I Can't Leave You Alone

Before he could look into the comments, knocks came to their door. Eugene flinched and stared, not knowing whether he should open it. Claude locked Eugene's phone and tossed it on the bed as if it were his own. He walked to the door and opened it with a crack. However, the person outside strongly pushed against it, making Claude retreat from the door.

"Wow, you're not even scared of answering your door!" The woman standing in their doorway laughed after her friends pushed the door. Her hair was long and blonde. She wore fitted clothes, showing off her hourglass silhouette. White fur lined the long strap of her clutch bag.

"You, get out!" One of her female friends mercilessly pointed at Eugene. However, Eugene didn't leave and only pulled Claude further away from them.

Claude watched four ladies in their mall outfits walk into their room. One closed the door behind them, as their leader gave him a once-over. She said, "You have the gall to make advances toward Len. Who do you think you are? Listen to me, you… thing. Don't get close to Len ever again. Otherwise, buying a new violin will be the least of your problems."

One of the girls opened the window. Another grabbed the violin case from the cabinet top and threw it off to the front yard. The rest of the girls laughed before leaving the room.

The two males only watched them from start to finish. Claude finally walked to the window and saw his violin case in the middle of the front yard. Some passersby got close to it before looking up to find where it came from. He didn't know if someone had been almost hit.

"Who were those girls?" Eugene grabbed his phone from Claude's bed and fiddled with it. "Do they think they can just come here and cause property damage? I'm reporting to the dorm leader!"

"No, don't. Let's not pursue this." Claude kept an eye on his violin. "They'll make your life hellish if we go after them. It's just a violin."

Eugene looked out and saw someone pick up the violin and gesture at Claude about it. He pocketed his phone and sighed, massaging his face. "I'm sorry, man. Don't worry. If they pull off something like that again, I'll report them for sure. Who cares if I don't get to clap a pretty girl's ass? We can't let those girls get away unscathed."

Claude scoffed with a smile. He just walked back to sit on his bed. "Do you still have that movie app subscription? Any new movie you want to see?"

"I'll make you watch everything you missed." Eugene went to his cabinet and pulled out a long box. He then grinned. "Look at what I bought before coming here! Have you seen a portable screen before?"

…

Popular people. Claude never liked mingling with popular people. High school was enough experience for him not to want any of them close to his space. He didn't think Len was popular. It was not like he saw Len getting crowded around by people, either. Moreover, that guy was chilling alone behind a tree at a campus party. That was loser behavior.

Regardless, Claude was already stung. No need to deliberately stand there as a target. When Monday came, he just wanted to get through his classes without an accident.

The lecture theater was not the most crowded when Claude and Eugene got there. Some boys from their Cavalry's dorm greeted them, and Eugene still behaved as energetically as he was. Claude remained the same, uninterested in most people.

The spot they chose was the most spacious. Eugene was busy speaking to others when Claude was browsing the Internet for a second-hand violin case. Even if his violin was kept safe, the case had gotten damaged and warped. It was also dirtier than Claude liked. If he couldn't get it fixed, he might as well buy another… after not eating for a few meals.

Someone chose to sit beside Claude in the long row. It could sit four, so Claude didn't mind. The person didn't attempt to speak to him, either. Moreover, the class this afternoon was for a GE subject. Who knew if he would get interested enough to find out the seatmate's name?

"Uhm… Claude, do you want to, uh… switch seats?" Eugene got to his spot and scooted close to Claude to whisper. He got his eyes stuck to the person past Claude, but his butt quickly slid away before Claude could even turn to him.

"Why?" Claude mouthed, but Eugene sat stiffly in his pot. He kept glancing in Claude's direction as if making the other person look the other way.

Claude furrowed his brows. He then turned beside him, only to freeze at the strange surprise. The person wasn't looking at him, but those thick-rimmed glasses were hard to forget. Not even that handsome face and electrifying reddish eyes would leave one's mind. Before Claude could look away, Len turned to him slightly. The person even had the gall to smile.

Len said, "The professor's upfront now. Why don't you look ahead instead? Would you rather stare at me the whole time? I don't mind."

"Motherfucker, what are you doing here?" Claude cursed under his breath and turned away, using a hand to cover his face. His one-night mistake manifested beside him.

"Relax. I'm not following you." Len chuckled at the reaction. However, they kept talking in whispers. "I heard about what Courtney did to your violin. Would you like to speak to her later? She needs you to hear her apology."

Claude glanced at Len, angrily responding. "She doesn't need to apologize. She needs to leave me and my friends alone. You, too. Leave me alone."

Len moved to lean on his seat, forcing Claude to turn his head to continue looking at him. He gazed heavily at Claude. "I can't leave you alone. I shouldn't. What do you think happened to you that night? Can you remember?"

Claude turned away from him. "What night?"

"Denying our interaction won't do you any good." Len hummed with a smile. However, that was the last thing he said. The lecture had started, so he decided to focus on the professor.

"You bring me trouble…" Claude whispered. Like Len, he kept his eyes in front and listened well to the professor. Ground rules were being laid down, causing some others to glance around. However, Claude could easily tune others out. When the lessons flowed, no one else existed around him.

Everyone was focused before the professor stopped and gazed in a direction. Claude even shivered as he met the professor's glare. Knowing that he wasn't doing anything bad, Claude decided to look at Len. His slow turn quickly gained speed as he saw Len hang his head low, arms crossed on his chest. It didn't help that his other seatmate was doing the same. Were they sleeping?

Claude smacked the table in front of Len. He hissed, doing the professor a favor. "What are you doing?"

Len cracked an eye open. "Listening. Do you need something?"