(Art by @pix11_4k on Instagram! More fanart on my Instagram @nebulace)

A guy who isn't even in our PE class steps out of the men's locker room and he rolls his eyes when he spots me.

"Really?" He snarls. "Even today? There isn't even a game."

"What?" I'm lost.

"You're wasting your time. He doesn't care about his little fangirls. Better luck tomorrow."

Is he talking about Link? He must be. Another guy who's at war with him? They can start an anti-fan club with Revali and Pik.

"I'm not... That's not why I'm here," I say, still a little confused.

"Pfft, sure you aren't. He'll be out in a second, just don't get your hopes up, he doesn't like to talk to people. Let alone take pictures with them and sign shit."

"I really wasn't... I'm not some fangirl... Never mind." I can tell he isn't going to believe me anyway. It's like Link said, some people don't believe you even when you deny an assumption or rumor.

"Wait... Don't I know you?" The guy raises one eyebrow as he studies my face. Here we go... "You're Zelda Hyrule, aren't you? The president's daughter?"

How funny would it be if I just said no? I'd like to see his face as I tell him; 'Zelda? Who's that? Never heard of her'.

"Yes, I am. Who are you?" I ask back with my arms crossed.

"Of course you wouldn't remember me," he mumbles in frustration. "I'm Domidak, I'm on the soccer team too."

"Oh, I wouldn't know, I have only ever been to one game and I didn't look at the players or their names," I admit.

"It's fine," he huffs. "Even fans who go to all our games don't recognize me. I haven't been subbed once this entire season. Coach doesn't need me. Not when he has-"

He stops when the door opens again and we both look at Link.

"Speaking of the devil," Domidak says and steps aside to let Link pass through. He looks at me and Domidak as if trying to figure out what we're talking about.

"This girl was waiting for you," Domidak says but Link ignores him and starts walking down the hall.

"I told you he doesn't care," Domidak shrugs and follows Link down the hall. I'm assuming they're heading to practice. Both carry their soccer shoes in their hands and a gym bag on their backs.

My curiosity is pressing me to find out what the heck is going on with Link, but my conscience is telling me to drop it and concentrate on school. After I've changed back into my other clothes I head over to the library. I sit at one of the desks near the large windows and start my homework on my laptop.

I don't get very far before thoughts of Link plague me again. My stomach flutters when I think about last night, but I bury that thought for now and think about his current behavior instead. He's like a puzzle with two sides. Even when you have all the pieces, the true images lays face down, hidden from those who fail to see his layers. 

The two sides I have discovered of so far are his silent, concentrated self, unwilling to speak to anyone, the side he shows the puplic, and then there is this light-hearted maverick who likes to joke around and have fun. That's the side he doesn't show. I saw it anyway and the more I try to deny it, the more I realize how badly I want to see that side of him again.

There's so much I don't know about Link, things everyone else seems to know. When he told me about his achievements, he sounded surprised that I didn't know about any of them. But how would I know about his life when he hadn't told me before? How does everyone else know everything about him?

I open google chrome and type 'Link' into the search bar. Countless articles appear even without searching for a last name. I had no idea he was this famous. He has his own Wikipedia entry, what?

An article on a newspaper website from Canada mentions his career as a professional soccer player. I follow the citations and end up on a Japanese Website translated into English. I don't believe my eyes... The soccer team Link has previously played for was Japan's national football team. The author of the article says that Japan had high hopes in winning the next world cup with Link as their new striker, but then he left the country to study abroad, leaving thousands of fans in disappointment. This must be why Link is so worried about his performance. He doesn't want to disappoint his fans again.

I scroll down to an interview in which Japan's coach states that Link didn't keep any of the money he made as a professional football player. All of his earnings went to charity. Wow. That explains why he relies on his athletic scholarship. Link is not the man I deemed him to be. I called him out for being selfish, and despite my apology, I still feel awful about it. He may just be the most selfless person I've ever met. And I treated him like a monster... I don't want to imagine what he must think of me.

I close my laptop and sit back to take a deep breath. This is all too overwhelming. I don't like reading these things about him. It feels so strange, so distant. Like he's some celebrity. I suppose he is. But... He's so much more than just that... 

I don't know how to explain it, but I'd much rather have him tell me all these things himself like he did yesterday. Come to think of it... None of these articles mentioned Link's sister, horse, dog, bike, wanderlust, or passion for food. Is it possible that the public doesn't know him as well as I thought? For the first time I think I understand the proverb 'Still waters run deep'.

I feel strange. Link and I barely know each other. In a way, everybody else knows more about him than I, yet I feel strangely connected to him. We may not have known each other for a life time or spent much time together like Impa and I, but I can't deny that I was really happy when we were both ourselves around each other. I was happy in a way I have never felt before. He brings out the worst in me but... he brings out me. The real me. I feel like I always act to everybody else's preference, trying to please and impress those who look down on me. I don't like who I am around Link, I don't like being distracted from school and getting agitated by everyone who attempts to get close to me. I suppose I don't like the real me at all, but I know I can be better.

No matter my fears, my worries, and struggles, I don't want to become my father.

I need to understand Link. I thought I did after he told me why he was so quiet all the time, but I still don't understand why he would be this cold to me after I opened up to him about my agreement with Father. Last week I wouldn't even have considered talking to him, and now that I'm willing to, he won't allow a conversation. I wonder what more I can do without making things worse.

My phone vibrates during my drive home but I don't look at the notification until I park my car in the driveway.

*Sure! Let's meet in the cafeteria again.* Impa finally replied.

It feels like I haven't seen her in forever when it has really only been a day. I have so much to tell her. She probably won't believe what happened to me yesterday. I'm honestly a little nervous to tell her everything.

I sit at my desk, switching novels like others switch songs on Spotify. Nothing seems to suit my mood tongiht when my only goal is to distract myself from the fact that not 24 hours earlier I sat here with Link in the dark. How ironic... trying to distract myself by spending every second of the evening telling myself not to think about Link. I can't just turn it off. Not to mention that all the characters in my novels remind me of myself and the people I'm trying not to think about.

✤ ✤ ✤

The moment my alarm goes off I'm frowning. I roll over in my bed, unwilling to get up just yet. Good news is it's Thursday, bad news is I have two classes with Link today and one with Pik. 

As I remove the blanket and sit myself up I think about last night. Father didn't come home before I went to bed, at least not to my knowledge. I knew he only came home early the other day to ease the guilt he feels for leaving over Christmas again. I'm not even hurt anymore. I keep my expectations low for situations like that. Holidays lost their charm when Mother departed.

The forecast is promising a sky free of clouds for the rest of the week, so I step into the closet already picturing my outfit. When I open the drawer I find Link's track jacket and cringe. Another item I have to return to him. Once I'm done changing I bring the jacket to my backpack, which is already at the verge of exploding from the many books and the hoodie it holds inside. I make a mental note to return both the hoodie and the jacket when I see Link in English today. If he decides to attend class today that is.

After my political science course I head straight to the English lecture hall. This classroom is so big, I should wait until biology to return Link's hoodie, for I'm already seated and I'm not planning on walking across the room to give him his stuff back in front of everyone. I have both his hoodie and his jacket in a plastic bag from Target so I can just hand it to him when I see him without anyone seeing what's inside. I feel like smuggling drugs...

A few minutes before the beginning of class, the chair next to me moves and my heart leaps. I look up from my book and can feel my face falling into disappointment when a random girl smiles at me and sits down. I thought it was Link since he was the only one to sit in that chair all semester. Even though he has only sat there once, I sort of expected him to sit there again.

I turn around to look at the other students. I almost miss him, but I find Link in the last row with his hood up, and his headphones on. No one sits near him and I almost want to grab my stuff and walk to the back to sit next to him and finally get rid of this plastic bag. But I don't. The professor is already here and I know better than to...

"Hey babe," the girl next to me giggles into her phone.

Is she seriously in a phone call minutes before class starts?

"Nah it's fine, what's up?" she says to the other caller and reclines. She's shewing bubble gum and rolls her hair around her finger as she titteres at her phone. "Shut up, you did not! Send a pic, I wanna see."

That's it. I can't possibly sit next to someone like that. Not when my grades depend on my ability to concentrate. I close my book, pick up my bookbag and the plastic bag, and move to the back row. Might as well get this whole thing over with now. When I take the seat to Link's right, his head tilts to look at me and his lips part slightly in surprise. I can't blame him for his subtle reaction, I'm surprised too, to be frank.

"Hey," I whisper right as the professor greets the class.

Link doesn't answer, as expected. He probably can't hear me with his headphones on. I use my foot to slide the bag over to his side.

"Your hoodie and jacket," I say when he looks down at his feet.

He opens his book and starts writing down what the professor is saying. This only proves that he's not currently listening to music and that he is choosing not to talk to me. I may not know much about guys or how to interact with them after you kiss them, but I know that the way he's acting is wrong. I'm trying to be nice and he's being rude.

"Did I do something?" I say under my breath, giving it my best to sound calm.

He shakes his head and keeps copying the professor's every word.

"I feel like I did." I mumble to myself.

I pull my laptop out of my bag to take notes on it. When I open it, the first thing that pops up is Google with 'Link' still in the search bar. I shut the laptop as quickly as possible, my eyes wide open. When I look to my left, Link is suppressing a smile. He saw that I was stalking him online, this is the worst! I'm mortified! He'll think Malice was right when she said I was stalking him.

"I..." I start, but don't know how to finish that sentence. No excuse I can think of sounds believable, so I better just stay quiet.

I don't touch my laptop again, instead, I use my biology notebook to write down what the professor is saying.

Link's knee touches mine and my first instinct is to move my legs to make more room for his. His right hand moves to the edge of his book, so close to my left hand that I stop writing to look at our hands. His left hand keeps writing and he doesn't look at me, but he also doesn't move his hand away from mine. 

His pinky moves vaguely to brush my hand, causing my stomach to flutter. What... What is he doing?

He looks at my frozen state of chaos. He puts his pinky on top of mine and watches as my head turns crimson. My heart is pounding so loud, I can't hear the professor anymore. I should take my hand away, but my mind has detached itself from the rest of my body. He looks... happy... He no longer looks at me like a ghost. He's back. The Link I kissed is back...

Link is faintly smiling when he leaves my gaze and continues to write into his notebook as if everything was ordinary. I stare at him for a few more seconds before recovering. When I pull my hand away, Link frowns. I put my hand onto my lap and don't look at Link again after he moves his legs away. Whatever he just tried, it hurt him that I stopped it. I hate this feeling... This awful feeling of wanting to take his hand and kiss that stupid frown away while simultaneously wanting to sit anywhere but next to him.

I just don't know what to do and I hate feeling so lost. I usually have my whole life planned through, every step of my day is calculated and organized, and then Link shows up, messing up the order in my head.

Guilt stabs my heart when his eyes refuse to look at me. I'm sorry, but you can't just ignore me all day yesterday and then put your hand on mine during class. What's going on in his head? I came here to give him his stuff back, not to hold hands.

Now I really want to find out what happened. I thought he was mad at me, but he smiled and sought my touch. I have to find a way to talk to him. Really talk. After biology when I have my 2 hour break I will confront him. I hope Impa has some advice for me during lunch.