❝ Mudhiyaandaro? Udalai polae uyirum
Hayoo azhuvadhum undo?❞

ii. monotone: dark stranger

──

An eternal silence cloaked the surroundings as Blaze strolled through the corridors utterly mesmerized by the beautifully designed water fountain that attracted the parched birds. Despite the coldness nature was emitting, she was feeling warm unusually. It was a sight to enjoy, the one anyone would wish to watch while dying in the arms of mother nature.

Her red heels were tapping the floor while matching the reverb to the sound of her heartbeat, she finds it oddly satisfying to keep everything synchronized. The air was as still as a calm lake and no one was nearby, she was completely lost and wasn't sure if the path she was pursuing was the one she was supposed to go.

With her eyes being magnetized to the fountain, she bumped into someone unexpectedly. Blaze Scarlette quickly apologized for her clumsiness and smiled brightly, reaching her hand out to the young boy before her for a handshake. The latter on the contrary felt different, depth feeling like he was lured as a moth to fire. 

"Are you at loss for words?" Blaze chuckled advancing her hand towards him more, showing that she is not retreating without him shaking her hands. He was still in silence, he couldn't muster up any words to convey her. 

Afraid, fear, people claim that the stone-hearted never feel those but indeed, they feel them way too much and are good at hiding it. An emotion like love, lust, attraction can be even ignored but, fear can never be trusted. It's the fear, that drives people insane to a limit, then the addiction takes the steering. Fear is the reason why we see criminals today, weak-hearted faint people, the reason someone is dead, the reason someone is alive. Fear mortifies people, that's the reason why we are like this now. Fear is always guilty of our faults, but we hide them under afraid that people will know our secrets. Afraid that they will know the real us.

Fear is in charge of all our sins.

"Hello?" Blaze reached in, grabbing his hands abruptly without his willingness. Taehyung gaped his eyes open, Blaze intertwined her hands with him and shook them while her face was beaming like the sun, unlike Taehyung whose emotionless face wore the most mortified look.

The smile on her face was replaced with a horrified expression as she saw blood dripping from his fingers. Cold to touch, warm to repel. Blaze immediately let go of his hand and searched for something in her backpack to aid him. Taehyng masked his face with a monotone look, but inside he was intensely terrified.

"you can't just roam around freely with a wound like that, what happened?" she hurriedly questioned taking a first aid kit from her bag. It contained essentials that can treat a small-sized injury. Taehyung was still quiet not sure of how to respond to her questions, Blaze took out a bandage from the medical kit and started to wrap it around his freshly done wound.

You may ask, why are you carrying a first aid kit in your bag? All she would reply to you with is, 'anything could happen anytime.'

"Are you dumb or what?" Blaze doubted focusing her attention on treating his wound. Taehyung wanted to push her away and walk out as nothing has ever happened but, there is this voice inside his head instructing him to go along with the flow. She had the face he could never forget and it had its own merits, the favor of Taehyung.

His eyes wandered over her facial structure, he couldn't point out any flaw. She was like an open-booked mystery, enigmatic poetry from the world of wonder. Her hands softly brushed along with his skin, his mind and emotions were a train wreck. His thoughts were speaking in riddles; He was utterly lost.

"No need for thanks or any introduction. I can't keep up with whatever you are so, I'll just go find what I need on my own," Blaze rendered packing her bag. Like a silent voice filled with roars of thunder, he studied her eyes. He found nothing to process, it was dead and alive. He couldn't understand anything, was she heaven or hell? The only answer he could get was, Ignorance is bliss.

"Goodbye, Mr.Monotone," Blaze bowed and walked brushing past him. Blaze was surely infamous for tagging people with different names despite them being a stranger, she was extraverted and a joyful character. For Taehyung, Her leave worried him. He felt the way he shouldn't, he felt the galaxy lost in a star.

Blaze made up a way in her head approximately to her class and took many turns. The classes weren't on the same floor, if Blaze was right, there was only one class on each floor. She found it quite tempting, the academy gave her hidden treasure vibes and totally digs it. There were only ten classes in the whole school and eleven floors. Blaze found the right one on the third floor.

The elevator she was riding had eleven numbers on it, the last one eleven with a fingerprint sensor.  Blaze wondered, what lies on the last floor? she wants to find it out but for now, all she has in her mind is to reach her class safely without bumping into another stranger.

The Faline Academy was a prodigy of elegance. Sophisticated in every way, she hasn't known about the truth yet. The paint in the wall still seeks fresh blood, red-stained curtains covered up with white. The strong facade hasn't unveiled its tragedy yet to the newcomer but, somehow she knows this was more than just a school; this is a business and salvation for the sumptuous.

Blaze entered the class on floor three, door engraved with a beautiful rose. Just as she stepped right inside the room, all attention was on her. Their gazes were burning her skin as her fight or flight instinct shut itself down, She wasn't much of a person to enjoy attention but still, she is used to it.  Blaze Scarlett gave out her application to the teacher as the elder one examined it carefully.

"You can go take a seat, Ms.Scarlett," the teacher sternly said filing the application. The black-haired silently sat beside a lean young man without a word. Introductions are always given in every academy by the transferees but, here she gave out nothing nor did anyone ask her. 

Aren't they interested in new people or was there any other reason?

"Blaze Scarlett here, may I know you?" She asked hoping he wasn't anti-social like the guy she saw before. "J- jake Grayson, n- nice to meet you, Ms.Scarlett," he stammered fidgeting his hands. Blaze snickered at his actions, what is he so shy and scared about? "Drop the formalities, Jake. Let's be just human beings, can we?" Blaze smiled.

"Human beings in The Faline Academy? we can only dream," Jake snorted puzzling Blaze. "What do you mean by that? Jake was swept off his feet as she mentioned the thing which ruined his life. Jake Grayson seemed innocent and naive but, there was something in him that concerned Blaze.

"I- It's really nothing," he awkwardly tittered stirring more curiousness inside Blaze. She reached her hands out trying to grab him but, somebody else ruined the opportunity for her. A delicate voice with an addictive word called out to her, Jake felt his whole world collapse apart but Blaze, she was keen. Whatever the girl said, Blaze shouldn't have smiled at it, she shouldn't look forward to it, not just on the day she entered this world.

"Blaze Scarlett, you wanna gamble?"

──

❝ Will the soul perish in the wind
Just like what the body does? ❞

+ edited :D