Chapter

As his sister pulled the car over to the side of the road, he stepped out and shut the door. He looked up at the morning sky and thought "OK, here we go."

He looked at his watch, it read 7 a.m. As always. Always here at this time. He hurried up the pedestrian bridge towards the other side, where the bus stand below the train station was. He expected Fara to be there already, as usual. But this time when he got there, she wasn't. It's ok, he thought. Maybe he's early this time.

True enough, not more than three minutes after he sat down, Fara walked into the stands. And again she walked past him without looking at him. It wasn't always like that though. In the past, she would smile at least. But not anymore. She walked ahead and sat away from him in front of the line.

As he waited for the bus to come, he wondered if the others would show up. They would usually take the next bus because they weren't fast enough to catch this one. But lately they have been early. So what would happen this time? Didn't take long for him to wonder though. About five minutes later, all four of them walked in.

Nori wore orange today. An unusual colour for her. She rarely chose that colour. But it looked good on her. Ida and Azura wore green, like Fara. He thought, for Azura it was a natural choice. She always seemed to wear green. She probably likes green. But Ida....that was odd. She usually picked pink or yellow, but not green. Wan was wearing faded yellow. It looked old, but the dress fit her like a glove.

As he boarded the bus and took his seat, he watched them take theirs. Observing them was always fascinating to him. He never understood why, but he just watched, without staring of course. He wasn't crazy or hopelessly obsessed, just intrigued. Sometimes he feared he would eventually be obsessed. Now he no longer can tell for sure.

He watched as Ida and Azura sat next to each other. He noticed that like Azura, Ida didn't have any jewellery on her hands. And that certainly was strange, considering she had shown him her engagement ring on her right hand just a few days before. So why did she take it off? Hmm. Perhaps she has her reasons. It wasn't his concern anyway.

Then he looked at Nori. He always loved her face for some reason. Yes, she's pretty. No question about it. But he never knew why he was so drawn to it. After all, he'd seen many pretty faces in his time. So why is this different? He admired her features, he loved her eyes, like there are a million things going on behind them. He liked her smile a lot. A smile which unfortunately, she no longer gives him. It's his fault, he knew that. Now he wishes he knew what to do.

He noticed they were all silent, even to each other. Probably not pleased about being awake and on the way to work at that hour, he thought. But so much has changed. Their enthusiasm seemed missing, or distant. They had so much of it when they first came. Now it would only be more obvious in the latter part of the day. Guess they were not morning people. It wasn't always like this in the past. He keeps thinking about the better times, and wished he was back there again.

There are so many questions he wants answered. Though he's well aware it's not his place to know them.


Don't worry guys, I'm still here. Just writing for the sake of writing.