The White Haired Man

AROUND MALABON CITY

Andres stands up from his seat, and steps out of the jeep, and runs inward a street. While running, he can still feel the fast beating in his chest until he reaches a large red gate.

From his pocket, he brings out his key which is attached to his ID lace. He inserts the key in the keyhole, and upon opening the gate, Andres pulls out his key and quickly closes the door.

"I-I need to rest! What happened earlier? Is that real or fake?"

A girl with brown eyes and short brown hair shouts at him. "Hey!"

Andres jerks as his eyes grow wide. He turns to the girl. "I-I got no time to argue with you."

A sly smile manifests on her lips coated in red lipstick. She leans close to Andres and laughs.

"Oh, you jerk! Do you think I'll argue with you? Mother is on my side while you?" she looks from his head down to his toe, "You are only by yourself with no one to protect you."

Andres turns away from her, and with a calm tone, he says, "I know but I don't care about your opinion."

He walks hurriedly towards the stairs and enters his room.

Andres sits on his bed and sighs while his eyes wander around him; seeing the picture frames, his laptop placed on a wooden desk, and wooden chairs around.

"What is this box," Andres brings out the red rectangular box from his pocket, "why is Agnes interested in this?"

His eyebrows furrow and his grip tightens on the box. He holds the lid and removes it but a feeling crawls toward his hand.

"I can see you, young one."

Andres looks around him as the calm voice lingers in his mind. He looks around him and a cold wind appears around him, and green vines manifest on the wall.

Water sprouts from the floor as a ball of fire appears in front of Andres. Wind surrounds the fireball as lightning flickers around it, and stone chunks appear around the fireball.

Andres hops from his bed, only to land on the surface of the water. He looks at his feet and says, "Well, I thought it was deep."

"But who are you?!" he looked up at the fireball.

The fireball manifests onto the face of a man. He goes closer to Andres and tells him. "You are the one."

Andres raises his eyebrows and he narrows his eyes at the fireball.

"Just what am I hearing?!" Andres clenched his hands.

"Wake up."

His eyes widen, and Andres wakes up while breathing heavily. He looks around him and sees that his furniture is fixed, no vines, no water, and no floating fireball can be seen.

The door has been pushed and it slams against the wall. Andres quickly looks at the door and sees Leona frowning at him.

"Idiot! It's 6:00 am!"

Leona's eyes are widening as Andres is heading in her direction. The young man accidentally slams his body against Leona, and he continues to run from her.

"JERK!" Leona yelled.

Andres reaches the living room and he looks at the table, there, he sees only one lunch box with the name "Leona".

"Expecting a 'lunchbox'?"

Andres looks behind him and meets Leona's grin.

"What do you think? Mommy's going to make your lunch?" Leona giggles and she heads to the table and picks up her lunchbox, "Know your place, jerk!"

She repeatedly waves the lunchbox in front of Andres. He turns around and quickly runs out of the house, and on the street, he steps inside a jeep that stops in front of him.

AROUND MANILA

Later on, Andres is running inside the hallway of the university, and he stops in front of a door and pushes it. There, his eyes meet the stares of every student, and Andres sits on the seat near the door of the classroom.

"How is she alive?" Andres asked himself while looking at the teacher.

"Yes?" the teacher asked Andres.

"Nothing, Ma'am Agnes." Andres quickly opened his bag and brought out his notebook and a pen.

Agnes continues to write her lectures on the board while lecturing the class about it.

"Oh, yes," Agnes stops lecturing, and looks at the door, "today, we have a new student who will be joining us today."

The door near Agnes opens, and a young man with white long hair; is waved backward by a wax. His silver eyes captivate most of the female students causing some guys to be jealous.

"I am Kenyon," he looks around and his silver eyes land on Andres, "I like to sit beside that loner."

"A what?!" Andres was taken aback by the comment of the new male student.

With large eyes, he watches the male student go to the empty chair beside him. Kenyon glances at Andres.

"I am aware that you have many questions, and I will answer them," Kenyon whispered.

Andres only looks at him from the corner of his eyes.

"That box, you attempted to open it. Did you open it? Do you know what is your title, loner?" Kenyon whispered.

"Title?" Andres blinked while looking at the board.

"I see, you are still not aware of what you've entered. From now on, I will protect you with all my life even if it kills me," Kenyon whispered.

"Protect? Just who are you?!" Andres glanced at Kenyon.

After the class ends, Andres and Kenyon are on top of a rooftop. Kenyon is sitting on the roof tiles as Andres is standing while looking at the large basketball-covered court.

Andres wipes the sweat from his forehead, and he glares at Kenyon. "There's one thing that I don't understand... how the hell are you surviving this terrible heat?!"

"We have no time to argue about small things, Andres," Kenyon calmly glances at him, "the teacher that we fought at that alleyway, is a shapeshifter who copied your teacher's appearance."

"Did that answer your question on how your teacher is alive?" Kenyon asked.

Andres brings out his knife from the sole of his shoe, and he crouches behind Kenyon.

Andres wraps his arm around Kenyon's neck and points his knife below Kenyon's jaw.

Andres furrows his eyebrows as his eyes narrow at Kenyon. "How did you know what I was thinking?!"

"I am not like them... it's just common sense to me," Kenyon told him, "if I was in your place after witnessing the event, I too would be shocked to see that my teacher would still be alive after I slaughtered her."

Andres nods slowly before putting his knife from Kenyon's neck, and he stands up and sits beside Kenyon.

"It seems you are aware of the existence of mythical creatures," Andres said while putting his knife in its sheath.

"I'll explain later about them," Kenyon stands up, "but for now, we must go back to the class to blend in... we don't know if they might attack especially now."

Kenyon faces Andres, and he raises his hand and points his index finger at Andres.

"From this day on, you will be by my side. I will do everything in my power to protect you."

"Kenyon, I appreciate it... but this sounds gay."

"No!"

For the first time, Kenyon's serious mood has been destroyed by three words. Andres chuckles while Kenyon rubs his forehead while looking downwards.

"But seriously!" Kenyon punches Andres' chest, "You are now under my wing, I won't let anyone harm you."