CdA VIII: Festival

Here are the links for the previous parts:

Part 1 - Concierto de Amor

Part 2 - Concierto de Amor: The Encounter

Part 3 - CdA: Homecoming

Part 4 - Her Smile

Part 5 - Reunited

Part 6 - The Four-Eyed Guy

Part 7 - First Day Out

"Oops! I can see your smile, you can't hide it. Tell me what happened!"

Gabe was welcomed with those words as he enters their home. He just came back from Melody's rest house and it was such a good day that he can't hide his smile. Actually, he's been practicing to hide his smile as he was walking home because for sure, Amelia will tease him but Gabe's unsuccessful about it. He's so happy and he just can't hide it.

"Mom! Stop being so nosy. We just talked." Gabe replied to his mom.

Amelia just smiled knowingly and teasingly but didn't say anything anymore. He's been teasing Gabe the whole day. She thought he needs a break and she knows she'll soon hit his limit so it's better to stop for now and just tease him again the next day.

Gabe go straight at his room, took a shower, played some video games for a while before he finally decide to sleep.

He's just lying down on his bed while thinking about what will happen tomorrow. He was so excited about the festival and is already planning about what they should do when he remembers something. "Oh shoot! I forgot to tell her what time will I pick her up." he said to himself.

He's spends the rest of the night thinking on how is he going to tell her the time and he finally, before he sleep, he come up with a decision that he'll just drop by early at her place the next day just to give her a heads up about what time is he going to pick her up.

Gabe slept past his sleeping time so that was probably the reason why he woke up kind of late the next day. He's usually already up before the sunrise but he woke up at 8am the next day.

Like what he always do, he grabbed his phone as he wake up to check for the time and messages. As he open his messenger app, he saw a notification from a message request so he opened it and was surprised to see a familiar photo.

He's wondering about the name so he thought it's just another fan account but as he opened the message, he was surprised to know that it's Melody. She's asking her about their meeting later, problem solved for him. He said he'll pick her up at 5pm before it sank into him that Melody just messaged him.

His fanboy heart become hyped. He immediately visits her account and was more surprised that she added him as friend.

He accepts the friend request instantly and he was literally smiling the whole time as he stalks her account. There's not that much in there but her photos are just so cute. He didn't noticed that he just spent an hour stalking on her account. He felt his stomach grumble and that was his cue to finally get up.

It's just 9am and Gabe has nothing to do anymore. He's so excited for the festival but the time isn't cooperating with his excitement. It felt like it's so slow to move. All he wanted to do is to pull the time and put it fast forward at 5pm. He just can't wait any longer.

His mom seems to be really busy with some things so he just spend his day on his room and he tries to clean it. He run through his old stuffs and reminisce a bit about some memories.

He's smiling about a photo of a thin guy who have thick glasses. It's him and he looks really nerdy back then. He also saw a class picture wherein both him and Melody are present. There are also some of his drawings and fan arts in there.

He's having a good time seeing all his stuffs when he sees a small envelope fall from his sketchpad. He opened it and his cheeks blushed instantly. There's a letter inside and it was addressed for Melody.

He then remembered that he wrote it for her back then, before they graduate from high school, he was planning to confess his admiration for her but he lacks the courage to actually do it. He have that on his graduation day but he wasn't able to give it to her.

He reads the content of the letter and his cheeks turned ever redder. He was so embarrassed for himself. The letter is so corny and now that he have seen it, it gave him all the more reason not to give it to Melody.

It's nearly 4pm so he immediately finished up cleaning and just bring back the envelope between the pages of his sketchpad and shove it back to his book shelf.

He took a bath and within 30 minutes, he already finished getting ready for the festival. He waited for a few minutes first before he drove his car to Melody's place.

He knock on her door and Sebastian welcomed him. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh. I'm here for Mel--"

"Get in. I'll get her for you." Sebastian cut what Gabe was about to say and just let him come in.

Gabe came in and sit on the couch as he waits for Sebastian to call Melody. He was just looking around when his gaze fixed on Melody as he saw her walking near him.

She's only wearing a simple plain shirt, pants and white sneakers yet she's looks so pretty. She's also wearing her eyeglasses. She looks different, she looks so simple and comfortable.

"Hey Gabe! Shall we go now?" Melody asked Gabe excitedly and so Gabe looked at her and get up from his seat. He noticed her excitement but he also felt that there's something off with Melody.

She's smiling and she also sounds excited but as he look into her eyes, he felt it. She's sad. But to not spoil the fun, Gabe just ignored it and he thought he'll just do his best to let her enjoy in the festival.

They rode his car on their way to the town proper and as he park his car, there's already a lot of people on the area.

Melody excitedly get off his car and then they roam around the area. There are different booths selling different things but most booths are offering different kind of foods.

The whole place is also so colorful, the ambiance is so lively and all the people roaming around are smiling and they are obviously having fun.

Gabe and Melody tried different foods. Melody is so happy, and this time, her eyes is also shining happily. They just walk and walk, go to different booths, tried different games, and they also eat into their hearts content. They also watch some shows until its time for the fireworks.

The host announced that in 5 minutes, the fireworks display will start. Gabe and Melody is in the middle of the crowd as they wait for it. But then, Melody had to go to the rest room. Gabe go with her but to give her privacy, he just stayed on a bench nearby while Melody fall in line for the public rest room.

Gabe was just looking around and observing the smiles on the people faces while he's waiting for Melody.

Few minutes later, he heard a loud shout of his name. "Gabe!" He knew the voice, it's Melody. He immediately got up and was about to go to the rest room's direction when the fireworks started and he was trapped in the middle of the crowd.

He tried his best to run as fast as he can towards Melody's direction but when he get's to the rest room, there's a commotion and he can't find Melody anywhere...

Hey there folks! There you have it, the 8th installment of my collaborative work with @meitanteikudo . I know this is such a late update. It has been 2 weeks since the last part and I apologize for the delay. The other week, rain won over me. It has been constantly raining and I just feel so lazy at those times and the other week, I was sick.

How's this new update by the way? Are you still with us in this story? Please, stay tune for the next updates. We're already near at the end and let's all find out about what did just happened at Melody. Where is she? What will Gabe do about it now?

Anyways, we appreciate you guys reaching this far. Thank you for reading and see you next update! :)

No. 118, Published: August 2021