"You are not and I don't think that you are." He said clearly. His calmness is getting into my nerves but I have to remain calm, archaic, blunt, and mostly monotonous. "You see, Catastrophe," he said to me like a song which is quite unusual to me these days. "I could say that we have a one-sided romantic relationship. You shouldn't worry much about yourself, because I was the one who is responsible for everything."
"If you say so. Remember that I don't like you doing those things anymore. I am not Adhiti. And if you love her, why won't you find her yourself so that you won't think of me as her. Mostly, you will never kiss me again like I was her."
"If that's what you want." He finally said. He smiled cockily like it was a competition between us. "For now." He added that it makes me raise my eyebrow.
"Are we talking clearly at each other? It isn't appropriate for a teacher to seduce his student."
He walked towards me and I stood still with chin up and confidence. He pushed himself to me that made me lean on the table and he cornered me with his arms. He moved down his face. The little pace between us makes us feel each other's breath.
"I can seduce anyone I like. I can be a bad boy of your dreams."
"I don't dream bad boys," I told him and never looked down. Ruin whimpers and barks at us. He kept walking around our feet like he wanted something.
"Really?" he asked as if he's doubting me. "Do you know what it feels and what it tastes like when I kiss you?"
"Does a kiss also have a taste?" I asked a little curious though I know how it feels and tastes like.
"Yes. I feel Adhiti's lips and mouth. It tastes Adhiti like the first time we kissed. But it is a disappointment that I never felt her response." He said it slowly and sexily. I have to smack my head off from thinking that it is sexy. I just wish that he didn't notice that it affects me a little. I am good at hiding my reactions and emotions but I have never been good doing it all when it comes to him since I got here. "I just wished that I can read minds so that I can hear your thoughts."
"Step back," I demand him. He moved closer to kiss me but I looked away and avoided it.
"I just wish that you are Adhiti so that I could kiss her anytime I wanted to. I just wish that I have enough seduction to seduce her all over again and make her fall in love with me all over again. So she won't look at another man."
I felt Ruin scratching on my feet and whining like he wanted something. He kissed my forehead and stepped back. I look down at Ruin and I immediately know what he wanted. I put water on his bowl and he immediately drank it using his tongue while his tail was wiggling.
"Did she cheat on you, that's why you wished that you seduced her enough?" I asked him and sat on my chair comfortably.
"No. She never cheated on me. She was perfect in my eyes." I didn't respond to his answer and continued eating. "Tomorrow, the same time in the gymnasium." He reminded me and left my room.
Around ten in the evening I have to sneak out of the building to give Ruin freedom. It is hard to hide him from everyone around me except for the people who know about Ruin. I taught him how to fetch but he never took it. Maybe next time. We went to the near river and he played on the water. The light of the moon is bright like anytime I will see some bats flying or some witch riding on her broom.
"Ruin," I called him and he immediately responded by running towards me. He shakes his body to dry up but the water drops fly on my face. I wiped my face. "Okay, enough now. Come on." He runs to me and I dry his fur with the towel that I wrapped on him. I stood and hugged him. I almost dropped Ruin when someone was behind me all this time.
"Sorry for startling you." Flame smiles wide on me. He wasn't wearing black today but a white sweatshirt. "That's an adorable dog." Ruin growls at him and barks at him. "But he doesn't like me." I calm Ruin and he stops barking but he is growling and I feel it vibrating on my chest.
"He's not a dog, but a wolf."
"Wolf-dog… they are the same." He told and moved a little closer. "So, how are you? I haven't seen you for a while. Plus, Eliza looked depressed because she had seen you and Nick make out in the car." I simply got irritated by his last sentence. I can't help but frown at him.
"We didn't make out. He kissed me against my will. Also, it is harassment." I groan at him. He immediately hands up and apologizes.
"Okay, if you say so." He walked around and gathered a few kinds of wood and he settled a fire site and threw fire on it. He sat and gestured to me to sit with him. I did but a distant distance from him and let Ruin lay down near the fire. He yawns big and laid down his chin.
"How long do you know them?"
"Long enough before they were born." My eyes widened in amusement. I wanted to laugh at him and he could see in my eyes that it amuse me.
"How exactly old are you?" I asked him to make sure.
"Two-hundred-nineteen." He answered seriously. But I laugh a little and try to stop it. He frowns at me as if it was some kind of a joke. The fire gets big that wakes Ruin but I calm the fire and patted Ruin. "We don't get old like humans. Our aging slows down for twenty-five years at the age of fifteen and stopped at the age of twenty. After three times two-hundred years, we continue aging in the same routine."
"That sounds cool." I just murmur. I guess he's telling the truth. "So, that means that you are an oldie in this world." He grimaced at me and almost threw fire on me but I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Yes," he agreed. "But don't laugh at it because you, humans don't know about us."
"Oh, I do," I told him in a very serious sound. He looked at me quite quizzically.
"Really?"
"Yes. You are a nymph, like dryads or something." I told him. He curled his lips down and shrugged like he was thinking if I was right or wrong.
"Well, something like that. But, you know," he looked directly into my eyes and studied. "You are something and I think that you are not human. You must be the daughter of some Royal Blood of Pyrē. You wouldn't control the fire just like that. It is very rare for people in this Mystical Academy to light up the fire in their hands." I think for a moment before speaking.
"Did you mean that you and I are the only ones who can control fire and lit it with our hands?" Am I asking the right question? I have this feeling that my wordings are wrong. I sometimes have that feeling.
"Precisely. It only means that you and I are destined to each other." He smiled playfully thinking that I am destined for him. But I don't feel that way towards him. I feel like he's a jerk or something. Or is it because this heart wanted only someone else? He gapes when I don't react to it. "Maybe not." Good thing that he immediately realized that it is not good to think about it. "You are too, a serious type and emotionless type. How could you manage that?"
"Simple, because I grew up with an aspie. That aspie raised me well."
"Are you lacking empathy too?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Not really, he let me enjoy my environment around and I have this little empathy too. I learned it with my mentor in the violin." He nods on my answer. He crawled towards me and sat beside me. He folded his knees and wrapped his arms around it as he leaned his cheek on his knees while facing me.
"You are amazing while playing the violin." He said it charmingly as if he was mesmerized on me, or worse in love.
"Thank you?" it sounds like a question. No, it is a question. I don't know how to respond that easily. He stayed like that for a moment, staring at me and studying me while I took myself from looking away and staring at the fire.
"I like it very much. I don't know what you have but I am super attracted to you. You are just a fierce, alluring lady that I've ever seen since then."
He sounds so familiar. I wonder how he said all of those words. He's very old and I guess that he's very strategic about getting a girl he wanted. He's that knowledgeable about making girls fall for him. He sounds like Nick.
"Really?" I asked him if I am not that interested to hear it. Also, I don't believe him. How many times did he say the same words to other girls?
"Really. I don't care if you believe in my words." He moved his face closer to me and closed the space between us. I felt his warm lips on mine. It is like the time has stopped and everything around us including the fire. I checked my heartbeat and it is stable but a little shocked at what he did. Slowly, he played expertly and wondered about my lips and my mouth.