'I will hand your punishment personally.'

  Those words were enough to elicit worry in Julie, which started to branch out underneath her skin. But there was a sliver of anticipation, to think that cleaning the window with his letter had made up his mind to show himself to her.

  Somewhere she was eager to meet who this mystery letter thief was, but at the same time, she wondered how much deeper she was going to fall into the rabbit hole. Bringing her book to place it on her lap, she wrote back to him—


  'I didn't mean to use your letter as a window wiper. If it weren't for that counsellor who caught me standing there, I wouldn't have dirtied it. Believe me >……> I don't want to be one of those dumb students who wanders into the restricted forest and whose body is later found to be dead. Also, not to forget, I have a lot of things to do in this lifetime. Why are you trying to put an expiry date on me?!

  By the way, what costume are you wearing for Halloween? How am I going to identify you?'

  Julie wondered how funny it would be if someone else arrived at posting sixteen and she mistook the person to be the letter thief. Folding the paper, she placed it on the window.

  Lying down on her back on the bed, she stared at the sky through the glass window. As the room had been kept closed for quite some time, Julie realized there weren't many students who had been lucky enough to appreciate the view where she could see the stars and moon that passed by the window.

  Julie wondered if Roman knew more about the boy, who once upon a time used to live here. Did he have a good life later? She was curious to know about this secretive fascinating place that Veteris once used to be before they turned it into schools and universities to give education.

  The next day, Julie received her response from her letter thief. She pegged that whoever he was, he was very good at slipping past Mr. Borrell and Mr. Evans' gazes because he was always out of his dorm past the curfew hours.

  Her hands were quick to unfold the paper, and she read it like a newspaper that was delivered to her window every morning and night—


  'Given I did feel I was going to momentarily turn blind because of your little stunt, I didn't miss you wiping the window. Might as well get back into detention so that your wish to clean the other windows of the university is fulfilled.

  Don't say no. Who else will break the rules if not you?

  Expiry date? I increased your time with an extended warranty by not handing your letter to Mr. Borrell. I heard he's been looking for someone to expel. Do you want to apply as a potential candidate? Not to mention, you got saved in the nick of time, and the letter I gave you was not exposed. You just got into silly detention; it shouldn't be anything new. After all, if I am not wrong, you have turned into a frequent visitor there.'

  "I can feel the smugness in those words," commented Julie with her brown eyes narrowed at the letter.

  She read the last bit of what was written—


  'You don't have to identify me, when I know how you look. Let's keep the costume as an element of surprise.'

  Julie only hoped that at Halloween, she wouldn't confuse him to be someone else. It looked like the letter thief wanted to keep his identity a secret until the time they met each other face to face.

  That week after her classes were done, Julie stood outside the drama club room and Melanie at the side, who had come to see Julie off before going to the dorm. It was the day where Ms. Piper would be choosing the roles for each student for the play that she had come up with.

  "That's a lot of them, but I shouldn't be surprised," murmured Melanie softly so that only Julie heard her.

  "Every day the detention room is packed," replied Julie, looking at some of the students who showed up at the end of the corridor and walked inside the room. "Earlier someone said that this year there are four plays that are going to be staged and it is going to be enough for all the spots to be filled with many students."

  "I think some students will help in creating the props for the play. Not to mention, they will get the measurements of the students who will be playing the roles. There's another club that handles designing the clothes. That might be one of the best things to look forward to. I look forward to seeing you on the stage, Julie," Melanie looked suddenly excited.

  "I think it would be better if you don't," replied Julie because she knew how terrible she was at acting. The lies that came from her mouth were always bad, and she didn't want to start smiling in the middle of the play if she forgot her lines.

  "Oh shush, you will be fine. With the right amount of practice, you will be fine," said Melanie. She then said, "I am going to be taking part in the cooking club, so be ready to eat good things from my hands. They are still deciding the menu. Conner is occupied completing his assignment of sculpting the woman so that he can have it ready when the annual celebration starts."

  "It is good that the annual day isn't nearby and we still have time," responded Julie, and at the same time, she saw Eleanor appear in the corridor with another friend of hers. It seemed like in her previous life, she and Eleanor were close along with some others as they seemed to cross each other's paths often.

  "Did she mention anything after that day to you?" whispered Melanie, before looking at Eleanor, who had her chin up and entered the room.

  Julie shook her head, "Surprisingly she didn't."

  "The heartbreaker is real, he crushes the girl's feelings into dust," said Melanie.

  For a person like Eleanor to not spare her a look or utter a word, Julie could only be thankful that she was being harassed by one less person. Like her and Melanie, some of the students stood outside the room, chatting about irrelevant things, when the volume in the corridor turned down.

  Julie wondered if Ms. Piper had arrived, but instead, her eyes fell on Roman, who walked with Maximus next to him and behind was Olivia. But the students hadn't turned quiet to watch the three seniors walk in the corridor because they were a popular group. It was because both the boys had wounds on their faces that caught people's attention.

  Maximus ran his tongue over the corner of his lips, and Julie noticed he had a black and blue bruise on his forehead. Roman's knuckles looked bruised, and a bandaid was put on the side of his cheek. It looked as if the boys had been in a fight, and they looked unbothered by their appearance. But the same couldn't be told about the others, who were eager to gossip on what they saw.

  And though Julie stood next to the door, when Roman stepped inside the room with his friends, he didn't spare a look at her. Sometimes, it was as if they were getting to a neutral ground, but then most of the time, it was as if they were strangers, she thought in her mind.

  Once the three seniors entered the room, leaving the stunned students behind them, others quickly broke into the conversation.

  "Those bruises look bad and fresh," said Melanie, her head leaning to the side to take a look before she stood straight.

  Julie turned to peek inside the room and saw Roman sitting on one of the side stairs, where a stage had been built and listening to something Olivia was saying before a smirk appeared on his face. For someone who was in a fight, he was in a good mood.

  "Every one inside the room!" Ms. Piper appeared in the corridor, her stilettos clicking against the marble floor, and she carried a file in her arms.

  When Melanie was leaving, Ms. Piper stopped her, "Where are you going? Inside you go."

  "But I haven't been in the detention room this month, Ms. Piper," Melanie quickly said so that she wouldn't be dragged into the whirl of the drama activities. Julie saw her friend run away from there before Ms. Piper would drag her inside.

  Julie stepped inside the room, and the students who were gathered in the room didn't bother to step forward and greet the woman. After all, they were undisciplined students and were unhappy that this time Ms. Piper had pulled out something underhanded. But that didn't deter Ms. Piper's good mood, which turned even brighter on seeing the students sulk.

  One of the students had followed Ms. Piper with a cardboard box and placed it on the table, which was placed on the table.

  At that time, Julie turned to look at Roman, who hadn't moved and was looking at Ms. Piper. As if sensing her gaze, his eyes shifted to meet hers. His face was expressionless, and he stared back at her.

  Ms. Piper raised her hand to gain everyone's attention. She said,

  "There are character names written here in chits, and the number of chits equals the number of students in this room. Some will be on the stage, while some will be helping backstage in creating props," one corner of her lips pulled up. "Now each of you will come forward and pick one chit out of this lot. And as you already know, it isn't an option to sit out of the play. Come on now," she said, looking at the more diligent students, who had been put into detention by fate even though they were obedient.

  Soon one by one, every student started to pick the chits. There were only a few who looked relieved, while most of them looked annoyed. Julie picked up her chit, walking back to her place, and when her fingers opened it, she read the name 'Iris Turner.'

  She took a deep breath before looking around if someone was willing to switch chits with her. She had ended up with a problematic character which was one of the centre characters in the play.

  "What did you get, Ms. Winters?" asked Ms. Piper, same like she had asked everyone who had picked up the chits so far.

  Julie looked down at the name again, and she replied, "Iris."

  The woman nodded her head and waited for other students to finish picking. Olivia and Maximus picked up their chits, where Maximus had turned into her brother-in-law in the play.

  Olivia, who had picked up the chit, raised her hand and asked, "It says Harold."

  "That's fine, we can switch the genders," responded Ms. Piper. Julie wondered how Olivia had ended up in detention because she wasn't a frequent visitor in the detention room.

  And then, Roman walked forward and came to stand in front of the cardboard. He put his hand inside the box and picked up a chit. Opening the chit, he read, "Atlas Cheverell," and walked back to sit where he had earlier been sitting.

  Eleanor, who hadn't looked at Julie until now, finally glared at her. It was because Atlas was in love with the married woman, Iris.

  But the glare disappeared because she had turned into the fiance of Atlas Cheverell, Eve Campbell. And if her excitement wasn't apparent before, it was now. As if that wasn't enough, the person who had sat behind her in the last detention, Caleb, had picked up the name 'Blake Turner.' Husband of Iris Turner.