The next day, first thing in the morning, Gloxinia found all her missing stuff back on her desk. No message was attached to it, but she guessed the unnamed guy was generous enough to give them back to her even though she scared him yesterday.

The second period of the day was a self-study session, as the teacher couldn't be there for the day. Despite it being called self-study, no one actually studied and everyone just talked to each other like it was a break time.

"Can you stop staring at me?" Vincent said while propping up his head with his arm.

Gloxinia, the one he was talking to, just kept looking at him without heeding his words.

"And why are you turning your chair to face this way? Face forward," Vincent said again.

Gloxinia shifted her chair so she could fully face Vincent's direction. There was no reason, just that everyone else did too and it was much easier to talk to him this way.

"Do you know," Gloxinia finally voiced out. "What a smile is?"

Vincent wondered if she was joking, but judging by her face she was clearly dead serious about her question.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Vincent asked. That was the only reason he could think of as to why she would even ask that question to him. He was aware he never smiled much. Actually, he hadn't been smiling for a few centuries now.

"Did it sound like I was?" Gloxinia blinked in genuine surprise. She shook her head quickly.

"No, but sorry if you got offended."

Vincent squinted his eyes at her to study her expression, but it was no use. He knew she was being honest. Vincent leaned back on his chair and contemplated on how to answer Gloxinia's question.

"It's a…n expression," Vincent began with a careful tone. He felt like he would turn philosophical with this topic, but he would like to keep it logical for Gloxinia so she could understand it first.

He took a glance at her but she didn't give out any particular reaction, like she already knew that before.

Of course she does. Vincent thought.

"It's the expression you make when you're happy," he continued. He glanced at Gloxinia again and this time she looked like she was deep in thought.

"But I once saw Lilly smiling even though she wasn't happy," Gloxinia voiced out the question that had been nagging in her mind. She had always associated smiling with good feelings, but just that once, smiling looked sad to her and she didn't know why.

"Well, yeah," Vincent said and crossed his arms as he tried to think about how to explain it nicely.

"... Sometimes smiling can also be a means to hide one's true feelings," he decided to say.

Gloxinia tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. She got the gist but she wondered why they had to make it so complicated. Humans truly were such complicated creatures. They could do one thing and mean another thing entirely.

Gloxinia studied Vincent's face.

"Can you smile?" Gloxinia asked with a serious expression. She didn't mean much, she just wanted to see how Vincent would look like smiling genuinely.

"I don't have any reason to," Vincent answered, his gaze locked on his desk. Even in front of his superiors and seniors, he never smiled even though it could've gotten him their favors. But it was fine since most of the other angels of death weren't keen on smiling either.

Gloxinia huffed and crossed her arms as well. She was out of ideas on how to make Vincent smile. She leaned back on her chair to relax, and that was when she noticed some stares.

She turned to the side and her eyes met with a few girls who quickly avoided her gaze and went on with their business. When she looked around, the others also seemed to avoid looking at her direction for some reason.

Gloxinia was puzzled as to why they would stare at her and then avoid her gaze. Was there something on her? Did she do something wrong?

Were they scared of her?

The corners of Gloxinia's lips arched down and her gaze casted downwards. She didn't want to make any more people afraid of her.

Vincent, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening. While the both of them were talking to each other, he heard their classmates whispering about them.

Fangirling, to be exact.

"Oh my god, they look so good together."

"I know. I'm so glad our class has the cool beauties."

"They're a sight for the sore eyes."

And things like that. They were not badmouthing them, and they were definitely not scared of Gloxinia. They were just admiring the two mysterious cool beauties.

Vincent let it be because they weren't saying anything negative, but at the time he didn't know Gloxinia felt down precisely because she thought they were. He thought it was only natural to be able to hear their whisperings, so he had no idea why Gloxinia would look so dejected.

The bell rang, indicating that it was finally time for recess. Nobody in class really batted an eye except for those who were going out of the class.

Vincent stood up from his seat without a word, about to go to the rooftop again to do his daily observation, but Gloxinia stood up as well.

He stared at her for a moment before deciding through experience that it would probably be useless to talk her out of it. He walked to the direction of the stairs, with Gloxinia tailing behind.

"Why do you always go to the rooftop when it's break time?" Gloxinia questioned as they went up the stairs to the rooftop. Without sparing a glance at Gloxinia, Vincent opened the door to the rooftop and the gust of wind brushed past them.

"I have a job," he said as he went out and held the door open until Gloxinia stepped out too.

"Why are you following me?" Vincent said again. He let the door close on its own before walking ahead to his usual spot, the edge of the roof.

He took a seat on the edge, his eyes focused on the usual boy sitting on the bench all by himself. Then, Gloxinia grabbed Vincent's shoulder all of a sudden, which startled him. He looked up at her.

Gloxinia was right next to him, standing still with her eyes fixed on the view below. Vincent could feel that her hand resting on his shoulder was trembling slightly.

Vincent sighed.

I knew it.

He tapped on her hand gently to get her attention. When she shifted her gaze to him, he pointed behind him.

"Sit down facing that way," Vincent said, referring to the direction of the door they just stepped out from. By facing that direction, Gloxinia wouldn't be able to notice the heights since she wouldn't be looking at the land below.

Gloxinia tilted her head, wondering why he told her to do that, but she complied anyway. She took a step back and crouched on the ground, then she pressed her back on Vincent's.

????

So many questions popped up inside Vincent's mind. Like what made her think he was telling her to lean on his back, or what made her think he was telling her to lean on his back.

"Oh, this does feel better," Gloxinia said as she hugged her knees. The wind was starting to make her feel cold, so she had to do it to feel warmer.

For a moment, no one spoke up. Gloxinia listened to the sound of the wind as she closed her eyes to feel the wind against her skin. When she opened her eyes, she looked at the clear blue sky.

"Hey," Gloxinia said, breaking the silence between them. Her voice was in a normal volume, but since it was windy on the rooftop, people normally wouldn't be able to hear her. Only Vincent could because he had a sharp hearing.

"What," Vincent answered with a sharp tone and high volume so she could hear him. On his hand was a small note that he was writing on.

"Am I scary?" Gloxinia asked. She was thinking about what happened in the class before. No matter what, she couldn't help but feel that there was no other reason they would avoid her gaze. Maybe the guy yesterday told everyone else about her.

"That again?" Vincent said. He sounded indifferent as he was still writing something on his note. Once he was done writing, he shoved the note back onto his pocket.

"Didn't you see the others' reaction back in the class? They were avoiding me," Gloxinia said, hugging on her knees tighter. Saying it out loud actually made her feel worse about it.

"Huh?" Vincent said. He paused briefly to process what he heard, then it dawned on him what she meant.

"Aah. They weren't scared of you," Vincent said nonchalantly. He didn't expect she would be concerned about that, but he got where she was coming from. She couldn't hear them talking, after all.

"How do you know that?"

This time, it was Gloxinia's turn to retort with a sharp tone. She was feeling a bit peevish because of her negative thinking. She pursed her lips unknowingly.

"I heard them talking. They didn't say anything about being scared of you," Vincent said. His eyes were fixed on the boy he was watching. That boy was still sitting on the bench lifelessly as usual.

"Really?" Gloxinia muttered. She couldn't believe it right away but seeing how Vincent had always been truthful with her all this time, she also saw no reason for him to lie. "What were they talking about then?"

"I…" Vincent halted. In his absentmindedness, he was about to say it was about how we look good together, but he realized how weird that would sound coming from him.

"They were talking about how they want to talk to you but don't know how to," Vincent said. Technically, he wasn't lying. They did want to get close to her. He just omitted some other details, like how he was actually involved.

Gloxinia knitted her eyebrows. She wasn't a hundred percent convinced, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"... Are you sure?" Gloxinia asked with a careful tone.

"Yeah."

"Then should I try to strike a conversation with them?" Gloxinia asked again, this time her voice started to get chirpier.

Vincent rolled his eyes.

"That's what you should've done from the start."

Hearing that, Gloxinia nodded firmly to herself and clenched her fist. Vincent was right, if no one would approach her then she should've just approached them first. She started to think up so many scenarios on how she would approach them.

There was a brief silence between them as Gloxinia was immersed in her thoughts and Vincent was just… quiet.

In his mind, he was questioning about the reason why Gloxinia would think other people found her scary. It was probably because of her powers. He knew that she could probe into minds and scan things, but what other things could she do? She was the first spirit he had ever met, so he didn't know if she was normal or not.

"What power do you have as the spirit of the lake?" Vincent asked with a loud voice. It brought Gloxinia back to reality.

"Uhm… I guess strength and absorbing information from my hand," Gloxinia said as she raised her hand and stared at the back of her hand.

Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"And that helps a spirit how?" he said in disbelief. He knew about the strength she had since he saw it firsthand, but he honestly thought she would also have power over water since she was a spirit of the lake.

Then he remembered about how she said she scanned the entire school to find him before.

"I don't know, I've had this power since forever," Gloxinia said as she tapped the floor with her fingers.

"Nothing water-related?" Vincent asked again. He was really interested in that the most. He crossed his leg as he watched the boy on the bench standing up for a moment before sitting back down.

He was getting bored with just watching the boy.

"Mhm. I'm not the protector of the lake or anything like that, so I don't have power over it. I'm just an embodiment of the lake," Gloxinia said, raising her head and unconsciously leaning it against Vincent's back. It startled him a bit.

"Come to think of it, how did I come to be…" Gloxinia mumbled to herself in a small voice. That just hit her mind as she was answering Vincent's question. Vincent heard her mumble and decided that he shouldn't press it further.

It seemed like she had her shares of trouble too.

The first school bell rang then, indicating that class was restarting for them.

"Get up. I can't move with you leaning on my back," Vincent said. The boy he was watching had also walked back into the building.

Gloxinia stood up from her position and gave Vincent some space so he could get up from his seat. She was about to turn around to face him but he held her by her shoulders, stopping her from doing so.

"Don't turn around. Just walk ahead," Vincent said before he let go of her shoulders and walked ahead of her into the building.

Gloxinia blinked in confusion before she shrugged and followed Vincent inside.

Both of them arrived in class just in time before the second bell would ring. As they entered the class, Gloxinia could feel the stares aimed at her again.

Is he sure that they aren't scared of me? Gloxinia thought to herself as she made her way to her desk. When she arrived at her desk and took a seat, two girls suddenly approached her.

Startled with the sudden approach, Gloxinia straightened her back as she looked at the two girls. Her eyes were widened with surprise.

"Uhm, Gloxinia," one of the girls spoke up. She fidgeted every so often while the girl beside her had her face flushed red.

After being told by Vincent that they weren't scared of her, Gloxinia could see a situation like this from another angle. They were… nervous? Antsy?

But why?

"Would you, uhm… Would you like to eat lunch together with us later today?" the girl said.

"Oh? Of course!" Gloxinia replied. Her mind was a mess. It was as if someone set a firework inside her head, and she just couldn't think of how to react. She was determined to talk to them first before, but being talked to for real actually puzzled her. In her panic, she peeked at Vincent, who was already sitting behind her, through the corners of her eyes.

What else?

It was as if she was saying that to him with her eyes.

Vincent could see how elated she was. Her cheeks were starting to turn red and her pupils got bigger. Seeing her awkward gesture, Vincent decided he should help her.

Smile, he mouthed.

Gloxinia saw that and she smiled, as if the weight on her back was lifted.

Her smile reached her eyes. She looked soft and delicate, unlike the cold beauty she usually looked like. It was just as if a flower was blooming.

Everyone in the class who saw that either gasped or held their breath. Even the people outside who were passing by the class stopped in their tracks because they were mesmerized. It was the first time they had ever seen Gloxinia smiling, and it was magical.

"Thank you," Gloxinia said to the two girls, a giddy feeling in her heart. Vincent wasn't lying to her. She could feel it now that her classmates weren't scared of her. And he was also right about smiling. The smile did come naturally for her when she felt happy.

Seeing her, Vincent sighed and looked outside the window. Hidden from anyone else's sight, the corners of his lips slightly perked up.

---

The second bell rang. In another class, some students entered the classroom while excitedly talking about what happened just now.

"Did you see that?" a girl said.

"Yeah! She looks even more beautiful, smiling like that!" another girl gushed.

A group of girls that were forming a circle in the corner of the class turned their heads to them in curiosity.

"What is it? What is it?" one of the girls in the group asked.

"Oh, you know the famous Ice Princess in Class E? She smiled just now!" the first girl said with such excitement.

"Oh, I know. What was her name again… Gloxinia! Wasn't it?"

The girls who just arrived in class nodded repeatedly.

Everyone in the group didn't really show much of a reaction, except for one. The girl with thick-rimmed glasses and a long dark hair tied up in a ponytail looked up.

"... Gloxinia?"