The thunder rumbled in the sky and the downpour began. She pulled her knees closer to her chest and trembled in fear. She hated the thunder. It brought back the memories of the night it hit the car in which her parents were travelling and burned the whole thing down.

As it rained, her heart constricted painfully as she waited for another night of crying to follow. She sobbed in silence afraid that she will wake up her aunt who took her in after her parents died when she was six. She was not bad or anything, she just didn't pay much attention to her.

For her, she just existed. They seldom talked. After work, they would both stay in their own rooms and ate food separately. Only at the end of each month, they had a talk about the rent which she paid now being an adult and soon to be a university student.

The lighting and thunder brewed whole night and she just sat in the corner of the room sobbing whole night. She had no one to call or talk to for distraction. She never had many friends because no one ever liked her, her aunt once said that she had negative or unfriendly vibes around her which made no sense whatsoever because she tried my best to be nice to everyone and yet she had no close friends.

As if she was not scared enough, the power cut off and she put hands on her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She felt short of breath and she knew a panic attack will follow next. She has had few of those but no one knew about it. She plugged her my earphones and played her favourite playlist trying to stop herself from hyperventilating, trying to match her heart with the beats in the song.

She tried to calm herself as she tried not to focus on the bad luck that followed her since she could remember. She tried not to think that whenever she liked the dress it is sold out or that she never got hired as a part-timer at a decent place or that no plan she ever made went smoothly or that once she was going to school trip and it got cancelled or how she studied hardest and yet there was always one question that she can't answer as if her memory dies or that once a boy tried to date her because of a bet or that her parents died a day before her birthday.

There were several other instances like this, like how tonight it was storm and power outage.

So she had no hope at all that she would get a scholarship for all the university she applied for even with her more than average grades. 

But as she tried not to go in a panic attack in darkness her phone buzzed at three in the morning and she checked her mail. For a moment she forgot everything bad and negative accumulated in her life and felt her heart slightly at ease.

Miss Deliah Miller,

Congratulations! You are accepted as one of our scholarship students.

That was all to make her feel better and she didn't even bother to look through the whole thing, enough to make her hope maybe God has taken pity on her and from now she can begin a new better chapter of her life.

~*~

"I have something to tell you," She said to her aunt the next morning.

She didn't even bother to look up to her and just asked, "What?"

"I got accepted at the Elainer University with a full scholarship." She looked up now with a passive look.

"You got a scholarship?" She said in a mocking tone like Delia didn't deserve it.

She nodded.

"Great then, you can leave now." And with these few words, their talk finished.

Honestly, she was hurt, at this point, she wanted to share this news with someone who can appreciate her, her first win in life. But there was no one. 

She started packing up her things to leave. Even though the class started a month later, she wanted to be there for formalities and orientation and she wanted to get away from her aunt because she always felt like she was a burden to her.

But going to a new place filled her with anxiety as well as she stared herself in the mirror. Will people hate her or ignore her as they have done for all her life? Her eyes screamed pain sunken deep in her sockets, her face was pale and her hair was a dull shade of brown. She had a scar on her neck from the glass cut caused at the night of the accident.

She was also anaemic and she had several other health-related issues.

She tried smiling at the mirror but her my reflection mocked her, the smile looked so fake. She sighed heavily convincing herself that this was for better. Maybe her life will get better.

~*~

Meshrock was a town set away from the city. The whole way from the city to the town was surrounded by mountains and forest. It was a small town but it was known for the prestigious Elainer University. It was a five-hour bus ride from her old city but the whole way to the town she felt nauseous. She didn't know if it was nervousness for moving to a new place or was it lack of sleep for the past two days.

Her head was throbbing in pain when she got down from the bus. But her breathing relaxed as she saw the view in front of her. A lot of students came on the bus with their parents and she tried not to feel too bad about that. Even though she tried to get used to being alone, it hurt in time like these. 

She grabbed her luggage from the bus which was only a small duffle bag and one shoulder bag and followed the crowd of students in the university. It was a beautiful greyish building with an Elizabethian historic architecture. Since it was beginning of September, the wind was slightly cold here due to the presence of all the greenery around.

With passing time she has learned not to compare herself with others and not care what others think about you. So when she noticed a group of well-dressed people she tried not to pity herself for her attire or that she was the only one there without friends or family.

Without any problems, she got her pass, her ID and keys to her room. Roommate listed on her list was a girl named Wendy. Knowing her luck she had no hope that she would be good to her. 

She hurriedly rushed to the direction of her room to drop my luggage and take a proper tour of the castle-like university and its beautiful surroundings.

But when she entered the room, a girl was already present there. Her hair was a mesmerising mess of beautiful curls. She was talking to someone rather roughly over the phone. A little intimidated Delia went and kept her stuff on the empty bed. Her room was big with white walls, a table, a chair and a lamp beside her bed. There were a cupboard and a white small shelf for books etc. 

In contrast to her side of her room, Wendy already set her books and plants on the shelf, fairy lights adorned her walls and there were a bunch of colourful stationery on her table. There was a string of photos over the bed with friends and family.

"Hi Delia, I am Wendy." She said giving her a smile Delia seldom got from people.

"Hi," Delia said extremely bad at social interactions as she barely had any all her life.

"So, I was thinking we should first get  some food and then collect our schedule from the office." Delia couldn't believe but Wendy was actually talking to her.

"Um. Sure." She said, "Just give me a moment."

She quickly freshened up and changed into a different pair of clothes. She noticed the people around her were happy and content to be here. She knew that she should be happy as well for something good happening to her after a long time but she was afraid to be happy, she was afraid of friendships after being alone and disliked for so long, she was afraid of too many things in her life.

And suddenly as if Wendy read her mind, she interlinked her arms around her arm as she pulled her excited to see a waffle stand near the university.

"Would you like to have one?" She asked and Delia nodded slowly.

She never had waffles before in her life but she didn't say it out loud.

"My treat. But the next one is yours." Wendy said with a wide smile.

And apparently, her smile was contagious because Delia smiled back feeling lighter.

Rest of the afternoon passed with both of them attending the orientation, gawking at the university, Wendy gushing about good looking guys and then her being a little too friendly and sharing her sorrows of the recent breakup.

"I am going to my room now Delia, I am tired. Do you want to check out the left wing of the building or come along?" She asked.

Even though Delia liked Wendy but being a loner all her life, she wanted a little time to herself to get adjusted to having friends and not let everything overwhelm her.

"I will come back a bit later. I want to check out the library."

"Come back before ten, that's the curfew." Wendy reminded.

Nodding with a smile Delia waved Wendy goodbye as she walked outside the university, feeling good about everything. She didn't know where she was going but she just dragged her feet to wherever her heart felt like. Besides Wendy, everyone has just ignored her as she went around earphones plugged in her ears.

After walking for almost an hour she reached a little higher on the bending roads leading closer to the top of the mountain. She could few old people with small fruit stalls, some people bicycling down from the mountain as the sun was setting now.

"Excuse me." She asked an old lady who frowned at her but Delia was accustomed to such reactions and asked her question, "Is there a cafe around?"

"You should no go any further than this. It's getting dark." The old man beside the woman said.

"It's fifteen minutes walk from here," Lady answered as if she wanted Delia gone.

Thanking the old couple she continued climbing ahead and felt a chilly breeze greet her as the sun vanished in the sky. After walking for fifteen minutes she noticed a cafe sign pointing inside the forest.

Without thinking she turned and started walking in even though it felt kind of scary and weird. But after walking a little further she noticed a little lighted store and assuming this was the cafe, her feet hastened.  

But she stopped in the middle of her tracks when she noticed a big snake in front of her. Her breath was caught in the throat as her mind and feet froze in fear. It felt like her luck ran out now. She knew she can't run and even if wanted her feet didn't allow her to move.

She carefully tried to step back but the snake moved forward and raised its head with a hiss going to attack mode. Her blood ran cold as panic hit her. As her clumsy nature would allow she tried to move back again but this time she tripped and fell on the ground. As the snake came even closer, she closed her eyes on instinct too scared to see her death again in front of her eyes.

But next thing she heard was chopping sound and terrified her eyes flew open to find the chopped snake in front of her. Shaking miserably, she slowly looked up to find a man. The moon was shining directly over his face and it was beautiful. She sat there and forgot that she can't look people in the eye or that she was scared of interacting with strangers.

She just looked at his eyes that stared at her with a frown. His eyes were a storm raging and exotic enough to lure you in. Everything about him was perfect, so perfect and glorious that it was intimidating. As scared as she was to meet new people. Seeing him sent a shot of exhilaration through her.

His frown deepened and embarrassed she looked away.

"T-thank you." She stuttered to her saviour.

"Get off my property, now!" He said in a strict tone that was not be taken lightly.

"B-but-- c-cafe.." For some reason, her ability to speak was even worse.

"Is closed." He said shortly clearly not a social person.

She nodded and got up but her legs were weak underneath after what just happened and her hand reached out to the nearest thing for support to stand straight and breathe properly before she could walk down the whole path.

"I said leave." The man said in a deep done.

And she realised the thing she was holding on to was his arm. Immediately breaking the contact, she rushed out of the area and only stopped when she saw the road that went down the hill. Clutching her thundering heart, she walked all the way back to college wondering about her who her saviour was.

Intrigued? Good? Bad? What are your thoughts?

Also, everything has a reason so please remember ;) Hope you get the hint.

Delia will be a trusting, naive kind of character because she desires for friendship and love and wants to be good to everyone. But she will not be weak in any sense so don't worry about that. 

Since it's too soon I will not ask about how you feel for the male protagonist yet :)

HAPPY READING Y'ALL!

PS: Please check out my other book BLADE PRINCESS :)