Winter Swan

Kail caressed her long black hair and devoured her lips. She gasped and moaned at his unrelenting kiss.

The kiss that awakened her. The kiss that stirred her every sense.

She couldn't endure it anymore…!

No more.

She gave in.

As she lost herself to him, Silje realized that Kail was telling the truth. He was never going to give up until he had her everything.

"…"

She still tried to fight against him. Before she could stop, she threw the titanium bracelet onto the floor.

Smash!

She picked up the sharp piece and warned him.

"Don't come near me. Don't kiss me anymore…!"

Red-faced and red-eyed, Silje gritted her teeth.

"I won't let you treat me like this anymore. Don't touch me. I'm not a toy you can play with. I won't let you do it."

Waving the sharp piece of titanium bracelet, Silje yelled, "I'm not your toy!"

It was a dangerous situation.

"Don't come near me anymore. I won't allow it."

Even with her warning, Kail just watched her. He still had a faint smile on his lips as if he found this whole thing funny.

"Stop it! Don't come near me!"

But even at her angry threat, Kail just laughed.

"Don't you know by now that when you act like this, it just makes me even more excited?"

She was a frightening sight with a sharp weapon in her hand, but Kail approached her calmly and kissed her again.

It was another suffocating kiss and Silje's hands shuddered uncontrollably. She felt weak and all she could do was whimper faintly.

"…You are an animal."

He laughed at her and whispered, "You know you can't stop me with something like that. If I was afraid of a little prick with a broken bracelet, I would've never started this at all."

"Just stop! I warned you!"

Before she knew it, Kail was kissing her again. He was a greedy kisser, and he craved her like he wanted to steal her soul out of her body.

Smash!

Silje dropped the bracelet again and it shattered into even sharper pieces.

She screamed, "Let me go! I told you to stop! I have reached my limit. Do you hear me?"

Their arms tangled heatedly and finally, Silje lost it and stabbed him with a sharp piece of the bracelet.

"…"

At first, she didn't even realize what she had done.

It just felt like she pushed it into him, so she just looked at him in a trance. But when Kail slowly stepped back and raised his hand, thick drops of red blood started to pour onto the floor.

Silje's face became pale, but Kail just smiled delicately and asked, "Is this your final answer?"

When Silje trembled and remained silent, Kail looked at her with amusement and started to walk away. He moved like nothing happened, even as his hand bled noticeably.

He said to her, "When we are together, we always end up drawing blood. I guess it can't be helped. Our relationship can be severed only with an extreme measure like this. So this is your answer, right? You want us to end?"

His smile suddenly disappeared and Kail warned her, "But this isn't over. At least for me. I don't know how you really feel, but I am not done."

"…Stop! Just stop. Don't push me anymore."

"Like I said, this isn't over."

Ignoring her plead, Kail left.

Alone in the storage, Silje collapsed to the floor. She hated Kail for driving her into this madness. The extreme emotions he incited in her were hard to bear.

In the quiet storage all alone, Silje couldn't stop picturing him walking away with his bleeding hand. The image was going to haunt her forever.

Clang.

The piece of bracelet dropped from Silje's weak hand. It shattered into even smaller pieces. Now, the bracelet no longer had the power to restrain her.

She bit her lips to forget the burning feeling of Kail's kiss, but no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible.

A smothering sizzling kiss.

A seductive assault to her lips.

Silje trembled at the memory of it, but this was it. It was over. It was going to be their last kiss.

She resisted him.

She stabbed him, and she ended this. Whatever this was.

She felt strange. She couldn't describe what she was feeling, but it was an intense emotion.

Silje glared at the broken bracelet on the floor.

He was gone.

Like a shooting star in the dark night sky, Kail disappeared from her life.

"I'm here."

"Hello, Silje. Tran and I were wondering when you were going to show up. I bet that you would drop by before this weekend, and I was right! Tran now owes me a special lunchbox. Maybe a ham veggie sandwich with baguette, or maybe dim sum?"

"Gosh, fine. Have you been starving yourself? All you can talk about is food."

"I am a lonely widower, remember? Have some sympathy for me and pack me a giant lunch. Pack two lunches so I can share with Silje. Look at her. Look at how skinny she is. You have lost a lot of weight Silje. Are you ok?"

Niels was usually gruff, but he was a very caring and kind man. When he asked her worriedly, Silje nodded.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. Compared to before, things have been much better."

Niels nodded quietly and asked, "Oh, by the way, I haven't seen that boy in a while. You know the one that has been coming every day? He used to watch you so intensely. Where did he go?"

"Oh yeah, Silje! That handsome boy! Where did he go? He looked like he was in love with you, yet he hasn't shown up in a while now. He just vanished!"

When Tran asked as well, Silje realized that it was true. Kail really stopped showing up at her cafe.

It was a funny thing. She hated seeing him here, yet when he stopped showing up, she felt like something was… missing in her life. She kept glancing at the table he used to sit at.

It felt strange now that he wasn't there anymore when she was used to seeing him.

Silje hated feeling this way. She replied to Niels and Tran firmly, "It's nothing. He probably lost interest. I knew he wasn't serious."

Niels seemed surprised.

"Really? I don't know… I feel like he really liked you."

Tran nodded as well.

"But he was staring at you like he wanted to eat you alive! Silje, go see him at school. See how he looks at you. If he looks at you the same way, then it means that he is still into you."

However, Silje hadn't seen him at school either. He completely disappeared.

Even at lunch in the school cafeteria, she didn't see him. Kids just glanced at her strangely, but no one bothered her. She felt grateful that she could eat lunch in peace.

She looked around the cafeteria because she suddenly remembered the Pakistani boy. She spotted him quickly. He was sitting in the corner and eating alone.

Jamal Rakahi.

Just like Silje, he was sitting far away from other kids. But unlike the last time, no one was bothering him today.

'Did… did Kail do something to fix this? Why are the bullies not doing anything to Jamal?'

Should she just feel thankful?

Was this just a coincidence? After her encounter with Kail, the kids stopped bullying her and Jamal. It was too good to be pure coincidence.

Silje looked around the cafeteria.

Did Kail do this?

That was the only explanation she could think of, but Silje couldn't figure out why.

Why would he help her?