Summer tailed Rihanna as she made her way down the halls and into the kitchen. She stopped walking when she reached the silver door, and peeked in to see what exactly she was doing.

At first, she was surprised to see Rihanna sit in a chair and slump down. Her body shook, moved up and down, and it took Summer a moment to realize the skank was crying.

She smiled. Serves her right, whatever it is that happened to her.

Rihanna stood up and made her way somewhere inside. Summer walked behind her to see where she was going, and moments later, stopped by the second door as Rihanna made her way down the short hall and into the kitchen's cold room.

She could see Rihanna as she look around the shelves for something, and in the moment, a great opportunity came into view.

Tip toeing, Summer made her way to the thick door of the cold room and took ahold of it. Peeking inside, she looked at Rihanna and said. "I hope you do well in cold climates." With a smirk, she shut the door.

Fayth looked over at Summer a second before the door was shut in her face. She quickly ran to it, but missed it by a few inches. And as she heard the lock slip closed, fear began to slowly settle in.

It's lunch time...

She looked around, her nerves slowly standing on ends.

It's lunch time...

A window... Anything.

It's lunch time.

She walked to the door and began pounding on it. It's lunch time... no one will need to be in here for another six hours...

She can see her fist become red as she pounded it against the door again and again. "HELP!" She screamed as loud as she could. "HELP!"

She calculated her noise against the distance to the main hall. There was the thick cold room door... then the short hall... the incredibly large kitchen, the thick silver main kitchen door... and then the possibility of someone walking by.

No...

The cold breeze in the room was already wrapping around her bones. On typical occasion, she'd be out of here before fifteen seconds had passed by. And by now, clearly a minute had just hit the alarm bell.

"HELP!"

....

Nothing.

She gritted her teeth and breathed out in anger as goosebumps made way over her skin. All the way from her middle back and out till it touched her toes and her upper arms. Since she went outside with Charles, she had left her uniform jacket behind in the music room, which would have done her a favor right now considering the Academy's uniform consisted of a skirt for bottoms.

Damn it, if only I could call...

–phone. Where is my phone?

Fayth quickly brought out her phone and went into her contact list. She let out an exasperated sigh as she stared at the only two people saved. Vincent and Jessie.

Vincent is a thousand miles away, and Jessie was the last person she wanted to talk to right now.

Charles...

What was his number again?

She closed her eyes shut and tried to remember the digits she used to dial last year.

Five one six...

"Damn it!"

She couldn't remember.

Her body began to shiver. She rubbed her hands on her arms and dialed Vincent's number.

"Hey! Aren't you supposed to be having lunch right now." He answered, his hyper voice indicating his good mood.

"Hey Vincent. Do you think you can get Charles' number for me? I only have you and Jessie in my phone and I need him right now."

"Charles? I don't have his number but I can definitely get it for you."

"Great. When you do, call him and tell him to head to the kitchen's cold room. ASAP."

"Why? Is everything okay?"

"Not really. Summer shut me in here and left."

"Summer shut you in there?!"

"Yes. Honestly Vincent, I really don't know how much longer I'm going to hold back before I deal with her."

"This isn't good. You can't handle cold climates."

"I'm nearly dying here so contact Charles as soon as you can."

"Do cardio until he gets there. I'll contact him right now."

Fayth hung up and began pacing in the small space under her feet. If she'd walk anymore in, she was afraid she'd dive into an even colder atmosphere, and that's the last thing she wanted.

Vincent... so that's his name.

Lexis sat on the other side of the vegetable shelving unit in the cold room, a silver flask in his hand. His body was hidden from Fayth's sight, but as he glanced back, he can clearly see her standing there, shivering like an earthquake had erupted under her. It seemed like he can no longer find his own quiet place without her intruding into it.

Tears began to fall from Fayth's eyes as the cold became unbearable. She didn't want to feel it anymore. Her nose was numb. Her fingers were numb. Her toes were numb. Touching her own skin hurt.  It had only been five minutes but it felt like she was trapped in the ice age.

It's a rule that the cold room's door to not be closed, and to always be open unless the kitchen administrator closes it. If it were to close, the cold air will add up and the fridge then becomes a freezer.

And right now, that's what it began feeling like.

An idea came to her and she quickly began to look around. If she can find a switch, maybe a wire she can pull that could stop the cold air from pouring in like it did.

She walked to the farthest end of the room, high hopes in finding something. A wire, a switch, a button even. Something to make the temperature less (or more in the fridge's case). However, what she found was the last thing she expected.

Absolutely the last thing she expected.

"Oh my god." She choked.

Her warm breath fogged up the air in front of her, and as it slowly dispersed away, her eyes opened wide at what was in front of her.

Lexis closed his eyes and opened them, then slightly turned his head and looked up at the frozen, petrified, ashes of a mystery. The mystery that burned itself out before him, one encounter after the other.

The fear and shock she transforms into always caught him as odd. Even though he had seen it many times now, it still bemused him. What exactly does she see in him that would make her fall into terror every time?

How long has he been here? How could he take the cold? How could he be so calm? So collected like this?

He turned back around and stared at the wall in front of him, and resumed to drink out of the silver flask.

He must be REALLY drunk to be that numb.

For a moment, all Fayth could do is stare at him, that is, until she saw the jacket placed nearby. Whether it was his jacket or not, she couldn't careless at that moment.

She snatched it off the floor and pulled it on. She needed heat. And she needed it now.

A slight smile pulled at Lexis' lips.

The rich men's cologne smelled incredible as the inside heat of the jacket caressed her bare skin. It was the most amazing she'd felt in all her life. The warmth would put any hug to shame. She pulled the jacket tighter around her and shoved her freezing nose into the small gap of its neck.

"It is my jacket you know." Lexis said, taking another sip.

"And you're drunk, so I'm okay." Fayth replied.

"What makes you think that?"

"You have me alone and you're not interrogating me with knives. That's good enough for me."

Fact is, Lexis wasn't drunk. The flask held a watered down medication that he takes for anxiety. But, if that was the case in her head that gave him her attention, then he'll have to play with it.

"I'm not drunk. I'm slightly defeated by the essences that make up life...breathing..." He looked up at her. "Humanity."

"Hmm," Fayth said in sarcasm. "Only a drunk Lexis would say that."

It was the first time he heard her say his name. For some reason, he liked the way it sounded with her voice.

"Do you know what my enemy is?" He said, staring at the silver flask.

She liked how she no longer thought about the cold, so she conversed with him comfortably. "Your own evil manipulative way of thinking?"

He looked up at her and squinted. "That's what it's made to be believed as. But isn't everyone entitled to a bit of discolored behavior? We're not made to be perfect. We're made to win and lose, to get hurt and to buy medicine." He paused, and in a quiet voice he added. "To see someone die and wish it was easier to witness."

Her eyebrows pulled together. "Who's dying?" She asked. "Is it the reason why you're in here, hiding from it?"

Lexis looked up at her again. "You see, you don't realize it but sometimes you say things that disorder your personality. Who are you exactly?" What she had said to Vincent about Summer earlier put his thoughts on a roller coaster for the past ten minutes, wondering if what he heard could possibly make sense in any way.

And now, she so easily guesses him like she...knows.

Fayth stared at his face for a long moment. He's drunk. He's drunk and he won't remember any of this after his hangover.

"Believe me, you don't want to ever know."

A smile played on his lips. "I thought I already did."

Fayth sat down and closed her eyes, deciding it was now or never. Reopening them, she said. "What is it exactly that you want from me? Why are you always questioning who I am? There are so many others you could do that."

His smile changed from being playful to manipulative. "Because your actions and words beg for questions. I simply hate unanswered one. They make distrust the place I'm in. And since we're in the same Academy, the same classroom even, it's only right that I know who's around me."

"You already know. You basically found out everything about me."

There was a long silence that stretched afterwards. Lexis and Fayth stared into each other's eyes. And in a heart sinking moment, something stirred in between them. Something strange, terrifying, inexplainable and ugly. Something inevitable.

Lightheaded, Fayth's head kicked back and knocked something down. It was fast, so fast that for a moment, Fayth questioned whether Lexis had been really drunk this whole time or not.

Containers upon containers toppled down aiming at Fayth, however the crash was instantly blocked by Lexis.

Not a few seconds later, Fayth was on her back, with Lexis on top of her. Her eyes, despite what had happened, were wide open, staring back into the eyes that held more than what she had ever guessed to be in them.

Eyes of a murderer.

She was still trying to grasp the point that somehow, Lexis had it in himself to protect her. Was he protecting her? Why? Was it a drunk side effect? Is he a good person while drunk? A detrimental one when he's in his sane sense of mind?

"Hey! I'm coming alright? Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of there."

Charles. He's here.

Lexis glanced at the door, then back at Fayth. "I think about you." His tone was low, soft. "Much more than I'd like. And I had come to the conclusion that the  only way I can take you out of my thoughts, is to simply understand you. Only then is when I'll really let you go. There are too many questions that played with my mind because of you, too many confusing revelations that had come forth. I need answers before I leave you alone. Understand that."

All Fayth could say at that moment was one sentence. "You... You–You just saved me."

The soft expression was gone, and the cunning smirk returned on his face. "No, I'm not that nice. I saved my jacket."

He moved away and stood up. Pointedly looking at the door, he said. "I believe I can have it back now." He put his hand out.

Rolling her eyes, Fayth stood up and slipped it off. Then with a jerk, she shoved it inside his hand.

She made her way to the door, and as soon as it slipped open, she walked out of there and into Charles' arms. Without paying attention to the inside of the cold room, he quickly wrapped Fayth with the warm blanket he brought and they made their way to the nurse's office.