Arian

Arian's pov 

I couldn't sleep all night. I kept tossing and turning like an overexcited puppy.

Why?

Because a ridiculously hot guy was in the same room as me, breathing the same air, existing in the same space, shirtless and golden under the lamplight like some sculpted Greek god. 

I don’t know what annoyed me more in the fact that he looked like that or that I was drooling over him like a fool.

Kael, the student who was supposed to graduate. 

Ugh! I was so lost thinking about his body that I didn't ask why he didn't graduate from college.

I turned on the couch for the fiftieth time, throwing my arm over my eyes. Then I heard footsteps, quiet but steady, coming closer. I shut my eyes immediately and went limp.

Play dead, Arian because I don't know how to face him this morning. How will he look this morning? I couldn't help but wonder as I pretended to be asleep.

The steps stopped right beside me and I knew it was time for my cover to be blown.

"Sleepyhead, get up," Kael’s voice rumbled low, that early morning rasp deep and thick voice filled my ears.

God. How would I survive this morning? 

I didn’t respond but my body responded. I felt it in my shaft as it hardened over again. I knew this was not the ordinary morning rising. 

I remained still, hoping he would go away but he didn't. Instead, he tugged at the blanket. Exposing me to him. 

My not-so-early-morning boner was standing at attention like it had no shame. I froze, pure embarrassment washed over me in one violent wave. 

My heart practically stopped until I saw his face.

Kael didn’t look disgusted. He didn’t laugh or recoil or call me a freak.

He stared at me, his mouth parted slightly, like he was surprised but not in a bad way. Just for a moment, the corner of his lip lifted. That half-smirk that told me that he was having fun. 

“You always wake up like that?” he asked, voice low.

“Maybe you should worry about yourself,” I said, pointing at him.

He was wearing a black boxer. It clings to him like a second skin and his shaft. It was as long as his upper arm. It was not standing like mine but it was stretched in all mightiness. 

What the fuck, Arian. Stop staring at his shaft and balls. I sat up fast, grabbing the blanket and yanking it over my lap like my life depended on it. My face was on fire.

“Are you done checking me out, Arian?” He asked, making me fluster beyond belief. To start with, I didn't remember telling him my name and the most embarrassing thing is that he knew I was checking him out.

“Like you didn't do the same to me,” I managed to say, trying to drag him down with me. I'm not the only one who is allowed to drown in embarrassment. 

He wasn't even embarrassed. He was far from it. Instead, he grinned and turned away, strolling toward the kitchen like this was just another day. Meanwhile, I was dying inside. 

The moment Kael disappeared into the kitchen, I grabbed my phone from the side table. I needed to talk to April, my best friend, and my human journal. She was the only person who could make sense of the chaos that I had found myself in since last night.

I clicked the power button. And my screen exploded with notifications the moment it lit up.

Texts. Dozens of them flooded in. I've never gotten messages like this, not even when two club members punched each other's faces.

Thirty messages from April alone. Her texts blurred into each other, but a few stood out.

“Did you do it?”

“Arian, please tell me it’s not true.”

“WHY ARE YOU NOT ANSWERING YOUR PHONE?”

“Where are you? I know you didn't do it, just answer your damn phone.”

“Arian, don't do anything stupid.”

“What the hell is she talking about?”

My hands were shaking. Before I could reply, new notifications kept coming in like a storm. My group chats were flooded. My inbox had jumped from ten to ninety-four unread messages in the space of one night. 

Then came the headlines that held everything. A screenshot of the school’s online forum filled the screen.

Arian Smith, President of the Orleans College Book Club, Accused of Embezzling Funds.

I blinked in confusion. I read it again because it can't be what I read before.

No. It was still the same thing. How did I embezzle funds when I don't even hold the club's money?

I scrolled down, I found more screenshots of posts, angry emojis, people calling me a thief. One person wrote, “Of course it was him. Always acting so perfect.” 

Another added, “No wonder he was always hovering around the club funds.”

Hovering? I don't even have a business with it. The only reason I know is because I'm the president of the club.

I could barely breathe. It was as if a stone was blocking my lungs. My chest felt heavy. 

Quickly, I checked my email. And one message stood out like a bullet between my ribs.

From: College Director

Subject: Meeting Request  

9:00AM

Come to my office. Treat as urgent.

I checked the time and it was 8:22AM.

The walls of the room seemed to close in on me. Even the sunlight pouring through the blinds suddenly felt too bright, like I was under interrogation.

“Stolen funds?” Now the director wants to meet me?

I hadn’t touched a single cent that belonged to the club. Every expense was logged. Every receipt was recorded. I made sure of it. I had to be cautious because being a scholarship kid meant I was always one step away from losing everything.

But none of that mattered now. The internet didn’t care about facts. It cared about noise, and the noise right now said I was a thief.

My chest tightened. I wanted to scream, to cry, to throw my phone across the room. I was being framed by someone. But who would do this? And why now?

I had thirty-eight minutes to figure out how to prove my innocence before I walked into that office and possibly lose everything I’d worked for.

Including my scholarship and my future.

Without wasting time, I tossed myself off the couch, my heart racing as panic flooding my chest. I didn’t even think anymore, I just moved. 

"Arian!" Kael's voice rang out but I didn't answer. 

“Did you fall while drooling on me again?” he asked. 

He probably didn't know what was going on and I think it is for the best. 

Without saying anything to him, I ran out the door barefoot, my phone still in my hand. The world was spinning around me like I’d woken up in someone else’s nightmare. 

I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t even care, I just had to go. I had to reach the director’s office before 9:00AM. I had to fix this before things get out of hand. 

Maybe I just have to wake up from this nightmare