Aria never makes it back to the classroom, a severe looking woman with icy blue eyes sharply tells Aria to follow her the second she's out of the room. The woman is tall, her blonde hair slicked back into a tight bun, and her white heels click on the floor like a drum beat.
The system chatters in her ear, constantly nagging about this and that but as she steps into the office he is weirdly quiet. He wants this to happen, wants her to meet this allusive principal that he's been chattering about for hours. The so called male lead, the chosen soul powering the core of this world. He must be a formidable enemy, logic dictates it so, but Aria has low expectations, a grown man preying on young girls never quite impressed her.
Aria is led through gleaming wooden double doors into a long square room, a desk sits innocuously to one side with papers neatly arranged, memos are spread on a white board behind a wide leather chair, a narrow corridor extends past the other end of the room leading to a heavy matt black door that opens ominously, the hinges creak and a tall man steps through.
The first thing that stands out about this man is his long black hair tied neatly in a ponytail and kept over his shoulder. The rounded shiny glasses perched over the bridge of his nose gleam as he steps in the path of a beam of sunlight, his thin lips are pursed into a line, his light brown eyes are hard and unforgiving, his suit is impeccable, tailored perfectly to his frame. This male lead exudes elegance and severity like some renaissance painting.
Aria is instantly repulsed. She had a gift, her father used to say, to read people like an oracle. This man's aura elicits goosebumps down her arms and a sick slimy feeling in her gut. Her vision tunnels momentarily before she regains her composure. She hates him, passionately.
"Miss Jin, I heard you made another commotion in class," he says, slamming the door to his office wide open until it hit the wall.
"I did?" Aria tilts her head to the side, curious. She wants to see where this conversation will lead.
"Miss Jin, in my office. Now."
Aria crosses her arms over her chest, the severe woman clears her throat lightly and leaves them alone. The wide room suddenly feels like a tight lift falling from the top floor without restraint.
He sighs pinching the bridge of his nose, "Aria, we've spoken about this. You can't keep acting up."
"We did?" Aria's eyes widen, the familiarity worrying.
It means that the original Aria had already developed a relationship with him.
"Aria!"
Subconsciously Aria flinches stepping back unconsciously, shame and fear twist in her stomach. She stutters an apology before she can stop it. A reflex. It doesn't seem to cool him down much, instead his glare is fiercer. He gesticulates sharply, pauses, rubs his temple then tells her to follow him through gritted teeth.
She walks back, her eyes always on him, she opens the door to the office and looks at the woman standing there as she declines, unnecessary but she wants to drive the point home. She will not be going anywhere with a sketchy man in power, not one who seems like a paedophile. Any conversation between them will happen in public or with another person in the room, Aria watched too many dramas to know that things could turn very horribly in mere seconds for her if he gets triggered in any way. In their eyes she is a villain at fault for all their problems.
"Aria," his gaze turns gentle.
He strides to her, grabs her shoulders, lifts his hand to caress her cheek, mockingly she thinks, heat rushes to her face, fingers twitch, not quite sure if its to swing a punch or place her own hand over his. Aria curses the way her new body reacts, muscle memory, lost or not, is attentively attuned to this man. She wants so badly to move, but her body is frozen. It won't listen to the vehement orders she's screaming in her mind.
"Aria, I believe in you. Please show me your sincerity." He rubs her head, pinches her nose and then pushes her gently out of the office. "Karen dear, do take young Aria back to class."
Aria woodenly follows the woman.