Chapter 86

"Hey." Celine managed to maintain her grin despite coming dangerously close to colliding with a water cooler and toppling over the table that contained it.

What a waste of being cool.

"Hey." The lad gave her a reassuring grin before he reluctantly stopped in front of her. His unkempt curls flowed in a circular motion around his face. His eyes, which were blue, shone with a fiery intensity.

She has a certain something about her, but what is it?

It wasn't only his physical attractiveness; there was something else there. It was inevitable. Celine was immediately drawn to him since his face had a certain cast to it, one that was melancholy and wistful at the same time. Even though his grin was weak, you could tell he was a strong individual just by looking into his eyes. Because of the way they sparkled, he had the impression that there was something that was being held in check by the skin of its teeth, something that could go off at any time, and he immediately understood this. It was like looking in the same mirror over and over again to her.

He was powerful, regardless of whether he or anybody else was aware of the extent of his power. He was very certain about it.

Celine had no curiosity regarding the source of her information. She was too preoccupied with thinking about the ways in which she could learn even more about him as soon as possible.

What were you looking at in my direction? Could I really be so fortunate?

"Hey," she said over and over again, unable to think of anything else to say, especially considering that what he truly wanted to say was unable to be expressed.

Who are you? What is it that you want from me? Why do your eyes look so miserable? Do you both want to get away for a while?

"Hey," he called out in response. They were now confronting one another in the middle of the gymnasium. The fencers were making the most of the remaining few minutes of their warm-up by tearing up and down the metal strips all around them, with their blades clanging as they did so.

Celine was embarrassed by the silence, and she chided herself for having the naive assumption that the interaction would be any different from how it typically went with boys her age. On the mat, she exuded confidence, but away from it, she was timid. When it came to communicating with the majority of lads, she had the impression that she was attempting to comprehend a completely different nation or possibly a different planet.

They remained motionless there for an additional minute.

At long last, the young child raised his voice. "So, this is definitely going to sound weird, but do you recognize me from somewhere?"

She was positive that she had never encountered him in her entire life before at any point. Even so, he seemed almost acquainted, even if it was only in a sense that he couldn't describe.

Celine lied and said, "Sure." "Totally."

"Right?" He cocked his head to the side and looked directly into her eyes. "Are you familiar with the topic I'm discussing?"

No idea.

The weight of his gaze was pressing down on Celine all the way to her Nikes, and she could feel it. She made an effort to block out the reality that she was sweating so much despite the fact that she wasn't even wearing her fencing jacket. It was fastened around her waist in a snug manner. When he glanced at her, it was as if a fish-eye camera filter had been applied since the rest of the room became extremely blurry.