Chapter 1
Three things I didn’t expect on my first day at GoldCrest University: free food at orientation, wealthy students who looked like they’d walked off a runway, and the girl who made my life hell standing thirty feet away looking annoyingly and infuriatingly perfect.
The moment I saw Vivienne Voss, my brain offered two options. Approach her and show her I wasn’t the same girl she used to bully. Or ignore her and escape before welcoming unnecessary trouble.
Like the perfectly smart and brave girl I was, I chose the second option.
I ran.
Running away from situations required a certain kind of bravery, so yes, I considered myself brave.
I walked through the corridors of GoldCrest, cursing my spectacularly bad luck. My mother always told me everything happens for a reason. Standing in the middle of the university with my scholarship bag on my shoulder and a carefully planned fresh start ahead of me, I genuinely couldn’t think of a single reason for Vivienne Voss to end up at the same university.
Some things just happened. Some things were just the universe being personally cruel.
As I stood in the corridor, Vivienne appeared at the other end with her friends.
God! Just give me a break.
Hiding among the crowd, I watched her. She looked perfect as usual. Black hair framed her sharp cheekbones, as if someone had taken extra care while creating her, and her waist looked like it had been sculpted specifically for her.
Hearing her voice, vague memories of being thirteen and twenty pounds heavier flickered at the edge of my mind, threatening to ruin my carefully planned fresh start.
Seren Bright? More like Seren Fat.
I blinked the memory away before it could finish forming. I decided we were not doing that ever again, especially not on the first day of my university. I made the decision in approximately four seconds. The same four seconds it took Vivienne to toss her hair and turn slightly in my direction. I spun on my heel and walked the other way.
My mind refused to settle. It kept swinging between panic and reassurance.
She probably doesn’t even remember you, Seren. You were thirteen. You’re eighteen now. You may not have the perfect figure, but you are not fat anymore.
My heart loved that thought. Unfortunately, another part of my brain existed solely to stress me out.
That’s Vivienne Voss. Even if you changed, she’d still find a way to poke at you with those perfectly polished nails.
I could sense my heart throwing curses at my brain. Their ongoing fight was interrupted by the continuous buzzing of my cell phone.
“You nasty little b-bright!” Lena yelled before I’d even said hello.
I knew what she really wanted to say, but as part of her New Year’s resolution, she had decided to stop using curse words. Good for me.
“You couldn’t just abandon me among a bunch of wannabe queens and disappear,” she continued. “I’m still in the orientation hall. Where are you? What are you doing?”
“Me?” I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Vivienne moving closer. “Playing hide and seek. I’ll call you once I win.”
I ended the call and quickly walked away.
My thoughts were still racing when my feet carried me into a large courtyard where several cars were parked despite the obvious parking areas nearby. Apparently some students had already decided rules were optional on the first day.
Just to make sure my bully wasn’t anywhere near me, I looked back. And of course, Vivienne was walking directly toward me because fate enjoyed ruining my day.
Immediately, I crouched beside the nearest car. While hiding like a criminal on the run, one comforting thought crossed my mind. The university was huge. With dozens of classrooms and thousands of students, the chances of running into her regularly were probably small. Unless we shared classes.
It wasn’t the smartest thought, but I chose to believe it.
I slowly stood to see her walking away. I let out a relaxed sigh and noticed the latest model Ferrari beside me. My mouth dropped wide open seeing such a beauty. It was not just any car. It was The Car.
It was black, sleek, and elegant in a way that quietly announced its price tag within a fifty-meter radius. I looked around at the other vehicles parked nearby and blinked in disbelief. I couldn’t believe I received a scholarship to a university where museum-level cars were casually and carelessly parked in courtyards.
I ran my fingers across the Ferrari’s polished surface, feeling it beneath my fingertips. I kept smiling at it like a kid who got to see Disneyland for the first time.
“Gorgeous!”
I circled the car, admiring every detail, and when I reached the front again, I bumped straight into a muscular chest.
“Ouch!” Rubbing my forehead, I looked up and found myself staring into a pair of sea-green eyes.
No one said one gorgeous thing per day was the limit. I had encountered two. One in the form of a car, and the other in human form standing in front of me.
By the time I finished tilting my head upward, I realized he had to be well over six feet tall. His sharp jawline looked sculpted enough to belong in a mythology book beside the Greek gods.
“Devilishly handsome!”
The words slipped out before I could stop them. I pressed my lips together immediately, just as surprised as him.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair.
“Am I?”
“Huh! No, I mean…” I bit my lower lip, mortified. “I was talking to myself.” My head snapped towards the Ferrari. “About… my new car.”
I forced an awkward smile and leaned casually against the bonnet, trying to look confident. I flipped my hair and traced my fingers on the car, saying, “Such a devilishly handsome car it is. What do you think?”
“Yes,” he said, crossing his arms. “It is.”
“What can I say?” I clicked my tongue. “I have excellent taste.”
He uncrossed his arms and stepped closer. His relaxed charm suddenly shifted into quiet intimidation. Without meaning to, I straightened from the car. My foot automatically stepped back even though there was nowhere to go.
A soft gasp escaped me when he placed one hand on the bonnet beside me. My bag slipped from my shoulder, but before it touched the ground, he caught it and handed it back. He then noticed the student ID card, which I tied to the strap of the bag, and read it out loud.
“Seren Bright.” He said it in a tone that was impossible to dismiss. He sounded flirty yet authoritative. It amused me.
“That’s an interesting name.”
He leaned slightly closer while I clutched my bag like a shield.
“ID cards are meant to stay inside the bag, Seren,” he murmured near my ear. “You wouldn’t want to lose it. Right?”
“Right.”
My brain had stopped functioning entirely.
“Now,” he continued, straightening, “where did you keep your car keys? Did you tie them somewhere too?”
“I…” I couldn’t frame words.
“Oh right,” he said casually. “They’re in my pocket.”
WHAT THE HELL!
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a key fob, and pressed it once.
The car beeped, and in that moment, I strongly considered asking the earth to swallow me whole.
I considered several responses. I considered a sincere apology. I considered a dignified exit. I considered pretending I had been joking the entire time, but my mouth betrayed me again.
“Good for you,” I said, stepping aside and turning to leave. “In my defense, it’s your car’s fault. It’s truly beautiful.”
He looked at me for a long moment. And then, just barely, just at the corner of his lips, he almost smiled, and I walked away.
All day I tried to brush off the embarrassment, but I couldn’t stop recalling the incident. Lena had a different major, so I couldn’t even share my embarrassment with her. I had assumed orientation meant no classes, but GoldCrest believed in efficiency.
I survived the rest of the day on caffeine and classes. I navigated the campus, found my timetable, attended the classes, located the library, and found all the coffee machines on the campus.
I’d managed to avoid Vivienne for six glorious hours.
Six hours of being a normal new student at a not-so-normal university having a normal first day. More importantly, Vivienne didn’t appear in any of my classes. The chances of her majoring in computer science were probably low if she didn’t share classes with me.
Everything was fine until my final class of the day. I took a seat near the back, dropped my bag, opened my notebook, and the door opened.
My nightmare walked in.
Beside her was the green-eyed Ferrari owner, still dressed in black and still looking unfairly good.
The universe had decided five years of distance was enough of a break, and it came up with new plans.
