At the center of it all, Aidera walked calmly through the corridor as if the attention surrounding her was something she had long grown used to.
Her sapphire-blue eyes scanned the crowd briefly before stopping on a single person.
Zeyn.
"Hi there," Aidera greeted with a soft smile as she stopped right in front of him. "We meet again."
For a brief moment, nobody spoke.
Zeyn stared back quietly. Crimson eyes meeting sapphire blue. Two completely different colors colliding in the middle of the crowded hallway.
Then,
"…Uhh, who are you exactly?" he asked with genuine confusion.
The atmosphere froze.
"Eh?" Aidera blinked. "You don't remember? Well… I guess we only met briefly."
"When was that?"
She remembered it clearly. The staircase, the strange encounter that lasted only a few moments. It had only happened a week ago.
At least… it should have.
"It was at…"
Her voice stopped midway. Suddenly, something felt wrong.
Why couldn't she remember properly?
No matter how hard she tried to focus, the memory felt blurry and distant, as if it belonged to years ago instead of days. A strange static-like sensation began flooding her thoughts.
"Milady?" Clara called out worriedly. "What's wrong?"
Now even the people around them started exchanging looks.
Aidera's breathing subtly faltered. From the outside, she still looked composed. But inside her mind, fragmented images suddenly began surfacing like pieces of an unfinished film.
Flames.
Smoke.
A massive mansion burning in the darkness of night.
She was running. Someone was dragging her hand while running alongside her. And there… Standing amidst the fire… was a child.
A child with crimson eyes.
A child who looked exactly like Zeyn.
Aidera staggered backward. Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.
"Hey!" Jack immediately stepped forward to support her before she collapsed completely. "Are you okay?"
"Milady!" Clara quickly grabbed her other arm in panic. "What's happening?!"
The hallway instantly became noisy.
Meanwhile, Aidera pressed a trembling hand against her forehead. Every time she tried remembering those strange fragments buried deep inside her mind, the pain would come rushing back.
Around them, more and more students unconsciously shifted their attention toward Zeyn. Curiosity slowly spread across the hallway.
"Hey-hey!" Kriss suddenly asked nervously. "What did you even do?! Did you trigger something?!"
"Huh?" Zeyn looked completely caught off guard. "I-I don't know either!"
With Clara's help, Aidera slowly managed to stand up again. Her vision still spun slightly, but she forced herself to calm down.
"…I'm sorry." She took a slow breath afterward. "I actually came here to return something."
Then she carefully took out an old blue wallet. The very same wallet that had gone missing for nearly a week.
Zeyn's eyes widened instantly. "That's…"
"My coworker found it near the café last week," Aidera explained calmly. "At first, the manager wanted to return it using the address on your ID card. But apparently your home was difficult to locate."
Zeyn accepted the wallet carefully. Everything was still there. Even the old photograph tucked safely inside. A picture of a child being carried through the rain by someone taller.
One of the few precious memories he still had from his childhood.
"…My wallet," Zeyn muttered softly. "It was a gift from my dad."
"You must've searched everywhere for it." Aidera smiled faintly. "Be more careful next time. Losing personal information can be dangerous, you know."
"…thank you. Really."
For a second, Zeyn simply stood there silently with the wallet in his hand. Then, he looked directly at her. Those crimson eyes were calm, yet strangely focused.
"May I know your name?" he asked.
Aidera's heart skipped slightly. "A-Aidera. You can call me Ai…"
"Got it."
A strange silence followed.
For some reason, Aidera found it difficult to look away from him. Those red eyes seemed to lock onto her unnaturally, pulling her attention deeper the longer she stared.
And before she realized it…
Their distance had subtly closed. Zeyn leaned slightly closer, his voice lowering.
"If you ever need to go somewhere," he said quietly, "I'll be happy to take you."
Aidera's breath caught instantly. "H-Huh?"
At the same moment, Zeyn felt it again.
Something was watching.
No…
Something was standing around this girl. Protecting her.
A strange pressure brushed against his senses. Violent. Cruel. Ancient. Like an unseen creature silently wrapping itself around Aidera's existence.
And unfortunately… he could only feel it from this close.
"You are…" His gaze sharpened slightly. "Somewhat special."
"M-Me?" Aidera looked genuinely confused.
"I wonder if you've already realized it," he whispered while staring directly into her eyes. "Wait, don't tell me… you haven't?"
The hallway instantly erupted into chaos.
"W-WHAT?!"
"Hey! Hey!"
"What's this guy doing?!"
Various reactions exploded at once. Some students looked shocked, others confused, while a few almost screamed from excitement after witnessing the scene.
Clara immediately rushed forward and pulled Aidera away protectively from behind.
At the same time, Kriss, Damian, and Andre quickly grabbed Zeyn by both shoulders before things became even stranger.
"Hey, hey. Easy there," Damian said nervously.
"Calm down, bro!" Andre added. "She's not your girlfriend!"
Several nearby students immediately stared at Zeyn with threatening looks, as if silently warning him not to cross the line any further.
Clara herself looked genuinely upset now.
"You ungrateful person!" she snapped angrily. "Don't think Miss Ai's kindness means you can take advantage of her so easily!"
"Huh?" Aidera blinked repeatedly in confusion. "But… he didn't really do anything wrong though…"
That answer only made Clara look even more distressed.
Meanwhile, Jack finally stepped forward before things escalated further. He casually placed both hands into his pockets while grinning faintly.
Honestly…
Zeyn's earlier behavior had been far more interesting than he expected.
"Alright. Your business here is done." Jack lightly patted Clara's shoulder. "I'll take you girls back now."
"Eh? But- "
"Come on." His tone remained casual, but noticeably firmer this time. "We've already attracted enough attention as it is, right?"
Then, Jack looked toward Zeyn. The two of them stared directly into each other's eyes. Like predators silently measuring another predator.
Watchful. Suspicious. Calculating.
"Now then," Jack finally spoke without breaking eye contact, "I want everyone here to disperse quietly and keep today's little drama to yourselves. Got it?"
The effect was immediate. Several students awkwardly looked away before quietly leaving the corridor one after another.
Whether because of fear, intimidation, or simply the rumors surrounding him… most people instinctively chose not to oppose Jack.
"Come on." Damian nudged Kriss afterward. "Let's just go too."
"You guys go ahead." Kriss didn't move. "I still wanna stay here for a bit."
A simple order from a student organization leader wasn't enough to make him leave a scene this interesting.
Especially now.
Because even as the crowd slowly disappeared… Jack and Zeyn were still staring at each other. Neither side backing down. The pressure between them no longer felt like a normal conversation.
It felt more like two people preparing for a fight without throwing punches yet.
"What the hell…" Kriss muttered under his breath. "Why did the atmosphere suddenly become this tense?"
"Okay, okay. It's time for us to head back," Aidera suddenly interrupted.
Silence followed briefly.
"…Jack?"
The chief remained still for a moment before finally turning around. And strangely enough, the intimidating pressure from earlier vanished just like that.
After seeing the confused expressions on Aidera and Clara's faces, Jack suddenly smiled broadly again as if nothing had happened. As if that cold, dangerous look had only been meant for Zeyn alone.
"Alright, ladies." Jack casually slipped both hands into his pockets again. "Allow me to escort you two once more."
"Seriously…" Clara raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "I still can't figure out what kind of person you actually are."
"Ahh, it's nothing that complicated," Jack replied lightly. "I'm just practicing for theater."
Clara's eyebrow twitched again.
In the end, she simply chose to sigh and accept whatever this man's deal was supposed to be.
Eventually, the three of them finally left the scene together.
As she walked away, Aidera briefly glanced back over her shoulder.
Only for a moment.
Her thoughts were still in complete disarray. The strange images from earlier continued lingering inside her head, along with an unfamiliar feeling she couldn't properly understand.
"Aidera… huh?" Zeyn quietly repeated her name under his breath.
Even though his expression had remained mostly flat the entire time, this time he couldn't fully hide the faint smile slowly forming at the corner of his lips.
"Uwaah…" Kriss stared at him dramatically. "How the hell did our campus queen personally come looking for you? Are you secretly some important person or something?"
"…Queen?"
"You seriously don't know?" Kriss looked genuinely shocked now. "She's basically the idol of this campus."
Zeyn glanced down at the old blue wallet in his hand again.
Then he smiled faintly once more.
"The important thing is…" he muttered, "I finally got my wallet back."
After that, he turned around and began walking away, intending to head home already. But unsurprisingly, Kriss immediately followed after him with obvious excitement.
Honestly, it wasn't strange for them to walk together anyway since they were still on the same upper floor corridor.
"Oh yeah," Kriss spoke up again, "tell me how your wallet even went missing."
Zeyn glanced sideways at him. "Why do you care?"
"Oh, come on. I'm sure the story's interesting. We've still got plenty of time before going home."
"…Uhh."
* * * *