Chapter 4: At midnight they met again

The drafting table was finished. But there was a problem. It was too big to fit in Ryder's room.

"Didn't you measure it beforehand?" Henry asked his daughter while she stared at the drafting table in disappointment. He was changing the light bulb, tripping over his own foot, and then he even dared to say he wasn't clumsy.

Ryder frowned, the furrow between her eyebrows deepening. "I followed the measurements in the blueprints."

"Well, we can always just sell it. A friend of mine was planning on buying one. How about I ask him if he's interested in buying it?"

It was a nice opportunity, but Ryder wanted to keep the drafting table for herself. She had worked hard on it and spent so many hours creating something from scratch... it hurt to part from it. Still, it would be sad to just keep it in the garage and never use it. In the end, Ryder sadly nodded. "I think I will fix my current desk into a somewhat drafting table."

Henry chuckled at his daughter. His eyes wandered at the junk around the backyard, his hands resting on his hips. "Why don't you sell the things you do online? You can even take orders... it's a nice way of saving money."

Ryder considered it for a moment. She made a lot of things, most of them just for the sake of the "making" process than the end result. A lot of the things just gathered dust and nothing more. Selling them online wasn't a bad idea. "Mhm." Ryder smiled.

"Okay then... clean the backyard first."

The smile disappeared with no trace. C-clean then backyard? "Dad...."

"You don't have school tomorrow, and you also need to sort out the things that can be sold. So clean the backyard. Your mother gets depression every time she sees it." Without giving his daughter any change of objection, Henry walked inside the house, firmly closed the door with a grin on his face as if he had achieved something to be praised for, and rushed to his wife to collect his praises.

Ryder looked around at the backyard and then at the time on her phone screen. It's already eight pm. How could she clean this whole place alone? For sure, her parents wouldn't help her, because they believed in "you made it, you clean it up" and they always went to bed at ten o'clock since they had to wake up early to go to work in the morning. She was left alone with her mess.

Damn it. Should have invited Jasmine to sleep over. That way she would have forced her into helping.

With no way out of this, Ryder started to clean. To avoid any possible encounter with a random demon or ghost, she played music on her phone, this time just sweet melodies of a piano or violin. With her current state, with trauma from the movie still lingering in her heart, the usual rock or rhythmic music wouldn't be much of a help, so classical music it is.

While she was picking up some wood pieces from near the fence, humming along with the melody, a voice sounded from above. Now there are a lot of things to be taken into consideration. First of all, it was late at night, the sky was as dark as it could be, there was no moon, and if not including the piano music lingering in the air, the place would be dead silent. Secondly, the girl was still thinking about the horror movie. Casually imagining scenes that made her body shiver. On top of that, out of nowhere, a male voice spoke to her right above her head.

Needless to say, Ryder almost had a heart attack. And so her response to "You changed the light bulb." was a scream mixed with a cry as she fell on the ground trembling like a beaten kitten.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She roared in a hushed tone so her parents wouldn't listen, even though the possibility of that was pretty low. Once those two fell asleep, unless it were an earthquake or fire, they wouldn't wake up. And their bedroom was on the other side of the house, the farthest from the backyard. "You scared me to death."

Angrily she threw one of the pieces of wood to the fence before standing up.

The young man, like last night, was wearing a dark hoodie. It covered half of his face and all Ryder could see, be there a working light bulb or not, was just a fair-skinned chin and two pink lips like two soft petals of a rose.

"You really like to be mysterious, don't you?" Ryder glared at the hoodie. She walked a few steps back from the fence to keep a safe distance from the stranger and then spoke again. "Why did you come back again?"

The young man placed an arm over the fence and rested his chin on the crook of it, a faint soft smile hanging on his lips. "I bought ice cream while I was passing by and thought to share it with you."

He probably hit his head somewhere. Mhm. That's it. He's damaged in the head. Who did he think Ryder was? A four-year-old kid that could be tricked with ice cream?

"You finished it?" The stranger flicked his chin slightly, gesturing at the drafting table.

Ryder glanced at her just finished project and nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to sell it." She bent down and picked the wood pieces, going on with her cleaning. Maybe if she ignored him, he would leave. But even after ten or so minutes of ignoring him, with the only thing breaking the silence being the melody of the piano playing, the young man didn't leave. He actually looked as if he was enjoying looking at her working, that soft smile still on his lips.

After a while, Ryder couldn't take it anymore. "Why aren't you leaving?"

"I like the atmosphere here."

Ryder snorted, picking up the heavy Medusa head that had fallen a few hours ago. "What is there to like?"

"It's quite romantic."

The cognac eyes of Ryder widened, almost popping off her skull as the Medusa's head fell from her hands, almost breaking her foot. This was the second time she almost hurt her feet because of this guy. Frustration mixed with embarrassment bobbled up as she scorned him. "Stop talking nonsense."

She rushed to her phone to stop the music as her cheeks reddened.

On the other hand, the young man took off the lid of the ice cream tube and merrily dug a plastic spoon in it. "Are you sure you don't want some?" He asked Ryder when he noticed she was glaring at him. The already red cheeks turned scarlet. Ryder looked away without responding to him. "What a pity... I bought it for you."

"Why would you do that?"

Under the dark hoodie, the ears of the stranger turned red. "I felt like it." Ryder frowned, but before she could say anything else, the young man hurried to change the topic. "Do you only make tables?"

Ryder shook her head and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I do whatever I feel like doing."

"For example?"

"Drawing, painting, sculpting, wood carving, have tried making stuffed animals... a lot of things... but I'm not very good at it."

"Jack of all trades, master of none." The young man chuckled.

The corners of her lips lifted. "Something like that."

The eyes of the strangers softened under the hoodie as he bit the tip of his thumb "Have you tried writing?"

Ryder didn't answer right away. She straightened her back and stared blankly at the dark sky for a moment, thinking about it. She had written essays. Tons of them. For some reason, teachers love those. She had tried writing poetry but the results were so embarrassing Ryder refused to admit something like that came out of her mind and was written by her hand. As for stories... there was one time when she had tried writing a short story... again, the end product wasn't satisfactory enough.

"I have, but I prefer reading more." Suddenly she remembered something. "What you said last night... Sometimes tears can ease the pain in one's heart... Where is it from? I know I have read them, but I don't remember in which book."

The stranger hid his mouth behind the crook of his arm and stared at the girl in front of him. The corner of his lips twitched. He thought of answering, considered lying... in the end he just kept his lips sealed.

Seeing that he wasn't responding, Ryder snorted again. What's so fun in acting so mysterious? "How old are you?"

"Young enough."

Tired from cleaning and talking, Ryder sat on the ground, her legs crossed as she pulled blades of grass that were already in a miserable state even without Ryder attacking it like that. "Are you still running away from life?"

The heart in the young man's chest suddenly felt heavy. With a voice that didn't reach Ryder, he muttered at himself. "More like hiding from it."

The question was too personal and Ryder knew he wouldn't answer anyway. "Are you going to show up again?"

The young man was taken aback by such a question. On the other hand, Ryder thought it was a very reasonable thing to ask. He had come three nights in a row, always showing up at the same time, at midnight, and for what? To talk? Is this guy so lonely that only Ryder is willing to talk to him? That is so sad...

"I don't know..." The young man answered.

Hearing that, suddenly Ryder felt like she was losing something. Were three nights enough for her to get used to this kind of situation? Isn't that a bit stupid coming from her?

"I think you shouldn't."

The eyes of the stranger were like a storm, covered in the dark clouds of a raining sky. To hide the frown from the girl sitting cross-legged on the ground, he bit his lower lip. "Why?"

"Because I don't know you. You won't show me your face, tell me your name, or even where you know me from. You might not be dangerous with bad intentions, but it still makes me feel uneasy."

The stranger chewed on his lower lip for a bit, and hiding the desperation in his tone, he asked. "What if I give you another hint?"

Ryder widened her eyes, not expecting the stranger to say something like that. She was convinced that keeping his identity a secret was really important to him since he has refused to give any proper hints to her. Ryder didn't expect for the guy to offer hints as soon as she tried to shoo him away.

"And why would you do that?" Ryder narrowed her eyes at the guy whose face was covered by the hood. "You want to come again?"

The stranger hesitated a bit, then shyly nodded. Ryder was bewildered, even a bit scared, but she couldn't sense any danger or ill intent coming from the young man.

"Why?"

A sigh flurried past his pink lips and the stranger bit the tip of his thumb again. "I like talking to you."

"I..."

"We have never talked to each other before... it's... it's nice."

"I still don't know your name though. It feels a bit weird for me."

"Then how about you give me a name?"

This dude must really be lonely and desperate for friends. Such a pity that he came to seek friendship from a hermit like me. His voice sounded two parts hopeful three parts desperate. Ryder felt a bit helpless against that voice.

"Wouldn't that be weird for you?"

"I don't mind. People have called me a lot of names before." The stranger said as if it was nothing, casually shrugging it off, but Ryder instantly felt bad for the guy. He must get bullied a lot.

Without even noticing it, Ryder had started to think of names for the stranger. The young man looked at her pinching her lower lip as she thought and smiled a bit.

She should just name him after some book character, but after thinking about it a bit more, Ryder felt like naming him like that might sound like I'm bullying him. And so she gave up on the idea. But thinking about random names felt weird, so Ryder tried to come up with a nickname. After pondering over it for a few minutes, with the eyes of the young man on her, waiting patiently, Ryder finally spoke. "Can I call you Midnight then?"

The young man's lips twitched in displeasure upon hearing that name, but as he noticed Ryder beaming proudly like a little child, he didn't have the heart to refuse. "Why not."

"Great then..." Ryder stood up from the ground and patted her clothes in a poor attempt to dust off the grass and dirt from them. "Give me the hint."

Midnight chuckled. "Hmm... I already gave you one."

What? When? "No, you didn't."

"I did. I told you that we haven't talked before."

The answer angered Ryder whose face turned red and her cheeks puffed. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this half-assed information?" Her arms crossed over her chest. "Give me a proper hint or don't bother showing up again. I will call the police."

Midnight smiled. "Okay, okay... hmmm... let me think about it... What if I tell you my height?"

"No. I can find that out myself."

How... Midnight was at a loss of words. How could she find out herself? "And how do you plan on doing that?"

A smirk lit up Ryder's features. "You're not standing on your tip toes, or you would have gotten tired after a while and tried to rest for a bit. However, except for shifting your weight from one foot to the other, your height has been the same all this time. All I have to do is measure the height of the fence, approximately add the size of a head to that number and ta da~, I have a rough estimate of your height."

Midnight was speechless. He hadn't thought that this girl would go to such lengths... he truly didn't know how to react to that proud smirk of hers or her way of thinking.

"Tell me your eye color."

"No."

"Hair color?"

"No."

"You're being unreasonable."

"... hmmm... I'm handsome?"

Never before had Ryder felt so frustrated and annoyed by someone that she wanted to throw hands, clearly, this was a result of not having siblings. It was foolish of her to think that this young man would be willing to give any proper hint about his identity. He was just fooling around with her.

Irritated, Ryder picked up her phone from her working table and walked to the back door of her house to leave. Seeing that she had had enough, Midnight panicked. "I have a mole on my right hand."

Ryder stopped walking and slowly turned around. One of her feet was inside the house, one outside, her hand on the handle as the door was slightly pushed open. "Elaborate." She narrowed her eyes at him.

Under the hood, Midnight blushed. How long has it been since he had felt his face heat up like this? It felt like centuries. Suddenly, feeling awkward, he scratched the back of his neck. "It's on my thumb and it's very small..."

He anxiously stared at the cold and collected expression on Ryder's face. It still wasn't good enough? His hands were sweaty for some reason and he had started biting on his lower lip again. It felt like a long time before Ryder finally nodded.

"This will do." She waved at him with a small smile on her lips, gentle and soft... Midnight's cheeks turned a darker shade of red than before. "Good night then."

"Does this mean I can come tomorrow?"

Coming every night... won't this guy get tired? Even I can't stay in the backyard every night... However... tomorrow would be Saturday. She would have a lot of free time and besides, if he came again, she could fish out some other hint from him.

"Yeah... but you have to come after ten o'clock and leave before midnight." That way her parents would be asleep and she wouldn't have to stay out in the backyard the whole night.

"Is this... Is this why you decided to call me Midnight?" The young man asked bewildered. Did this girl really name him after the time of the night she would kick him off her house?

"All of the three times, you showed up at midnight. That's why." As soon as she explained, Ryder walked inside the house and locked the door behind her.

EXTRA:

Ryder: Poor guy must get bullied a lot

Midnight: .....? What? No, I...

Ryder: He must be so lonely

Midnight: .....???

Midnight: Actually I...

Ryder: He probably has no friends *sighs*

Midnight: .......?????!!!!!

Midnight:  I give up  (oT-T)尸