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Had he planned this, or was this a coincidence?

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I LOWERED MY hand on my own, staring wide-eyed at Harvest.

"Claire came looking for you," Daya huffed moving past us towards her wardrobe, causing me to turn to her before my eyes found their way to the ground. I found it hard to keep eye contact with people, it was one of the hardest things about being a princess.

I find that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but being as mute and naturally attentive as I was, sometimes I felt like I was seeing deeper into the souls of people and that didn't work quite well when staring into icy blue eyes that felt like prisons.

My ears naturally perked when I heard a scoff coming from Harvest, but all I could think of was that he was standing a foot behind me. How could I run from this? Scratch that how did he find me? I mean maybe he was with Daya, but he didn't look surprised to see me, as I had with him.

Had he planned this or was this coincidence?

Pfft, Who the hell was I kidding? Of course, he knew dang well what he was doing. Dark minds like his don't base themselves on mere coincidence. I didn't want to think about what he had to do to find that out, but the guesses that were sparring in my mind were that he had been watching me for quite a while now.

This line of thought did nothing to better the panic that was building up within me. I was so nervous I couldn't stop playing with my fingernails and taking quick short breaths in especially now that the room suddenly felt very small. It was like I wasn't getting enough air in and I had to use as much upper body strength as I could to get one puff of air in.

Shutting my eyes for just a second, hoping I could gain composure whilst Daya's back was turned to me. I could do this, all I had to do was come up with an excuse to leave. My hand tightened around my back strap opening my eyes, my brain was shooting all kinds of suggestions my way, the first and the loudest being-

Screw it, you don't need an excuse, you can just leave-

After all, Daya was facing her wardrobe, and she couldn't see me slip out if I wanted to. I had mastered the art of being quiet, and I was sure I could do it, plus my hands were shaking way too much for me to start writing notes, and then trying to get her attention which was never focused on me.

Yep, screw it, I was going to make a break for it-

"So, this is your new roommate," the British accent spoken from a few inches behind me, made me freeze even before I could take my first step in a journey of a sonic dash.

I halted, sucking in a breath when Daya turned, slightly to look at us. I pursed my lips, eyes to the floor, feeling her gaze on me for a few more seconds before she spoke.

"Yeah- she's from uh-where was that place you said again?" she asked, her eyes narrowing on me when I looked up at her.

I had never told her where my country was.

She might have read it on my form, but even the location placed there wasn't my real home thanks to Gravis.

But back to the question at hand.

I froze looking at her, as she raised a taunting eyebrow. She didn't expect me to unpack, get my notebook and write one word for an answer I'm sure she didn't even care about.

My eyes shifted away from her, my hands getting sweaty as they fisted harder.

"Oh..." she trailed off with a dramatic pause, "I'm sorry," she apologized though her tone was as far away from apologetic as could be humanely possible and closer to a taunt.

"You see, Harvest..." she paused closing the door, before turning back to me and ultimately the Convert behind me, a textbook in her hands, "My little roommate here, can't. talk." She carefully enunciated the last two words and at that moment I didn't know why my heart fell, my whole demeanor turned downcast, and my gaze low.

I was scared before but now, I felt a whole lot more vulnerable but at least my back was turned towards HIM so I couldn't see THE LOOK on his face.

I breathed out sharply letting the awkward moment linger. I heard nothing but a short acknowledging hum coming from behind me, and the feel of his presence move before the creaking of a chair, indicating he was back to his previous position.

Feeling my body relax a little bit more after I realized this, I looked up at Daya when she spoke, "Okay, this is it- I'll take this over to Ellie's, then we'll head to cube," she said, her line of sight directly on Harvest, making me feel like I was an unwanted object.

He looked up for a moment then nodded before turning back to whatever it was, he was reading before Daya's eyes returned to mine.

She didn't say a word, but the shine in her eyes hardened slightly before whipping her long blond hair in my face as she walked out the door.

I hated to say this but I was dying to know what shampoo she used to have it smell that good, there was only one scent coming from me thanks to the marathon I had to do this morning for my safety and that was good old sweat.

Her exit was my cue to run as fast as I could out the door and in the opposite direction, she had taken, but once again before I could take a step-

"Stop," his tone came out clear and strong.

Freezing in place, I pursed my lips, fighting down the panic that threatened to start, gaining full composure.

It was apparent that he wasn't going to see that I was not a threat to him if he had gone to the extent of frickin tracking me down. I couldn't live like this; my hair would soon start falling out with all the stress and I knew that me with a bald head did not look good.

I had to face him, face my fear.

Swallowing my courage back down to build a bit of gut, I turned around, forcing myself to look at the bastard. His gaze was focused on his book, casually flipping the page to the next.

"So, you do listen," he grunted, before closing the book. He placed it down on the table before those haunting eyes settled down on me.

It made me slightly uncomfortable- okay- I was very uncomfortable.

"I don't do chasing," he suddenly said, his eyes trailing up the ceiling before a slight frown formed, "I prefer the prey to come to me..."

Each word was intricately shaped, with that deep low but posh tone of his thanks to that accent. His fingers tapped lightly on the book and I found my eyes settling on that even though it only creeped me out even more.

"I'm sure you've heard this before- but you remind me of prey..." he suddenly added and my eyes snapped up to him, they narrowed on me and I could feel my heart drumming a whole Luba-Lunda song we sang at our national ceremonies back home, "maybe that's why you like running so much."

I blinked nervously at the sound of this taking a step back when he suddenly stood up, his Dark coat trailing behind him. His head tilted to the side, and I could feel those blue orbs studying my every movement.

"What should I do with you?"

My hands were shaking at this moment, but it wasn't an excuse anymore in a life-or-death situation. I pulled down my bag, rummaging through for my notebook very aware of his gaze that was still on me until I found that darn book. Flipping it to a clean page writing down the four words I wanted to get through to that thick head of his.

I stood up from my kneeling position, stretching my hands to him, showing him what I wrote. The words were clear, large, and single-spaced neatly-

"I won't tell anyone."

His eyes lowered to what I had written before his lifeless eyes turned back to me unimpressed. I didn't want to read into that look too much and begin a mental debate if the look was a second reaction to the fact that I can't speak or just an 'I don't care' reaction.

I quickly got it back writing one other word.

'I PROMISE I won't tell anyone.'

I showed him my rewritten phrase, my eyes wide and hopeful but I didn't receive any emotion back as his hand lowered the book from his line of sight.

"And what won't you tell?" he asked, his tone less friendly not that it had been before, but significantly colder.

My heart hammered against my chest not knowing if this was a trick question.

I placed my hand behind my back so he wouldn't see how unstable they were and how my notebook was shaking consequently.

He took a step closer to me until he was hovering over me.

"It's going to take more than a promise from a mute girl for me to even consider trusting you won't say a word and I don't trust anyone-"

I looked back at him unable to say anything to defend myself. How the heck was I supposed to prove I was harmless if I wasn't even given a chance? He was taking this way too seriously for a person who looked as harmless as I did.

I ended up staring at him like a chicken, a fitting title for a princess who couldn't even stand up for herself.

He paused, looking back up above my head for a moment before turning back around, dropping in his seat, his book up when the door opened revealing Daya. I lost no chance whatsoever, walking as quickly as I could out of there.

I needed to breathe.

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