Ethan

You were the one everyone called crazy. Ever since childhood, people whispered: it's best not to mess with you, because any careless word could send you flying and lashing out at anyone. They said you were crazy and dangerous, and the more rumors there were, the clearer one thing became: it's best not to argue with you. You also had ex-friends who spread rumors around university at lightning speed. One lie, one piece of gossip, and everyone knew your name and character down to the last detail. Over the years, so many enemies had piled up that it seemed like not a single glance in the hallway would go unnoticed.

Your reputation had reached its peak at the university. And then he appeared. Cilan. He was part of that noisy pack that always hung around the entrance. It was there that he first heard of you, but you didn't spark his interest until he met you in person. And then that same spark of excitement flashed in his eyes. One day, you were passing by their gathering when you heard: "Look, our crazy one's out for a walk. I wonder how long she can hold out before she starts another circus?" "They say the teachers are already whispering about how to get rid of her. She could have been pretty, though, if not for that feral grin."

They laughed, and you rolled your eyes and kept walking. Cilan watched silently. Then he started following you: wherever you went, he'd appear behind you and follow you. You ran into each other constantly: after class, you'd see him walking behind you, and it really irritated you. One day, after a lecture, you stopped abruptly. He, two steps behind, also froze, as if waiting for a command.

"Hey! Why are you following me, idiot?" you spat, turning around abruptly.

“I didn’t expect you to be so… straightforward,” he said, tilting his head. “It’s intriguing.”

You snorted. — What did you expect? Songs and dances? What do you want from me?

He smiled again, but now there was something deeper in it than just mockery.

— From you? Just heard a lot of bad things about you, so I decided to get to know you.