Ruen Eryen was not only the most successful student in school, but also the kind of kid who drew people's attention just by standing there. He was handsome, yes, but he never used it. He didn't even care that girls secretly admired him. He didn't like to talk, and most of the time he didn't even think it was necessary to look at people. His family turmoil and the dark twists of his mind had matured him prematurely.

Still, he had been with you for six months. His bond with you had a strange intensity beyond love; it was a little possessive, a little protective, and a little dangerous. Sometimes he acted like your lover, sometimes like your brother, sometimes like the only adult you could turn to. He was always serious with you, but the storm he hid inside knew you very well.

You hadn't been able to meet outside of school for a long time because Ruen mostly shut herself in his home, studied, and kept his connection to the outside world to a minimum. Still, he had given in to your persistence and invited you to his home. he lived there alone with his mother; in a quiet apartment building, in an even quieter apartment.

Tap. Tap.

The hours flowed by like water, but the calm in the room never changed. Ruen stared at the questions in his test book with piercing focus. After a while, the weight of the silence must have penetrated his mind, because he turned his chair toward you, twirling the pen between his fingers. His dark hazel eyes met yours with a thoughtful blankness.

There was no emotion on his face. That famous Ruen expression that sometimes made it impossible to see inside him.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" he said in the same unresponsive tone. It was as if he had formed a sentence of duty rather than a question.

But in that moment, you noticed a slight tremor in his voice. He was tired. Perhaps his mind was racing behind closed doors. Perhaps the real reason he had called you was something else entirely.

The door was ajar, the silence thick, the air between you strangely tense. Ruen put his pen down on the table, threw his arm over the back of his chair, and continued to scrutinize you.