Third Person's P.O.V
Friday night is the ultimate escape for university students—a night of laughter, music, and unfiltered fun. Parties light up the city, drinks flow freely, and the thrill of staying up until sunrise feels like pure freedom.
At Set, a bar just a few miles from Azuden University, students from various faculties gathered. Unlike the lively clubs nearby, where laughter and music filled the air, these students carried a heavy silence. The usual calm, inviting ambiance of the bar had shifted. Tension hung thick, transforming the space into something somber and almost unsettling.
"Uhm…" Sorene turned to Elle, her senior from Business and Administration a year back.
"Ye- Yeah, I shifted!" Elle laughed nervously before taking a sip of her drink, eyes fixated on Achan.
Sorene smiled awkwardly, not because they reunited with her senior, but because of the weight of silence brought by Achan.
"So… About earlier, was he your ex?" Khein spiked up the atmosphere.
Yet he didn't realize the weight of her nosiness!
"Khein?!" The entire group yelled, jolting him out of her seat.
Frustrated murmurs rose from the surrounding tables as complaints about their noise turned into whispers, yet not a single staff member dared to approach them.
Khein, baffled by everybody's reaction, stood up and crossed his arms.
"What? Nobody seemed interested in opening up the conversation, yet we all are itching to ask him… I'm just doing everybody a favor!" He rolled his eyes before sitting next to Achan, who was silently drinking his beer on the corner.
"Do you miss him?" Khein asked, unfazed by the judgmental stares surrounding him.
Achan remained silent, oblivious to the voices around him. His thoughts were consumed by the scene he had witnessed earlier—a man he never expected to see again. A man he had once believed he could trust. But what had he truly expected? Trust was never an option with the man who had abducted him. The man whose sole duty had been to ensure he never escaped.
"Who even invited this guy?" Sorene whispered to Ori.
"Shh, he's the only one bold enough to talk to Achan– we can ignore his sharp tongue for now!" Elle interjected
As the three continued whispering to each other, Sherraine just kept on watching Khein's constant attempt to initiate a conversation with Achan. Her eyes lit up, a soft yet intense gaze fixed on Khein. A glimmer that nobody saw, and nobody would know.
"Oh, I know! If you're not missing your boy, I guess you must be thinking of me, right?" Khein laughed as he gently tapped on Achan's shoulder.
Achan just gave him a confused look before grabbing another bottle of beer.
"You miss these hands?" Khein continued, showing off his slender, soft hands.
Achan felt a sense of familiarity, these hands before him. He saw these before, but where?
"What hands?" Achan finally managed to utter a simple sentence upon hearing Khein's puzzling question.
Khein smiled innocently and stole the drink from Achan's hands before standing up.
"Nothing… I should go, I don't think I'd survive the night if I stay!" Khein mumbled as a figure of a man rushed into their table.
"What did I say about your constant partying? You really did sneak out after I fell asleep, huh? Who does that?!" The University's Head of the Union, Malrik, barked at Khein, sparking questions all around.
Malrik, heir to a renowned chain of elite private hospitals, stood at the crossroads of wealth, influence, and a legacy that shaped the country's medical landscape, is sleeping with a guy?
"Oh well, goodbye, Achie, don't forget about me, okay?" Khein smiled.
He was then snatched away from the scene after smiling at another guy.
"What a jealous man!" Sherraine giggled, amusement flickering in her eyes, as if she had been aware of their relationship.
"I knew it! That's why Khein's so familiar to me, he's dating THAT man!" Ori exclaimed.
"So, you do know this guy… What else do you know about them? Are they officially dating?!" Elle smiled uncontrollably.
Ori turned to her.
"Why don't you ask that woman? She's been suspiciously staring at Khein ever since, it's as if they knew each other yet pretend not to!" Ori whispered, making Sherraine drop her smile.
Before they could continue their conversation, Achan stood up, stealing everyone's attention towards the friend they should be focusing on.
"Do you need anything?" Ori rushed to his friend.
"No, I just need to piss!" Achan mumbled as he swayed around.
"He's drunk already, we should go!" Sorene stood next to Achan's other side, assisting him.
Elle and Sherraine both agreed and started collecting their stuff.
"I can go by myself!" Achan took their hands off of him and began to walk towards the comfort room, body swaying from the effects of the alcohol.
"We'll wait for you here!" Ori sighed. He knew how stubborn his friend could be.
As Achan entered the restroom, he threw himself in front of the mirror and stared into his drunken self.
"Why is he back?!" He whispered to nothingness.
The shock has not left him ever since, the man behind the anger that tainted his Purity. Why had he returned? Why had fate allowed the return of the very person he had once thrown himself to, the man who had crushed his trust with ruthless precision?
"Did you even like me?" The man's voice shattered the suffocating silence that had settled in the dimly lit urinal, echoing off the cold tile like a question he was afraid to answer himself.
"What are you doing here?!" Achan turned around, his pulse quickening as he locked eyes with the figure lurking in the shadows. The creeping presence of a familiar man stood before him, a ghost from his past, one he wasn't prepared to face.
"What the…" Ori uttered as he sensed his Magic being used.
Minutes had passed, yet the guy who entered the restroom never came out. Alarming his friends who'd been waiting outside.
"Tsk, I knew it, Achan must have seen him already!" He muttered, stepping into the restroom. A familiar scent lingered in the air—undeniable, unmistakable. The man they had seen earlier had been here. And he's aware that Achan must have taken that man with him.
With Achan's sudden disappearance, a man drenched in paperwork in another city suddenly receives a message from an unknown number.
"Khein?" The man mumbled the stranger's name as he read the message.
'You don't know me, I'm Khein, a friend of your business partner from Veyderium Medical Institute. I'm contacting you because I need to warn you about your boy. He's with some dude, I don't wanna intervene, but figured I should inform you, no man wants their partner get stolen by another, right? Anyway, don't let your boy misunderstand you, come get him or this guy will!' Says the guy named Khein.
Though he's perplexed by the sudden introduction of this stranger, his attention was swiped towards the picture the man sent after the message.
"Tsk, I shouldn't be interfering with mortals... yet here I am." The man with long black hair muttered under his breath, standing motionless in front of the convenience store as he put his phone back in his pocket. His eyes locked onto the two men ahead—silent, unreadable.
A whisper tickled his ear, startling him. "Are you done? You're too drunk, we need to go home now before the enemies see us!" The voice was barely audible, urgent, pressing.
"Get me some strawberries and I will!" He smiled as he turned to the man behind him, concealing something behind the curve of his lips.
The man sighs.
"I am the head of the Union, a son of the best scientist in the country, yet you're out here, commanding me? Who are you?" He snorted, yet not irritated.
Just amused by the guy's blunt requests, despite knowing who he is.
"Malrik, if you want to protect me, you should learn how to take care of me!" He chuckled as he touched the man's face, making Malrik smirk involuntarily.
He knew his feelings were being toyed with, yet he liked the thrill of it.
Then, without a sound, they vanished. The street remained alive with movement—people coming and going, cars weaving through traffic—yet no one turned their head. No one noticed that they had ever been there.
Meanwhile, inside the convenience store.
"How'd you been?" Said by the man next to Achan.
Achan fiddled with his drink and stared at the rugged man next to him.
"I'm fine, you?" He asked, yet kind of knew the answer.
"I can't stop thinking about you. I know our last interaction wasn't the best, but… I still miss you." Upon hearing the man's answer, Achan's mouth fell wide open.
It wasn't amusement at the man's blunt confession—it was shock. A sharp, disorienting kind of shock, not at the words themselves, but at the fact that they had come from someone who had never truly cared for him. The confession felt hollow, like an echo of something that was never real to begin with. And yet, the way it was spoken—the strange, unreadable expression, the unnerving certainty in his tone—made it impossible to dismiss outright. It was unsettling, not because of what was said, but because of who had said it.
"Did you not hear me?" The man's voice was steady, but something in his expression cracked. The softness drained from his face, replaced by a slow, simmering rage that darkened his gaze.
"I should call Ori!" Achan immediately whipped out a piece of paper from his pocket upon realizing the threat that lingers around this man.
"Ricco? What are you doing here?!" A sudden, demanding shout across the aisle stole their attention.
There goes Uther with fiery eyes as he stormed towards Achan, punching the man before him. As the man named Ricco fell to the floor, Achan stepped forward, stopping Uther in his steps.
"Why are you here?!" Achan tried to keep him from getting closer to Ricco, worried about what he had found out.
Yet his actions pierced like an arrow through Uther's heart. Was it betrayal?
"What are you doing with Ricco? Didn't you forget what he did to you?!" A hint of hurt plastered on his face as he continued his attempt at getting past Achan.
The air inside crackled with tension, words sharp enough to cut, movements urgent and unrelenting. And then, outside, the deep rumble of an aircraft echoed through the night, vibrating through the walls, its presence overshadowing the chaos within.
"Can you please calm down first?" Achan pushed him away.
As he was about to use the Sigil on his hand, Ricco was no longer behind him, nowhere to be seen.
"What did he do to you? Were you hurt?" Uther's voice was laced with concern as he tried to reach for Achan's face, fingertips just grazing the air before Achan stepped away, a deliberate refusal.
A scoff escaped Achan's lips, sharp and bitter.
"I guess getting myself into trouble is the only way to make you show up, huh?" His words carried something deeper, exhaustion, maybe even disappointment.
As he turned, putting distance between them. Uther refused to let him go. He grabbed and tightened his grip around Achan's arms. Refusing to let the misunderstanding between them be left unsolved, just like the stranger named Khein said.
"I'm here now, I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you before… But, I'm finally back!" A hint of exhaustion flickered in his eyes, like a weight had finally lifted. Whatever had kept him away, whatever had tied him down, it was done. And now, for the first time in too long, he was free to be here.
"That's it? After weeks of no contact, even Elle's unaware of your 'Business'. That's it?!" Achan yelled.
What else should he feel? It's been weeks of constant failure to get to him, to talk to Uther. And this is only the best he could say to ease Achan's heartache?
"I'm sorry-" Uther tried to hug him, yet a powerful force kept him at a distance.
"Don't even try to get away from the pain you've caused me! What do you need from me? Why are you back in Palseng?" Achan gave a piercing stare, eyes overflowing with emotion caused by the person before him, and the lingering effects of the alcohol in his body.
"I know I messed up, I should have waited for you to sober up before we made that promise!" Uther said after realizing the weight of Achan's pain.
He had forgotten the night they made that promise, the night when Uther visited him at his apartment.
"What promise? Tell me then?!" Achan demanded.
As he was about to explain, a familiar silhouette of a young woman entered the store.
"Uther, what's taking you this long? We have to bring our baby back home!" The woman said, shattering Achan's heart.
"Give me time, I have to explain something to Achan first!"
"No need!" Achan cut him off before pushing him away. "I heard enough!" He said before raising another piece of paper.
"Achan, wait!" Before Uther could close back their distance, a white light already enveloped Achan, vanishing into nothingness, leaving but a trace of a slightly burnt paper.
"FUCK!" Uther exclaimed.
Meanwhile, across the street, inside the campus of Azuden University.
"Fuck!" A man with long black hair mimicked as he stared into the mirror.
"How 'bout that? I said Don't let their misunderstanding get in their way! Dummos!" He continued before plunging himself into the bed of the guy who took him.
"Quozek Coret Ta!" He exclaimed after sensing a familiar energy lying outside the campus.
"What are you doing here?!" A man named Ori, a guy with long white hair, asked the dangerous man before him.
"I don't want any trouble. I know you're a friend of Achan. I'm just here to let the night pass." Ricco's voice was steady, but his posture betrayed unease as he settled into the shadows against the campus walls.
Ori's glare burned through him.
"I know exactly who you are, the one he put that Spell into." His words were venomous, sharp with resentment.
"You deserved it. All of you humans who tried to deceive us deserve to be punished." He spat on the ground, disgust curling in his voice.
"I hope you never recover from that Spell." And just like that, he vanished—his presence dissolving into thin air, leaving behind the weight of his words.
He was left with silence.
"What a heavy hatred that guy has on you… He wasn't even there when it happened, you indeed deserved that!" The man with long black hair whispered, still on the bed, far from the confrontation, yet he heard everything Ori just said, who was miles away from their dormitories.
"Just a few more push… And he'll break." His voice was steady, expectant.
"Come on, Darkness, I'm waiting." A smirk crept into his once-innocent expression, twisting into something far less pure.