Uhm, I think I won't name my chapters. :/
So, here it is. Sorry for the long wait. Get used to it. xD

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Riley slipped out the back door of the Lecture Hall and let her feet take its own course. She had three hours to spare before her next class, and she didn’t know where to go. It had been almost a week since she first enrolled and the storm of getting used to class, new subjects, accents and foreign people who always smiled extra big when she was around had died down. She still wasn’t used to the grounds, however. Daniel had volunteered to come and show her around campus, but he cancelled their plans at the last minute due to a shoot that had been unexpectedly brought forward.

Riley’s lips tugged a little recalling her brother’s frantic voicemail and his apologies. She had a feeling this was going to get pretty constant, considering her brother’s job. A few students passed her and she pulled the hood of her jacket lower over her head and stuffed her hands deeper into the pockets. She mostly avoided her fellow classmates now, wary if they even offered her a smile that always seemed extra bright to her.

She halted abruptly when her foot met the frame of a door and her eyes trailed up to immediately recognize the door from before. It was as if her feet had known that she had wanted to come here again, not only compelled by the mysterious guy with those unnerving eyes, but also due to the strange sense of… welcome she’s felt when he took her offered hand. She felt almost guilty for shoving him to the back of her mind while settling down these past few days.

Slowly, she reached out, her fingers hesitating over the faded bronze doorknob. Steeling herself, she knocked twice timidly and opened the door a crack, poking her head in.

“Hello?”

“Riley.” He had his back to her, an aerosol tin can in his hand, his finger on the nozzle as he sprayed careful red streaks onto what little empty space the wall had. “Step in.”

She obliged and closed the door softly behind her. Her eyes watched him move, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his arms, the veins in his lean muscles faintly showing under the low light. The room was comfortably dim again, like the last time, and the window displayed a somber weather of light gray skies that looked as if it wasn’t quite sure if it wanted to rain or not. “How’d you know it was me?” She asked as she took the seat by the window.

He paused to turn and stare blatantly at her, raising the hairs on her arms as those empty eyes bore straight into hers. She held his eyes for another second or two before she looked away. When she looked at him again, he had a different can in his hand, and he was shaking his head a little as he sprayed. “I forgot you’re new here.”

“And there’s something that everyone knows that I don’t?”

He nodded.

“Something to do with why you’re holed up in here? Say, do you take classes here?”

“I do. Art.” He replied, dismissing her first question. “Don’t you have them now?”

“In a few hours.” She answered standoffishly, her attention taken by the picture slowly forming under his hands, a sunset by the looks of it.

They sat in companionable silence for a while, Riley’s attention moving towards the window, her finger tracing the raindrops as they slid down the window one-by-one and the sky cried in a light drizzle.

“Why did you come here?” his sudden question broke the stillness between them, making her jump a little. She turned to face him, and her breath caught when she saw the sunset behind him. “Wow. That’s… Wow.” She goggled at it. She’d always taken graffiti as crude, but this masterpiece was breathtaking.

His lips curved up slightly. “You like it?”

She nodded, and his lips turned up in that almost smile again.

“My question, Riley.”

Riley blinked. “Right. I don’t know. My feet bought me here.” She cringed at her choice of words; it sounded stupid even to her.

His eyebrows shot up into that messy fringe of soft curls, and that smile picked up just a little, as if he was amused. “Really.”

Her phone suddenly rang, and she scrambled to take out from the jacket. “Hello?”

“Riley, I’m free now. You have an hour left, right? Lunch.” Daniel’s voice greeted her cheerily.

“Uh, okay.”

“I’ll be at the main gate in five. See ya.”

She slid her phone back into her pocket and looked at him apologetically. “I have to go.”

He shrugged and bowed at her, sweeping her hands regally towards the door, his actions taking her completely by surprise. She walked towards the door. “See you.”

She was out the door when he stopped her by calling her name.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.” He said, and she was and caught off-guard when he suddenly smiled at her, a real, genuine smile, although his eyes remained flat.

**

“Got out of the shoot early?” she asked Daniel conversationally as they walked towards his car.

He grinned. “It was too sunny out.” He replied cheerfully.

“Sunny, alright.” She agreed, fanning herself with the jacket she just took off. Then she froze. Sunny? When she stepped out the door, the window was still being splattered by drops of rain that were getting heavier by the minute. She stared hard at the sidewalk, puzzled when it didn’t as much as have a single drop of moisture. “It didn’t rain at all?”

“No.” Daniel rolled his eyes. “Can’t you feel the pavement baking our soles?” he turned to look at his sister. “Why?”

“Nothing.”

**

Riley sped towards the room, making sure to pay attention to the weather each time she passed the windows lining the stretch of corridor. Reaching for the doorknob, she started to open it, only to get wrenched away roughly from the door.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” an angry voice echoed through the empty corridor.

Seeing red, she whirled around to face the person. And her heart skipped a beat.

          He was almost a head taller than her, and breathtakingly handsome; his wavy black hair complementing his high cheekbones perfectly. But his beautiful eyes were flashing with anger, and his pink, plump lips were turned down in a frown.

          “Who the hell do you think you are?” she lashed back at him.

    “Choi Seunghyun, at your service.” He replied sarcastically, bowing to her.

          She rolled her eyes and huffed in impatience before turning back to the door, but a hand clamped over her arm and dragged her away. She tried struggling from his vice-like grip to no avail; his fingers curled around hers so tightly it hurt. Turning towards the door, she saw him standing by it, staring after her with those lifeless eyes. At that very moment, she thought she had never seen a sadder expression than that, and it pierced right through her heart. At the last minute before they turned round a corner, she managed to mouth a sorry, doubtful that he could even see it.

          He pulled her through a door that led to a balcony and shut the door before he finally let her go.

          She cursed at his face, muttering another stream of obscenities when he saw him wince, obviously disapproving her choice of vocabulary as she rubbed her arm, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

“You were going into that room.” It wasn’t a question.

“Great observation skills.” She stated dryly.

          “Why?” he leaned against the door casually, sliding his hands into his pockets. His face was an expressionless mask, but his fiery eyes emitted hot fury.

“I don’t see how that concerns you.” She retorted sharply, blatantly returning his gaze.

He rubbed his face in frustration. “Do you even know who he is?” he asked, his voice low, a hint of danger lacing it.

“You don’t.” he answered before she even opened he mouth. “You can’t; nobody does. Everybody just avoids him like the plague, and you," he pointed at her. "you had to walk straight into his lair.”

“He is not an animal.” She protested at his choice of words.

He smirked. “How would you know?”

“How would YOU know?” she retorted.

His face hardened. “I know a hell lot better, kid.” Pushing away from the door, he stepped closer.

Her temper flared at the word kid, but she dismissed it and eyed him warily as her circled her, but stayed rooted her spot.

“What do you know about him?” he questioned, mocking her. “His name?”

“I—”

“No you don’t.” he cut her off relentlessly. “His course? No. Why he always stays there and you never see him out?” he stooped down until he was looking at her eye-to-eye. “You know NOTHING about him.” He turned, and leaning down so his lips almost brushed her ear, “But you should know enough to stay away from him, for your own good.” He breathed.

And then the door slammed, and he was gone.

**

    He stared after her, that unexpected friend he’d just made, who actually apologized because she was dragged away.

    The first person to offer him her hand instead of succumbing to the fear he saw in her eyes that day, and running away.

    She didn’t judge him, or labeled him, like any other person would.

    And she sure didn’t beat the hell out of him and leave him bleeding on the street.

    He deserved it, in a way.

    But didn’t he also deserve a chance to tell his story?

    And now that there was someone who might finally be willing to listen, will she be taken away too?

    He stepped back into the room, closing the door behind him. Picking up a can, he started to shake it steadily, listening to the familiar metallic clacking in the can,

    Innocent until proven guilty?

    Load of crap.

   And red paint spattered across the wall.