𝐌𝐲 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 ☆ 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 𝐑𝐚𝐲 (𝐓𝐏𝐍)

Chapter 1

'The moon and sun may one day collide...'

'...but you, my dear, will always be by my side.'

Ray utters the final words of the novel under his breath, cheeks going red at the slight disgust he felt after reading such a cheesy novel. It wasn't particularly an interest of Ray's, romance, but he supposed that it would be a nice change. Especially as Mama had gifted it to him on his 10th birthday.

"Such an advanced child like you deserves a bit more of a challenge, wouldn't you think so dear?"

That was her excuse for gifting Ray such a lame book. But he was confident she meant much past the meaning of it just being fantasy - she'd always been interested in his love life.

Love. The thought or feeling of it often made me sick to his stomach. The boy was now 13, living peacefully as an orphan at Grace Field House, and had never once been interested in finding a love interest among the selection of young girls at the house. Ray didn't care for much other than his books or perfect test scores on their weekly tests. But even those didn't have much interest to him.

Perhaps, however, maybe it wasn't the interest of the subject driving him away from finding a lover. It could've been that he wasn't suitable for dating girls in the first place.

A knock at the door catches his attention, as he places the romance novel beside him on the bed, and calls out a simple 'Yes?'.

"Hey, Ray! You've been up here for almost the whole morning, how about you come and play tag with us outside?" A cheery Emma greets him, though he simply shakes his head and looks away from her beaming smile.

"I'm not in the mood for it, Emma. You can tell the others I said hi, though."

Emma pouted, picking up one of her pillows and smacking him in the head with it.

"OW! The hell was that for? Knock it off!" Ray scolded her, rubbing his head as he proceeds to get whacked in the face once again.

"Not until you stop being grumpy and agree to come and play with it! Come on, Ray... we all miss you."

This puzzled the orphan, as he slowly climbed onto the bed and glanced outside of the window. He stared at the children happily enjoying their time outside. Maybe one day, you'll find a time where you can be happy too.

"Alright, fine. But only for a little bit, okay? Don't feel dejected once I wander off again."

However that was more than enough for the ginger-haired girl, who was jumping up and down like she'd swallowed a spoonful of sugar. Emma was feeling more than ecstatic in the moment, that was for sure. Ray slumped down on the bed and sighed, but the girl was quick to grab onto his dry, pale hands and drag him down the endless flight of stairs. This was definitely going to be a long day.

Ray and Emma had reached the bottom of the staircase, as Mama spots the two and smiles warmly. There had always been something suspicious about the way she looked at Emma, or the others, as if she had been planning something all along. Yet she never pointed it out.

"Have fun playing, children! Remember to wash up before dinner, and help me to gather all of the younger kids after they're finished playing." Mama spoke to us, as Ray simply nodded and Emma flashed a pleasing smile.

Emma. The name stuck in his head everytime that it was mentioned. She was a carefree girl, always trying to make the most out of every opportunity she had. Sometimes it made Ray jealous, the way that she had so much motivation to do whatever she wanted, with such little opportunity. Yet he'd never mention it to her face.