Free Web NovelChapter 9: A New Lead to Follow
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’Today is going to be a really long day,’ Theon thought to himself as he adjusted the white tie strapped around his neck.
He stood in front of a large mirror placed in the room to allow students get a look at themselves before heading out.
It sounded very basic coming from such a high-class school, but he had to admit— who wouldn’t want to stare at themselves all day when wearing such a tailored outfit the academy had designed as its uniform.
The uniform was a far cry from what one would call ordinary.
It was a finely tailored white suit constructed from soft, expensive linen designed to look both elegant and intimidating.
Intricate golden patterns were embroidered along the collar, cuffs, shoulders and the edges of the coat as well, giving it a sort of luxurious high-class appearance.
A neatly fitted white tie rested beneath the collar, held together by a small golden emblem of the academy.
But personally, that wasn’t the most impressive part of the uniform. No. It was a far cry from the most impressive feature, which was its essence-infused fabric.
Whenever the uniform was torn or damaged, the golden patterns would glow faintly and the suit would slowly reconstruct itself until it was back to perfect condition.
"Man—" Theon sighed while rubbing his face softly. ’Such beauty should honestly be a curse at this point.’
He would admit, Theon was incredibly handsome before, but now— now it was as if he had been reconstructed entirely by multiple gods who might have spent years trying to make this body more beautiful than it should be. freewebnovёl.ƈom
His golden hair was not too short, but just long to the point where everyone would want it to be.
And his eyes— their golden color was just so incredibly beautiful that anyone who looked into them for more than a second would end up bewitched.
Matched with the two golden earrings that seemed to be crafted from both metal and a soft material hanging beneath them.
It was all overbearing.
’Not as if I was ugly in my past life, but if I had such a face if I was back on Earth—’ He paused. ’You know what, it’s better if I don’t ponder on it too much.’
"Damn!!!" Lucius suddenly exclaimed, making both Damon and Reed pause and stare at him. "I didn’t get a good look at you yesterday night— but why the f**k are you so attractive!!"
At the same time, Damon, Reed and Theon’s faces all scrunched up and they all thought the same thing. ’This fool is really horrible at constructing sentences.’
"Wait!! I didn’t mean it like that—" Lucius immediately corrected himself after seeing the looks on their faces. "But come on... Look at him!!"
Damon and Reed both focused their attention on Theon and both their eyes widened.
"Lucius is right—" Reed whispered painfully, as if hating the fact he had to admit that Lucius said something reasonable for once. "You look really— different."
"True—" Damon muttered. "I only paid heed to the change in your hair— but this..."
Of course they felt he looked different. Not only had he grown taller, but he was no longer as lean as a twig about to snap.
His build was more defined and more well-structured, fitting his height.
"You call this different?" Lucius cried out. "This is beyond different man— what the hell happened?"
Theon was at a complete loss for words. He didn’t know his sudden change of appearance would bring such a reaction from the trio, and as such he wasn’t able to plan an excuse for this kind of situation.
"Errrrrr—" Theon scratched his head softly. "I’ve been working out." He spat out the first thing that came to mind before walking out of the door quickly.
"Working out?" Lucius said. "That’s bullshit. How come we never noticed the changes till today!?" He shouted out, trying to go after Theon, but suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Leave him," Reed said quietly. "He must have his reasons for keeping these things from us."
Lucius looked at Reed’s face for a few seconds before sighing softly. "You’re right."
"We should hurry up, before he leaves us behind," Reed said, taking the first step out of the door.
Damon and Lucius looked at each other before following after him.
It didn’t take them too long to catch up to Theon— but during the walk to the cafeteria, it felt like all the attention was on them.
Why?
Because Theon was too attractive.
Wherever they passed by, Theon got looks of admiration and envy.
"Oh my God! He looks so beautiful!" One of the female students whispered.
"Right? How come we’ve never seen him before?" another said.
"Who the hell is that? I have never seen him before!" one of the male students said, noticing all the attention on the yellow-haired student. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"I don’t know. Never seen him before," another replied.
"That group looks familiar though."
"Well, this feels nice," Lucius smiled. "Too bad all the attention is on Theon and not on us." His facial expression instantly changed to one of envy.
"Can you really blame them?" Damon whispered. "Most of them don’t even recognize that it’s Theon, and just think it’s a new student."
"If this goes on, I will have to stop walking with Theon!!" Lucius declared while pouting.
Theon smiled lightly. "Don’t be stupid."
"Did you just call me stupid!?" Lucius pointed at Theon. "You guys heard it right? Theon just called me stupid."
All three of them sighed tirelessly.
’This fool never gets tired of talking, does he?’ Theon sighed mentally. ’But forget about that, all this attention I’m drawing is bound to become a problem.’ He frowned.
’We need to leave this area quickly.’ Theon increased his footsteps.
Reed and Damon noticed this and immediately followed after. They too must have noticed that the attention was becoming a problem.
"W-wait up!!!" Lucius exclaimed, before rushing after them.
Using shortcuts that were secluded, they were easily able to reach the cafeteria quickly, while avoiding crowds of people.
"We’re finally here," Lucius panted while grabbing his knees.
"Yes, we are." Damon adjusted his glasses. "We’re already behind schedule, so let’s hurry up and grab our meals before heading to class."
"Right!" They all nodded.
On entering inside, Theon’s eyes couldn’t help but widen. The cafeteria was large, and sparkling with countless large dining tables and chairs placed in specific locations.
The food being served was just as posh and fancy as the cafeteria. And the students— they all had different colors of ties.
Yes. The ties on their uniform were what were used to differentiate each year a student was in. First years wore white, second black and third gold.
It was a very standard way of differentiating the hierarchy of different levels of students.
"Come on! Why are you standing there like this is your first time here?" Lucius sighed before grabbing Theon’s arm. "Let’s hurry up and grab our food," he said before pulling him to the others.
They all grabbed a set of ceramic plates placed on a tray, before heading over to the servers where they were given their food.
Then, they found a suitable and isolated dining table with four chairs and sat there.
Lucius immediately after sitting began gulping down his food. Damon and Reed smiled awkwardly at Lucius before eating their food at a calmer pace.
While Theon— well he ate exactly like Lucius. Like a hungry beast that hadn’t eaten in days or ages, in fact. ’When was the last time I ate such good food.’ Theon started tearing up.
Lucius, Reed and Damon all paused, watching this with shocked expressions, though it was very understandable why he would be eating like this.
After all, he had been missing for two days. He must have been starving within that period of time.
If only they knew it was more than just days he hadn’t eaten anything, but years. They would be reacting more differently.
"Theon!!!" A voice was suddenly heard, drawing all of their attention away from their food.
They all turned and looked at the person who had suddenly called out Theon’s name. A red-haired student with a sick grin on his face as he approached them with slow steps.
He wore the same uniform as the rest of the students, but his tie was black in colour.
"Well shit. I almost didn’t recognize you with that new hairdo of yours." His grin widened as he got closer, causing a small frown to appear on Theon’s face.
He finally reached their table and placed his hand on Theon’s shoulder and whispered directly in his ear.
"I thought you were dead, freak!"
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