章節 21: Little guy
"Milady, are you sure you will be fine on your own?" Cain asked with concern after parking the car in front of the school.
"Of course I will, this is not my first time going to school by myself." Victoria flicked her white hair and stuck out her chest like the 'ojousama' (rich young miss) she was.
"But it is your first time since the incident." Cain murmured back.
Victoria cleared her throat. "…Well, anyways, Cotton will guide me so stop worrying already. Also, I got this."
Victoria reached inside her shirt for a silver-chained necklace. Hanging on it was a beautiful white jewel that resembled the moon.
"If anything happens, click on this twice and it will automatically call me. Click on it again and Father's men will come help you."
After the scare from the previous incident, Kin immediately commissioned for special necklaces to be made for all his children. They all differed in design but had the same functions mentioned above and the additional function of being tracked 24/7.
Albert's was a dog tag with his name engraved on one side and a wildflower on the other. Ian had a dreamcatcher pendant while Vin had a blunt arrowhead. The twins had half a yin-yang symbol each with Atlas wearing the white yang and Iris the black yin. Their one was magnetic so that when they put it together, it would stick and complete the symbol.
…Well, anyhow, back to Victoria. With the assistance of Cain, she stepped out of the black sedan, backpack on her back and Cotton snuggled in her arms.
Cain stuck out his arm at her, "I have to go talk to the principal about Cotton, so, shall we, Milady?"
Victoria held onto Cain's arm, leisurely being escorted over to the principal's office as the other kids scurried over to their lockers in preparation for class.
"It might take a while so please wait out here." Cain requested and left Victoria out in the hall outside the office by herself. Whilst she was waiting, Victoria could hear the flurry of footsteps as stampedes of students made their way to class and the hurried stampers of late students just a few minutes after.
Just when she thought things had gotten quiet again, Victoria could hear little footsteps approaching her direction. They paused for a second before continuing again, getting louder as they neared. Then, just as they got close to her, they stopped and didn't make another sound again.
"Hello." Victoria greeted with a sweet smile, feeling a little bored.
The owner of the footsteps flinched a little before timidly answering back, "H-hello."
"I'm Victoria, and you?"
"E-Evan…Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Evan. What year are you in?"
"F-five. I'm turning eleven soon." Evan opened up his palms to show a five but upon realising his mistake, hastily withdrew it behind his back.
"Oh, what are you doing here then?" Victoria inquired.
"Uh, um, my mum is making plans to move here someday so we're checking out all the schools in the area together. She just left to get something from the car so I'm waiting here for her." Evan carefully explained whilst twiddling with his thumb.
Silence consumed the hall once more as Victoria got distracted by Cotton's fluffiness and the boy was too shy to say anything.
"Would you like to pat her?" Victoria looked up with a slight smile and held Cotton in front of her. "You've been staring at her for a while."
Evan's face was dyed red. In his shame, he hadn't even thought to consider how Victoria had known. "Y-yesh."
"Ufufu, her fur's quite soft isn't it?" Victoria chuckled.
"U-un." Evan cautiously pat Cotton, his eyes sparkling from the touch.
After a while, the boy lifted his head to look at Victoria. Carefully, he started, "D-do your, um, eyes still hurt?"
"Huh?" Victoria was surprised. When people saw her bandages, they'd usually uncomfortably ignore them and will never bring up the topic. Well, as a great man once said, 'people look away because they don't like how it makes them feel'. In her case, 'it' was her eyes.
"U-uhm, the bandage…p-people only use them when they are hurt so I, I was wondering if your eyes were hurting."
Oh...Victoria's lips widened into a grin. 'Come to think of it, Albert was the same when he first met me. His first words were about my eyes…'
"They don't hurt at all. I just like the feel of bandages around my eyes." Yes, that's right. Rather than needlessly exposing her useless eyes to wind, dust, and whatever minor inconveniences, she'd rather cover it up with her favourite white. There was also no need to have people guessing when they saw her. Halloween was different though. People thought it was a part of her costume. That was certainly interesting.
"Is that so…" Evan tore his eyes away from Victoria's eyes. "Well, that makes it easier for me to remember you then."
Evan pat Cotton and continued.
"You see, I have a condition where I can't recognise people's faces and to make it worse, I'm bad at recognising voices too. I didn't realise that this was an actual condition until a few years ago…When people have really distinct faces, it's easier to remember so the fact that you wear bandages means that I'll never forget your face!" Evan declared with a bright smile.
"Oh, you have face blindness. Don't worry, I can't remember faces either!" Victoria ruffled his hair and snickered.
"You can't even see!" Evan laughed, his reservedness somehow abated by their shared experiences.
"Sorry for the wait, Milady. I've gotten a late pass and a permission slip too." Cain who had finished his talks with the principal interrupted suddenly.
"Well then, I have to go to class now. See you again, Evan." Victoria smiled and bade the little fellow goodbye.
"Y-yes. See you again, Victoria."
Evan watched as Victoria held onto Cain's arm, walking elegantly with grace as she was escorted away.
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