The 12:21 Anticipation (The Heartbreak of Riho Sia)

Transferee

Murmurs, whispers, and adoration filled the room so quickly as the guy entered. Riho stared at him coldly while looking at him from head to toe. She is denying how handsome the guy is by saying she's a nerd. Meanwhile, the guy looks so flustered and conscious. 

Meet Guin Silvan, he has social anxiety and insecurity. Guin's mind right now is him bullying his appearance and how he wants to hide so bad. Little does he know, he's actually adored by everyone, including the cold main character, Riho. 

Due to the shame he felt, he quickly ordered his food and took a seat. He's consciously eating his meal while others are still adoring him. Guin was forced to transfer here because him being the heir of his dad's company. Although the thought of him being the CEO of a large and wealthy company excites him, he thinks it's too early for this kind of responsibility. He's only 18 years old! He's only in year 12, taking the strand of Science and Maths. His dad pressured him so much that it has been taking a toll on his mental health and social communication skills. "I mean, what could go wrong?" says his ignorant dad.

The thought of the pressure made him tear up. He wants to break down here and now but that would be embarrassing. 

A light green towel caught his attention. He raised his head and saw a girl handing him a towel, standing up to cover him so that people wouldn't see him crying. "I don't know what you're going through, but same," she said and slightly smiled at him. He was starstruck by her and so she grabbed his hand and went outside the cafeteria. She dragged him towards the back of the school, the botanical garden where students can relax and feel calm. Fortunately, they are the only ones who are there. Riho dragged him to a bench and they sat down.

Guin felt shy and embarrassed around her and so he kept a distance around them and looked away. Riho noticed that he was shy around her so she internally laughed. "What's your name anyway? My name's Riho, Riho Sia. You can call me Rih." Riho said, introducing herself.

Guin felt hesitant at first but he felt calm around her so he introduced himself. "M-my name's Guin Silvan. I-I'm new here," he said, stammering. His gaze is still avoiding Riho and keeping his distance. When Riho didn't respond, Guin finally took the courage to look at Riho. The first thing he noticed was the band-aid on Riho's forehead.

"C-can I ask what happened to your forehead?" he asked politely, hoping that Riho wouldn't get offended.

Riho paused for a moment before responding,  "I was butchered- I mean, I was scratched by my stupid cat. Anyway, it's fine now." she responded and at that moment, it was her turn to look away.

"Your cat must be way too violent," he said. "Yeah, way too violent that I want to put him away," she responded, hiding her rage. But even Guin could sense it so he didn't bother to ask because he thought it was a sensitive topic to her. As an encouragement, Guin unconsciously patted Riho's back, "Y-you don't have to prove anything." he said, still patting her back. When he realized that he was patting her, he withdrew his hand, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" 

"It felt great, thank you." Riho gently said as she focused her gaze on him. Guin's eyes sparkled and so he patted Riho's back again. Riho felt calm when Guin touched her, she felt rage when she was talking about her dad, it was too fast. "Your presence calms me down, what's with you?" she asked while staring deep down into his eyes. Guin thought he would feel uncomfortable and conscious of her gaze, but instead, he stared back at her eyes with a confused gaze. 

At that moment, Riho realized that it was the first time she felt the emotion again, rage.. and tenderness.

The silence of them staring at each other was cut off when a sophisticated and tall woman called Guin's name. 

"I see, so this is your first love, perhaps?" the woman asked. "Mama! We were just.. hanging out." Guin replied and quickly stood up and bowed to the woman to pay respect. Riho glances and observed the woman. 

She was wearing this red lipstick, business casual clothes, and wedding bun hairstyle. She screams professionalism in Riho's eyes. "Hey, go and study. You kid doing this first thing in the morning." the woman said, scowling at him. Guin walked away with an upset mood. "What I'm gonna do is-" she turned her gaze at me, "talk to you, eh?"

"You know my son is precious to me, what's with you that he's into you, huh?" she said while looking up and down at me to observe. I stared at her did the same. She was about to talk when the school bell rang. "Oops, there we go. Here's my class, see ya." she coldly said while she left the woman displeased. Riho couldn't handle any more conversation because she felt upset that the woman just had to ruin her conversation with Guin.

As she's proceeding to her class, she found a scarf in the middle of the hallway. It was knitted and bright red. She decided to smell it and it smells like a laundry fabric. Unconsciously, she walked with the scarf she found and went to class. People were staring at her because of the scarf. The classroom was filled with murmurs but she didn't care about it.

As she sat on her desk, her seatmate whispered something in her ears, "Hey, who gave that scarf to you?" she asked. Her seatmate is actually her friend, "I don't know Seleina, I found it in the hallway so shush it, WALLACE." Riho responded. Seleina rolled her eyes and proceeded to answer, "Remember Luna McCerrell? That dumb popular girl who's into jocks and hot guys? She owns that scarf, and right now, people think you stole it." she said.

"And you imagine me stooping down with a girl with a fish-type last name? That's so stupid of you."  Riho responded. "I mean I don't give a f**k okay, but if she ever, I mean EVER, thinks I stole her scarf that she dropped because of her carelessness, I'm going to destroy her bloodline and everyone will think Mackerel- or whatever fishy last name that is, everyone will think her clan doesn't exist." Riho continuously talked.

"Dang girl, you rock." is the only thing Seleina could say.

After a few hours of class, it was lunch break. Riho immediately went to the cafeteria, get some food, and went ahead of the botanical garden of the school. She sat down on the bench and was enjoying the solitary moment. She looked above the sky while the fresh wind was blowing her hair. She slurped down her juice while looking at the blue sky. 

Kill yourself, her thoughts said.

The moment she's in right now isn't exactly solitary, more like a suicidal-ly moment.