Chapter 236.
<strong>Chapter 236. The Valentine’s Day School Dance: I Said I Won’t Let Go. (4/4)</strong>
<span style="font-weight:400">With my thoughts on Alicia, my eyes unconsciously wandered away for a moment and stopped on her in the crowd.
<span style="font-weight:400">I noticed she wasn’t paying attention to the two at the center. Rather, her eyes hadnded on me at some point. When she realized our eyes had locked, she averted her gaze to pretend it had only been a coincidence. I didn’t look away and kept my eyes on her and noticed she secretly peeked at me one more time from the corner of her eye. When she understood she’d been caught, she didn’t turn her gaze back to me again.
<span style="font-weight:400">My focus returned to the confrontation at the center. It appeared they were evenly matched in a deadlock where it was impossible to determine who was superior.
<span style="font-weight:400">However, that was when people started to notice something. It was the difference between night and day. The student council president hadn’t even been using a single glow stick the entire time.
<span style="font-weight:400">At that moment, the student council president shook his head helplessly. It was the look of someone who decided to finally unleash his trump car like it couldn’t be helped.
<span style="font-weight:400">As you’re a worthy opponent, it would be a disservice to you if I held back.
<span style="font-weight:400">He took out two unlit glow sticks from his pockets, held them with his index finger and ring finger on one side, and middle finger on the opposite side. He cracked both of them simultaneously with his middle finger and shook them as he moved his body.
<span style="font-weight:400">The glow spread out from the center of the crack and a blue radiance illuminated the two sticks in his hand.
<span style="font-weight:400">As he moved he dropped both of them. One might think it was a clumsy action, but it was intentional. He kicked them up with his feet and juggled them concurrently. Using the tips of his toes, back of his heels, knees, thighs, elbows, and shoulders. As his body resembled a constantly moving and changing wave he kept the glow sticks airborne without stopping to grab them. They danced about on their own in the air like magic. Sometimes you could even see when he hit them up.
<span style="font-weight:400">It looked like they bounced up off the ground on their own while spinning with the dim illumination. One might think there were strings attached with some of the movements, but there were none.
<span style="font-weight:400">He was like a puppet master with invisible unseen strings attached to the glowing light twirling about in the air.
<span style="font-weight:400">With how the student council president participated in ser as well, it made sense why he was so skilled with his feet and juggling the glowsticks as though they were a ball. His superior dynamic vision also allowed him to. I couldn’t help but think of him as a man with superior gics.
<span style="font-weight:400">Did he have any weaknesses?
<span style="font-weight:400">If so, I couldn’t see through them. I didn’t know him well enough either. I only knew him from second-hand ounts I’d heard.
<span style="font-weight:400">When Jass saw the student council president’s prowess, he let out a sigh and shook his head, resigned to his defeat.
<span style="font-weight:400">It was the look of a man who’d conceded on this battlefront but believed the war was not over. Though he lost the battle, the fire in his eyes wasn’t gone. He would stillpete again in the future.
<span style="font-weight:400">When it was over the circle cheered and crowded around the two. Both sides were amazing from everyone else’s perspectives. Even though Jass wasn’t the student council president’s match, he still got him to get serious.
<span style="font-weight:400">Haaaaaah… what sort of depressing world do I live in for glowsticks to be used as weapons and trump cards?
<span style="font-weight:400">If someone from a world of swords and magic transmigrated here, what would their reaction be?
<span style="font-weight:400">I slid back down to the ground against the wall as I genuinely mulled over such nonsense.
<span style="font-weight:400">I’m a devil, right? If devils exist, why can’t fancy stuff like magic exist? I’d love to see some ck magic ritual or something one day.
<span style="font-weight:400">Come on gods of foreshadowing and gs, do your thing.
<span style="font-weight:400">It has to be a real one, okay?
<span style="font-weight:400">It can’t be some shitty one where nothing happens.
<span style="font-weight:400">Caught up in my depression over theck of magic in the real world, I failed to notice when the atmosphere and ambiance in the room changed. At the thirty-minute mark, the DJ made an announcement I hadn''t paid attention to.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hey. Ran.” It was only when I heard someone call out to me beside my ear that I snapped out of it and looked up. Rosa was in front of me. She was smiling at me with half-open eyes. Her eyshes were curled up, something about them sent my heart aflutter.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I met you in the dark, you lit me up.</i><span style="font-weight:400">” I immediately recognized the song ying in the background. It was called Say You Won''t Let Go by James Arthur.
<span style="font-weight:400">She grabbed onto my hand, pulled me up to my feet, and dragged me out of the crowd closer to the center where there was more open space.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">You made me feel as though - I was enough.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Many people had skirted off to the side and took a seat. There weren’t that many couples. As it was the first song, there were many that were bold enough to slow dance to the very first song.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">We danced the night away, we drank too much...</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rosa just so happened to be one of those bold ones though.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Then you smiled over your shoulder.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">For a minute, I was stone-cold sober.”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I pulled you closer to my chest…</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">There were about twenty couples with their arms wrapped around each other, sticking close together while swaying together. Most looked to be third years, there were five second-year couples, while Rosa and I were the only first-year couple there. It’s not that there weren’t more first-year couples, they were just a bit too ufortable to get up.
<span style="font-weight:400">There were obviously much fewer first-year couples than in the second and third year though just as a result of how long they had to build rtionships where love blossomed.
<span style="font-weight:400">For the time being, for the first round of slow dance songs, it was only Rosa and me. The other first years were too nervous. They all probably thought, ‘It doesn’t need to be the first set of songs. We can take our time.’
<span style="font-weight:400">The third-year couples all stuck close together in the same vicinity near the DJ, same for the second-year couples closer to the opposite wall. The two of us stuck out like a sore thumb.
<span style="font-weight:400">With our arms around each other, she pressed her cheek against my chest and nuzzled up close to me. The gloomy expressionless look on my face was visible to all. This was the worst.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I knew I loved you then.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">But you''d never know.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">All their eyes were focused on me because we were the odd ones out. It was hell. First, second, and third years. We stood out too much as apletely mismatched couple that didn’t suit each other.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">''Cause I yed it cool when I was scared of letting go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I know I needed you.”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">But I never showed.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Rosa didn’t care at all for the gazes on us.
<span style="font-weight:400">For her, it was just the two of us here in this instant forever suspended in time.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">But I wanna stay with you until we''re grey and old.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Rather than continue to focus on the surroundings I could do nothing about, I focused my attention on her. I closed my eyes and took in a steady breath. The scent of her hair entered through my nose and filled my lungs.
<span style="font-weight:400">The uneasiness from the surroundings began to fade. I visualized a world where it was only the two of us surrounded by a pitch-ck world under a single spotlight.
<span style="font-weight:400">There wasn’t anyone else here but us. Nobody. We were alone.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I''ll wake you up with some breakfast in bed.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I''ll bring you coffee with a kiss on your head…</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">I forgot the gazes of everyone.
<span style="font-weight:400">Normally, I always ended up in this pitch-ck world alone. But here, right in my arms, a girl had snuck her way in and glued herself to me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">When you looked over your shoulder.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">For a minute, I forget that I''m older.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">As the song yed on, I slowly reopened my eyes.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I wanna dance with you right now</i><span style="font-weight:400">.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I couldn’t help but think that.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Oh, and you look as beautiful as ever…”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">When I looked down at her, the song matched my thoughts exactly.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">And I swear that every day’ll get better.”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">You make me feel this way somehow</i><span style="font-weight:400">.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I couldn’t help but agree. Ever since we met, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, life had definitely improved. It wasn’t nearly as dreary or bleak with Rosa in my life.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I''m so in love with you.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Unknowingly, I was.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">And I hope you know.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">I’d hope so.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rosa, I love you,” I whispered that just to make certain she did.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Darling your love is more than worth its weight in gold.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Certainly. Stupid song. You’re embarrassing me by saying the things I’m secretly thinking out loud.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">We''vee so far my dear.”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Look how we''ve grown.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Have we?
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">And I wanna stay with you until we''re grey and old.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">You’re not wrong.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I won’t.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“You won’t?” Rosa asked curiously.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I said I won’t.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Heheheh. You really won’t, huh?” Rosa giggled to herself when she heard my confirmation.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I wanna live with you.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">We already are.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We already are.” Rosa made the same joke I thought in my head.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Even when we''re ghosts.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t you think that’s a bit far?” I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Jeez, I’ll haunt you forever you know~”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">''Cause you were always there for me when I needed you most.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<i><span style="font-weight:400">“I''m gonna love you till.”</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">My lungs give out.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Only that long?” Rosa asked and immediatelyined, “What a cheapskate.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">I promise till death we part like in our vows.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">So I wrote this song for you, now everybody knows.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Finally it''s just you and me till we''re grey and old</i><span style="font-weight:400">.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“This again?” I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’m pretty demanding.” She responded.
<span style="font-weight:400">“<i><span style="font-weight:400">Just say you won''t let go.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Do I really have to? I already said it twice.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, just say you won''t let go.” She tiptoed and whispered in sync with the song right next to my ear.
<span style="font-weight:400">I let out a small resigned sigh, “Haaaaah. I won’t let go of you, Rosa.”
<span style="font-weight:400">She pulled her head back and kissed me on the lips as we both shut our eyes,pletely ignorant of our surroundings.