"There, there..." I cooed as I tenderly stroked the crown of Cassius' head.

His ugly sobbing made me feel quite awkward if I'm being completely honest. I'm not sure if I'm the right person to confide in. There's still a lot about him that I don't know, so I can't offer him any life-changing advice here...

Eventually, Cassius' sobbing slowly came to a halt as he looked up at me wearily. "I'm... sorry. You probably think I'm evil too, right?"

I shook my head firmly as I gave Cassius a stern look. "No! Not at all! I don't think you're evil."

I shoved my hand into my bag to rummage for a packet of tissues to hand him. "Here," I said as I handed him the tissues. He looked up at me sorrily before silently accepting the tissues.

"I imagine life has been pretty tough on you." I sank back into my seat and looked at Cassius lazily. "It's a rough gig being a half-demon, right? It must make connecting with humans almost impossible."

As Cassius mulled my words over, he sunk his shoulders in defeat. "My classmates don't accept me because they're scared of me." He started to nervously fiddle with his fingers. "And my own father isn't as close with me anymore. So, I have no one..."

Oh? What's this about there being distance between him and his father? He's got my curiosity now...

"If you don't mind me asking..." I started while avoiding eye contact with Cassius. "What happened between you and your father? He sent you to one of the most prestigious schools out there, so he must care for you to some kind of degree, right?"

Cassius looked at me, almost puzzled. Eventually, his face hardened as he narrowed his eyes. He looks troubled.

"Well, it's because of my mother. She was a human..."

A demon and human... together? Sounds like the plotline for some kind of supernatural romance novel. It's the perfect material for those who love forbidden romances. It's your classic star-crossed lover's scenario...

In that case, shouldn't he care more for his son? I'm fairly sure it's rare for humans and demons to get together. So surely that means they were genuinely in love and had Cassius, right?

"If I were to guess, I'd say I remind him of my mother. So that's probably why it pains him to look at me sometimes."

"Oh," I said as I shuffled closer to Cassius. "Is your mother not around anymore?"

Cassius solemnly nodded along. "She left soon after giving birth to me. No one knows where she went or why."

With a long sigh, he dropped his shoulders in despair. "I really want to have a good relationship with my father. If there's one person in the world who could possibly understand me, then it would be him..."

I'd love to help them reconcile. But I think that might be out of my current league. Maybe one day he can find it within himself to confront his father about his aloofness...

Cassius crossed his arms in dejection with a frown. "Besides that, I really just want to know what it feels like to experience human emotions... like love. I feel so alien about that part of myself."

Cassius looked out the window longingly. "It's why I decided to confess to Beatrice the other day. I thought anyone would do, but I realise now that it's impossible to fall in love blindly..."

Ah, the pompous girl in the courtyard. If you ask me, he dodged a bullet with that one. She seems like a nasty piece of work. Definitely not someone worth your time.

But besides that, did he really just admit to confessing to her on a WHIM? Talk about flaky! I can see why she'd reject a surface-level confession like that.

"What did my father see in humans anyway? They're so awful and self-centred..." Cassius grumbled to himself.

Ouch. Human standing right here. This is kind of awkward...

"Not all humans are bad." I reaffirmed as I scratched my face anxiously.

Cassius looked me dead in the eyes. "No. Most of them are. Before class, a group of our classmates even threw all of my books into the school fountain!"

Okay, I can see where he's coming from with that. I suppose I'll need to improve his confidence, first and foremost then. It would make getting through the rest of the school year more... bearable for him.

After dusting my hands off I proudly rose from my seat to look at Cassius seriously.

"That's it, I can't listen to this anymore! Hearing how everyone just walks over you is saddening. So, we gotta change that right now!"

Cassius cocked his head to the side in uncertainty as he squinted his eyes at me. "What do you mean by change?"

I wanted to roll my eyes at how straight-laced he was being. "Don't tell me you're simply happy to accept how things currently are and live with it? We need to make everyone regret ever looking down on you!"

Cassius' eyes slowly trailed down to his shoes as a dark shadow fell across his face. "You mean by getting revenge, right?" He said in a dark voice.

Okay, no. That's way too creepy and insidious! Definitely not the type of approach I was thinking of taking!

"I was thinking more along the lines of getting them to envy you." I folded my arms proudly as I held my chin up high. "By transforming you into the misunderstood dark prince of this school, everyone will regret ever shunning you!"

"Dark prince...?" Cassius repeated in uncertainty.

"I don't know, it was the first stereotype I could think of. Don't girls like bad boys?"

For the time being, it wouldn't hurt to work on his overall image. It might not be essential since the goal is for him to graduate at the end of the day. But it still wouldn't hurt to work on his social life. At the very least, his final year at this academy should be joyful, not lonely.

Cassius closed his eyes thoughtfully as he nodded along. "Well, if you think this will be good for me, I won't say no. But how are you going to do that?"

...

Even though I didn't give a response, my silence spoke volumes. "You didn't think that far ahead, did you?" Cassius said in a doubtful voice.

Ahaha, let's just take it one day at a time...