"I won't ever let you go. You will be my possession, till eternity."

...

GASP!

With a throbbing heart, and an unusual chill running down his spine, Noah jolted his head up from the desk, rolling his ocean eyes wider. As he glanced around, he found that was still sitting inside the staff room, while the recess period was not over yet.

For the past few days, that peculiar low-pitched, masculine voice has been echoing frequently within his head, whenever he dozed off. Even though he didn't want to admit it, the voice was too rare to be heard among men around him, mingled with a fervent emotion addressing those words, that sounded more like a dangerous, smitten threat from a man. But surprisingly, he couldn't reminisce the face who addressed that threat!

He scowled his face and impatiently ran his fingers to push those brown hair bangs stuffing his forehead. His porcelain white skin looked a little pale, lacking sleep. However, his handsome charm had always managed to overlook his flaws before everyone.

Even though working as a kindergarten teacher requires an abundant practice of patience in dealing with small kids, that absurd phenomenon happening with him lately, almost every day, had greatly pissed him off.

"Fuck, not again! Who the hell is echoing these same words again and again in my head? Who is this freaking punk who claims me to be his possession? Gosh, I might really go crazy at this rate! Did I get possessed or something?" He exhaled a heavy sigh, grumbling his vent all alone in the staff room.

.

"Mr. Noah?"

Suddenly, a familiar, cordial voice averted his attention as he turned his gaze away to the door, to find Mr. Henry Rupert standing with a warm smile on his face. He has been Noah's friendly subordinate since he joined the kindergarten, almost a year after him. As he quietly walked towards him, Noah tried to ease up his tensed face and forged a smile, "Hey, Henry. When did you come?"

"Mr. Noah, what are you doing here alone? Are you alright?" He peeked a curious glance at his puffy eyes and continued further, "You seem a little pale and tired. A few days ago I witnessed you waking up with a gasp from your nap. Aren't you getting proper sleep?"

"Well, about that…" Noah frowned his face and ran his fingers again through his hair, looking perplexed. "You can say so. For the past few days, I don't know why… a unique, masculine voice echoes inside my mind, and…it claims me to be his. And, this is seriously disrupting my sleep."

"What? A voice?" Henry put up a stunned look on his face as he gawked at him in wonder. "Mr. Noah…umm, do you by any chance, like men?"

"Of course not, you idiot!"

He scoffed a frustrated sigh and tossed a cold glare at him. "I am hella annoyed at that voice for making a mess of my peaceful life! I wish I could find the person and twist his neck! But anyways…why are you here, Henry? Won't you usually eat outside with other teachers?"

"Oh, because I wanted to show you something." His supple white face brightened up with a smile as he rummaged inside his coat pocket and picked out a small, sharp pocket knife. The handle was uniquely carved with metal and the sharp edges shimmered under the warm sun rays entering through the windows. "Look, I brought this one from a convenience store. Isn't it pretty?"

Suddenly, Noah's face dimmed with a frightful look on his face as he squinted his round eyes, averting his gaze away from that knife. "Keep that thing away from me." In a cold voice, he ordered.

Henry pouted his lips and sulked at him, putting his knife back into his pocket. "Ah, Mr. Noah, how long you will be afraid of sharp-edge objects? We are adults now…you really should do something about your aichmophobia. Do you want to visit a doctor?"

"I am fine just the way my life is peaceful…so you can stop being nosy about me and do something about your crazy obsession to collect dangerous objects. Being a kindergarten teacher with this kind of violent hobby doesn't suit you at all." A small annoying smirk carved on his face as he shut off the discussion while picking up a book from his desk to read.

"But, Mr. Noah—"

.

"ACCCKKK! HELP!!! SHE IS DROWNING!!"

A sudden, fervent loud shriek flinched both of them hard as immediately the duo rushed out of the staffroom without wasting a second. Petrified about any worst consequence, as both of them reached the pool in the backyard of the school, they found a crowd of small kids and another female teacher, crying and panicking around the pool, surrounding a little girl inside, who was almost drowning as she might have accidentally slipped into the pool.

Watching them rush to the spot, she helplessly cried out aloud, "Please help her, Noah, Henry! I can't swim, or else I might have jumped in! Please hurry! She is drowning, someone please, help her!!"

"Oh my God! I can't swim either!" Wadding his eyes round, Henry gasped in shock, gawking fearfully at the struggling child.

At that moment, Noah's mind turned all fuzzy, making him unable to think straight anymore. He desperately marched ahead to the pool, muttering out loud, "I can't swim either! But there's no time to prioritize ourselves when a child needs our help!"

SPLASH!

Before anyone could blink an eye, Noah jumped into the pool and struggled hard to reach the kid who had almost passed out in fright. Throwing his arms and legs aimlessly in all directions, he somehow managed to reach her faster.

Groping her small body, Noah managed to push her toward the surface, above the pool. Immediately, that lady and the other kids came together to drag her frail, limp body up from the water, before they rushed her to the nurse's office.

However, succeeding in his deliberate attempt, all of a sudden, Noah started to feel as if his arms and limbs were about to give up on all their strength. Sensing his worn-out state, he started splashing and stumbling in the water to reach the surface. However, in his blurred vision, he could see Henry standing still at the edge of the pool.

"H-Henry! Gurgh…H-Help! Hold my hand…Pull me up!" In a cracked, desperate voice, he called his name aloud and stretched his arm as far as he could, asking him for help.

But, strangely, Henry didn't move an inch from his position and continued watching him with a vague coldness in his eyes. He didn't even bother to reach his hand.

"WHAT ARE…YOU DOIN'? H-HELP ME! I…I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS! I AM GONNA DROWN, HENRY!!?" Petrified and struggling to breathe, Noah cried out for help as he stretched his arm further, trying hard to reach him.

This time, a dark, devilish smirk etched his lips as Henry asserted, "Goodbye, Mr. Noah. Have a safe journey to heaven."

Without any further words explained, he turned around and slowly started walking away, leaving him on the verge of death.

Devastated at his grave betrayal, Noah cried bitterly as he sensed he was unable to move his legs as if they were paralyzed. Drowning deeper into the water, bubbles were emerging from his mouth making it unable for him to speak anymore.

'Why? Why did he do this to me? I treated you like my small brother and…you left me to die?

What did I do to deserve this pathetic ending? I don't want this…I didn't achieve anything in life…I wanted to do so many things…I wanted to lead a happy life…

I…I didn't even get to fall in love! No! Someone…help me! Save me! I want to live…I want…I just want a chance…please…"

While sinking deeper into the water, Noah couldn't keep his thoughts straight anymore as if this was the end. The bitter conclusion of his life wretched his heart brutally. His breathing started to collapse and before he could lose all his senses, all of a sudden, he felt a strong pair of arms firmly grabbing onto his waist, forbidding him to sink further deep below.

Startled at the last-minute miracle, as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a sight never to be forgotten!

A pair of shimmering golden eyes of a man peered deep into him, as if, that intense gaze was looking straight through his soul, too powerful to look at. In his hazy vision underwater, he couldn't have a proper view of that dazzling face, but that unfamiliar yet desperate hold on his body and those luminous, golden eyes shuddered his core with a dim hope when the man started to swim up above, holding him tighter in his grasp.

'Am…Am I saved? Or…am I hallucinating…W-Who is this…man?'

The last thoughts resonated within his mind before a void of darkness swallowed him.