Nicholas's POV :
"Felix! Over here!"
I called out to the isolated blonde haired boy, who was seated at the end of the classroom.
We just had a class test of Political Ethics as professor Palmer insisted on taking one, since our semester exam is just one month away and Felix finally had to appear in the classroom for the first time. It wasn't easy at all, imagine transferring to a new school and it's your first day in class, for Felix it was worse, he had beed admitted in the term five months ago, however attended this class first time today at least physically. Many critical gazes were thrown to him, so were some judgements, even professor Palmer's efforts couldn't make them shut up and Felix had to take the blow alone. If it wasn't for professor Klein's serious restrictions on my words and actions, I would have lashed out on them real bad.
Felix's switched off mood instantly lit up, as he looked at me with his full pearl smile and that erased every irritating thought inside my mind. Taking the seat by my side, he gave me a high-five then a side hug. Hug? Yes you heard that right, though it made my heart beat sped up, I successfully got hold of my reaction, I guess. In the last one month I made huge progress in this relationship, however I still lack the courage to confess, though his responses always gave me positivity and I'm optimistic about it.
"How was your presentation for the exhibition?" Breaking my trance, he asked.
"Professor Jones approved it..."
"He DID?!!"
He looked so ecstatic about it as if he has achieved the goal.
Chuckling, I confirmed "yes, he did. But it still needs to go through the community of provincial art galleries."
"Ooo. You'll pass that anyway."
"Hopefully, I guess." Smiling, I agreed with him.
"Let's go to the cafe then, or we'll be late for Professor Klein's class." Changing the topic, I suggested.
"Ummm...about that, can we skip those?" He looked a bit hesitating.
"Do you have anything planned?"
"Umm...well I need to go to the postal service centre, then we can grab lunch at a restaurant. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good!"
As we reached the postal service office, I finally asked "are you sending the letter to your parents?"
"Umm...no. This is for a special friend. Tomorrow is his birthday. I had been celebrating with him until last year and he is going to join here next year. So this year, only this letter is a way to let him know that I'm remembering him."
"You sound pretty close to him."
I don't know why but my tone came out a little meek, was I being upset with him just because he was wishing someone else a simple happy birthday?!!
"Yeah! We Were close when we used to stay in the hostel of Gyanlo Medical College, him, me and Simon. Though he is junior to us, he is super smart and understanding person."
He definitely had an unmistakable glow on him while describing this close friend and suddenly I was reminded of Chris's warning about the crown prince Yeager. Don't tell me it's actually him!?!
"You're talking about crown prince Yeager, aren't you?"
"Hmm. Wait, you know him? How..."
"Chris told me..."
Biting my tongue inside my mouth, I stopped myself from saying further. I shouldn't have spilled that! I shouldn't have!
"So you were collecting things about me." Felix remarked with a teasing smirk.
Sometimes these kinds of gesture of him give me an assurance that maybe he also feels the same about me, but only maybe.
"As if you don't know everything about me already." Punching lightly on his chest, I countered and he responded only with a chuckle.
But deep down I knew I was already feeling insecurities shrouding me and that's the worst problem I ever had about myself. This time I don't wanna loose the only person whom I came to care, cherish, love so much.
Lunch passed as usual with small talks, sharing laughter and maybe teasing eachother here and there. About two hours later when we returned to the campus, professor Klein's class was already over and everyone was heading to the arena for the practical classes. To our miserable fate, crown prince Kaiser caught us red-handed and reported to professor Klein.
"You two dared to skip your consecutive tests just to have fun outside!"
Professor Klein was literally fuming and we both just kept our heads lowered. However professor Klein seemed to hold back a lot, as if he didn't want to take it to a serious level.
Tuning down his tone a little, he ordered "you two are going to do your mock test papers right now and then complete your training in the arena, even after everyone leaves! Is that clear?!"
That's how we ended up being seated in a classroom under Tristan's supervision who was definitely enjoying it. At a point of time, I was done with my paper and Felix was still scribbling down something at the other end of the room, so I decided to kill the spare time with my new obsession: wanting to draw him!
The thought came to me a few times now, but I didn't have the mindset as it had been quite a long time I've drawn someone. The last portrait being my mom's when I didn't get used to her absence. You can see the fear consuming my mind while I try to draw someone again, the fear of loosing my beloved person.
Felix might have felt my gaze on him, as looking up from his paper, he gave me an apologetic smile as if telling that I had to bear with this punishment for accompanying him. Shrugging, I shook my head to assure him, only then he went back to his paper and I returned to the rough page where I decided to make an outline.
When I was almost done with the outlook, hair and some facial features, I felt a shadow hovering over me and I swear I almost got a heartattack.
"Tristan Kaiser! You should've warned me!"
"You were concentrating on something for once, so I didn't disturb you. But at the same time the reason intrigued me."
Smirking, he literally snatched the papers, adding "let's see what was on your mind all..."
He suddenly stopped as his eyes scanned the rough page and then me who looked seriously offended by his actions.
Then he announced "time's up! Felix please submit your paper." And that without any warning again!
As Felix came towards us, Tristan rolled the rough page gently before pocketing it, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes in utter annoyance.
After gathering all our belongings we were about to get out, when I tried again, "Tristan, can you please return the page to me, now?"
Felix looked confused, while smirking, Tristan denied straight away "nope. I'm confiscating it!" Just like that he walked away.
Great! Just great!
When we finally reached the arena, it was on full hyped mode because of the ongoing practice of the whole term. By the look of it, I realised that Professor Klein just decided to test each individual's weapon frequency and today he chose katana and dragger. Since all the students were paired with others perfectly, professor Klein didn't bother to mingle us with them, neither we complained.
"You two can have it in your way."
Then looking at Felix, he added "just do me a favor, don't injure yourselves."
As Felix nodded, professor Klein turned to me with a serious warning look, "remember one thing Hammond, don't ever use the masterclass! He is still with his left hand."
Just what is it with everyone calling me with my surname when talking seriously?! It's not like I'm going to harm other people if not warned by my last name! Moreover I'm not the only Hammond in this whole campus!!!
With the mention of the other Hammond, my eyes sought after my elder brother, who was surprisingly watching me from his class's block and that with a slight grin. When our eyes met, I clearly saw him mouthing a word but that certainly didn't click anything in my mind.
Professor Klein's words brought me to the situation I had in my hand, "Nicholas, choose your weapon then. First we'll see how you do with your prior weapon then we'll exchange."
"I'm taking the dragger." Felix responded first, choosing a hand-fit fine dragger.
"It's settled then, I'll take the sword." I offered with excitement already running through my blood.
"Take your position then, I'm off." Saying that, professor Klein disappeared.
Stepping back a bit Felix stretched his legs for a better defence and held the dragger backwards with his left hand, eyes fully concentrating on my sword which I had aligned with my right leg, straight, downward. A few seconds later when I still didn't move, he became confused, meeting my eyes he enquired and I just smirked. Realising his mistake, his eyes widened as he finally noticed my sword coming for the left side of his torso. A clash resonated, as he intervened his left hand over my right hand, completely distancing my sword from his body.
He countered that like a lightning bolt, completely burying the dragger's hilt over my right upper arm and thus we both immerged ourselves directly into a serious duel, repeated clashes, heavy breaths were the only thing we heard. For us the outside world completely vanished, sometimes I striked him harder with the hilt, sometimes I got the beating, but one thing never changed and that was our eyes seeking for eachother's full attention, our hearts beating in a rapid speed yet with the same rhythm, our movements had our unique fluidity yet it was synchronised as if we weren't just fighting with weapons rather projecting the gravity that kept pulling each of us to a central.
I don't remember how long it had been continued and how many times we kept hitting eachother, I was so lost in the sweat-soaked image of the beauty right in front of me that I didn't notice that we ended up being on eachother's neck, luckily holding the weapons backwards.
Breathing ragged, Felix spoke first "let's call it a pass and thank you for being fair to me."
Though his words reached my ears, the close proximity with him didn't help with my daze, his chest fell and rose rapidly, sweat glistening all over his features, his face flustered with a red tint because of the wild blood flow and the outside chill of February evening, his lips, continually licked turned more red and tempting, awakening my inner desire for no good reason.
"NICHOLAS HAMMOND!!"
Professor Klein hollered, breaking my daze completely and only then I distanced myself from Felix. Straightening my posture, I froze as the whole arena had gone silent and every eyes were on me, even met with few furious glares.
Just when everyone had stopped their practice?! And most importantly what did I do again?!
To answer my question, professor Klein shouted again, "I clearly told you not to use the masterclass, Hammond! What on earth were you thinking while striking back with your elbow-wrist tactics?"
My eyes widened in horror as I met all the audience's eyes and then looked at Felix who had an anguished look looming over his features but somehow I felt it wasn't because he was afraid of me.
Completely lost in the situation when I had no choice to defend myself anymore, Felix interfered, "professor Klein, Nicholas did nothing wrong, he was only being fair from his side, and moreover I'm not injured at all."
"This is not only for not being injured, Felix. As a human being, you must learn to stop when needed, learn how to control over your superiority. And here the person infront of me is a royal family member if he didn't forget!!"
Professor Klein's furious words boomed over the silent audience.
I couldn't keep my head straight anymore, the judging stares gnawing my self-esteem, my stomach started to feel the emptiness again, as if I drowned myself into the dark sea of guilt, yet again.
"That's more of a reason for you to stop this nonsense!" Felix's smooth baritone voice suddenly sounded like a true devil, steady, firm, yet low, filled with dangerous chill.
The arena plunged into dead silence, even professor Klein's fuming posture stiffened, his eyes surging the last line of patience within him and he finally snapped.
"Okay! Great! Since you can decide what's to stop, when to stop, then I don't think I'm needed here anymore!" Turning away, he barged out of the arena, Chris and Jeremy chasing right behind him.
A low murmur broke through the audience until the powerful voice of crown prince Lawrence resonated, "that's enough! Don't all of you have a sense of privacy at all!!"
Though the whispers stopped, the stares were still there and I still didn't dare to look upward until a pair of small hands grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look up.
Meeting with his exclusive honey-orbs, I couldn't keep myself contented, my voice came out croaky as I apologized, "Felix, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to do it all. I don't know what got into..."
"Shhh..." Keeping his index finger on my lips, he silenced me, then with the most sincere voice, he assured, "Nicholas, you did nothing wrong. You were just going with your pace and flow and with that you just helped me to face a fair duel. At the same time, you actually managed to keep both of us safe. That's called true comradeship." Completely contrasting the tone he has used on professor Klein just few minutes ago.
"But professor Klein seemed..."
"Professor Klein is just worried about me, that's all, Nicholas. He'll come to terms just in time, don't worry."
"But, I've never..."
"Listen here everyone! The class has been dismissed for today. We'll continue tomorrow from where we left today. Please submit your weapons at the register table before you leave the arena. Thank you." Tristan's loud, clear announcement interrupted me.
Then coming to us, with a sympathetic smile, he agreed with Felix's point, "Felix is right, Nicholas. Henry will understand your stand of point. Don't worry. But don't cross anymore limit or I'll not be siding with you any longer." Tristan's words brought an immense strength within me.
"Thank you, Tristan." I couldn't help but sincerely expressing my gratitude.
"Anytime for my baby here." Pinching Felix's cheeks, Tristan chirped to which Felix groaned.
Chuckling softly, he added, "ohh yeah, one more thing, the register table is yours today. You need to collect all the weapons from them, match those with the register book, then store them safely in the armory. Count it as your punishment as of now." Just like that he walked away.
And Felix groaned, yet again, "so much for his baby here!" Mimicking Tristan's tone and words.
My mind immediately found solace in that moment, making me smile a bit.