Secret Admirer; In The Land Of Fairies
05. Model Photo

I was still sitting on the park's old bench with Tom Graffen beside me. For a few jokes, we spent time enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the garden: the gentle breeze, the abundance of flowers that I could smell, the butterflies chasing each other, and the, also the statue of the fairy prince that I was unable to release from my eyes.

The condition of the different fairy statues than the ones in front of the school certainly made me concerned. In addition to being unkempt and some parts of it had already peeled off, its wings were also somehow made to break. I had absolutely no idea why the state of the fairy prince statue was made to look miserable like that.

“It looks like you're interested in that fairy statue,” guess Tom is on target.

I looked at that guy. Maybe my expression right now seems to be caught doing something I shouldn't. But being interested in a statue doesn't matter, right?

“K-present once huh?” tanyaku.

Tom who was smiling nodded. I then lowered my head slightly blushed.

“No need to feel ashamed. I'm also interested in the statue.”

Again, Tom managed to get my attention. I saw Tom grabbing his camera and preparing to take a picture of the statue. With a blink of an eye, I've heard the sound of the shots several times. Until the camera lens ends up on me.

Sound ‘klik’ back on the air.

“Can,” said Tom happily while lowering his camera.

“Tommy!”

Tom laughs. The guy showed me his picture. In the photo, there is a portrait of me taken by Tom shortly ago. It is undeniable that the photos are good.

“The result is good, right?" Tom was reading my head. "Especially the model is beautiful.”

“You're naughty once!” protested.

“I'll just tell you the truth.”

This little dispute seemed to indicate that we were close friends. It was strange when we met a while ago. But Tom's friendly and ignorant attitude makes me not stiff. Even though it always makes my heart pump faster and the hue that always decorate the face.

“Thank God you're not sad.”

I was quite surprised by Tom's words. Don't he deliberately act ignorant like this to comfort me who was crying?

“Because you seem to be cheerful, what if you become my photo model?”

“Eh–why suddenly?" I'm sure I'm reaping the protests again. "And why me?”

“Same interest with the statue? I'm sure we can be close friends, Kimmy.”

“What do you mean?”

“I will tell you the story I know about the statue, so long as you want to be my photo model. How?” Tom blinked one eye at me.

For me, it was an interesting offer. The story of the statue could be related to the dream that I experienced. Although it may be impossible and what Tom will tell later is a lie.

“How?”

Tom can't wait for my silence.

“Count to three, if you don't answer, I assume you don't approve.”

Suddenly I felt cornered. Before I could think, Tom started counting.

"One, two–"

“Iya, can! But on one condition!”

“Assyc! What's the condition?”

“Don't make me pose weird!”

“Pose weird what it looks like?”

“You should know!”

“I don't know tuh.”

“Uh.”

“What is it?”

“It...for example posing indecent.”.

"Of course not, Kimmy. Promise."

Tom pushed his pinky towards me. I paused for a moment, before then linking my pinky to hers.

"Then, I'll take a picture of the fairy statue with you as the model."

I stood up as Tom got up from the bench, followed him and positioned myself in front of the fairy statue pool as directed by Tom.

"Lookin?" My hands trembled slightly when raised to make a pose. "sorry. I'm not good at posing."

"No. So pretty good."

Finished shooting, Tom tried to direct me with a few other poses. One of them is a pose adjacent to the statue. I tied up my ponytail at Tom's request before doing the next stunt. No water in the pool makes me unafraid to climb over the pool. I stood on it, and subconsciously, my hand stretched out toward the statue. There was no cue, a feeling of sadness immediately spread into my heart. My skin touched the statue's hand.

The statue was cold, like the eyes of a statue that looked sad and lonely.

"Good, hold that position, Kimmy."

As I was about to descend from where I was standing, I suddenly saw a silhouette on top of a tree that was outside the fence. My eyes squinted, trying to see more clearly. Therefore, my balance faltered and I felt like I was going to fall.

"Kimmy!"

With that voice, Tom grabbed me so that my body hit the body of the man who was now under me.

"Kimmys. You okay?"

In addition to the warm embrace that shaded my body, Tom's whisper made my head empty-dry. Not yet the hue of my cheek that might now look like a boiled crab. When my ears were tingled by Tom's breath, I regained my senses and hurriedly got up and distanced myself from the guy.

"I-I'm fine. Thanks for catching me."

This time, I didn't hear Tom laugh. The guy looked at me without saying anything. It just made my chest rumble and all I could hear was my heartbeat.

"My partner…."

The man's expression suddenly changed.

I spontaneously confused. Then he noticed a black object lying on the ground. Apparently for the sake of trying to catch me, the guy accidentally let go of his camera.

"Your camera!" Suddenly I screamed. I was immediately panicked. "How's this? Is your camera broken?"

Though I was keeping my distance from Tom, but I who was overwhelmed with guilt now come back closer to Tom who has now been sitting by the pool. Tom seemed to be dabbling in his camera. The gel on his head that makes me angry.

"The lens looks broken."

"ah! I'm sorry, Tommy." I was so sorry and sat next to him. "I'll replace it! Really!"

"No need, Kimmy. It's my fault for not draping it and for being careless about dropping it."

"But…"

Tom smiled and tried to calm me down by rubbing the top of my head.

"It's okay."

Being treated like that, I was getting more and more unsettled. Wrong behavior, maybe more precisely.

My eyes were no longer fixed on Tom and directed towards the forest, until I realized that a silhouette that had been on top of a tree suddenly moved down. Tom next to me seemed to notice it as well, let alone the sound of a bang falling after that sounding quite loud. I stared for a moment, before realizing that someone might have fallen. Therefore, I ran towards the source of the sound, which was outside the school gate bordering the forest.

"Wait, Kimmy!"

I'm not indifferent to Tom's request. I just kept walking through the gate that was filled with tendrils and wild plants.

The closer, the more you know that the silhouette I saw was apparently a male student at this school. Without wearing a school suit, the man who was sitting on the ground seemed to wipe the part of his body that seemed to be sick from falling.

I reached out, taking the initiative to help.

“You all right? Is anyone hurt?”

Instead of greeting my hand or saying a word, the guy just stood up and ignored me. Even so quickly, I was able to see his cold and deep black eyes. What I did was just flinch, staring at the place that the figure had left behind without being able to say anything.

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