❝𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕒 𝕜𝕚𝕤𝕤❝ | haikaveh fic | boarding school AU

⁰⁰³. ᵏᵃᵛᵉʰ: ᵃⁿⁿᵒʸⁱⁿᵍ ᵇᵃˢᵗᵃʳᵈ

"Alhaitham?!'

I wince at how loud my voice is.

Alhaitham lifts his head and stares at me in the eyes. He examines me thoroughly before he blinks, "Kaveh."

His voice is steady, unmoving, and emotionless. He's still so fucking cold with no emotions...

Hatred washes over me, causing me to stumble.

"You know Alhaitham?" Nahida askes, peering at my face.

I scratch the back of my head awkwardly as she speaks, "I guess?"

Nahida hums quietly, "Well, since you know each other, I suppose the rest of the process will be easy. Enjoy your time with each other and as roommates." She smiles at me and Alhaitham with a string of amusement, then turns and exits the door.

As the door closes with a small click, the atmosphere is left in awkwardness. I do everything I can to not stare at the man sitting in front of me. Though it can be quite tempting...

I blink, squeezing my eyes to rid of all the annoying thoughts that keep popping up in my head.

Alhaitham, on the other hand, is trying quite the opposite. I can sense him trying to catch my eyes. He stares at me with all his will, not even bothering to hide his gaze.

Finally, after a few minutes - or hours, who knows? It feels like hours to me - Alhaitham clears his throat. I clench my teeth, I can particularly see the mocking of his voice in the air.

"Are you not going to talk to me?" Alhaitham's cold, unbothered voice startles me.

I blink and twist my head slightly, finally facing him, "Why should I?"

He shrugs, "Maybe because it's been a few years since we last met. Unless you forgot, although I wouldn't think so, judging on how you reacted when you just came in."

I glare at him, "Yeah, and I wonder why we haven't seen each other in so long."

Alhaitham lowers his head, disappointment flashes through his eyes.

Then he says what I really don't want him to say.

"I'm sorry."

Dammit. It's quite literally impossible to stay mad at him when he apologizes... And he knows that as well as I do. He's using it against me. So annoying... What an Alhaitham move it is to do. Cunning, sly, and so, very annoying.

Archons, I hate him so much. So fucking much.

"Whatever. Just follow me, I'll take you to my dorm," I spit my words out, not wanting to show the slightest bit of friendliness. "Bastard," I say under my breath as I turn and exit out of the door.

Alhaitham stares at me, a slight smirk on his face. His method worked. He knows, I know it, we both know it.

He's trying to manipulate me again. Again. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. A terrible person doesn't just suddenly becomes good after a few years. Fuck him.

I'll never fall for any of his tricks again. Never again.

Never again.

*

I feel sick.

Sick to my stomach; sick to my head, sick throughout my entire body.

And there's one person who can possibly manage this much impact on me.

I glance behind my back to see Alhaitham wandering behind, looking at the campus in awe.

My stomach does cartwheels in my body, along with my heart.

I think I'm going to throw up.

What is this strange feeling I feel everytime I glance at that bastard? This strange, twisted feeling. It's so uncomfortable... It feels like worms crawling under my skin, making me crave attention. Not just any attention. A certain bastard's...

It feels like hate. It must be hate. What else could it possibly be?

It makes sense. I hate Alhaitham. I hate Alhaitham with my entire existence, my entire life. I hate him. Despise him. I fucking loathe him. I can't-

I blink, and suddenly he's besides me.

"Kaveh, it's been so long." he says, his footsteps steady, unwavering. He talks to me casually, as if we are nothing more than friends who just had a reunion, as if he doesn't realize what he did - how much he made me suffer. Day and day and day...

I ignore him and continue walking.

"I didn't realize you're smart enough to even enter an elite academy like this," he teases me.

I tighten my fists together.

"Why are you even here? To ruin my life again?" I suck in a breathe. So much hatred...

Pain.

He spare me a glance, "For education, of course. The world doesn't revolve around you, you know. What about you? Why are you here?"

""Why do you think I'm here?" I stop walking to glare at him. He stops as well, shrugging.

"You asked me first."

"I-"

Alhaitham sighs and cuts me off (he has the audacity to sigh at me? After everything he's done. After everything he's made me go through...), "Let's save the bickering for later. Show me to our dorm first, please?"

Please.

Archons, I can't stand him.

I turn and continue walking, "There's no our."

He catches up to me. When I peek at his face, there's a tiny smirk on it, "If you say so."

I resist the urge to punch that stupid smirk off his ugly - no, not ugly... hideous face and just keeo walking. Step after step after step.

Ignore him.

That's the only method.

We walk the rest of the way in silence. Alhaitham seems unbothered. He's always unbothered. The one time he wasn't...

No. I mustn't think of that one time. I mustn't. Never ever.

I start quickening my footsteps so I can get to my dorm faster. Then I can escape him faster. When I finally spot the Sumeru building, I let out a small sigh of relief. My footsteps quicken yet again.

Just at the entrance, I forget there's a step there. I forget everything...

And surprise surprise, I trip. Bracing for the fall, I close my eyes. Falling doesn't hurt for me anymore. I fall all the time when I was young. I would cry about this for hours, and the only one that could stop me crying was...

The fall never happened. I open my eyes to see Alhaitham's long and slick fingers on my wrist. Our faces are close - too close. I suck in a breath.

"I would've rather fallen on the ground."

I say, letting out a rough breath.

He smirks at me, "Really? From how red your face was, I think you liked that."

Archons, I hate him.