An Unforsaken Tie

"Ooooo! Miss Darcia, that mole inside your left eye is so cool! I have never seen anything like it before!"- Elias remarked, fascinated by this distinguished feature of Darcia's eye. She chuckled in amusement, because till now, she had always been mocked for this very same feature. Taking a bite of her small chocolate tart, she slowly said-

"It's good to know that someone actually likes this feature of mine… Do you know how many times I tried to take it out when I was a child? No matter what I tried, tweezers, tongs, or chopsticks, nothing worked. Finally, I guess I learnt to live with it"- she let out a small giggle.

"No, no…you shouldn't take it out even if you can! It's what makes you…you."- Elias comforted.

While the two got along pretty well and chatted, Axel sat there, lost in his thoughts. He didn't want to talk with Darcia anymore. He was heavily embarrassed and found it ridiculous to even reason with her. He quietly kept listening to their conversation when suddenly he heard Elias letting out a big yawn.

"Hey Od! I want to head to my dorm… will you come with me or…"- he was cut mid-sentence by the crimson-eyed man.

"Of course! I'll accompany you…"- He rose from his seat and dashed out. Seeing him so embarrassed, Darcia let out a short laugh as she continued eating her tart.

#

"So…you got embarrassed because of her. No wonder you dashed out! But you don't have to take it to heart, Odion."- Elias chortled.

"I didn't take it to heart. I just don't want to bother with her again."- Axel scoffed.

"But wouldn't it be fun to have a tough lady in our group?"

"You're creating a group? Elias, I don't want to be in some stupid friend group. I'm not very good with other people, and besides, I'm not interested in some lousy group."

"But if we have a group, it'll be more fun!"

"Not interested…" Axel sneered.

"We can do all sorts of things together!" Elias answered, trying to convince his friend.

"Not interested."

"People with diverse personalities, getting to talk about our weaknesses and strengths."

"Not interested."

"Wait-wait! Even better! Adventuring and training together!"

"Not inter-" Axel was cut off mid-sentence as he realised he'd bumped into his dormitory. He let out a small 'ouch', rubbing his forehead. His room number was three-six-three.

"Oh, I just realised! We're going to be dormitory neighbours!"- Elias exclaimed as he yawned again. "Wake me up if you need anything, Od. I'm just taking a short nap." He opened the door and quietly entered his room. Axel wondered who his roommate could be, praying that it'd be a quiet and isolated person. He slowly creaked open the door to enter his dorm.

"Please be a wallflower. Please be a wallflower. Please be a wallflower…"- Axel kept on chanting as he entered the room.

Inside, there were two beds and two sides of the entire room. On the right side, a young man was resting on the bed. He had long blonde hair tied up in a floppy braid. His ocean blue eyes hung loose as he read a book that he held in his hands. He wore a loose white ruffled shirt and a pair of casual brown pants. Upon hearing the creak, he looked up in Axel's direction but didn't mumble a word and instead, got back to reading. 

"PERFECT!!! Now this is the type of roommate I wanted…At last! Fate is finally on my side. But, I think I should at least introduce myself to him." Axel thought, finally, his mind was at peace from all that chattering. He approached the long-haired man and extended his hand.

"Hello… I'm Odion Au-Aubert. Nice to meet you!"- he tried to speak as casually as possible. The last time he believed in formalities, he was taken in for a big surprise.

Hearing the name Odion Aubert, the blonde man made an expression, as if he'd seen a clown. He immediately threw the book away and started shaking Axel's hand violently. He looked excited, really excited. He gasped and almost shrieked in…fascination?

"OH MY GOD! IT'S YOU…THE ODION AUBERT! I'm such a big fan! I've been dying to meet you in person, but I never knew that you'd be my roommate! Do you know how much popularity you've gained in your first day?!"

"Looks like fate...isn't on my side, after all." Axel let out a sigh.

"Excuse me? My fan? Popularity? What're you talking about? I haven't done any exemplary activities. I was just minding my business, what do you mean popularity?"- Axel questioned, as a wave of confusion panged on him. He didn't do anything today, and fans all of a sudden? This was so confusing. 

The man jolted out of bed and stood before him. He cheerfully said- "Oh sorry! I forgot to introduce myself… I am Leon Avery, your new roommate. And, about your popularity? Odion! The rumours are spreading like wildfire!"

"Rumours?"

"Yeah! About you liking the duke and the duke liking you! So…Mind sharing your secret?"

"Wait… me liking the duke?!"- Axel questioned in panic.

"Silly you, of course!"

"I don't like THE DUKE!"- Axel explained, trying to reason with him.

"How can you not like the duke. Well, even if you don't like the duke, the duke definitely likes you!"- He exclaimed gleefully

"No! The duke has nothing to do with me!"

"But honestly, it's pretty obvious, I mean…did you see the way he smirks at you? I suppose it was the smirk of frenemies." 

"Smirk of frenemies?! More like the smirk of annoyance!" Axel exclaimed, unable to contain his anger surging up. He hated that man. He was not only a traitor, he was straight off cruel. He played with people's emotions as if they weren't even human. He always reminded Axel of his elder stepsister, who, too, played with his feelings when they were younger.

"Oh, so you two are not friends?"- Leon looked pretty disappointed by the new information.

"No! We're not! We're like poles apart. He's the freaking Grand Duke and I'm…just an ordinary person."

"Hey! Don't say that. Nobody is ordinary. Everyone has a special talent, a special destiny. His highness's destiny was supposed to be the duke, and your destiny, maybe your destiny is um…something waiting for you to unravel"- Leon wrapped his arm around Axel's smooth neck.

"That's what you think. To be honest, I'm not very sure what my destiny could be…But I would love to become an explorer."- Axel finally felt comfortable chatting with this person.

"That's a great dream! But hey! I'm sorry for being so nosy. Want to be friends?"

"I guess we could… By the way, what book were you reading?"

"Oh, it's um, The Legend of Queen Nova!"

"Sounds cool, I actually packed a lot of books when I moved in here. I can't go a day without books!"

"That sounds nice!"

The two kept chatting about books, mythical creatures, Mt. Jequin, psionics and some urban legends.