Kail looked at her with absolute concentration. He wasn’t acting like a cruel king anymore. There was no demand in his eyes, only love and patience. He wanted her to take her time and open up to him when she was ready.
Silje’s heart ached for some reason, but she didn’t want Kail to know. She turned away and said to him, “Don’t do this. Why did you come all the way out here in the middle of the night? We can just see each other at school.”
Kail continued to stare at her and replied, “Why? Because… I wanted to see you.”
Silje blushed as she coughed in embarrassment.
“Don’t say something like that…”
Kail just looked at her with a mysterious smile like the north star.
Where did the mad king go?
Silje looked at him curiously as she still couldn’t believe this was happening. It all felt surreal.
Kail was the cruel king. Piercing, crazy, and cold.
In the darkest of the night, the stars and the snow shined like diamonds. The scene in front of Silje reminded her of a mystical fairy tale kingdom.Silje took a deep breath. Every time she breathed, the icy cold wind refreshed her body. Silje hadn’t realized how beautiful it was outside near her house.The night air was so piercingly clean that it felt like it reached her heart. It reminded her that she had never been out this late. Her adoptive parents usually went to bed early, so Silje rarely left her home after midnight.The cafeteria where she worked closed at 5 PM and reopened later as a bar. She had never seen such darkness and thanks to Kail, Silje was able to learn the beauty of the Oslo night in winter.When Silje became speechless, Kail smiled gloomily.“You’re so funny. I can’t believe how impressed you are with something so trivial like being out at night.”“Don’t make fun of me,”
Silje shivered in the cold and Kail turned on the heater. As the car became warmer, Silje started to relax. She felt sleepy in the comfortable seat.It was quiet inside and she closed her eyes. A voice inside her whispered an order not to run away from this. She didn’t want to refuse this warm wonderful moment.But her combative side wouldn’t let her rest. She turned to Kail.“Kail, from now on, please don’t surprise me like this. It is hard for me to accept. Such spontaneous acts make me feel small and out of control. Let’s respect each other’s space and time. If and when you want to do something, ask me first. Don’t just let me know. You need to give me proper notice and discuss it with me. I won’t be treated like a child.”At her steady words, Kail leaned back and smiled. Suddenly, the space felt so small that Silje became too aware of his presence beside her. His cologne was seductive and heady.
“Long time no see, Silje. Are you ok?”Silje met Irina in the hallway after her first class. In an adorable white rabbit fur coat and carrying a large fleece bag, Irina looked cute as usual. She was alone and not with her best friends Martina and Nina.Silje wanted to talk to Irina anyway, so she was glad about this coincidence. She replied, “Oh, Irina! Nice to see you again. Long time no see.”“I was worried about you. I heard something huge went down recently.”Irina looked around before whispering into Silje’s ear.“You have no idea how shocked I was when I heard about it. Nina came to me and told me she saw you being dragged away by Felicien and his goons. I thought about going to the teachers or maybe calling the cops.”Silje looked at her with a grave expression and asked Irina to go somewhere private to talk. They found a bench outside and sat down together.“Were you
“No one ever comes here, so don’t worry, Jamal. You can relax now.”When Silje explained to him slowly, Jamal seemed to relax a little.“I hope you understand. Your boyfriend is very scary, Silje. Haha.”With his innocent eyes, Jamal looked up at Silje and asked, “By the way, why were you looking for me?”Silje stared at the gray stairs she often used to sit to get away from her bullies. Only the maintenance man came up here from time to time to check the boiler.It was a nice safe place for her and Silje felt strange being here again with her changed situation.When she remained quiet, Jamal looked confused. He asked her again.“Um, did you want to talk to me, Silje?”“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about the past. Whenever I had a rough day, I would come up here. The bullies wouldn’t follow me up here, so I could rest safely. This was the only place where I cou
Saturday noon at Oslo’s Vigeland Park.The park was busy with couples and families enjoying the beautiful day. Silje arrived on time; she looked down at her watch and wondered, ‘Is he here?’She looked around, but there was no sign of Kail. Silje walked around and reached the end of the park path, but even then, she didn’t see him anywhere. As she walked back to the park entrance, Silje murmured to herself, “So it looks like he’s not even going to show up.”Perhaps it was best that Kail didn’t come.As the wind blew against her, she looked down at her outfit. She carefully planned to wear her best clothes today, but unfortunately, she didn’t have much to begin with. She had a meager allowance from her adoptive parents and whatever she earned at the café went into her savings for her future.She wore her usual pink acrylic sweater and black coat, which showed clear signs of wear.Di
Silence fell. It felt like time had stopped, but Silje put on a calm face and looked at him. Kail grinned, but his eyes were frighteningly cold. Silje shivered.Looking at his expression, Silje felt confused. Was he really telling the truth? Was he really telling her about his past?Kail continued, “I was put in the basement so many times that even to this day, I feel more comfortable in the dark than light. I think you don’t like to go home because of your adoptive parents, right? Well, I will tell you what a home means to me. My family’s house in Oslo means nothing to me other than just a place to live. That huge castle is a place where I sleep and eat. Everything about it, the windows, my bed, the rooms… They are just meaningless things that look nice. Even when I eat dinner with my family, my inner beast is very close to the surface, wanting to escape and destroy everything. Can you imagine what that feels like? Every time I see my family,
Silje was surprised by her own answer. She hadn’t realized that she wanted to go see the fjord this much. Kail looked at her curiously and Silje explained, “I guess I always wanted to see the glacier in the fjord. I have lived in Norway all my life, yet I have never left Oslo once. Whenever people talked about fjord glacier, I wondered if I will ever get to see one for myself.”To her honest answer, Kail didn’t say anything for a moment. He turned around to look at the museum displays and suddenly, he caressed her black hair. In his husky voice, Kail whispered, “Then let’s go there. There is no place this Viking can’t take you.”She didn’t know why, but Silje felt glad.After they left the museum, they walked the street silently. When they got to Kail’s car, he asked her, “Tell me if there are any other places you want to visit right now.”“No, that was it. I really liked the mu
When Silje went into her house, breathless from Kail’s kiss, Olga was sitting on the sofa looking gloomy like the winter weather. Silje always felt sick whenever she saw Olga like this, but for some reason, Silje didn’t feel as bad as before.“Do you know what happened to me when I was brought to my grandfather for the first time? He whipped me.”Remembering Kail’s story, Silje took a short breath and calmly said to Olga, “I’m home. Sorry I’m late. I was at the city library studying.”Olga didn’t say a word and glared at her, but Silje repeated, “I stayed too late studying. I’m going to go to bed now, Mom.”Her adoptive mother’s look showed skepticism, but Silje quietly left the living room. When she got into her bedroom, she smiled.It was a memorable day. The happiness she felt with Kail still remained with her like the bright star in the dark night sky.Si