Dean jolted upright in his bed, while his breath was ragged.
Sweat covered his forehead.
Instinctively, his attention goes to his wrist.
The blood clot disappeared.
He stared at it in complete silence.
“What the fuck is this?”
He rubbed the area around his wrist, “Where did it go?”
But nothing changed, Dean continued staring at his wrist.
The bedroom door slowly creaked open, revealing Ellie’s cheerful big eyes.
She blinked on noticing Dean staring blankly.
“…Did you pee yourself on the blanket?”
Dean slowly turned toward her with the flattest expression imaginable.
“…What?! You screamed so loudly that I almost lost my balance.”
Dean simply continued staring at her.
Ellie awkwardly cleared her throat, “I guess mom’s calling me.”
Without waiting for a reply, she quietly pulled the door shut, “He is not in the mood to carry my good shit. He missed the call!”
A few minutes later, Dean had just finished changing into his outfit for the college, when Ellie’s voice echoed throughout the house, “Has anyone seen my car keys?”
“Car keys?!” Dean murmured, when his eyes suddenly widened upon remembering the fact.
“DEAN! Did you sneak into my car?”
Dean quickly hurried toward his desk and pulled the top drawer open.
The keys were lying exactly where he had left them beside the broken bracelet.
“I’m screwed today!”
“Why are you screwed?
Dean nearly jumped.
He slowly turned around to face Ellie, who was standing right behind him with her arms folded.
“Why are you standing as if you saw some ghost right now?”
Dean smiled awkwardly, “N-no, I mean you’re not a ghost. Y-you are a living ghost.”
She completely ignored whatever Dean said to divert her attention, but instead her eyes slowly moved toward the open drawer.
Dean instinctively pushed it shut.
Ellie’s suspicious gaze shifted back to him.
Just then, a car horn sounded from outside.
Ellie walked toward the open window and leaned out, “Give me a second babe! I’ll be right down.”
A guy waved from the driver’s seat below with an amused smile.
She looked back at Dean, as she narrowed her eyes, very slowly, while pointing two fingers at her own eyes, and then at Dean, “I’m watching you.”
Dean swallowed, “That’s what you have been doing from all those years!”
“I hope you survive the drill!” She flashed a smug grin before walking out of the room.
He let out a long sigh, “She would have made an entire courtroom drama out of that. I need to delete yesterday’s dashcam.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
He carefully placed the keys into his pocket before giving the bracelet one last glance.
He quietly headed downstairs and stepped outside.
As he settled into the driver’s seat, his eyes accidentally landed on the small blinking light beneath the rear-view mirror.
The dashcam, which has a recording of last night.
Most Importantly the glimpse of Yvaine!
Without thinking much further, he removed the memory card and opened the recordings and deleted the recordings of yesterday’s night.
“Almost survived the drill!”
He started the engine and drove toward the university.
Nearly an hour later, Dean entered the university campus.
Students were walking here and there, as they were discussing that the results of semester exams are going to come soon.
“Dean, here!” Joey waved both hands from beneath the old oak tree.
Dean walked over, where Joey was sitting beside the rest of the squad.
“Morning!”
“You look terrible.”
“I am high on 3 hours of sleep!”
“Fair to look like that!”
Ray grinned as he spoke in a detective style, “My folks, I found something.” Ray looked back at all of them, “At least you can act you are thrilled to know, even if you are not.
But anyways.” He took a deep breath, “Yvaine belongs to the family of Prescotts.”
Everyone’s jaw slowly dropped.
“What?!”
“No way…”
“Damnn!”
“Whay don’t you look surprised, Dean?” Ray pointed at Dean with suspicious eyes.
“I already know,” Dean answered.
“I won the bet, I told you there must be something going between her and Dean,” June said as if he hit some jackpot.
Dean immediately shook his head, “It’s not like that.”
Joey smirked, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah—”
“Then why is she staring at you right now?”
“Who?” Dean turned around almost instantly.
“There is no-one—” His words stopped halfway, and then he quickly turned back to notice Yvaine waving at her.
June whispered enough to be heard by the squad, “He won the real jackpot!”
Yvaine walked towards them, as she carried a warm smile.
The kind of smile that somehow made the people around her smile back without realising.
Joey cleared his throat, “Morning…”
Ray froze for a second.
Yvaine walked straight toward Dean, and stopped beside him.
Without a word, she lightly slid her fingers around his forearm, her hand resting there naturally rather than intertwining with his.
“If you guys don’t mind,” She looked towards the others politely.
“May I borrow him?”
The group collectively nodded.
“Y-yeah…”
“Sure…”
“No problem…”
However from inside they were screaming.
WHAT?!
SINCE WHEN ARE THEY THIS CLOSE?!
DID WE MISS SOME CHAPTERS OF DEAN’S LIVES?!
Dean looked equally confused but allowed himself to be led away.
Only after they disappeared around the corner, did Joey slowly turn toward Ray, “They are definitely not just acquaintances anymore.”
Ray nodded absentmindedly.
A few minutes later, Dean and Yvaine stopped in front of the Art Exhibition Hall and then she slowly let go of Dean’s arm.
For a brief second, her fingertips lingered against his sleeve before she casually brushed an invisible crease from it.
“There.”
Dean looked down towards his arm, “There?”
A bad excuse!
She nodded seriously, “Your sleeves looked crooked.”
Dean blinked once, “I’m wearing a short sleeve.”
“You do,” a tiny awkward smile escaped her lips.
“Yeah this also looks good on you.” A faint blush crept onto Yvaine’s cheeks, but she quickly turned toward the entrance and pointed ahead, “We should go in and look for the tea, we all discussed yesterday!”
“What about the tea you gave just now to my squad?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yvaine walked ahead with calm, measured steps.
“It was kind of a cover, so that they won’t suspect we’re into something.”
Dean couldn’t help smiling, “Such a cool plan, is it!”
Yvaine turned back and tilted her head innocently, “Did you think I was flirting with you?”
Her playful smile suddenly vanished, as she stared past him, “Don’t turn around.”
Yvaine suddenly caught his wrist, her grip tightened slightly, “He found us!”