The question hung in the air like an unexplained joke as Yaa chuckled and Loh stopped chewing her food.

“That guy who comes to campus once a week and gets followed-around by a bunch of ‘fans’ as if he’s famous,” Loh rattled out her words as if it was the most boring piece of information in the world. “None of them have the balls to talk to him though,” she shrugged, and went back to finishing up her breakfast.

“Can’t blame them really,” Yaa’s tone was hushed. “Sure he’s nice to look at, but he’s got this angry feel about him, you know?”

Suu’s eyebrows nearly reached her hairline as she constantly turned her head between the growing crowds and her friends.

“Look I love you both but which nut-case are you talking about?!” she asked desperately. An excited squeal from somewhere in the crowd made her jolt and look around again. The noisy halls then began to hush and simmer down.

Yaa bit back a laugh and pointed a finger towards the entrance, perking her eyebrows at Suu with a cheeky smirk. Suu laughed and frowned at the same time, mouthing a silent ‘seriously, who is this person?!’ at her friend. Once she turned to face the entrance, the sound of heavy footsteps reached her ears.

Silence spread across the crowds as a large man sauntered into the hall, and Suu froze in her seat. Dressed in dark colors, his long hair was done half-up with the rest of it cascading like a veil until his chest. Suu caught a glimpse of his side-profile, the sight of which made her chest tighten. Delicate features that altogether did not match his menacing frame. It was the same face from the day before.

“That guy,” Yaa whispered in a sing-song tone, “is Vaishaka Desakshi.”

It was like getting doused in ice when she recognized ‘Fox-face’. Unaware of her gaze, he sauntered away in the distance; his arms bare in a sleek, hooded tunic.

W-Well, he could just be a look-alike, she reasoned. She blinked several times until her confused gaze fell on his arm. And her mouth fell open again.

Oh Gods, no.

A circular mandala enclosing the Holy Trinity, with a Guardian Dragon’s wide-open maw on top. Etched with blood-like red ink. Same tattoo, same man. Most probably.

If that really is him, she thought to herself, what the actual hell is he doing here?!

As soon as he settled a dark satchel on a table devoid of people, he began to look around as if he were searching for someone. Suu took that as a cue to stop staring. She whipped around in her seat and faced her friends; one hand placed on her chest to will her beating heart.

Calm down, it’s all right, she repeated to herself over and over again.

Loh was sipping her cup of tea now, and between her and Yaa, they looked at their youngest friend with a curious expression—Suu had a feeling they knew something was off. She swallowed nervously.

“So, uhh,” she began with a worried smile, “Who’s the, uh, who’s the Evil Prince over there,” she teased, trying her best not to sound shaken. “And how have I never seen him around here?”

Yaa placed her chin on her palm again. “Mr. Evil Prince over there transferred from Central University more than a month ago,” she said, watching the way Suu winced. “He just takes one business-related class, last I heard,” she smiled. “What’s with the tough face, Suu?”

“Oh, w-well, just, uh, not the kind of face I’m into,” Suu grinned, hoping it covered the panic on her face.

“Yeah I’m not into his face either, but I’ll admit he’s a beautiful son-of-a-mother,” Loh gazed behind Suu with a frown, and scratched her chin. “Nothing more beautiful than academic validation though,” she added with a shrug.

“Not even your precious childhood crush’s smile?” Suu teased, crouching towards Loh with a knowing grin.

Loh jolted as if she’d been stung and her face lit up like a dark tomato. She wasted no time lunging towards her curly-haired friend and proceeded to pinch her cheeks.

Yaa squealed and tried to get them to separate; the trio devolving into a laughing fit.

“Pipe down, you two!” the older girl nearly yelled, and then immediately brought her voice down to a whisper. “And listen , Suu…” She paused, as if to search for the right words. “Listen. About the Evil Prince over there, you’re better off staying away from him—”

Suu geared her voice to whisper as loud as she could, feeling her whole face burn with panic. “Now why would I ever interact with—”

“You’re an unpredictable little thing,” Loh wagged her finger at her like a mother would to a misbehaving child. Suu poked her tongue out at her. The older girls exchanged wary smiles before Loh spoke again. “Take it as free advice from your seniors.”

Suu gave her friends a confused look for a few moments until she twisted her lips into an evil smirk. Deny, deflect, and destabilize, or so the saying went. “Oh I’m sorry,” Suu drawled with a dramatic tone, “No guy I talk to will ever hold a match to Naviran and Korou,” she drawled, and the girls jolted. She pointed one accusing finger at Yaa. “Navi couldn’t even wait for you to graduate before marrying you last year,” she declared. Her other finger pointed at Loh. “Korou’s followed you around like a clingy puppy for as long as he’s lived!”

The young ‘seniors’ glanced at each other again until they sighed at the same time.

“She’s due for a good beating, don’t you think?” Loh muttered with an evil smirk.

Yaa nodded with a calm smile. “I doubt it’ll fix her, but we can try.”

“Haven’t you two beat me up enough today?!” Suu cried.

In response, they pounced on her with a stint of tickles and face-pinching that put toddlers to shame. Finally, Loh clasped Suu’s arm and stood up.

“I’m not done with you yet, little one. Let me go wash my hands and get some more tea,” said Loh, giving Suu’s cheek one more pinch before walking away. Yaa sat back and chuckled while Suu smoothed over her heated face. As annoyed as she was, she was still chuckling from the previous tickle-fest.

“Seriously though,” she exhaled, adjusting the haywire curls around her face. “I can’t believe they let some dude from CU in here. Is nothing sacred these days?!”

Yaa chuckled and tossed her an exhausted smile. “From what I heard, he barely lasted a week at CU before he quit,” she tapped her fingers on the table. “He might be a normal one after all. And I haven’t heard anything creepy about him so far. No lover-boy incidents, so-to-speak. He just seems to be this…miserable recluse, or something.”

Suu crossed her arms and twisted her lips every which way, in an attempt to look deep in thought. She couldn’t let Yaa know how relieved she felt upon hearing that piece of gossip. “That’s hard to believe when he looks like he spends all his money on books, tattoos, and shampoo,” she tossed her braided hair back.

“Oh hold on Suu,” Yaa extended the last word with a knowing smile, “Those are pretty specific details for someone you don’t know,” she said slowly.

Oh sh*t.

Her friend’s piercing eyes wracked Suu’s nerves, because she knew she couldn’t hide from the older girl. Infuriating as it was, Yaa always saw right through her, be it fib or front. Every single time. And right now was no different.

Suu huffed and crossed her legs in an attempt to seem nonchalant. “I mean, just look at him, its, it’s right there! Unless you want to be a saint and and not judge books by their covers or whatever,” she scoffed, drumming her fingers on the table.

Sht, I said too much, way too much. Sht-sht-sht, she screamed in her mind.

And sure enough, Yaa’s widening smirk confirmed her fears: the older girl looked like she could see right through her mean-word walls.

“Right…” Yaa crossed her arms and continued her cheeky smile. “…so is there a reason you want to judge him so much, or…?”

For the first time in a long while, raw panic surged through Suu’s body and she felt her face burning up.

“Long hair, walks around like a brooding crow,” she blurted out. “There’s no way I’d care about someone like that,” she crossed her arms, frowning at the fact that her friend’s smile was fading. Her frown deepened when Yaa sat up straight and began to slowly look up. Still worse, something like fear flashed in the older girl’s eyes, and Suu opened her mouth to protest. And she paused.

Oh.

The noise and chatter around them had come to a complete stand-still.

“Is ‘Sumitra Airavara’ here…?” a familiar, deep voice asked from above her, and Suu’s heart nearly skipped a beat.

Yaa darted her gaze helplessly between Suu and the man behind her. The unasked ‘Do I tell him?’ was written all over the older girl’s face. Suu willed her body to move, because the last thing she wanted was to put her friends in uncomfortable positions. She slowly turned around.

Face to face with the midriff of a tunic, she became painfully aware of the several pairs of prying eyes on her. Yet as much as her mind screamed at her to not look at him, she tilted her face up and met his gaze. It took a mountain of self-restraint to not jolt at the exact same eyes and face she had seen the day before.

Fox-face’s gaze was gentle, somehow. He moved his head softly to get a better look at her, a few stray locks swinging towards her. If he recognized her from the day before, he sure didn’t act like it; but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Are you…” his unasked question hung in the air between them, and she swallowed hard as she willed her voice to come out.

“Th-that would be me, ye—” her words died in her throat as a sudden wave of panic settled into her.

Why the hell does he know my name?

___________