It was just a fact of boarding schools that students would have to learn to deal with homesickness. Every September, the newest school kids would be driven up through the gates of Eden Academy, and once they had been divided into their respective Halls, they would be introduced to their matron, who would be acting as their surrogate mother figure for the rest of their school careers.

Damian knew this. He went through the heartless ritual himself. Only, it wasn 't his parents that had dropped him off at the school gates, in stark contrast to every other child in the school. And even if they did, Damian knew that they wouldn 't have bothered to reassure him with promises to call or visit every weekend, or at the earliest opportunity of school leave. ' There were no kisses or hugs goodbye, even in the Desmond family home.

Instead, his father looked stoically on, while his mother was nowhere to be found.