Every day Kai walked past the girl he loved in silence. While his feelings for her remained unknown, there was something he didn't know about her.

Kai had told his friends what he felt about the girl, and they simply wondered about it with a faint puzzlement while keeping all of their critical comments of "her" amongst themselves. After all, Kai had a notoriously wild temper -- one would cross his opinion once and never forget it. Still, they came with him to the city's library day after day.

Even to curious friends such as these, however, it was one day at the library too many. Eventually the day came when not one of his friends accompanied him, but Kai never ceased to come. The days came and went there at the city library, one after another, each one resembling the other.

Kai had come in again and watched the clock until that same crucial moment. Grinning slightly, feeling a rush of adrenaline, he slowly began to recognize the familiar figure walking towards him in the distance. Even in the light of the city library, he never failed to be entranced by her consistent appearance and scent -- the combination could hypnotize. That face, that same face marked by a sort of faint indignation, passed by him every day at precisely the same place at precisely the same time. Every day.

Kai tightened his muscles. His hair, a natural shade of jet black with an added highlight of blonde at the tips, never swayed from its position due to an overly generous portion of hair gel -- added to enhance the many intended 'spikes' adorning his youthful, pale face.

Coming closer.

Kai felt that same unending thrill. He could live for this moment alone. Increasing his pace slightly, he continued to walk towards the figure whose face was now nearly close enough for him to reach out and steal a long-awaited kiss from. That face...

The face that was nearing him was not exactly the kind of face every young man of Kai's age would aim to court, but something about her always made his inner being ring with excitement. Lust, even. Hers was a delicate face of nearly no color at all, finely rounded of a typical young Asian shape, with the darkest almond-shaped eyes he'd ever seen in his 19 years. He wondered how long he could get lost in them if she ever gave him the chance.

Don't you ever smile? No matter the circumstance... Kai had promised to them both that he would be able to make that unchanging face of hers shine -- as it should -- though it was a promise he'd never voiced. But he knew it, even if she didn't.

Better not mess up this time, he warned himself, and this threat was very real; he treated himself with as much domination as he did anyone else.

There she was, in broad contrast to the humble layout around her. Now he could see her nearly two feet away, locked his gaze into her eyes, pulse pounding, and watched as her own gaze fled from his own.

The moment passed. She swept past him; tranquil, silent, as she had always done.

That same moment at the library never seemed to change, even as the days came and went. No matter how many times he saw her, no matter how many times he swore to himself, nor how many times he cursed his own existence for it, he'd never be able to say even a single word to her. His pulse now quickened with something other than excitement as he felt a hatred for himself rising inside of him. What was wrong with him? Would he wait until she would disappear? Why couldn't he do something so simple as to say hello? What if today were the last day he'd ever see her?

Kai's glance fell to the floor, his fists tightening instinctively. With a sigh inaudible, but very real cry of infuriation, he strode until he fell onto the glass doors of the library. He paid no heed to the retreating visitors shouting obscenities on the other side of it, nor to the authoritative shouts of the librarians.

His disappointment at himself had built up every day since the first day he'd seen her. He'd sworn, hadn't he? To make her smile, to show her how he felt?

Kai ran from the place until fatigued and nearly sick with disgust at himself, he fell to the floor somewhere on a concrete sidewalk, blocks away. Minutes passed, but Kai didn't move; His elbows rested on his knees while his head lay dull on his arms. He didn't move for a long while, his eyes staring blankly, but transfixed to the ground between his feet. Then slowly, with what seemed an impossible strain, he lifted his face until he could see nothing but the darkness of the sky. His pulse relaxed; his heartbeat steadied. The people of the city passed him and they wondered about him, the strange young man that stared so intently at the sky, unmoving. They all passed and wondered about him, but Kai didn't move.

Then Kai, now standing up, now taking his eyes from the sky, began to walk away. That's it, he thought. He had made the decision. He would never break his promise.

I swear, tomorrow I'll make you smile. Just come back one more day.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mirrored Vision -2 (Continue)