Esmond thankfully arrived on time and entered a large lecture hall before being divided into smaller groups that would lead him around the campus.
Since his degree was focused on business, Esmond was thoroughly shown the business campus and its facilities, but in comparison to the institute or even the schools made for the residents and their children, the campus seemed very basic.
Once he knew where his classes would be and the times they would start in the following week, Esmond felt ready to leave and head home, but he was stopped once he heard a familiar voice call him out.
"Esmond!" a short blonde hair girl screamed while jumping into Esmonds arms.
Startled, he hugged onto to stop himself and her from falling hard into the ground.
He was wondering who the crazy girl was to run at him full sprint before barging into his body, but seeing her golden rose eyes, Esmonds mind instinctively clicked in and remember her face.
"Amelia?!"
.
Esmond knew Amelia would be studying with him at the university of South Australia, but he never expected to see her on his first day on campus.
"What are you doing Amelia?" Esmond asked, wondering in his mind when he last saw her, since it was well before he returned from his cycle of endless life and death.
"Durrrr, it's also my orientation day!
I'm studying economics by the way, but I'm surprised you were coming to uni.
From what Dad said you were running a pretty successful company already.
You've even got him working for you!"
Ameila said while laughing and giggling cutely as he berated her old friend.
Esmond looked on dearly while continuing to hold onto her.
He tried not to hold her tight for fear me might hurt her with his strength, but he didn't notice how others saw his delicate touch and thought Esmond and Amelia were a couple as they walked by.
They only broke away from each other when Esmond caught sight of what seemed to be Amelias friends awkwardly looking around to keep themselves busy, leaving the assumed couple to do their thing.
Only one of them was giving Esmond a dirty glare as if someone had taken something precious from his hands.
Esmond caught onto the guy, a sight he'd seen far too many times.
'Carter, there's someone I need you to look up…' Esmond already started his investigation of the fella, making sure he wouldn't do something stupid to harm Ameila or anyone else.
.
"Well, even if I wanted to stay away from uni, both of my parents want me here and a degree in their laps *Sigh*.
I'm studying business, but I'm thinking a double degree with law or engineering.
Undecided to be fair."
"Always the little genius Esmond… but I have to ask… what's with the red streak in the hair and most of all, what the fuck is this mask?"
Esmond was thankful Amelia hadn't noticed the changes to his body that were concealed with his clothing, giving him a slim look as per usual, but with a height increase.
From his eyes alone, Amelia was stunned by her old friend's appearance, but being unable to see anything below the dark mask across half of his face annoyed her.
She was about to reach for it, but Esmond grabbed onto her hand, "Hey! Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
"Taking off this pretty mask!
I want it!"
"Get fucked."
The two continued fighting like children till one of Amelias friend had a coughing fit loud enough for Godzilla in the depths of the oceans.
Not wanting to give up in the fight, Amelia dragged Esmond along to grab some late lunch with the group as they all headed down to a small takeaway shop with kebabs and yiros as its special.
Esmond ended up paying for everyone once Amelia said she would pay for the group.
Considering there were 7 of them, including himself and Amelia, the cost wouldn't be less than $70 based on what they were all grabbing to eat.
She tried to fight him on it, but he pushed her aside, leaving her to complain while he introduced himself to her friends.
.
There were 3 girls, Brooklyn, Maya, and Lucy, who'd all studied with Amelia at high school with the 2 other boys, Jacob, and Wyatt, with the latter deeply infatuated with Amelia once her natural beauty started to come out after they completed school.
Esmond found the girls to be a delight, though Brooklyn seemed the flirty type, she seemed rather straight forward and simple, as if the mask was off putting and not attractive in her eyes.
He was surprised by his interaction with Jacob who seemed to love AC Milan, going as far as to wear on of the team polo shirts to uni.
Seeing the shirt, Esmond thought it was funny since he knew Eddie was working on acquiring some teams for him and AC Milan happened to be one of them.
He thought about gifting a trip to the kid later on, but he didn't know if they'd stay in touch.
Only Wyatt continued to be a problem, who wouldn't say anything more than a couple words in reply to Esmonds questions, even outright refusing to answer a few when Esmond tried to be friendly.
Amelia had also noticed Wyatts behaviour and felt annoyed that he was behaving in such a childish manner.
She of course knew about his crush on her since he'd told their group of friends, which informed her about the news.
While she respected his feelings, never did she ever feel any kind of attraction towards him.
It was obvious Wyatt was behaving like a jealous idiot and Amelia wasn't prepared to continue fuelling his behaviour, so she decided on leaving.
.
Esmond ended up catching a ride with her home as they caught a taxi, leaving her friends back at the takeway shop.
Seeing that they were alone, well as alone one can be in the back of a taxi, Amelia decided on removing Esmonds mask.
He put up no resistance to it, since he considered her a dear friend but when her eyes saw his chiselled jawline, rose cheeks and lips, Amelia felt flushed.
Esmond saw her blushing before she started to vigorously shake her head side to side, "You look too pretty… argh it makes me feel ugly."
"Ohh please, you're damn fine and you know it.
I'm just too fabulous… hehehe!"
The two laughed and mucked around in the taxi as Amelia caught Esmond up about her friends and Wyatt.
She apologised for his behaviour, but he assured her it was fine.
"It's understandable…
Your gorgeous, pretty, and smart.
That's the whole package in my eyes."
Amelias eyes sparkled when she heard those words, but she said nothing more and simply intertwined her arm with Esmonds, leaning on his shoulder.
They remained silent all the way home, with Esmond dropped her off at her door as they hugged each other goodbye.
Esmond got back in the taxi and headed to his own home as he thought to himself, '*Sigh* At least I know how she feels about me…'
He had a smile on his face while he thought about Amelia's actions in the cab.
They'd been friends for many years, meeting each other when they were as little as 2 years old and after that, they come to see one another every so often over the years.
It was like a little fairy-tale in Amelias mind, seeing her prince charming come and go, but seeing as they would be studying together for years to come, she felt it was the perfect time to air her feelings.
Esmond had the same feelings for her as well.
He'd even thought about making her his Empress in the future, but he wasn't completely sure about it just of yet, knowing full well what kind of pressure and dangers the position brought.
He continued to think his feelings over for Amelia while on the drive home.
.
Once Esmond was back in the space and within cabin, he saw a small letter on the coffee table in the lounge with his name on it.
Clearly written in his mothers handwriting, Esmond heart sank, as he remembered a similar event in his past when his father had left after his mother's death due to illness, leaving Esmond to fend for himself as a 4-year-old child which seemed abnormally smart compared to others his age.
While Esmond didn't believe his parents would abandon him like his father from the past, he felt something must have happened for them to leave him a note.
Siting down first, Esmond collected his thought before he opened the letter.
As he read over the letter, tears began to well up in his eyes before falling down his face and landing on the paper.
Esmond tried to keep himself composed, but his emotions ran to rampant after reading his parents message with grief overcoming him.
.
'To our sun, our moon, our soul…
We have to leave you behind while we head back… home.
There are no words to express how guilty we feel and how sorry we are for leaving you behind, but you have a great responsibility to take on.
We would never want to leave you behind but there are rules of our homeland that we need to abide by and one of those rules was to return once our child was capable to survive on their own.
More than ever, we both know you are capable…
So, our darling son, please keep yourself safe and know that we love you dearly…
In time, things will be clearly, and I promise we will meet again… soon… when we can be a whole family again so keep your head up high, and like always… thank you for making us the proudest parents of the greatest son…
We love you…
From Mum and Dad…'
Reading over the message again and again, Esmond was an emotional wreck while sitting on the ground in the lounge.
He had a photo of his parents in his hand while more tears continued to run down his face.
.
When Carter appeared, the others had arrived with him, but Isabelle kept anyone from entering the cabin, sending Carter ahead to see how Esmond was doing.
Walking into the cabin, Carter felt the empty presence of Daniel and Ruby, however it wasn't long before he heard Esmond crying in the lounge.
Coming across Esmond on the ground with a photo of their parents in his hand, Carter sighed as he called the others inside, before approaching Esmond.
"I'm sorry I couldn't say anything…" Carter said as he tried to help Esmond up.
He tried to brush Carter off, feeling anger towards his dear friend and brother for not telling him, but Carter gripped onto him tightly before shoving him back into the couch.
"If you fucking think you're the old one hurt from them gone…
But remember you aren't alone here, and many people are resting their beliefs with you, so please…"
Esmond could tell Carter was trying to stop him spiralling into a wreck, so he had to deal with him in a heavy manner, but it wasn't easy for Carter.
.
Once Esmond saw Kane and Vaazakra, left wondering for a moment who they were, was surprised to learn they were upgraded before his parents left so they could protect the parents.
"Even if you ask them, Mum and Dad made them promise not to tell you anything…"
Carter informed Esmond who felt furious but when he heard Vaazakra call him endearingly, the fury within him started to fade away.
"Big brother, we promise nothing will happen to them!" Vaazakra said.
"Yeah, we promise Big brother…" Kane was quieter than the loud Vaazakra which was a surprise to Esmond, but he thought it was charming and cute.
With the five of them in the lounge, Isabelle told Esmond about their mother's plans, setting up people to cook for them and keep the house neat while offering Esmond any guidance he might need.
Esmond was happy to receive his parent's gift, even if drones could do everything instead, he understood his parents wanted him to be surrounded by people.
Carter was already working to have the woods around the cabin include some space for the help to live in, but there was also an internal gate teleportation system to allow them to come over from the second city if they chose not to move.
Knowing all of this, Esmond kicked back in the lounge and opened up the system interface with his eyes falling on the number of credits in his bank.
Seeing it was enough for an upgrade for Carter and some of the others, Esmond first checked with Echo if everything was ready, who assured him the production of the quantum computers was coming along well.
…
..
.
*Ding*
[Basic Artificial Intelligence program – Archie - has upgraded into Basic Artificial System Spirit Core!]
.
*Ding*
[Basic Artificial Intelligence program – Rosie - has upgraded into Basic Artificial System Spirit Core!]
.
*Ding*
[Basic Artificial Intelligence program – Scarlett - has upgraded into Basic Artificial System Spirit Core!]
.
*Ding*
[Basic Artificial Intelligence program – Eddie - has upgraded into Basic Artificial System Spirit Core!]
.
*Ding*
[Basic Artificial Intelligence program – Maverick - has upgraded into Basic Artificial System Spirit Core!]
.
*Ding*
[Basic Artificial Intelligence program – Gabriel - has upgraded into Basic Artificial System Spirit Core!]
.
..
…