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4

Kayler had left me in my classroom, which was big. I had chosen a seat at the back, next to the wall. I wasn't even concentrating; my mind kept thinking about what I had done. About what I didn't even remember. The professor was explaining something on the board, something about tourism and all that. This was supposed to be a new life. And it turned out to be a hell.

“Miss Lane?” The professor's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, lifting my gaze. I found myself looking into green eyes, blonde hair, and fair skin. Was he a professor or a student? Because he was very young, and I couldn't help but notice his well-built body.

I cleared my throat.

“Excuse me, professor...” I murmured, not even knowing his name.

The guy was handsome, but not as much as Kayler, though he was going in the same direction.

“No problem, I just want you to pay more attention, okay?”

I nodded, pressing my lips into a thin line. I followed his instruction and paid attention for the two-hour class, which helped me forget everything else. And I was grateful for that. After the two hours, all the students started to leave, and I cautiously packed my things into my bag until it was just the professor and me left. I stood up with the intention of going to the cafeteria to find Kayler.

“Carolina, right?” The professor's voice made me stop and look at him.

“Yes,” I approached his desk.

“I didn’t see you here yesterday…” he commented.

“I'm so sorry, it’s just that something happened yesterday and I couldn’t come.” I quickly said. I had missed the first day of classes.

“Don’t worry, I’m not reproaching you or anything, it’s just that I hadn’t seen you.” He retracted.

Oh.

“Sorry,” I said again. Also, as I mentioned before, I didn’t even know his name. However, this was a good opportunity to ask. “What’s your name?”

“Rafael.”

I gave him a half-smile, but Rafael seemed familiar, as if we had met before. Or so I thought.

“Is there anything else you need?” I asked, noticing he didn’t take his eyes off me. It was a bit uncomfortable, but he wasn’t doing it with any malice, just curiosity.

He blinked.

“No, nothing, that’s all. You can leave... Or are you going to the cafeteria? We can go together if you like. I’m new to the university and I don’t feel old enough to have lunch with the other professors.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Okay.”

He started putting his books into his bag and stood up. We started walking down the hallway. Where could Kayler be?

“How old are you?” I took the liberty of asking.

“You can call me Rafael, Carolina,” he looked at me as we walked down the stairs. “And I’m 23. You?”

“18.”

“I thought so.” He smiled.

I smiled back.

“Are you in the dorms?” he asked again as we crossed the cafeteria doors.

It was crowded, almost all the tables were full. My eyes were searching for Kayler, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Yes,” I replied without looking at him, while taking my phone out of my bag.

“Me too, I’m in room 36.”

I looked at him.

“We’re on the same floor.”

I noticed some eyes were on us. That made me uncomfortable. At the end of the cafeteria, I spotted an empty table.

“We?” he inquired.

“Yes, hey, I’ll be at the table at the back if you want to join, I have to call someone.” I told him, walking away without giving him time to answer.

I walked through the tables, seeing Darla and the others two tables away from mine. I ignored them completely; they were probably talking about me. I could tell. The murmur of people made it hard to focus on what they were saying, but I told myself it wasn’t worth it. When I reached the table, I sat down and typed a message to Kayler:

From Carolina:

Where are you? I’m in the cafeteria.

I left the phone on the table, and after a while, Rafael appeared in my field of vision, holding only an orange juice. He sat across from me.

“The food here doesn’t really convince me,” he said with a side smile.

It was noticeable how some girls were looking at him.

“Do you realize how they’re looking at you?” I asked him playfully, raising an eyebrow.

He gave them a quick glance.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not a big deal.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“There he comes,” I heard a girl murmur. “He’s so cute,” said another, I heard them clearly. “But he’s unreachable, just look at him, he doesn’t even glance at us,” one lamented.

Who could they be talking about? I turned towards the entrance, and there was Kayler, walking in his usual way, but with him were three other guys, also dressed in black, their faces expressionless. Suddenly, I felt a déjà vu, like being back in high school where he walked with his pack and airs of grandeur. As he got closer to me, his brow furrowed when he saw my companion. I turned to Rafael.

“Rafael, I think you should go,” I told him cautiously.

He looked at me, confused.

“Why?”

“It’s just that…” I didn’t finish the sentence because Kayler leaned in, turning my face, and kissing me. I know he did it on purpose.

“Hi, love, everything okay?” he sat next to me.

“Yes,” I replied. “This is Rafael, my Tourism professor.”

He looked at him.

“Your professor,” he confirmed, as if finding it ironic.

The other three guys sat next to us.

Rafael nodded as he stood up.

“Alright. Carolina, I’ll see you in class tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay.”

He left. Now I turned to Kayler.

“Who are these guys?” I whispered.

Now his expression softened.

“They are new members of the pack. It took me a while to find people like us, but I did. We couldn’t be just the two of us here.”

So he was back to being the old Kayler, with a pack and all, I just hoped the mysterious stuff wouldn’t come back.

“Calm down, everything will be fine. I promise to tell you everything that happens,” he kissed my temple. “I’ll introduce you to them.”

I turned to the guys.

“The bleached blonde is Darren,” he pointed to the young guy, dressed in a black leather jacket. He just gave me a salute. “This is Kevin,” a tall, dark-skinned guy, “And this is Frederick,” the last one had fair skin and black hair. Well, now we had a new pack. “Guys, this is Carolina Lane, the Alpha’s lady.”

The guys smiled.

“And now tell me, why were you chatting with your professor? And it seemed like you were on a first-name basis.”

Here we go.

“Kayler, seriously?” I looked at him, bored. He shrugged, but I sighed and answered him. “The guy is only 23 and doesn’t want to be with the other professors, so we came to the cafeteria together. I think we’ll be good friends. He even lives on our floor.”

That didn’t seem to please him.

“I’m starting to feel like buying a house, what do you guys think?” he looked at them.

“Excellent for me,” Darren responded.

“And if it’s in the woods, even better,” added Frederick.

“Are you kidding?” I looked at my boyfriend.

He squinted his eyes.

“Of course, moonlight.”

But he didn’t sound very convincing. The loudspeakers echoed throughout the cafeteria, apparently, the principal was going to make an announcement.

“Students, you all know that our student Derek passed away yesterday, even though we didn’t know him well, he was part of our university. So after lunch, I want everyone to go to the campus where we will give him a final goodbye. Don’t miss it, guys, this is serious,” she concluded.

I got goosebumps, then everyone started murmuring. It had all been my fault. However, what disturbed me the most was the message I received on my phone:

From Unknown:

I know what you did, and I won’t rest until you pay for it.

“P.”

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