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1.

-HER-

Collecting all the self-esteem and courage inside me, I step inside the classroom. It’s buzzing with unknown students. I have never seen them before because it’s the first day here. After the welcome program in the Grand Auditorium, everyone flooded into their classes and so here I am, standing in front of mine, wondering if by any chance I’ll manage to survive the first semester.

Since the entrance is at the back of the class, I take a seat nearby the door, away from the front because I don’t want to be noticed. I hate attention. People around me are chatting as if it’s not the first day of college but as if they’ve known each other for ages.

I take out my phone and try to look busy in order to avoid eye contact with anyone because an awkward eye contact could lead to an awkward conversation, which could further lead to disaster.

Suddenly, the murmur in the room dies as a teacher enters. It’s a female professor. She walks into the class, up to the front before standing in front of the large, elevated table.

“Good morning, everyone. I am Professor Sarah, your history professor. Welcome to Orion University. I wish you all the best this new semester...” She says before looking around the class, drinking in the unfamiliar faces of so many people, “Let’s start with the introduction,” She says pointing to one of the students sitting at the front row.

My heart races in my chest and my mouth goes dry. I am so bad at introductions! I hate it. Why can’t we just start the class? No one’s going to remember all the names on the first day right away! Uggghh... I hate it.

I look at the door, tempted to run out of the class and never look back. I hear people tell their names and where they’re from before telling why they chose Arts as their major.

Soon my chance came and I stood up hesitantly. My legs are shaking underneath the table. I place my hands on the desk for some support as I gulp audibly. Everyone’s eyes are on me and I feel so self-conscious. I want to hide under the desk. I want to run away or disappear in thin air.

With a deep breath, I start speaking...

“Hello, I am Cybele Galanis and I went to St. Xavier’s High school.” I finish breathily. Wow, that was great Cybele! You can do it. “I took major in artsbecauseIlovehistoryand...” and everything went downhill.

~

After the class end, I put on my hoodie and disappear before anyone could further make fun of me. I breathe in relief after assuring that I am not in anyone’s range.

I take out my phone and see my reflection on the screen. I am as red as a tomato. I’ve been blushing so hard during the class because everyone laughed at me. I definitely did not make a very good first impression. I know everyone must be judging now. Well, I want to die now. I want to kill myself. I want to stomp my feet in frustration.

I had one job and I screwed it! Ughhhhh. I hate myself.

Luckily we don’t have any more class today which means that I can go home and die peacefully in embarrassment. I shove my phone in my pocket before climbing down the floor. I am on full alert. I don’t want to come across anyone from my class and get laughed at again.

I climb down the next floor and then the next before reaching the ground floor. It’s torture to have classes on the third floor. I can see myself losing five kilograms in a month if I attend classes every day. As I take a turn to walk down the corridor, towards the exit, I notice a small crowd that has gathered in front of the office.

Curiosity makes me step near the crowd to know what the matter is. As I near the crowd, my eyes find him. Standing tall between the other students. He has such an aura to him that could steal anyone’s attention. He seems to be in a heated conversation with someone. Their back is facing me so I cannot tell who it is.

Both of them are tall and powerful and the crowd around them is trying to calm them down. Several sneers and growls could be heard from where I am standing.

He is facing me. From where I am standing I can clearly see his face. Even though there’s a huge distance that sits between us, I can see him clearly. My eyes could trace every detail of his face which they failed to do in the auditorium.

He has jet black hair. His eyes fascinate me because they’re black and captivating. He has a chiseled jawline and tanned skin. He had a slightly crooked nose which makes him looks like a greek god. His lips are bow-shaped. The contours of his face are hard and rough, making him more masculine. His body is well sculpted. I could imagine the hard muscles covered under his shirt that stretches over his chest and hugs his body like a second skin.

He is a sight to sore eyes.

I forget to breathe when they momentarily land on me. Though they skim over me without a second thought, without even noticing me. I let out a shaky breath before taking a step back.

A feral look takes over his face as he steps forward and lowly growls a warning to the person standing in front of him. The person seems to have growled something back to him. They are currently having a staredown and there’s visible tension around them, which the small crowd is trying to dissolve. There’s something in the way they move, it reminds me of wild animals.

The warning sign goes off in my brain. I turn on my heels and race to the back door before exiting the building. I don’t want to be involved in a fight or even witness one on the first day of my college. It’s not like that I am having the best first day of my college to start with. I messed up big time and I am sure that it left a pretty bad image of me on my classmates and the professor.

I sigh as I head towards the metro to go home. My heart is still racing in my chest. He was beautiful. I cannot forget his face easily. It keeps appearing in front of my eyes as I climb downstairs to the underground metro.

After scanning my card in the machine, I climb down one more flight of stairs before reaching the underground station. My mind keeps replaying the moment when his eyes landed on me for a millisecond but I can’t understand why I am so obsessed about him.

I haven’t met him yet and haven’t even seen him properly but my thoughts mostly comprise of him. Why? I know that he is attractive and what I am feeling for him is just lust but still, a part of me seems to be affected by him differently.

I think this is a crush. I’ll probably get over it in a few days most likely. He is way out of my league and I am sure he must have a girlfriend. There’s no point in getting my hopes high even after knowing that I’ll be disappointed. Also, I am sane enough not to get into this one-sided love thing. Not my type. Absolutely not.

I sighed deeply when I realized that the more I decided not to think about him, the more my brain made him the focus of my thoughts. We are strange, especially our brains.

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