A Mind of Beauty

Prologue

"Nyctophobia is a phobia characterized by the severe fear of the dark. It is triggered by the brain's disfigured perception of what would or could happen in a dark environment"

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She ran through the empty streets trying to get further away from the shadows of the dark. The thuds of her footsteps synchronized with the beating of her heart. They surrounded her, but she was lucky enough to have the guidance of the light provided by light poles.

The shadows teased her and followed her every footstep. They tried to trip her, stop her, and hold her back by pulling the strands of hair with the help of the wind.

She was foolish to stay out this late and now she regretted her mistake.

She made a sharp left turn and stopped to catch her breath -- unbeknownst to a nightly creature by the name of Amaro watching her.

His large frame leaned into the shadows of a tall building and observed the young woman who crashed his daily party of one. He brought his cigarette to his mouth to take one last drag before throwing it away, intrigued by the woman.

She stood under a flickering light pole that created a circle of light around her, shielding her from the dark. Her hands gripped her knees as she bent down to take heavy breaths. Her face looked towards the boundary between the light's edge and the dark -- where the curve of the moon met space. Her facial features illuminated under the light.

On the other hand, his dark eyes savoured her features as her chest moved up and down. Something inside him compelled him to slowly step towards her until he was standing directly in front of her. His tall built frame towered over her petite frame like a skyscraper. The young woman, having a hard to catch her breath, didn't notice him at that moment.

He couldn't help but raise his hand slowly towards her face to move some stray curls behind her ear. His heart was racing in miles and he wondered if she could hear the raging sound of his adrenaline-pumped heart.

The both of them froze when his hand grazed her soft cheek; her in alarm and him in awe. He wondered how electrifying his touch on her could be. She feared he was going to hurt her. He gulped and suddenly his throat fell dry. More; he wanted more.

Their contact was lost when she took an immediate step back. His hand immediately dropped and clenched into a fist, cursing at himself for making a mistake.

Her big doe eyes scanned his all-black outfit and unconsciously took another step back with her hands trembling in fear. It seemed that every time she took a step back, another stab tore his heart; a feeling inside made him want to  be as close as possible to her. 

She gasped when she glanced at his face; he was beautiful. His muscular build and sharp features appealed to her. She was entranced by his emerald green eyes, which were clashing into her own hazel ones.  

For a moment, time stool still. She was the moon and he was the dark space that surrounded her. 

"I'm not going to hurt you," the words slipped through his mouth before even thinking. The desperation in him spoke and expressed its presence in the tone of his deep, raspy voice.

Despite all that, it seemed as if those were the words his heart wanted to shout for hours until she understood something no other person bothered to learn about him -- he wasn't the monster people made him out to be.

"They always do," her brown eyes captures his emerald green eyes and she involuntarily let out a small gasp at his intense look. She continued anyways, "the night always brings obscure danger."

She took a few step backs and turned around before running in the opposite direction.

He, on the other hand, watched her run away into the dark. It seemed as if a piece of the heart he didn't know he had cracked with every step she took in other direction. It seemed as if she took a part of his heart with her. He returned to the shadows with his aching heart, wanting to see her, feel her again.

Little did either of them know, the wonders of fate would bring them closer than ever imagined.