“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
The ski resort in Ekeberg was a popular place for families. It was very crowded and the lines for the lift were endless.The first thing Kail did was to rent ski gear for both of them. Then he took her to the store to buy her a ski outfit.At first, Silje adamantly refused, “Kail, I don’t need that. It’s not like I go skiing often.”Kail looked at her silently before emphasizing his reply, “Then let me ask you one thing. Will you never go skiing with me after this? Is that it? Are you saying it will never happen again?”He was always like this. He didn’t outright force her, but he convinced her by cornering her with his own logic. Silje had no choice but to reply, “You don’t have to be like that. And no, I’m not saying I will never go skiing with you again.”Nodding in satisfaction, Kail handed his credit card to the clerk.“Here, put everything on this.”Si
Kail flew toward her like lightning and pushed Silje out of the way. She fell onto the snow, but she was able to avoid crashing with the middle-aged woman.“Oh, my head hurts…”Silje murmured as she touched her head.Kail saved her again. She could’ve been hurt very badly, but he saved her.Was Kail okay? Silje moaned as she tried to stand up. When she turned around, she spotted Kail standing there just fine as the middle-aged woman apologized to him.“Kail!”Silje walked to him as fast as she could and said to him in a rough voice, “Kail? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Should we go to the hospital?”Kail’s forehead was bleeding since it had been scratched by his goggles. Calmly, he replied, “Gosh, I got hurt because of somebody, so that somebody should give me a thank-you kiss, don’t you think?”Thank-you kiss?Standing on the bright snowy slope, Silj
Kail sat down leisurely and smiled as Silje blinked in awe. She knew it was going to be beautiful, but the scene in front of her was much more than what she could ever have imagined.Fresh air, the blue Scandinavian ocean, and the fjord.Her heart beat fast as she gasped for breath.It was amazing.The beauty she witnessed out the window was otherworldly. Silje couldn’t take her eyes off the windows. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life and she wondered if she was dreaming.Kail grinned, looking at Silje like she was a young child going on a picnic for the first time. At first she thought he was laughing at her, but when he caressed her hair, she flinched in surprise. When she turned to him, Kail said to her in a gravelly voice, “Just enjoy this moment.”She wasn’t sure if he meant anything by it, but he just smiled.Clink.Silje suddenly heard a clear sound and realized that Kai