Gemini arrived at school too early as usual. He entered the still empty classroom, took his place and, taking advantage of his free time, took up drawing, which absorbed him so much that he almost stopped noticing the world around him. He tried to remember his dream, feeling that there was something important in it. He was making strange faces that his friend watched for a while before she decided to let him know she was there.

"When are you going to give it a rest?" Rose looked over his shoulder and spoke so unexpectedly that he jumped. He was too engrossed in another drawing he was creating. He was just wondering if this mysterious stranger had a mole on his right or left nose, after so long since the day they met, he couldn't remember it anymore, and it frustrated him. The outline of the boy's face slowly faded, and he couldn't help it at all.

"Rose... you scared me," he said reproachfully and looked at his sketch. Her sudden appearance made Gem move so violently that he left a line right down the center of his face. "ROSE! Look what you've done!"

"Huh? You've got plenty of his portraits".

"Uhm. So what if I'm starting to forget what he looks like?" There was desperation in his voice. He shrugged, folded the used page in half, and stuck it in the center of the book he had borrowed from the library yesterday. This time it was the biography of one of the most famous and best Formula 1 drivers of all time, Ayrton Senna. Although Gemini couldn't be sure that the other boy was interested in Formula 1, from the athletic figure he remembered, he concluded that he must have practiced some sports, which was also the reason why he himself participated in every handball match football, volleyball or basketball, not to mention golf (his mother was clearly surprised when he told her that he wanted to try his hand at this too), hoping that he would meet his mysterious hero somewhere. So far, each time he had met with such bitter disappointment that he had almost given up the search, but then it was enough for him to see a couple in love anywhere, or read a particularly romantic quote, or even glance at his drawing, to realize that he couldn't give up. No matter how much it hurt himself.

"Don't forget to bring your doodles, it's a library book," Rose admonished him.

"But that's what I mean. I leave his portraits wherever I can, maybe one day he'll talk to me himself." He said and showed her the other side of the sketch, where in the lower corner in Thai and English was written: „If you know the boy in the drawing or you are one yourself, please contact me: Gemini Norawit, IG: @gemini_nt; It's very important.„ "Gem reached for a pencil and added „PS Sorry for the line across the middle of the face, I was drawing when my friend Rose scared me".

"Gem..."

"Ummm?" He looked at her with a slightly distracted look.

"It's an obsession, it needs to be healed, you know?" Gemini knew that her friend was only teasing him, but her words hurt anyway.

"It's not an obsession, it's just..." He stuttered, not knowing how to explain it.

"You just love him," the girl stated without thinking and began to tie her long, this time dyed pink, hair in a ponytail.

He had met Rose more than ten years earlier when she and her mother and younger brother had moved into a neighboring building that had been empty for a very long time. They had similar personalities, were the same age, and easily formed a friendship that they both enjoyed very much. It was Gem who had dyed her hair a few days ago, and it was fair to say that he was having a great time doing it. It was for both of them a moment of relaxation, relaxation and detachment from the sometimes difficult reality of school.

"Mhm ... Yes, I guess so," He nodded and packed the book into his backpack.

"I don't understand, you're handsome, smart, intelligent, you're a very hot art, why are you so insistent on finding him? Don't you think it's time to stop? Gemi, I'm worried about you. Please, Gemi, let it go. It brings you only more suffering".

Rose wanted to explain to him that what he was doing was wrong mainly because it took up all his free time, limited his chances of fulfilling his dreams. She didn't understand that all his dreams were about this stranger, the boy who made him believe that the world wasn't as black and white as he thought it was. He wanted to hear that voice again for a moment, to see that smile, even if he had to die a moment later, he thought it was worth it. He was silent for a moment, searching for the right words to explain it to his friend. He was consumed by longing so great that it seemed to him that each day that he still hadn't met his lovely stranger again was torture for him. He wondered what he had done in his previous life to make this life so difficult and complicated. He was very successful in school, learning was easy and fun, but at the end of each day he still felt empty. He had Rose, he had Phu and Dunk, he had parents, but without that hero of his, his world was incomplete.

He didn't tell everyone about his search, in fact, he officially only told Rose. Naturally, his brothers also knew, who discovered his drawings themselves, Dunk agreed to help, took a photo of one of the sketches and promised to look around the Institute of the Knights of Light in Bangkok in case Gem's hero was one of the students at the academy there. Phuwin refused to help, considering it ridiculous, although even so he sometimes watched the people he passed, unable to calmly look at his brother walking around midnight in their yard, who was going out there to breathe fresh air. Phu often stood by the window in his room with the light off and watched as Gem looked up at the stars many times and begged them to bring his boy to him. Sometimes he would sneak up, turning into a black Labrador, crouch by the nearest bush, and then he would clearly hear his brother's voice, who whispered something from time to time, and sometimes he cried. Phu didn't understand it until the day he met Pond. At first, he wouldn't let the taller boy even be friends with him, keeping him at a distance, fearing he would suffer like his younger brother, but Pond eventually convinced him that he wouldn't. Only then did the awareness of the loneliness and emptiness that the youngest Titicharoenrak must have felt hit him even more.

Gem didn't know that both brothers were trying to help him. The only thing he realized was that whatever they were doing together, it wasn't working.

"I can't, Rose, I can't. You're right, I love him even though I've only met him once, but I need to find him. We may pass each other every day, but he doesn't know I'm looking for him. Either way, I can't give up. He is the one who makes me want to be the best version of myself, he is the reason I want to achieve something great so that when we meet, he can be proud of me. I want to be worthy of him being my boyfriend".

Rose, hearing such a beautiful and sincere statement, smiled through her tears. She was touched. Her friend had many talents, although he could also be mean, and he definitely knew how good-looking he was and how it worked not only on girls but also on some boys, but she had never suspected him of being so romantic and stubborn. He often walked around the school with his head proudly raised, running his hand through his beautiful, healthy, thick, black hair again and again, and the other students looked back at him, not knowing what hell goes through the inside of the one who smiles so often, who gains so much successes. A lot of people didn't like him, they envied him, he was criticized, also for the fact that he spoke openly about himself and he was never hesitant to say no when someone tried to ask him out on a date. They did not notice the eyes, sometimes poorly masked with make-up, with dark circles from lack of sleep or swollen from tears. To them, he was just a handsome and unapproachable nerd. Only Rose had seen more. She just wanted to see him happy.

"Okay, Gemi, then tell me what can I do for you to help you meet your Prince Charming?"

"I'll give you a photocopy of my best portrait, why don't you hang it up when you pick up your brother at his school?"

"At my brother's school? Why? Didn't you say that boy is older than us?"

"He seemed older, but he might as well have been our age or younger." He informed her of his thoughts. "You know, looks aren't everything, and you can't always take them into account when trying to determine someone's age".

"Okay, okay, detective, we'll find him. He's a whole big, alive, real boy, not a needle in a haystack, he has to be somewhere. Though it's harder to find than that nightmare needle. Okay, let's leave it. Better tell me if you studied for the test".

"Uh? Test? We have a test today? Which lessons?!

"NO! Don't tell me Mr. perfectionist and number 1 nerd in school forgot his chemistry test?!" Rose exclaimed so loudly that several people turned to look at them. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts and the conversation with Rose that he didn't register in his memory the moment when the other students appeared.

"Don't yell, everyone's looking at us," he chided her, hitting her shoulder with the chemistry textbook he'd just taken out of his backpack.

"Sorry. I'm just shocked, this must be the first time you've forgotten something so important".

"Oh, it's because of that fool, my little brother, Phuwin. He had training at the Institute yesterday, came back late, and he's not alone, I'm beginning to suspect he's gay too".

"What? Why? Did he bring a boyfriend?"

Gemini looked around to make sure they weren't overheard, but everyone else in the classroom was busy with their own business, mostly studying, writing their homework, playing on their phones, or talking to each other, so no one was paying attention to them, so Gem he felt safe enough to tell her about his discovery.

"He kissed Pond yesterday, you know, the one he met at the Institute. In our garden, do you understand?"

"Awww, that's good, isn't it? At least he's not alone and he's happy".

"Are you crazy? How good? If this continues, our family will end with the three of us! Dunk has been living with Joong for a year, I'm in love with this stranger and I'm pretty sure I'm not interested in girls, Phu was the last hope.

"Gemi, you are my best friend and I love you, but sometimes you are so stupid that words fail and hands fall. You're smart and stupid at the same time, and I thought that was impossible"

"HUH?! What?"

"Really, you're stupid. After all, you can always hire a surrogate, a woman to give birth to one of your children. What's the problem?"

"That it doesn't seem right to me. Should we pay a strange woman we don't know to carry our baby for 9 months?"

"Can you see another way? There's also adoption. But... Anyway, why are you suddenly worried about this, you're only 18, you're probably too young for that? Give yourself and your brothers some time, why are you panicking?"

"If you heard my mom, you'd understand..." Gem sighed and busied himself reading the phrases they were supposed to learn for their English class. This conversation with his mother didn't leave him alone. He knew that the mother hoped in her two younger sons that they would give her grandchildren, thus extending their lineage, one of the last so old, with a centuries-old tradition. House Titicharoenrak has always belonged to the Shadowhunters, or rather to the Knights of the Light, ever since such an institute was founded in Bangkok around 1718, the genes of the Magicians were passed down from generation to generation with the surname, whether the surname was a daughter or a son. The Titicharoenrak have always been proud of their ancestry, and although Gemini, Phuwin, and Dunk's father was Non-Magical, their mother believed that her sons would still be partly Magical because of her blood flowing in their veins.

Rose reached for her notebook, wrote something on the last page and held it in front of Gemini's nose. He read it and looked at her shocked. Even though he had known her for so many years, she still managed to surprise him.

"After all, I can give birth to this child, there is no need to take someone from the outside whom you do not know, you know me."

After thinking for a moment, he answered her.

"Rose... We're friends, you know? You're not in love with my brother, are you?"

"In love with your brother?! NO! Definitely NOT! I just wanted to help, that's all."

"Alright".

However, they couldn't argue with each other any longer, because their teacher appeared. Gemini scratched his head playfully, realizing that he had another puzzle to solve: now he had to find out why Rose would want to give birth to someone from his family's child. It could be completely innocent, such as the possibility that she had a crush on one of them (he deleted himself for obvious reasons, so only Dunk and Phuwin remained on the list of suspects), but it could also be something much worse, more mysterious, it could be about something dangerous for them. Usually he trusted Rose implicitly and told her everything, but this seemed too suspicious. What were her motives?

Three hours later...

Rose finally let him go. He was glad she had let loose a bit. And although he couldn't explain it, some inner feeling told him that something special was about to happen, something that would turn everything upside down. When he had looked to the right, towards the strangely deserted corridor a moment earlier, he had the impression that he had seen him like this for the last time in his life. His heart sped up for a moment and his muscles tensed, as if he was expecting an attack, but when nothing happened after two or three minutes, he took a deep breath and, to calm himself even more, started scrolling through Instagram on his phone.

Gemini was sure he wouldn't find this boy. He looked for him everywhere, scrutinized the faces of people he passed, looked for him in the crowd of students at Harrow International School in Bangkok, scrolled through dozens of Instagram profiles, but it was difficult to find someone whose name or even a nickname he didn't know. Gem sat down on a bench against the wall, his eyes fixed on the phone screen as usual. He had met that boy only once, but he couldn't forget him. There was something about him that drew them to each other. Gem wondered if he was having the same dreams too? Does he sometimes see a land that seems impossible? Does strange things happen to him too? Is he also considered special in his school? Or does he not go to school at all? Maybe he's much older?

If Gem were to bet on his age, he would say that the boy is now about 20 or 23, so he was older than him.

He only saw him once, but that was enough to make him give his heart to him. He couldn't forget about it or stop dreaming about it. Sometimes in his dreams they walked through the city talking freely and laughing, other times this boy would appear in his nightmares and save him, telling him to wake up. All he knew about him was that he was shorter, had a cute mole on his nose, and had a charming smile that almost never left his face. His hair probably smelled of jasmine or roses, he wore rather modest clothes, not trying to stand out from the crowd, and yet people always paid attention to him, talked about him without him being aware of it, staring at a book he was reading or laughing at the boys around him. Of course, Gem wasn't sure if this stranger liked reading books at all, though he preferred to imagine he did. They had only met one day, but during that day Gem felt as if his heart had turned from rock to a soft, struggling jelly in his chest that would settle down and become mere muscle again only when they met again. Only Gem had no idea when or how that would happen, or if at all. There was a possibility that she would die alone without finding the handsome young man.

Suddenly, someone stood in front of him, blocking the sun, in whose rays coming through the large school window, he basked, scrolling through the posts of strangers on Instagram, hoping to find his hero's trail.

"Are you looking for something or someone?" A gentle voice asked, causing Gem to tear his gaze from the screen and shift it to his unexpected companion.

"Huh?"

"Oh, I can see it on your face." The Stranger smiled warmly and saw fit to introduce himself. He wasn't going to scare the boy, especially since he was sent here on a very important mission. "I'm NuNew Chawarin, I think you may have heard of me."

"NuNew? This singer?"

"Correct".

"Oh my! But I'm lucky! My friend Rose is a big fan of yours. But... Did something happen? What are you doing at my school? The teachers didn't say anything about meeting you".

"Because no such meeting was organized. I came for you, I was given the task of taking you to our headquarters. You probably know something about the Knights of the Light?"

Gemini nodded his head, then asked in a voice unlike his own, hollowing. He didn't usually act like this, he was usually much braver, but with New all his courage left him, maybe it was because of what Rose told him about the singer. He was said to be ruthless, strict, demanding, picky and just plain rude. In the media, he had the image of a pick-up artist who could have any girl he wanted. Gem would soon find out for himself how much of this mess was true. In public, New was an artist that Gem couldn't like and didn't understand why so many people were fascinated by him. Yes, his voice was nice and Gem had to admit honestly that he was handsome with slightly Korean facial features, but that seemed too little, Chawarin portrayed by the media was simply arrogant and unsympathetic. No wonder Norawit shivered at the thought of spending even five minutes in the company of this man. He definitely preferred to stay at school. Even if he hated the chemistry teacher.

"But ... But I can't get up now, we have chemistry lab classes in a moment, we have an important test in a week..."

"Don't worry, it won't take us long, you'll be back in time to study, and if not, we'll hire a tutor for you, what do you think? Mr. Wang already knows everything and agreed. Starting tomorrow you will start private study."

"B-but..." Gem didn't understand what was going on. There was absolutely no one around them, the corridor was empty and silent, the afternoon seemed heavy and lazy, saturated with strong smells that caused drowsiness and fatigue not only in students, but also in teachers. Gem, seeing the singer's hand extended towards him, sighed deeply, gathered his textbooks from the bench, packing them into his favorite black backpack, to which he had a keychain with a plush octopus, which was double-sided and could be adjusted to suit the mood owner, that is, she was smiling or sad. The smiling side was green and the sad side was purple.

"Let's go, we have no time to waste, and I have much to tell you."

New sounded calm, pleasant and even smiled gently, not at all like the rude young man on the covers of newspapers. He wasn't short on bravado, he said what he thought, and he didn't seem to care what other people thought of him. Gem was ready to agree with Rose, remembering that she had said that the media liked to manipulate information to their advantage. She used to say it was a secret government's way of running the world. He used to think it was funny, but when the real NuNew Chawarin walked beside him, everything that had sounded like a fairy tale took on a more real tone.

"I still don't understand any of it. Why me? Why just now? I already had birthday and nothing happened I thought... I thought I don't belong to Knights of Light".

"I think you'll find out soon enough. There's something special about you. My job is to drive you back to our base, my bosses will take care of the rest".

"Should I be afraid?"

"Not necessarily".

The warm smile of the singer and his cordial tone of voice immediately won Gemini's trust for him, who in the depths of his soul somehow did not regret that he would leave these classes. He liked to learn, he was a so-called nerd, and yet he never got along with the chemistry teacher from that fateful day when he skipped his lesson.