With the moon in the waning gibbous phase, the moonlight was gently kissing everything under his reign. It was almost like a mother embracing their child with love and care. In this part of the world, most of the living beings are nocturnal when less than a third of the mammals, including humans, sleep.

With the celestial body already high in the sky surrounded by an infinite amount of shiny little stars, the Elsan household already retired to bed. When Malak’s parents and sister were already in a deep slumber with peaceful dreams, the teenager was tossing around in his bed.

He was not exactly having a nightmare. It wasn’t something as extreme to bring out strong feelings. Yet, it was not a dream either, or could it be? It was not his first time experiencing this vision, or so he thought.

It started as usual with impenetrable darkness surrounding Malak. As if appearing from it, a shadow slowly but gradually made its way toward the boy. With no lights, it was impossible to distinguish anything except for the person’s blood-red irises. Instead of installing fear in Malak’s heart, it comforted him. His head was telling him to run, but his heart wanted to get closer to the stranger. Something about his eyes felt familiar. But he couldn’t put his finger on it.

As suddenly as the unknown person appeared, the scenery changed. The instantaneous apparition of light blinded the dark blond teenager, which made him close his eyes tightly. It was a painful experience as he gently rubbed them to soothe the pain away.

Once he could open his eyes without them being burned by the sun, Malak couldn’t help but be awed by his surroundings. He had never seen anything like this before. It was as if he travelled back in time.

In this part of the dream, he was living the most luxurious life in a castle. But the strangest part was the fact that no one around him seemed human. Although all faces were blurred, he could see animal ears and tails, horns, wings, and a lot of crazy accessories you would find at a Halloween shop.

“His Highness has arrived,” a maid with black hair and panther ears of the same colour announced politely before opening the door.

The man who entered the room was tall and had dark horns resembling a little like the horn of a ram. They started from the side of his head just above his ears before curving around ninety degrees with the tip pointing slightly upward.

The horned man walked closer to the teenager sitting in an armchair. With his fingers on his chin, he gently tilted his head up before landing a soft kiss on his lips. He wanted to push the unknown man away, but it was as if his body wasn’t his own. He couldn’t move as he wanted.

“How did you sleep?” the older man asked softly before sitting on the armchair in front of him.

“Good, but it would have been better if you were there when I woke up,” Malak answered, although he didn’t wish to. He knew this was a dream, but it felt so real that he started to doubt himself.

“I’m sorry. I had duties to attend to, but I have time now. Let’s eat breakfast together.”

As if on cue, more maids appeared through the same door his Majesty previously used to bring in plates under a cloche, to keep the food warm, placed on multiple food carts. No matter what Malak said to himself, there was too much food for only two people. The maids expertly put four cloches in front of the two men before revealing their breakfast.

In front of him, there were foods he had never seen before. Although he found it weird, his stomach had a mind of his own. The smell was very inviting to his nostrils. With such conflicted feelings, he didn’t dare to touch his food while quietly observing the horned man in front of him eat.

“What’s wrong?” he asked when he noticed that Malak didn’t touch his food. “Are you feeling unwell?”

“Who are you?” the teenager blurted out, which surprised him since he couldn’t say anything before.

Whispers started to fill the room as all the maids and butlers started to gossip between them.

“Silence,” the King ordered with authority as everyone shut their mouths while straightening their back. After a short moment of silence, he smiled kindly at the boy in front of him. “You don’t remember? We have met before.”

Malak shook his head in confusion. He was frowning while trying to remember where he met the horned man before. But that was impossible since such beings didn’t exist. It was all a dream.

“How can you say this is a dream when you have horns yourself?” his Highness laughed as two humanoid maids brought a big mirror so that he could see his reflection.

Malak’s heart stopped beating for a second after seeing his reflection for the first time. It was true. He also had horns similar to the older man, but it was a little thinner and shorter. Plus, its colour was also paler. Instead of a dark brown, he had almost beige horns. It matched the colour of his dark blond hair. Aside from the horns, another of his features changed. It was the colour of his eyes. It didn’t feel like he had contacts on, but it was impossible. It seemed so unnatural.

“Do you remember now?”

Before Malak could answer, he had a terrible headache. It felt like someone hit him with a hammer multiple times. Suddenly, there was a sound similar to an explosion before a tornado of darkness sucked him in.

∑（｡･Д･｡）???

“Couldn’t sleep last night?” Malak’s father, Frank, asked while unfolding the newspaper.

“I had a weird dream,” his son mumbled while slowly chewing his cereals with milk.

“You look horrible,” Lesley honestly commented as he grunted as an answer. “Do you want to put on some makeup?” she suggested while munching on her buttered toast with egg.

“It’s alright,” her brother answered before a yawn escaped him.

At the same time, Lilly, the twins’ mother, put down a plate filled with eggs, bacon, and bread in front of her husband.

“It’s not that bad. Go splash a bit of cold water before leaving,” she tilted her son’s head up to take a good look at him. “Ah, you better hurry, or you’ll be late!”

“Yes,” both twins answered in unison before sitting up to put their empty dishes in the sink.

After gathering all the necessities they will need for today’s day at school, they both left the house. On their way to school, the twins didn’t talk much, since they were both listening to their own music.

“So, what was your dream about?” Lesley asked when they reached the subway.

At first, Malak didn’t hear her, but when she tapped his shoulder with her fingers, he took off his earbuds.

“What?”

“What did you dream about last night?” she repeated before replacing a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“It was bizarre and strange. That’s all I can remember about it,” Malak responded with a frown when he couldn’t think about it with clarity. “Oh, there were horns, cat ears and tails and maids! I think.”

“Okay,” she trailed while looking at her twin weirdly.

“Hey, don’t!” he exclaimed before looking around since he felt he was too loud. “It wasn’t anything like that.”

“Anything like what?” she raised an eyebrow as Malak sighed.

“You know what I mean,” he answered before both of them get out of the wagon and head toward the exit.

They had to fasten their pace since they were getting a little behind schedule. But even with the human traffic caused by the rush hour, they made it in time to their respective classrooms. The rest of the day went by slowly as the students quietly listened to the teacher while taking down notes. When one class ended, they would pack their books and pen before heading to their next subject. Sometimes, a teacher would surprise the undergraduates with pop quizzes, which earned a simultaneous groan from everyone. Before the day could even end, the trio already started to discuss their after-school plans. Since Malak didn’t need to work today, they decided to go to a local coffee shop to study.

When they got there, they each ordered a drink before claiming a table of four. Without wasting a second, the group of friends started to study, since the exams are approaching at an alarming pace. Teachers loved to torture their students by giving them assignments with a similar deadline. It was crunch time. A few hours later, the three classmates worked efficiently and advanced a lot in their studies. Since they have to go home soon, they decided to stop for the day and chat for the remaining time.

“You never said why you disappeared after entering that club,” Kayla asked out of sudden while changing the topic.

“Right! I forgot about that,” Enrico chipped in as Malak played with his eraser. 

“I didn’t like it, that’s all,” he answered while shrugging his shoulders.

“Then, where did you get that pin?” the girl curiously asked as she pointed the beautiful object attached to his backpack.

Malak followed the direction his friend was pointing with his eyes. When his gaze met the jewellery, the ruby entranced him. It was as if the object was calling him. Kian’s face popped up in Malak’s mind. Although they only met once, the teenager was unable to forget him. He was both attracted and reluctant to contact the man.

“If you bought it, please tell me where. I want something similar. It’s so beautiful,” the red-haired girl added with a grin.

“No, I didn’t buy it,” Malak answered honestly as his female friend’s eyes sparkled.

“Then?” both his friends asked in unison.

Malak hesitated to answer his friends. They didn’t know about his sexual orientation. He was always too scared to ask about their opinion on the subject.

“Someone gave it to me,” he mumbled, as his cheeks flushed against his will.

“Don’t tell me. You received a present from Genesis!” Enrico exclaimed as jealousy covered his tone and facial expression.

“That would make sense since it was his birthday,” Kayla responded as a matter of fact as Enrico continued to sulk.

“Yeah, but she didn’t give anything to Lesley, and it was her birthday too,” he grumbled unhappily while roughly swirling his spoon in his cup.

“Someone’s jealous,” Kayla not so quietly whispered to Malak to tease Enrico even more.

Happily embracing the chance to change the subject, Malak quickly nodded. “Such a shame it wasn’t his birthday.”

The raven-haired boy glared at his two friends before quickly standing up. “I’m leaving,” he stated before tidying up his spot on the wooden table and emptying his cup.

His two friends laughed before hurrying to clean up the table too so that they could catch up with their angry friend. As usual, they made a part of their way back together before splitting up in their ways.

Alone, Malak walked in the direction of his house while staring at his contact list on his phone. It contained only a few phone numbers of his family and friends. But another one was recently added. Usually, he would have tossed the piece of paper containing Kian’s number away, but he was unable to. He thought of contacting the strange man he met at the club multiple times already. After some pondering, he shook the thought away and decided to listen to music instead. But before he could do that, he accidentally pressed on Kian’s number. And before he could even cancel the call, an incredibly sexy male voice answered.

“Hello, may I know who’s speaking?”

Malak thought of ending the call without a word, but he couldn’t act so rudely, especially to someone that did nothing wrong to him.

“Hi, it’s Malak. We met at the club the other day?” he successfully greeted without stuttering.

“I was wondering when you would call,” Kian answered cheerfully. “Have you been doing well?”

“Yes, I have. What about you? I hope I’m not calling at a bad moment,” Malak blurted out nervously, but then blushed hard when he heard the man chuckle.

“No, you’re not bothering me, and I am better now that you have called,” he responded.

“Ah, good,” the teenager commented, not entirely sure what to say.

“Are you free next Saturday?”

“What?” Malak dumbly said in surprise at the sudden question.

“I would like to invite you to a cup of coffee or a meal.”

“Uhh, I-I don’t know.”

At this moment, Malak thought that Kian was asking him on a date. While it didn’t feel right to him to go out with a stranger, he didn’t know how to decline him. He didn’t want to hurt the other person’s feelings.

“As friends, of course.”

Malak realized that he misunderstood him. He felt embarrassed and stupid to have assumed that Kian was even interested in him. They knew nothing of each other, so he hoped that he didn’t reveal too much of his secret.

“Um, all right,” the younger man answered briefly to avoid further embarrassment.

“Great! I’ll send you the details later.”

“Okay, thank you. I have to go bye-bye.”