"Are you two close?" David asked excitedly. He rarely saw Diana with her friends. Diana had never invited anyone to her house.
"We rarely meet."
"Oh, I see," David lost his enthusiasm.
David recalled what Revan had said earlier. "You go to the same school, but you're not in the same class?" he asked, because if they were classmates, Revan would have mentioned it.
Revan nodded.
"So that's why you rarely see each other," David concluded.
There was a brief silence before David continued speaking. "Oh yeah, have you ever seen her with her friends? Do you know who Diana's close friends are?"
Revan shook his head. "I rarely see her with her friends, so I don’t know who her close friends are."
Me neither, David thought, realizing that he had never seen Diana close to anyone either.
Suddenly, Revan remembered someone who was often near Diana. But he didn’t know what would happen if he told David that his sister was frequently followed by a young man who had been rejected by her multiple times.
Revan chose not to mention it. He didn’t want to get involved.
***
"Turns out he’s a quiet guy, but I think he’s nice," David said to Diana when they arrived home. Diana took off her sandals and placed them on the shoe rack.
"Who?" Diana asked, standing up. She was confused and found her brother’s words strange.
"I think I’ve heard you mention his name before. Revan Gael?" David said as he walked into the living room.
"What are you trying to say?" Diana frowned, following behind him.
"Don't pretend you don’t understand. You're too smart for that, genius," David turned to look at Diana behind him.
"I don't know," Diana replied indifferently.
"You talked about him around three years ago, if I’m not mistaken," David tried to recall.
"I’ve already forgotten," Diana said as she passed him and entered her room.
David smiled as he watched her.
---
Kevin tidied up the books on his desk. He had just finished copying his friend’s homework, which was due after the break.
It was break time now, and he had just copied the assignment—luckily, he managed to finish it quickly.
"Hey, Kevin! The teacher is looking for you. It’s your turn for duty today, and you haven’t gone to the teacher’s office yet," one of his classmates suddenly called out.
"Damn, I forgot!" Kevin immediately got up from his seat.
***
Diana walked down the stairs, intending to go to the library as usual. There was only one month left before the final exams.
Suddenly, she heard hurried footsteps behind her, also descending the stairs.
Then, the person behind her tripped and instinctively reached out to grab Diana for support, but he couldn’t reach her.
"Aaaa...!"
It was like a slow-motion scene.
Diana's eyes widened as she saw Kevin’s body falling to the right of her. His left hand stretched toward her.
Diana quickly reached out her right hand to grab him, while her left hand held onto the stair railing, which was only available on the left side. The right side of the stairs was just a wall.
She managed to hold him, but Kevin still fell, landing on the steps. At least he didn’t tumble all the way down.
Diana felt pain in her legs and hands from straining to support Kevin’s weight.
Luckily, Kevin hadn’t grabbed her immediately; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been ready and would have fallen too. That was close.
"Ouch..." Kevin groaned.
"Hah..." Diana let out a breath, releasing her grip.
She was kneeling, half-sitting on the stairs.
"You're heavy. I almost couldn’t hold you."
"Diana, are you okay?" Kevin quickly stood up.
Diana shook her head. "How did this happen?"
"I was in a hurry. It’s my fault, sorry for troubling you."
"You can go now. I don’t know what you're rushing for, but aren’t you in a hurry?"
"What about you? Are you sure you’re okay?" Kevin looked at Diana, who seemed weak from the pain in her hands and legs. Her muscles must have been strained.
Diana nodded. After Kevin disappeared from view, she tried to stand up and continued walking down the stairs.
After a few steps, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her ankle.
Her steps became unsteady, and her hands couldn’t support her because they hurt just as much.
"Oh no..."
Diana closed her eyes as she felt herself falling. Her hands reflexively reached forward to brace for impact.
This time, she was the one falling. It happened so fast that she barely had time to react.
As she felt the floor approaching, she squeezed her eyes shut.
THUD! A loud sound of impact followed.
***
Revan huffed in annoyance when someone bumped his arm from the front. The person didn’t even stop to apologize and just kept walking away.
Revan looked at him. "Of course, only he would dare to piss me off," Revan thought as he recognized the person—it was Kevin.
Revan continued walking.
When he reached the stairs, he suddenly noticed someone falling toward him from above.
But he realized it too late—before he could react, the person had already crashed into him.
THUD!
They both collapsed onto the floor after the hard impact.
"Ugh..."
Revan tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, and his head throbbed in pain.
Then, everything went dark. He lost consciousness.
***
Diana opened her eyes when she realized she had crashed into something hard.
But it didn’t feel like the floor. It wasn’t as hard as the floor.
Then she found herself lying on top of a young man. He looked like he was in pain. His eyes were half-open before shutting completely.
"Oh no!"
Diana panicked and quickly got up. She shook his body and called his name.
But there was no response.
Fear gripped her.
After saving someone else, this time, she was saved by someone else.
No.
He didn’t save her on purpose. He was just an unfortunate victim.
So, rather than feeling like she had been saved, Diana felt like she had just injured someone after helping someone else.
Even though it wasn’t intentional.
***
Revan slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry. He had to blink several times to clear it.
A sharp pain throbbed in his head.
He looked around and saw a girl staring at him with wide eyes.
"You're awake... How do you feel?"
Revan heard a voice from his left.
"You," he murmured, recognizing Diana.
"I’m sorry. This happened because of me," Diana said.
Revan remembered what had happened. He understood what she meant.
He tried to sit up and realized he was in the school’s infirmary.
"What time is it now?"
"Uh, now..." Diana glanced at her wristwatch, but then she noticed the glass was cracked, and the hands had stopped moving. It must have broken when she fell.
She looked around the room for a clock and found one on the wall. The second hand trembled on a single number. She waited a few moments to see if it would move.
Nope, the battery must have just died.
What a coincidence, Diana thought.
Then, the school bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.
"It’s dismissal time," Diana finally answered.
"That long? I've been here that long? And you... Have you been here all this time too?"
Diana nodded.