The classroom smelled of chalk and paper, the drone of chatter buzzing like a hive. Kael sat at his desk, head bent toward his notes, though he wasn't really reading.
Mia was perched up front with her files again, her pink hair glinting against the window light. She'd already waved him over once her usual little power move but he pretended not to notice. Aimee was a quiet presence a few seats away, her pen scratching neatly across the page. When her eyes flicked up, Kael caught them, and something tightened in his chest before he quickly looked away.
Then Mia's voice cut the silence.
"Kael. Aimee. Over here."
Both of them looked up. It wasn't a request, it was her usual command, laced with that smug smile she knew how to wear. Kael sighed, pushing back from his desk, Aimee following more carefully. The three of them were barely arranged into a makeshift group when the classroom door clicked.
At first it was nothing. Just the sound of heels and the shift of air as someone walked past. But when Kael looked up
His breath caught.
She wasn't just another student. She owned the space the moment she stepped in. Her hair was dark, sleek, and cut with a bold strip of green that fell over one side of her face. Glasses barely clung to the bridge of her nose, like she didn't need them but wore them anyway like a tease. Her skirt was scandalously short, tailored high-class with a slit cut sharp at her thigh, leaving no doubt of the pale strip of her underwear flashing whenever she moved.
Kael's throat went dry.
Every line of her body was temptation draped in fabric, and she walked with an effortless arrogance, a predator already aware of her prey. She headed straight toward the lecturer's office with a stack of papers, and for that brief stretch, the whole class seemed to vanish into a blur.
Their eyes clashed.
She glanced his way for the smallest second, but it was enough. Sharp. Stunning. Like she already knew him without needing his name. Kael felt the air leave his chest.
Aimee shifted beside him, stiff and quiet. Mia tilted her head, watching Kael's expression with a dangerous smirk tugging at her lips. She didn't even need to say a word she could see what he saw.
The Harlem was no longer just whispers.
It was spreading.
And Kael sat frozen, caught between the fire he couldn't resist, the quiet pull he couldn't explain, and now this stunning high-class storm that had just walked straight into his world.
.....
The girl disappeared into the lecturer's office, heels echoing sharp against the tiled floor, but the impression she left behind was louder than the sound. Kael was still sitting there, pretending to shift his notebook, though his pulse hadn't slowed.
Mia noticed. She always noticed.
Her lips curved as she leaned closer, her voice just low enough for him.
"Well, well… didn't expect you to choke that fast."
Kael's jaw tightened. He kept his eyes on the desk, but he could feel Aimee's presence gentle, fidgeting, almost hesitant. He risked a glance sideways.
She wasn't smirking like Mia. She wasn't even looking at him fully—just these quiet, darting glances that she quickly snatched away whenever his eyes caught hers. There was something softer there, something that didn't burn but warmed. She smiled once, barely, the corner of her lip tugging up before she lowered her gaze again.
It hit him differently.
Mia scoffed under her breath, flicking her pen against the desk like she'd just declared war without needing to say it. He didn't need to hear her words to know: in her mind, another player had entered the board, and she wouldn't let that go unanswered.
Kael sat trapped between the two of them—the calm, shy glow of Aimee brushing against him from one side, and Mia's sharp teasing heat on the other. His chest felt too tight, like someone had wound him up without giving him a way to release it.
And yet, in the back of his mind, all he could see was her.
That girl.
The sway of her walk. The careless flash of her thigh through that slit skirt. The cold, knowing glance through half-hidden eyes. He didn't even know her name, but it was carved into him now.
The rest of class faded into noise. Chatter. Pages flipping. A lecture he didn't hear. Kael went through the motions, his pen moving without purpose, his thoughts hooked where they shouldn't be.
By the time the lecturer returned from the office and the mysterious girl had vanished somewhere down the hall, Kael was left restless.
Suspense lingered.
Mia leaned back with a grin like she'd already planned her next move.
Aimee kept sneaking those soft glances at him, biting her lip when she thought no one saw.
And Kael?
He knew he hadn't stood up to anything yet. He hadn't proved himself or chosen a side. But his pulse wouldn't let him forget the way that new girl had looked at him like a hook dragging him into something he wasn't ready for.
.....
Days passed, but the image of that girl wouldn't leave Kael's head. Every quiet moment it returned—her thigh, the glint of green streak in her hair, the careless fire in her glance.
He hated it.
Or maybe he hated that he couldn't stop wanting it.
Mia saw through him. She always did.
"Still distracted, aren't you?" she teased one evening, finding him by the corridor where the shadows spilled long. She leaned against the wall, smile sharp, eyes gleaming with something far more dangerous than just humor.
Kael shifted. "You're imagining things."
But she moved closer, slow, like a predator circling its prey. Her perfume hit first—sweet, intoxicating, wrapping around him before he could breathe. Then her warmth. Her body pressing just close enough for him to feel the shape of her curves through her blouse.
He froze when her breast grazed against his arm, then his chest, until she pushed in fully, her breath hot against his ear.
"Kael…" she whispered, stroking a finger down his jaw, tilting his head as if she owned the right. "I like you. Look only at me."
Her hand slid lower, flattening against his chest, nails grazing faintly through the thin fabric. She was bold, deliberate her body pressing harder until his face nearly buried in the swell of her breast, the heat of her pulse drumming against him.
"Don't be distracted," she murmured again, her lips brushing his temple. "Not by her. Not by anyone. Just me."
Kael's hands hovered at his sides, trembling between shoving her away and giving in. His heart pounded hard enough he thought she could feel it. He didn't move, not even when her fingers curled into his hair, tugging lightly, possessive.
For a second, the world narrowed just Mia, her scent, her warmth, her heavy breaths filling his senses. She wanted him to drown in it.
And maybe he almost did.
But beneath all of it, deep in his chest, another image still clawed at him.
The shy glances of Aimee.
The flash of thigh and green-streaked hair of that girl.
And Mia's whispered demand Look only at me felt more like a cage than a promise.
.....
Mia pressed closer, her lips almost grazing his cheek, and the world tilted into a dangerous blur. He could feel her body heat, her heartbeat thudding in rhythm with his own.
"Kael…" she whispered, her voice like silk over steel. "Don't fight me."
Something in him snapped equal parts need and defense. His hands shot up, catching her by the chest, palms pressing firmly against her breasts. For one searing heartbeat, the softness filled his grip, warm and alive, his fingers sinking against curves that demanded he hold tighter.
Mia let out the faintest gasp half surprise, half thrill.
But Kael didn't stay. He shoved her back just enough to break the closeness, sucking in air like a drowning man. "Enough," he muttered, low and rough. "You're playing too far."
He stepped away, running a hand over his face. He meant to leave. To cool the fire in his veins.
But then
A shadow shifted near the hallway corner. He turned.
And there she was.
The girl. Short skirt, smooth legs that seemed to go on forever, her hair falling dark and heavy with that green streak catching the light, glasses barely clinging to her nose. And those eyes fixed on him and Mia, wide with unreadable surprise.
Kael froze. His pulse slammed.
Mia, catching the direction of his stare, slowly smiled—a dangerous, satisfied curl of lips.
The mystery girl didn't move. Just stared, lips parting as though she'd seen too much, then flicked her gaze once over Kael's hands still trembling from where they had held Mia.
The air thickened.
Kael swallowed hard, his body burning with a shame that wasn't entirely shame. He wanted to explain, to speak, to do something but his voice refused him.
And the look in her eyes before she turned sharp, burning, and gone left him shaken worse than Mia's touch ever had.