Chapter Text
🍃The Glass Mansion🍃
Rosebridge Academy was a realm of polished perfection, a fortress of wealth surrounded by towering gates and ivy-covered walls. Its grandeur stood as a testament to old money, and for the students within its walls, wealth was as natural as breathing. The corridors echoed with the footsteps of those destined for greatness, their futures already carved in stone by lineage and influence.
But Joong Archen wasn’t like them. Not in the way they expected.
He was the band's wild vocalist, the son of a business mogul, yet he reveled in chaos, skirting the edges of the world that wanted to define him. His black hair fell in loose waves over his forehead, his eyes dark, almost unreadable. He had the kind of beauty that made people stop in their tracks, but his heart was a void, something that couldn't be filled by the promises of success or the adulation of his peers.
When he stepped onto campus, it was like entering a different world—a world where everyone was playing a role and pretending to be happy. And Joong? He just didn’t care.
“You look like you’ve just rolled out of a dream,” Pond Naravit called from his perch by the bleachers, a basketball spinning idly on his finger. “Where’s your head today, Rockstar?”
Joong smirked, catching the ball effortlessly. “Farther than here, as usual.”
Phuwin Tangsakyuen, their quiet but ever-present leader, approached with a book tucked in his arms, his eyes sharp behind his glasses. “If you keep dodging band practice, Aou’s going to start a war.”
“Let him,” Joong replied nonchalantly, tossing the ball back to Pond. “Maybe we can make it a song about destruction.”
Phuwin raised an eyebrow, but before he could respond, their youngest, Gemini Norawit, emerged from the crowd, his sharp eyes glinting with mischief and the kind of quiet confidence that only a rich heir could possess. His smile was ever-present, his presence always a bit of an enigma.
“Family weekend,” Gemini said with a shrug, his tone far too casual for someone who was about to disappear for the next few days. “Not that you’ll miss me.”
The rest of the group grumbled in unison, but Gemini was already turning to leave. Joong watched him, feeling the slight tug of something unfamiliar. Something like curiosity.
“Don’t let your family make you a prisoner,” Joong muttered after him, his voice quieter than he intended.
Gemini didn’t respond, and soon the youngest member of their group was gone, disappearing into the evening mist. The air felt cooler now, the wind picking up as the sun began to dip below the horizon.
Pond tilted his head, eyeing Joong with a mischievous glint. “You know, we should break into the Boonsprasert estate while he's gone.”
Joong raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Excuse me?”
“Think about it,” Pond continued, excitement sparking in his voice. “Gemini’s gone for the weekend, and nobody’s watching. We can slip in—just a quick peek at what he’s been hiding from us all this time.”
Phuwin, who had been observing the conversation from the sidelines, immediately shot down the idea with a shake of his head. “No. That place is off-limits.”
“Come on,” Pond said, throwing his hands up in the air, “it’ll be fun! We’ll just check out the gardens. Maybe sneak a peek through the windows. I’m curious what’s so special about the Boonsprasert estate.”
Joong considered it, his gaze wandering toward the horizon. The Boonsprasert estate wasn’t just a house—it was a legend. The mansion loomed beyond the gates, like a haunted palace that everyone whispered about but never dared approach. Joong had always felt a pull toward it, an undeniable intrigue about the things it hid behind its glass walls.
“I’ll go,” Joong said, finally breaking his silence. “But only because I don’t want to be stuck here all night listening to you talk.”
Pond grinned, and Phuwin sighed, resigned. “You’ll regret this.”
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Under the cover of night, Joong found himself at the edge of the Boonsprasert estate, the towering gates looming before him like an unspoken challenge. The air felt thick with anticipation as he carefully scaled the wall, landing silently on the other side. He moved swiftly, keeping to the shadows as he crept across the estate’s perfectly manicured grounds.
The mansion loomed ahead, its windows like eyes watching him. But Joong wasn’t looking for anything other than the thrill of breaking in. He moved through the gardens, where hedges and roses bent under the weight of moonlight, casting strange shadows on the ground. The estate was eerily quiet, except for the soft rustling of leaves and the occasional distant creak of old wood.
He rounded a corner, and there, in the distance, he saw it—the glass conservatory.
It was a thing of beauty, its glass walls reflecting the light of the moon like a prism. The conservatory was perched at the edge of the estate, its doors ajar, inviting him in. Inside, something glimmered faintly in the dim light—a delicate tune played by an unseen music box, its tinkling melody floating softly into the night air.
Joong’s steps faltered as he approached the conservatory. Through the glass, he saw the figure of someone—a young man, sitting at a small table, his back to Joong. His presence was almost ethereal, as if he belonged in this perfect, fragile world of glass and moonlight.
Joong’s breath caught in his throat. For a moment, he stood frozen, unsure whether to step forward or retreat.
The figure inside—someone Joong had never seen before—continued to wind the music box, the soft chime filling the space between them. There was something gentle about him, something that made Joong’s chest tighten in a way he couldn’t explain.
Before Joong could make up his mind, a breeze stirred, sending a faint rustling noise through the trees. The figure looked up, and Joong instinctively ducked behind the nearest pillar, holding his breath. The stranger’s face remained hidden in the shadows, but Joong couldn’t shake the strange feeling that this was someone important—someone whose life was hidden behind these glass walls, untouchable, unreachable.
Joong stayed in the darkness for a moment longer, watching the figure inside the conservatory, before slipping away into the night, his heart racing. He couldn’t explain it—he’d seen nothing but the back of a stranger—but something about this place, and the person in the conservatory, had stirred something deep inside him.
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