-Azalea

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning-

"Aster, look. That wasn't fair. I get it you will be lonely without me. But I can't stay here forever. Wrens here and he's probably still looking for me. I will have to go one day or another." Azalea said to Aster

"Oh relax. He isn't gonna die. He is here and you can go to him whenever you want later on." Aster replied

"Aster!" Azalea said with a bit of force

"Sorry, but you don't get it. You have no idea. I already told you about my dad and also I failed twice into getting admission into the training camp. And my brothers away with his training, my mother is all the time working. She leaves early in the morning and comes back late. I can't get admission into any school because I wasted two years of my life trying to get admission into the training camp. And now I just stay here alone, taking care of the house. I have literally no one to talk to all day. I started talking to myself but that also became weird. And after such a long long time, I've finally found someone to talk to. Someone to share all my feelings and my thoughts with. Someone whom I can even call my sister even though she's not. Please Azalea, I don't want you to go. I know it's selfish, but I don't want you to leave me alone. I'm so lonely." Aster said as she broke down and had tears in her eyes

~Aster

"Oh, Aster. Don't cry. I'm not gonna disappear out of the blue. Besides I have something to do before I go. So I'm not leaving any time soon until I do that. Don't worry, I'm here with you." Azalea replied as she tried to stop Aster from crying

"Okay...thank you." Aster replied as she wiped away her tears

Just then there was a knock outside.
"I'll go see who it is." Aster said as she got up and went to see who it was

She opened the door and found Wren standing there.
"Hi. Sorry to bother you. But I'm looking for someone. Have you seen her?" Wren said as he showed her the picture of Azalea

'It's the same guy. What is he doing here. I still don't trust him. I'm pretty sure he's gonna hand Azalea over to the council.' Aster thought as she then smiled and said, "I'm sorry. I haven't seen her before."

"Is that so. Some people told me that they saw her with you." Wren replied

"You just be mistaken. I haven't seen her before. There must be some other girl with whom you might have been confusing me with." Aster replied

"I see. She is actually my friend and I've been looking for her for a long time. Do you have any idea how I could find her?" Wren asked

"You could try going to the police. I'm sure they will help you. Now if you will excuse me, I've left something on the stove." Aster said

"Oh okay. Thank you." Wren replied

-Wren

Wren saw Aster shut the door and go back into her house. He was sure that Azalea was here.
'This is weird. The tracker is pointing right here! This can't be right. What should I do now? I could break into the house....but it'll be weird if it turns out that she's not actually in there.' He thought to himself as he sat on the front door steps of the house

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who was at the door?" Azalea asked Aster as she saw her coming back inside

"Don't worry. It was just some girl selling things door to door." Aster replied as she lied

"What was she selling?" Azalea asked

"Who she?" Aster asked as she was thinking if what she did was right or wrong

"The girl on the door." Azalea said

"I don't know. I didn't ask. I just told her we don't need it before she even told me." Aster replied

"Oh okay." Azalea replied as she thought that something was up with Aster

Fifteen minutes later-

"Azalea I'm going to go buy eggs from the market. I'll be right back." Aster said as she opened the door and went out. On the door steps she saw Wren sitting there.
'What is he still doing here? Does he know that Azalea is in there?' She thought as she went near him and said, "Hey."

Wren was deep in thoughts and got surprised when Aster called out to him.

"What?" Wren asked

"I should be asking you that! What the hell are you doing here? Why haven't you gone yet?" Aster asked

"Because I know that Lea is in there and I'm not leaving before meeting her." Wren replied

"Are you crazy? I told you that girl isn't in there. In fact I haven't seen her ever. Then why do you keep saying that she's there? She is not there, now go!" Aster said as she got frustrated thinking he might end up seeing Azalea

Wren didn't reply. Instead he was deep in thoughts.

"What are you thinking about? Just leave already." Aster said

"I'm thinking of ways to see Lea. I know she's in there. Maybe I could call her out." Wren said as he looked at the house

"Seriously! If you don't leave, I'm gonna shout and call you a stalker and then they all will kick you out of the city! Get lost before I start screaming...1...2..." Aster said

"Okay okay jeez. You don't have to go that far." Wren said as he started walking away

'Good. He's gone for now. By the way, he called Azalea Lea. Is that her nickname? It's cute.' Aster thought as she went back inside the house

"Why are you here so early?" Azalea asked as she was surprised to see Aster

"They were all out of eggs. In fact there is an egg shortage." Aster replied as she spoke quickly

"What? Egg shortage?" Azalea asked as she chuckled

"Yeah. Anyway I'm sleepy, so I'm gonna go into my room. Bye." Aster said as she went into her room and then from her window she looked outside to see if Wren was there. Fortunately for her, he wasn't there.

Just then there was again a knock.

"I'll get it." Azalea said as she started walking towards the front door

"Wait...don't!" Aster said as she thought that it might be Wren

"Why? What's wrong?" Azalea asked

"Umm....you see....actually I'm being stalked by some guy. And he comes and knocks on the door. I just ignore it until he goes away. So you should do that too. Yeah." Aster said quickly

"Stalked? I'll go talk to him. Don't worry. When I'll be done, he won't even think about you for even a second." Azalea replied as she puts her hand on the door knob.

Aster puts her hand on the door.
"No, Lea. It's fine. You don't have to, really. Just ignore him." She said as the knocking kept on going

"No, it's not good to ignore. The stalking won't stop otherwise. Someone has to teach him a lesson......wait what....you called me Lea." Azalea said as she took her hand off the door knob, "How do you know that?"

"Err...actually I was just thinking about this. Your names too long. So I just made up a nickname. It's nice isn't it?" Aster replied

The door kept on knocking. And this time there came a voice, "Hello. Is anyone in there? Lea?"

Azalea quickly recognised that voice. Aster came in front of the door.

"I won't let you open the door. He is going to take you away." Aster said

"Aster please move. He isn't. He's my friend." Azalea replied

"No, you don't understand. The officials aren't good people. They take people away and then they never return." Aster said

"What are you talking about? That's Wren! I know him. He's one of my closest friends. I'm sorry but get out of the way." Azalea said as she opened the door. Since Azalea was stronger than Aster, she easily opened the door despite Aster stopping her.

As soon as Azalea opened the door, she found Wren standing there.
"Found you!" He said

"I knew you were in here. Dads devices are never wrong. I've been looking everywhere for you. I'll contact your parents and let them know I've found you." Wren said as he sent a message using the transmission system

"Wren...I'm so happy to see you!" Azalea said as she hugged him

"Same here. You suddenly disappeared and it was like....why? Why did you come here? What happened?" He asked

Aster coughed trying to make her presence known.

"Oh it's you. The liar. You said she wasn't here." Wren said as he looked at Aster

"What? She did? You met Wren before and you didn't even tell me!" Azalea said as she looked at Aster

"I uh...well...I didn't know who he was?" Aster replied as both Wren and Azalea glared at her.
"Okay I admit. I was afraid he might take you away." She said

"We will have to wait on that. Your dad will send me a message and the location of the portal when he makes one. So for now, we are stuck here." Wren said to Azalea

"I see." Azalea said as she thought she still has time to do what she wanted to do.

~~~~~~~~~~

After an hour-

Azalea had told him all about how she got to be in Melancholia. While Wren had told her all of the adventures he took on finding her.
Aster and Wren did not get along one bit. Azalea didn't like fights like this, so she wanted both of them to make up. But they both were acting like children.

"Why are you so clingy?" Wren asked as he saw Aster hugging Azaleas arm tightly

"And why are you so jealous?" Aster replied

"I'm not!" Wren said immediately

"Whatever. When are you getting out of my house?" Aster asked

"Don't worry, shorty. Whenever we get a message from her dad, we are leaving." Wren replied.
Azalea at this stiffened. 'Do I really want to go back?' She thought

"Hey! Who are you calling shorty?" Aster said angrily

"You. The person who's the only short one in this room." Wren replied

"Argh...I'm not short." Aster protested as she had a height complex. Her height was short, and she didn't like it.

"Yes of course. Half of your body is under the earth." Wren joked

"So you think my height is funny?" Aster asked as she was annoyed

"No, I think teasing you is fun." Wren replied

Both of them have been bickering like this for like an hour. Azalea tried to stop then but in vain.
"You know, please guys stop bickering. My head aches." Azalea said thinking that these two were bickering just like how she and Wren used to be

"I have to go to the washroom." Aster said

"Then why are you announcing before you go?" Wren said

"Shut up stalker." Aster replied

"Hey, I am not a stalker!" Wren said

"Let's see....trying to find a girl per say following a girl for a whole month and then sitting on the front door steps and saying you are not leaving before you see her face is somewhat like a stalker." Aster replied as she sticks her tongue out at him

Wren was about to reply something but Aster ignored him and looked at Azalea and said, "I'll be right back. Don't go without telling me okay!" And then she got up and went out of the room.

The room was now quiet. There was this weird tension in the air. After a while, Azalea said, "I'm sorry, you had to go through so much trouble on finding me. This all wouldn't have happened if I hadn't touched the portal."

"It's not your fault. I did this on my own. I wanted to find you. By the way, it's strange. Do you have any idea how the portal came there?" Wren said

"No, I was just sitting in my room, reading the book that you gave me. I have no idea where it came from." Azalea replied

"Are you sure it wasn't because of you? I mean you could have subconsciously opened it. I heard your dad say that it can be opened with desire. I'm just saying." Wren said as he shook his shoulders

"No." Azalea replied as she thought, 'Why does everyone keep thinking I'm so obsessed with Melancholia? Curious, sure. But obsessed, no way. I'm not that obsessed to open up a portal subconsciously."

"Hmm...that is really strange." Wren said as suddenly his device ringed.
"Oh it must be a message from your dad. He must've opened up a portal. Come on, let's go." Wren said as he was about to check the message but was stopped when Azalea said, "No."

-Azalea

                ~~~~~~~~~~~

-Azalea

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