Runi opened his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.

There it was. Another dreadful day full of classes, job interviews and shopping sprees with Silva. He swore that he loved that girl with his whole heart but shopping sprees with the Silva Liviana were worse than death itself. The amount of times he almost passed out in the middle of the mall, because of dehydration and hunger, well, he lost count of them.

In general, he could only pray that she would go easy on him and at least buy him lunch before dragging him off to yet another expensive ass store for them to pick out their graduation outfits from.

The redhead sighed again, as he ran his hand through his amber, fuzzy hair and spent one last second overlooking his paper, before he turned it around and put his pen over it.

That was as good as he could do, in the current environment. His head was a mess, and the curriculum was the last thing that he had on his mind, at the moment. Graduating was nice, sure.

But ever since he moved out of his parents' house, he hit somewhat of a rough patch. His father, being the prideful arse that he was, kicked him out due to the fact that a tabloid published him making out with another boy during a college party that he barely even remembered, and since it was right before his fathers election, well, he wasn't all too pleased about the pictures of his son drunkenly shoving his tongue down another man's throat in a public club, during a rave nonetheless.

In the wise words of the old bastard, "I don't give two shits about who you screw, but you at the very least need to keep it private, boy!".

His father….he wasn't a terrible person. Although, Runi had always had the feeling that his father didn't like him much. Every time he looked at the redhead, well, he had the feeling that his father stared at him with burning hatred and yet...deep sadness. Perhaps due to the fact that he resembled his mother.

Who passed away due to birth complications.

Unresolved traumas, and talks that he should probably have with his therapist, once he can afford one, aside, that was how he got into this situation.

Life was fairly easy, living off of daddy's allowance. But in a single night, his father kicked him out, and told him to fend for himself, since he was enough of an imbecile to get caught doing things like that instead of studying, he's mostly been lazing away over at Silva's place. And while he was extremely grateful that she was housing him, if he had to sit through one more chick flick and feel one more punch or smack against his chest whenever someone Silva liked got kicked off of her favourite reality show, he was going to take a gun, shove it down his throat and say hello to his mother.

So, he spent his days searching for jobs whilst having absolutely no experience nor real will to take any of the jobs he was offering himself for.

Besides, he was trying his best to get a job even close to the medical field, since both him and Silva were graduating in the field.

Granted, Silva's psychotic ass got into medical because she wanted to 'cut people open, legally.' While he got in the field because he genuinely wanted to help people, and they were finishing different majors, but at the end of the day, due to the fact that his father was a politician, he was always pushed aside as either a nepo baby by ethical companies, or as the estranged son by companies who didn't want a smear on their employee list.

All in all, life was going to be extremely difficult for a bit.

And as that thought crossed his mind, he snapped back into reality, just in time to hear the first of sirens outside of their college.

'How...odd.' His mind couldn't help but utter. Odd indeed. The college was well known for being one of the safest around due to the high profiled students that went to it. So the fact that an incident happened so close to it, or well, maybe even at it, was suspicious at best and alarming at worst.

"Runi!" Alex Truffey whispered from behind him, as he tapped the redhead's shoulder, causing the said man to turn around with a huff. "What do you want, Truffey?" He asked, irked, by the cause of his problems.

If only Alex had been more discreet during their hookup, he wouldn't have gotten himself in this mess.

"You didn't answer any of my texts! And had been ignoring me for the past week. I had to fucking run here when I heard you were attending this exam to catch you!" The blond frowned like a child. "Listen, if I caused any issues I'm sorry, but I want us to," But before Truffey could get out anything else, Loumen smacked his hand away.

"Alex, the night was great. Sure you got me in a lot of shit, but that was partially my fault as well, so chill. As for...us, there is no us. It was just a hookup for me." The redhead sighed, making the other let out a surprised gasp.

"Just….wait, did you just...oh." Before the situation could get any more awkward, a loud ding allowed him to grab his stuff and rush out of the room.

And saved by the bell. Fucking finally.

Alex...sleeping with him was one hell of a mistake, but he was drunk and the guy was attractive. The fact that he only found out later on that the other has had a crush on him for a month was the real issue. Because Runi Loumen does not do relationships.

That was well known on the campus. He did enjoy a good night or two, but a genuine romantic relationship was very much off limits. He hated even the thought of settling down.

One could even say that Runi had a deep rooted fear of ever falling in love. Just...just the thought of loving someone only to lose them, like his father lost his mother...it was devastating. He saw the effects it could have on a person. And decided long ago that he was not going to be one of the suckers to destroy their mental health over romantic endeavours.

"Runi! Wait up!" Silva called out from behind him, the clicking of her red bottom heels familiar by now, as her claw-like nails grasped his shoulder.

"That...ugh. I hate him, Silv. Why did I have to sleep with him of all people?" The redhead growled, making his friend pout in sympathy. "Hey, relax. It could've been Mari. Then you would have been really screwed." The mere mention of that name made his skin crawl. Mari was basically obsessed with him. She was obviously in love with him, and he had little next to no clue even why. They barely even knew each other. He gave her his pen once when she forgot hers and from then, she's been on his ass.

"Still, Alex is acting like I'm leading him on! I told him that it was only for the night, I mean, hell, even if I wasn't a screwed up asshole I would never date him, after the fiasco the scandal had caused." The redhead bit out as he adjusted his glasses and dropped his books off to the locker. "There, there, drama queen." Silva unhelpfully cooed, as she slapped the hell out of his back and the air out of his lungs.

"Maybe a bit of...fun at the store will cheer you up!" The blonde grinned like a fox, her silky, shoulder length hair swishing over her shoulder as she grabbed Runi with the strength far beyond what a petite, five foot two, skinny girl should ever have.

"Silv, I'm seriously not in the mood for shopping." He tried to object, to no use.

"Too bad." She only snickered, as she dragged him away from their lockers and away from their last class, with Professor Willson.

Well, better than having to listen to him talk about his recent divorce instead of the lecture, the redhead supposed.

Shopping with Silva, as previously mentioned, was hell. And as she dragged him along to try yet another matching outfit for their graduation, he couldn't help but let out a defeated noise.

"Silv, my job interview! I'm gonna be late." The lanky man whined, as he got violently spun around. "Relax. You don't need a job when you have me." The blonde rolled her green eyes, as she dragged him to the mirror.

"I'll be your sugar mommy, babe." Liviana smirked, making one of the employees send them a look. He swore, the girl had no shame.

Neither did she care about her public image. But unlike him, her parents didn't mind that at all. With both of her parents being free spirits, rich free spirits at that, she never really had a reason to mind her behaviour nor words in public. Her father, Davit Liviana was one of the most famous fashion designers, whilst her mother, Eva Liviana was an artist whose works got displayed at almost every major gallery.

With creativity like that running through Silva's blood, Runi had no idea how she got so into the medical field, but he begged to digress.

"Oh my gosh. We look so pretty!" The girl cheered, seemingly overjoyed with their outfits. About damned time. This was their third day shopping for their graduation, so he was glad that the outfit part of it all had been decided.

And he...had to agree. They did look beautiful. Silva really did outdo herself this time.

And as they went in and got dressed in their clothes, he got lost in thought, quite a bit.

One thing about Silva was that she always strived for perfection. Ever since he knew her. That chubby little girl with a constant frown always made sure that they were always on time wherever they went, that they always looked well dressed, be it a formal event that his father made, an art show her mother invited them to, their highschool prom, and even now. Now that she's grown up into a beautiful, driven young woman, she still not only took care of him but made sure to never make him feel indebted to her in any way shape or form.

With a soft smile, he couldn't help but shake his head. Where would he be without her, he wondered.

"Earth to Ru! Does the slit look too bold?" The said girl waved in front of his eyes, making him spare her a single glance. "Silv, it's more than just bold. But it suits you perfectly." The redhead assured his friend, with a gentle look in his eyes.

"Are you calling me a slut?" She jokingly punched him, drawing out a huff of air that he swore wasn't a laugh. "Yes. Yes I am. Now, let's grab something to eat, glucose mother dearest, before I pass the fuck out." Loumen teased right back, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

"Oh, fine, you big baby. Let's stuff you like a turkey!" The blonde smiled, as she messed up his hair, and headed with him to the register to pay for the clothes that they decided upon.

They arrived back at Silva's place right in time for the girl's phone to ring and for her to roll her eyes.

"Ugh, the dean is calling me. I have to take this, it's probably about the grad-plan." The blonde mumbled, with an obvious annoyance in her tone.

As she disappeared out of the hallway, he decided to do the same and head into his room, well, temporary room. It had been somewhat his ever since Silva's father got her the place.

She hated even the thought of sharing a dorm, so she decided to ask, more like command, her father to get her a place near the campus, which the man did with no complaints. And even whilst he was still peacefully living with his dad, he still mostly spent time at Silva's place due to the fact that, one, he hated dorms as much as the next person, and two, his father forced him to live back at their villa for him 'to be under surveillance due to him entering a troubling age.' and that place got lonely fast.

The maids and the personal guards were never really too friendly with him.

What his father didn't count on was the fact that Runi was almost never truly home and that his maid was easily paid to keep her silence about his whereabouts, the driver could be bribed to drive him over to Silva's whenever, and the guard wasn't nearly paid enough to watch his every move, and was barely working at all. Not like his dad would ever know, since his father was never home anyways, nor did he ask his employees about him, from what he heard.

"What do you mean the graduation will be postponed?!" Silva's voice shrieked from the living room, making the hairs on the back of Runi's neck stand up. Uh oh.

Prom will be what now?

If shopping with Silva was hell, then dealing with grumpy Silva made hell look more like heaven. He could still clearly recall that one time her ex boyfriend postponed their date, which resulted in her not only breaking up with him but also burning all of his things and all the things she wore even around him. So the redhead feared what was to happen now, that the event that Silva herself was helping plan got postponed. That would mean that she would have to change the venue, the decor for the venue, the band and almost everything else that was already scheduled.

As the shrieking stopped and the sound of a phone hitting the wall hit his ears, Runi closed his eyes.

Three…two….

"That bitch!" And one.

"Who are you going to kill?" The redhead asked as he looked up at his friend instead of trying to get her to calm down. Because even uttering the C word while Silv was going through one of her tantrums would get him killed or begging for death.

"Mari! She, ugh, she," The blonde began, her mentioning his college stalker making the redhead shudder. "She bit Casey!" Casey?

"As in the girl I hooked up with a few weeks ago?" The redhead blinked, a bit of guilt seeping under his veins….was he somehow to blame for this?

"No! I see what you're getting at, it is not your fault that she's a crazy bitch." His friend barked as she plopped down on the bed next to him.

"Ugh I fucking hate it when shit doesn't go according to plan, goddamn it!" She cried out as she threw off one of the pillows off of the bed.

Silva quite literally cursed like a sailor when mad.

"According to the dean, we won't even have a set date for when it will be!" He put his hand around his friend and offered her comfort in the form of a side hug, as he laid his chin on the girl's shoulder. "Silv, stress is bad for beauty. How about you just wait till tomorrow and get someone to kick her ass then?" It wasn't as if he liked the idea of Silva hiring people to kick someone's ass, but she was that type of person so he knew that even without his encouragement she would've done so already.

Besides, Mari had it coming. She wasn't all there in the head to begin with, with her constant following, her crazy ass notes and letters, her taking "secret" pictures of him wherever, whenever, but the fact that she went as far as to physically hurt someone was insane.

"I can't even do that! Apparently, she's been brought into the police station this morning after the incident." So that was the reason why the sirens were blaring off in front of the college building this morning? Kind of relieving that there wasn't any more sinister reason as to why, to be honest. The last thing he needed was a rogue serial killer.

"Ugh, I'm so mad I could die, Ru! I can't calm down!" Seeing his friend distressed made him frown, so with a deep breath, he grabbed his phone and gave her hand a light squeeze.

"Let's go." The redhead grinned, as he pulled his friend up and into himself. "Where?" The girl asked in confusion, her green eyes widening in surprise, instead of the genuine depressive state from earlier.

"To the club!" Runi cheerfully sneered, making his friend let out an exasperated gasp, before her expression brightened up.

"Didn't know you had it in ya', Loumen!"