Gasping breaths could be heard accompanied by running footsteps on dry leaves. A girl in a knee-length white dress ran fearfully as if something dangerous was chasing her behind.
The girl stopped, now catching her breath she stood looking at the magnificent castle before her. The castle was only lit by lanterns, fighting with the forest's darkness while waiting for the full moon to come.
The girl in the white dress felt as if her soul was being called, asking her to enter the castle. With tight steps, she ventured into the unfamiliar castle shrouded in darkness and the eerie air of the silent night.
"This place is creepy! But I feel like there's something I should find, here." murmured the girl as her eyes darted around the castle.
With one careless step, the girl accidentally stepped on a secret passage on the floor, causing her to fall into a castle she didn't know existed.
A soft falling sound could be heard, painless because the girl fell right on top of the body of a man who she was currently kissing on the forehead due to the sudden fall.
The girl's face was shocked, accompanied by her immediately lowering her face while touching her lips in shock. "Did I just kiss him?" Before the girl could recover from her shock, a bat flew towards her making her immediately sit down to avoid it.
As she looked at the man's face once more, this time she was not in a state of shock.
This handsome man was in a coffin, with roses growing all around him, but strangely, it didn't hurt his face.
Is he a god cursed for being too handsome? The girl touched the young man's face once again in amazement, but due to her carelessness, her hand was pricked by the thorns of the roses, which made her hurriedly withdraw her hand. She waved her hand three times because the blood that came out of her index finger was quite a lot making her hand feel sore. Unknowingly, the blood from his hand splashed into the young man's mouth and into it. The young man's throat moved afterward as if he had drunk the drops of blood earlier.
His eyes slowly opened while the girl was still busy holding her sore forefinger. One hand with protruding veins reached out towards the girl and grabbed her hand. The gentle suction from the man to stop the bleeding on her index finger at that moment made the girl freeze because his action was too sudden.
There was no talking at that moment, only how the girl was immersed in the young man's blue eyes that seemed to make her drift into an endless ocean.
"WAKE UP, IDIOT! ARE YOU GOING TO SCHOOL WHEN THE SUN IS ALREADY OVERHEAD?"
The loud shout echoed in the girl's initially quiet room. The window blinds were opened to let the light wake her up, and the smell of their mother's cooking wafting into her room made her eyes open faster than the alarm clock that was ready to ring loudly to crack her eardrums.
"The smell of food! Did we eat spaghetti with grilled salmon today? I smell grilled meat too. Did we have steak for breakfast this morning too?" The girl sniffed around with her keen sense of smell. The warm scent of cooking, as well as the spaghetti sauce with her mother's secret blend of spices.
"Your nose is even sharper than a dog's, huh? Hurry up and get up! Before I give all your food rations to the dog!" threatened the woman, then she left the girl alone in her room. The girl didn't think much before her food ration was actually given to the dog; she hurriedly jumped off her bed and rushed to the bathroom.
The house was quiet again, the fierce woman who was nagging earlier was now walking gracefully towards the dining table. Alexandra Thomas, with an elegant appearance, sat down and chose to take a piece of toast with butter rather than the other luxurious dishes on the table.
"Alexandra, don't you want spaghetti or grilled salmon?" Her mother offered, but the girl, with a straight face, declined the offer by raising her hand low.
"How about a steak?"
"I'm on a diet!"
"Okay!" Now her mother didn't push her and began to sit at the table quietly.
"MOM! WAIT! HURRY UP AND PROTECT MY FOOD RATION!" Shouting, the girl hurriedly sat in her chair and picked up a plate; she then handed the plate to her mother to be filled with her favorite salmon grill as well as spaghetti.
Valery Thomas, the girl immediately got a nasty look from Alexandra because of the noise she made when it was quiet.
"Mom, I want more steak too!" Valery asked pointing at the meat in the center of the table.
"You glutton! I wonder where all that food went, you're still so small even though you eat like a gorilla!" Alexandra mocked this time eating the peeled apple slices. As a model, she has to maintain her weight to stay ideal and look good on camera.
"I'm an aspiring swimmer! My food naturally turns into energy. That's the secret to why I can win the national swimming competition championship. You'll see when I graduate, I'll be a great swimmer!" Valery said confidently while beating his chest proudly.
Secretly, a small smile spread across Alexandra's lips, seeing her sister who could fly freely to achieve her dreams; for her, it was enough. Actually, Alexandra never dreamed of becoming a model, but since it was her mother's dream that didn't come true, Alexandra was determined to make it happen and throw away her dream of becoming a news anchor.
"Have you finished your breakfast? In three minutes your school bus will arrive. Get ready and wait at the front!" Alexandra instructed as she looked at her watch and made sure it was on time.
"Alright, I'll go first! I have a swimming competition today, don't forget to come and watch!" Valery said as she put on her bag, grabbed her sister's apple slices then hurriedly ran out before getting hit.
"Hey, you! My apple!"
"Goodbye~"
Everyone just only laughed while shaking their heads when they saw the girl's behavior.
AT SCHOOL-
"How is your race preparation going?" Valery's seatmate, who had hair like a puddle dog, asked. Her hair was slightly curly and fluffy, making her look like a puddle dog especially when her hair was pulled into two ponytails.
"Of course, who are you to doubt? I'm the greatest at swimming. It's just that..." Valery did not finish her words and paused for a moment to think.
"What's going on? You look agitated!" Asked the girl named Mia.
"Today the weather forecast shows that there will be a rainstorm. I hope they all don't get caught in the storm and can't make it. This is a very important race for me, I want my family to see it."
"Calm down! It's very sunny outside, the storm will probably come at night. If your family comes before evening, they won't be caught in the storm." Mia said trying to calm her down.
Valery gazed sadly out the window, the warm air and gentle breeze made it feel like everything was going to be alright. She hoped the storm wasn't really coming and that the weather forecast she had just seen was wrong.
"Valery Thomas! It's time to go!"