Aaron was woken up by a sharp thunder on the rainy morning he was supposed to leave the palace. He couldn't properly sleep because he was so nervous to see her again—to feel the pain and happiness mixed like murky colors on a canvas inside of him, and if she would recognize him. The wizards, at the demand of the queen, gave him an enchanted stone that would change his appearance from other people's perspective so no one could recognize him as it would cause an uproar if people heard that the prince did not choose any school in their country and opted to one outside of their jurisdiction.
He went to the bath and readied himself with the commoner clothes that he normally wouldn't wear, keeping the stone secure inside the bronze locket he wore around his neck. Suddenly, his platinum hair and pupils transformed into black, his height decreased, his facial features were unrecognizable to an extent, and he looked unattractive. Aaron was satisfied with his look and completed it with glasses, and he proceeded to leave the palace after saying good bye to his family.
The school that welcomed him was very grand and it was obvious that it was funded generously by prime minister Roover. It was sunny in the country, and the nearby flower island was blooming, which was very evident in the cool breeze and in the window of his dormitory on the fifth floor.
"Will you be alright here, your majesty?" the principal, who personally accompanied the prince, and the only one who knows about his true identity, asked, as Aaron stared at the flower island's colorful land.
"Please refrain from calling me that from now on especially in public. I am now Eros Andrija Jarlath, remember?" he asked nicely as the principal nodded to agree with him. "This room is good. No need to worry about unnecessary intricacies."
"That is very good, sir," the principal happily said as he began to retire from the room. "Please send me a pigeon if you need something. I am at your service."
Aaron thought that assuming the name Eros was so ridiculous. He didn't pick it, his father did, and he enrolled him at the school using that name without his permission. As to how he ended up with that name was a complete mystery to him, and he sighed and let himself fall on the soft bed, as he was so stressed that all his efforts for disguise would be uncovered.
To his surprise, his father even enrolled him in the same class as Therese, making him acquainted with all the people close to her.
"Hello, I am Eros Andrija Jarlath, I came from the flower island as a scholar personally chosen by the principal," he introduced himself, not meaning to brag, but to provide an explanation as to how he transferred at a very questionable time—right at the week before their midterms.
His eyes immediately wandered to search for Therese, who was looking straight at him, making him overthink if he was wearing the necklace that was supposed to protect him.
Therese was leaning on her right arm on the table and smiled at him before looking outside the window beside her.
Aaron sighed in relief. He panicked for a moment because the way Therese approached him on his birthday had such a huge impact on him that he was afraid that it would happen again. He was thankful.
Just her smile was enough for him—it didn't matter that she couldn't recognize him or even know him, all that matters was that he is sure that she is safe, and that he got close to her again.
Each day that passed by that he wasn't with her, that he couldn't see her was like a day without sunshine and bliss.
"-ter Jarlath?" the teacher called. Apparently, Eros was just staring at her for such a long time that he couldn't pay attention.
"Yes, sir?" he asked with quite a hint of embarrassment in his tone.
"You may sit at the left seat beside the boy with the red hair," the teacher said on a very friendly tone.
Aaron walked as his classmates stared, and he sat beside the Ashton boy who was the very protagonist of every report his knight tells him.
"Nice to meet you," Ashton greeted him with a smile, but his eyes weren't smiling, which Aaron noticed. There was a glint of annoyance and nobility in his manners, and he offered him his hand. "My name is Ashton Roover."
"Nice to meet you too, I am Eros," Aaron replied, and the sight of Therese at the back of Ashton made him at ease. However, Ashton noticed his actions and he blocked the view of Aaron by putting his bag at the top of the table as he smiled.
Aaron was angered by the actions of the kid that seemed to be looking for a fight, but he restrained himself and calmed down to listen to the teacher.
At lunch time, Therese was surrounded by her friends that Aaron did not have any space left for him. He meant to talk to her that day, but he couldn't, until he went back to his dorm.
Knowing that Therese wanders at night, he deliberately ventured at the edge of the girls' dormitory to wait for her until she sneaks, and when she did, nostalgia hit him so much.
Therese wore her white sleeping gown and she went straight at the exact location where Aaron deliberately walked so she could see him. They bumped into each other, and both of them fell on the ground.
"Are you okay?" Therese asked him, looking straight into his eyes as she offered him her hand.
Aaron was so devastated. It was the very same eyes that looked at him with so much love, and he remembered her asking that very same question when they bumped into each other on his fifth birthday in their pasts.
He missed her so dearly that he couldn't keep himself from taking her hand.
He pulled her close to his chest, their hearts beating as one, again, just like all the times they've been together whether it was the present or the past. He knew he couldn't let her be with another person. Even her friends made him despair and jealous that he wanted to hide her so only he could see her.
"Eros? Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked again, as Aaron hugged him tighter, afraid to let her go.
The moonlight hitting his skin hurt him, the air was abundant, but he couldn't breathe. She was his lifeline and if he let her go, he felt like he'd lie dead. Tears from his eyes were blurring his vision and they were wetting her hair.
He longed for this—he longed for her. He longed for everything about her—her skin, her hair, her very scent, and her touch. He yearned for everything about her so much that he often dreamed about her, only to be disappointed the next morning for not seeing her beside him.
"Who do you think you're touching?!" a young male's voice echoed loudly in the dormitory. He ran as fast as he could and he snatched Therese from the hands of Eros, who was still crying. Therese was shocked, as if she dissociated from the situation, and her head was held low. "How dare you!"
Aaron stared back at him—Ashton's silver eyes were so drenched with rage that he could feel it seeping on his very skin. However, it can never compare to the anger he felt inside him, seeing Ashton, another boy, holding her hand, and keeping her away from him.
He stood up and stared at Ashton, whose eyes were so determined to hurt him, but then something made him realize how he had already lost his place.
Ashton was carrying on his chest pocket a green handkerchief with a yang flower and a happy bee that looked exactly like the one Lorelei gave him on his birthday. The absence of that handkerchief in this life was detrimental as he always depended on that for support, as he saw it as a symbol of her presence when he was not near her.
His tears didn't stop, until Ashton pulled Therese away from the scene, as he saw the guard's lamp.
Aaron was apprehended and was sent to the principal the next morning to be suspended.
He, however, was not suspended because the principal doted on him as the prince, but he decided to not come to school that day because the sadness was weighing heavily on him.
__________
He spent his day on his room, not eating, nor sleeping, just staring straight at the wall as someone knocked on his door.
He pretended not to hear it, but the knocking never stopped so he begrudgingly stood up and opened it. But what welcomed his sight lifted his anger as it precipitated on the cold breeze of the afternoon.
"Hi Eros!"