for a walk?” inviting him. “Sure.” He stands up “Let’s go.” We are on the same road as yesterday and tonight is getting chillier than before. Thankfully, I already prepared my own jacket so Sneg doesn’t need to lend me his. But the weather is so clear and the stars are clearly shown this time. It makes the beach scenery become more beautiful. Because of this scenery, it makes me stop walking for a while and look at it. “Wow..” unknowingly comes out from my mouth. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Sneg says beside me. Ah, did I just say it out loud? “Yeah.. I have never seen this scenery before.” Replying to him. “Shall we take a seat near the beach?” he says while walking to get closer with the beach. “Mhm. Sure.” Following right behind him. Not long after walking near the beach, we finally found a bench to sit on. Both of us didn’t say any words, just enjoying the beautiful view and the sound of night beach scenery. This should be the right time to talk, right? Building up my courage to speak up with him. “Sneg, can I ask you about something? But I think it will be a bit too personal about you.” “Is it about how I treat others?” He replies right after I ask him. Seems like he’s already reading my mind. “Yes, I won’t lie or cover it. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t continue it as well.” replying to him without panicking. He chuckles lightly from my response to him. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I need to fix and change myself for it.” He says while scratching the back of his head. But the way he responded just now, he looks a bit sad rather than irritated. Even his body language saying that he already expected something like this would happen. “I never said you need to fix or change yourself, Sneg.” I say to him with a comforting voice. He still doesn’t look right at me. “It’s true that it might be a problem the way you treat others but it doesn't mean that is what you want, right? There must be a reason why you treat others like that.” After saying this, he finally looks right into my eyes. Again, the way he looks at me right now is the same as in that morning, the one that makes him completely treat me differently. From that, I can only put a smile on my face. “I know you’re not that kind of person, Sneg. Maybe you can just relax a bit around the others. Trust me, they’re all good people.” He looks back to his hand and laughs lightly again “You’re really different, you know? I just thought you would be the same as them.” He replies while rubbing his palm. With that, I can clearly see that there’s something that traumatized him before. Patting his shoulder. “I won’t force you into it. I know it must be really hard but please trust yourself that everything will be better.” try to comfort him. “Maybe you know how it feels, Valter. Since both of us were born like this, I think we have faced the same problem.” He replies “What do you mean?” Looking at him confusedly. “Have to stay perfect. In front of whoever that is, even to your family or your closest friends.” He replies then grips his hands together tightly The memories of what my parents just did to me last week come through my mind right now. “Yeah. I know that feeling very well.” replying to him with a sad voice. “Don’t you think you must be aware of those people too?” Suddenly he asks me a question. But something is odd from the way he asked the question. Who are those people he is referring to? “Those people?” asking him confusedly. “Yeah, those who are working with us right now.” he answers. “Well.. maybe for Quinne and Görder, I have to. But I don’t think I need to be aware of others.” “If I was you, I won’t let my guard down even once. You may have never experienced it before, that is why you can do such a thing, Valter.” He replies, his head still down. At this point, he looks sorrowful and this is my first time seeing him like this. Should I do something like Stam did to me before? “Maybe you’re right, Sneg. I have never experienced the same thing like yours. Trust is something that is really hard to get and give to someone else.” try to reply to him with a comforting voice again. No response from him. “But from that too, I notice that if I want to get someone’s trust, I need to give them my trust as well.” Still no responses and his head still looking down. “Actually the twins are the first ones who gave me their trust and I just returned the favor. That is why the twins are the only exception than the others. It starts from the little things.” Just a moment I thought that he wouldn't reply to me for a while but he suddenly just replied to me. “Lucky that you got their trust first.” still looking down and his voice sounds desperate. This must be the right timing. “Yes, that's true. But this time I’m the one who gives the trust first, right?” replying to him. As expected, he finally looks up and faces me. “What do you mean?” It can be clearly seen that he’s confused about what I just said to him. “I told you my stories first, right? Does that mean I already gave you my trust?” replying to him with a smile on my face. He opens his mouth a bit and looks stunned to speak up. But that look on him only lasted for a few seconds then he looks the other way and scoffs. “You’re really something, Valter.” he covers his eyes with his palm. “It’s fair enough, right? This will be our first time. You gained someone's trust first and I gave my trust.” He laughs and slowly turns to face me again. “Before I tell you my back story, let me ask you a question first. What makes you change drastically like this?” He asks. “Well… the answer is pretty simple.” take a glance at someone who's fishing near us the whole time “I learned it from my precious coach.” the second one I raise my voice a little bit intentionally. She must have heard what I just said. Suddenly, the fisher pulls her fishing rod and goes somewhere a bit far away from us. Seems like she won’t hear us in this distance. Looking back at Sneg and his eyes still on me, waiting for my answer. “Actually, I can’t tell how it became like this and just suddenly came into my life. Just try and look at it from a different angle, I guess?” That’s my answer for him. With that, he takes away his eyes from me and nods. “I see. Maybe I should just apologize to them, especially to Quinne that I treated her badly.” he says but it sounds like he’s a bit of a burden. The way he responded, I think I know how it feels. Giving another pat on his shoulder. “It’s alright, Sneg. You don’t have to rush it or suddenly say sorry out of nowhere. Take your time and slowly treat them better.” Once again, he slowly raises his head and looks at me but this time a small smile appears on his face. “Thank you, Valter. I will try my best.” He replies. After that both of us walk back together and suddenly Quinne appears in front of the gate. She crosses her arms and glares at me. “We need to talk.” She says to me with an irritated voice. From the way she talks to me, I know it means just the two of us. That is why I tell Sneg to head off first. Right after Sneg left, already far away from us, Quinne asks me immediately. “Can you just stop?” Her voice sounds really irritated and full of anger. “Doing what?” Looking at her confusedly. “Stop pretending to be a nice person in front of them! You just want to take them away from me, right?!” She says angrily with her raised voice. Because of that, the anger inside me starts to pile up and I almost raise my voice. “Why would-!” right before I let out my anger, suddenly I stop myself and try to compose myself “Wait Quinne, please calm-” “Don’t tell me to calm down! This is not you!” She suddenly cut me off and her eyes becomes glassy. With that, I don’t know how to reply to her words. She storms off and gets out of the Villa area. What did I do wrong this time?
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