Rey picked up the vibrating phone from his pocket, his smile widened as he saw that the caller was his mother. He places his phone close to his ear and says, ”I'm tellin' you she's not pregnant!”

She laughed from the receiving end before she replies with, ”She better has a nice face or else she's disowned on the spot!”

They both laughed, gasping for air as the call started reaching the 30s.

”How's your friends doing? They better take care of you!”

”They're just great, you can't hate those chads! How's Switzerland?”

”It's just great, really! Work's been going good so far and the colleagues are so nice to me!”

”That's good. Have you heard anythin' from dad?”

Her voice disappeared from the call before she comes back with a sad tone on her voice and says, ”Not a thing… I'm sorry. I wish –”

“Whatever. I hope I can get to talk with you soon again, mother. Take care.”

“...Take care.”

Rey hung up as his mother finished her sentence and looked at his phone. Suddenly Rey raised his arm above his head before flinging his phone against the wooden floor, smashing his phone in multiple pieces as they all flew away from impact. Rey crouched with his hands covering his face as he sobbed, sobbing all alone in his empty house with remains of his parents torturing his mind. He’d calm himself biting his hand as a result of an outrage stopped only by self-harm. He’s against the thought of hurting himself, but when nothing else but bad temper envelops him, he turns primal and bites himself to stop his violent fit. This is why he lives alone and doesn’t let Bianca, Gio’s sister, live with him as he’s afraid he’ll do something bad to her when throwing his tantrums.

He thought to himself, “Why? Why am I torturing myself with them? Why do I still care about them? Dad left us when I was young, haven’t heard of him ever since. Mother left me in a search for a fresh start, sendin’ me money every now and then. I hate them, yet... I feel this emptiness inside when I think badly of them. Do I miss them? Do I long to meet my dad one day?”

Rey picks up his broken phone, picking up the other parts of it scattered all over the room.

“Maybe I do miss them. Maybe I wanna go on a journey to find my dad... after I’m dead, that is. I already found friends I consider to be my family, and... Bianca. I like her, a lot.”

He slaps his face as his face blushes thinking about her.

“Idiot.”, He goes through his contacts and stops at Bianca, phoning her. He tells himself, “I really am embarassin’.”, as he waits until she picks up the call.

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“Hello?”

“Yo Bianca, you free… like right now?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah. Right now.”

“Sweetie, I don’t know--”

“I need a trim, it’s a mess.”

“Hm, fine. Gio’s out, eh... probably thrashin’ people."

“Five minutes. See ya.”

“Mhm.”

They both hang up the call and Rey grab his jacket before leaving the house. His face was rigged to a big smile, a genuine smile infected by Bianca as they spoke. He notices it as people stares at him and tries to get rid of it by massaging his mouth. It didn’t work.

He thinks to himself as he nears Bianca’s house, “I can’t get rid of this smile! I look like the idiot Jee–”

Rey subconsciously pushed the doorbell, playing a little melody that could be heard from the outside of her house. He’s slowly freaking out as his smile doesn’t wear off, flustering as steps were heard from the inside. Bianca opens up the door to a red-faced Rey, hiding the lower half of his face, moving his jaw behind his cupped hand.

“What the...? Nevermind, just come in.”

Rey enters the house without saying a word, following her to the living room. Bianca points on a chair, glaring him down until he takes a seat. He slowly nears the chair before he slowly lowers his butt onto the cushion on the chair.

“How much did you bring with you?”

He looks at her surprised before he exclaims with a muffled voice, “I’m supposed to pay you!?”

“I’m not free, sweetie.”

He sighs and pulls out his wallet from his pocket, handing her a piece of paper.

“A coupon?”

“That’s the only thing I had on me. At least you have 25% off on your next purchase of hair-products.”

“Hm... I guess I can take your payment.”, She laughs for herself before she starts the electric shaver.

Rey closes his eyes, saying, “Make me pretty.”

“You got it, sweetie.”

The house was empty, nothing could be heard from the inside nor outside, except the shaver buzzing through the ordeal she’s putting Rey’s hair through.

“Ta-dah!”

She takes a few steps back as she pridefully bows. Rey opens up his eyes, walking up to the nearest mirror to him, inspecting his new trim. She shaved all hair off of him, leaving only his eyebrows intact.

“You know... I kinda like it.”

Her giggling stops as she was caught by surprise, “W-What?”

“I’ve never shaved my head, so... this is new to me, but I like it. Thank you, Bianca.”

She places her hands on his head, stroking it before she slaps his shaved head.

“It makes you look younger… if that makes you happy.”, She laughs.

Rey stood silent, his face was unreadable, even for the perceptive Bianca. There were several times where she could've said something, but she never did. Time stopped for them, they only looked at each other's eyes. His hazel eyes met her azure eyes, both of them were waiting for someone to break the silence. He strokes his head, similarly as he would do when he had hair.

“I wanna be here a little longer… is that okay? ♡”

“Of course. ♡”