The moment Lilith turned, her entire being froze.

Those grey eyes gleaming at her in the dark, that thick head of dark hair... that face... despite the darkness, there was just no way Lilith could not recognize him. This boy... this person... it was just impossible for her to mistake someone else for him. Kyle... what... what was he doing here of all places? Why was he even here?!

At that instant, Lilith heard his voice in her mind. ’I will do everything I can to avoid you... so do everything you can not to cross paths with me ever again... please don’t let me see you again...’ She remembered how when he had said those words back then, her heart had shaken so hard that it hurt. Until today, she could still very clearly remember.

As those words echoed in her mind, Lilith felt her heart shiver a little and she averted her gaze and quickly looked down to the ground, feigning not to see the person sitting against the tree trunk at all.

"Goddamn tree!" she hissed out as she pushed herself up, brushing herself down from the dirt that had clung to her clothes when she fell. She was doing her very best to act as normal as she could, pretending to be angry and huffing away at the ’accident’ she had.

But just as she was about to leave, she heard his baritone voice echoing from behind her.

"What are you doing here, little witch?" he questioned her, and Lilith’s eyes almost bulged out from their sockets in utter shock. Did he recognize her? No way?! How could he see through her disguise spell?! That was just... that was just impossible!

Lilith could not stop herself from whipping around. He was now right before her. He towered over her, causing Lilith to subconsciously take a step back. He... he had grown even taller in the time that she had not seen him.

Now that he was closer, Lilith immediately noticed his expression as he looked at her. He looked a bit confused as he scrutinised her face.

That alone made Lilith feel a little relieved. YES!! He did not manage to recognize her yet! But why did he call out to her as a little witch?! Lilith could never forget that it was the very same line he had used to call out to her that very first time they had met in the Reigns’ castle.

"I... I’m lost..." Lilith tried her best to respond as normally as she could – as a human, that is. She even forced herself to step back again, knowing that this would be the normal action that a human would do at times like this.

He raised a brow and then eyed her from her head to toe. Lilith took another step back when he did that. Even though she knew that he was not looking at her that way because of some nasty reason, Lilith still acted like she was wary of him now.

Her reaction seemed to erase whatever confusion he had on his face, and he sighed and walked past her.

"Follow me," he said simply and when Lilith did not move to follow him, he looked over his shoulder lazily. "I don’t know how you even ended up here, but if I were you, I’d follow me, because if not..." he glanced behind her, "you might end up being lost forever."

Lilith creased her brows, not understanding what he was trying to say.

"Didn’t you hear about the creatures roaming around in this area?" he continued, and Lilith finally realized that he was definitely trying to scare her.

That realization made Lilith instantly move from her spot and followed after him. He smirked as soon as she reached him.

"You believed that?" he asked, sounding a little amused.

"Of course... not." Lilith replied somewhat stiltedly, and he chuckled shortly as he finally walked forward.

"Didn’t you know that this area is actually an old cemetery? How brave of you to even come out here at night. You’re probably the bravest hu... girl I’ve seen so far."

"Is that why you called me a witch?" Lilith bit down on her lower lip upon asking that question. She knew should not have asked, but the question just slipped past her tongue!

It took him a short while to respond, as if her question also made him think.

"Hmm... I guess so." He suddenly sounded unsure now.

They walked on silently after that as Lilith held her tongue from talking further, afraid that she might again slip up and say something again that would expose her this time. She could only stare at his back. Her heart was in a mess right now and she honestly did not know what she was even feeling at this moment. That moment their eyes had met, she felt her heart shivered and she did not know exactly what had made her shiver like that. Was it fear? Was it because of the miss she had been longing to see him again?

The urge to touch him was very strong right now. Lilith never thought that she would be able to see him again. Much less meeting up with him in this way. She was glad that he did not recognize her but at the same time, she felt a pang in her heart because of this very same reason. Laughing at herself internally, she lamented on how fickle her heart was.

When he halted, Lilith looked up and scanned her surroundings before realising that they were already out of the forest.

Lilith walked past him and then turned to face him. "Thank you for helping me find my way out of that place." She told him and nodded her head in thanks as he kept his gaze on her.

"What’s your name?" he asked, causing Lilith to blink at his question.

She was about to answer when all of a sudden, he rushed at her and grabbed her for no apparent reason. The next thing she knew, he was pinning her against the tree trunk by the road.

Lilith caught her breath as she felt his body pressing so close into hers. "Shh... stay still... the guards are doing their patrols. They can’t see me here or I’ll get punished for getting this close to the girl’s dorm this late.." He whispered.