Chapter 1- The Wrong Seat
The lecture hall was already half full when Aria Hayes stepped inside.
She didn’t like attention. She liked routine—same seat, same row, same quiet corner where nobody asked her questions she didn’t want to answer.
So when she saw someone sitting in her seat, she paused.
Not just someone.
A guy.
He was leaning back like he owned the place, one leg stretched out into the aisle, hoodie half-zipped, headphones still in like the world was optional.
Aria frowned.
She walked straight up to him.
“Excuse me,” she said flatly.
He didn’t move.
She tried again, sharper this time. “You’re in my seat.”
Only then did he glance up.
Dark eyes. Calm expression. Slightly annoyed, like she was interrupting something important.
“There’s no assigned seating,” he said.
“It’s assigned in my head,” she replied immediately.
A pause.
Then—he smirked.
That was the problem.
Not the seat.
Not the attitude.
The smirk.
“You must really like control,” he said.
“And you must really like being annoying,” she shot back.
A few students nearby started watching.
Great.
He finally leaned forward, pulling his headphones off slowly like he had nowhere else to be in life.
“Fine,” he said. “What’s your name, Seat Police?”
Aria crossed her arms. “Aria.”
Another pause.
Like he was testing the name in his head.
“I’m Kian Blake,” he said.
Of course he had a name that sounded like trouble.
He didn’t move yet.
Instead, he tilted his head slightly. “So, Aria… where exactly do you want me to go?”
She pointed two seats over. “Anywhere that isn’t mine.”
Kian looked at the empty seat.
Then back at her.
Then—very slowly—he stood.
But as he brushed past her, he leaned slightly closer and muttered:
“You’re going to be a problem this semester.”
Aria didn’t even hesitate.
Without looking at him, she replied:
“No. You are.”
And for some reason—
That made him smile again.
Worse than the smirk.
Like he had just found something interesting.
Something he planned to keep.
