Winter was slowly giving way to a mild spring, but life was still cold. Only the kind of cold had changed. It no longer froze your skin — it crept into your chest.

Zade felt it the moment he stepped through the school gates. New school, new faces, new questions. That familiar weight settled on his shoulders the same way it always did.

The hallway was full of curious stares. People whispered, glanced at him from the corners of their eyes, already deciding who he was without knowing his name. By the time the bell rang, he was already surrounded.

“Did you really come from another country?” “Is your hair naturally that light?” “If you’re this smart, why did you come to this school?”

He gave them all the same practiced smile.

The same safe answers, in the same calm tone.Blending in mattered. Getting along mattered. At least, that was what was expected of him.

It didn’t take long for him to meet Raus — the center of the school’s orbit. The popular one. The boy everyone revolved around. He slipped into his group easily. Popularity was contagious; he learned that fast. Still, the way girls constantly hovered around Raus felt strange to him. Even though Raus had a girlfriend. It didn’t sit right with him. Didn’t feel… decent. But he didn’t comment. He wasn’t here to judge anyone.

As they talked in the hallway, a girl passed by. Long blonde hair, laughter spilling out as she spoke to her friend, too loud for a school corridor. He raised one eyebrow without meaning to. She was noisy. But undeniably pretty.

When he turned his head, he noticed Raus staring at her — serious, focused. It was only for a second, but it said enough. Zade didn’t ask. He wasn’t here to play games.

It didn’t take long before people started calling him “Mr. Perfect.” Good grades. Hanging out with the popular crowd. Athletic. Too handsome for his own good. But no one knew who he really was. The version of him at school was just a role. And Zade played it too well.

That morning, before heading to school, he had been standing in a narrow side street. Black leather jacket pulled over his head, a cigarette between his fingers. The tattoo he’d gotten the night before still stung slightly — just a few cool-looking symbols, nothing meaningful. Still, way too much for a high school kid.

The air was strange. Spring had come, yet it felt like snow could fall at any second. That’s when the girl from earlier passed by again.

Her blonde hair tied in a ponytail now. Makeup on. Walking toward school. Up close, her beauty was even more obvious. Not just pretty — the kind of pretty with potential.

He was in a bad mood. That familiar restlessness pressed against his chest. And he needed to take it out on something.

“That much makeup is against school rules,” he said suddenly.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, “Go to a cosmetics store or something.”

Only then did he realize how unnecessary it had been. How random. How uncalled for. He surprised himself. Picking on someone for no reason. It was… kind of his thing. But standing there, in front of her, it felt dumber than usual.