In heat with my celebrity cousin.

The final bell of the semester had rung over twenty minutes ago, signaling the official end of exams and the chaotic exodus of term-end wrap-ups, but the classroom was still densely packed with the residual energy of students lingering behind. Groups clustered around desks, gossiping, slamming textbooks shut, and making vacation plans.

I sat alone in the very last row, tucked safely against the wall in a shadow where nobody bothered to look. I was a ghost, a permanent loner entirely invisible to the social hierarchy of the school. I had no clique, no whispered secrets to share, and no friends. To everyone in this room, I simply didn't exist. I was Mia Hardwood, and I preferred it that way. Keeping my head down was my armor, protecting me from the casual cruelties and blinding spotlights of high school life.

Then, a low, smooth voice cut through the overlapping chatter, slicing straight into the heavy monologue of my own thoughts.

"Mia."

The sound of my name felt jarring, almost foreign, snapping me out of my daze. My head jerked upward, my eyes darting frantically across the crowded room. Panic spiked through my veins instantly; nobody here ever said my name, let alone called out to me across a room. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs as I searched for the source, expecting a cruel joke or a mistaken identity.

Instead, my gaze locked onto the doorway, and all the air completely vanished from my lungs.

My cousin Alexander was standing right there. He was casually leaning against the polished wooden doorframe as if he owned the entire building, the entire city, and everyone breathing inside it. In a fraction of a second, every single pair of eyes in the classroom snapped away from their conversations and locked onto him. Of course they did. Alexander was an absolute force of nature—the undisputed center of attention wherever he went, effortlessly commanding every room he entered even when he didn't ask for it.

You couldn't look away from him even if you tried. His sharply chiseled, flawless face radiated a striking handsomeness that belonged on a magazine cover rather than a high school hallway. Every detail of his appearance screamed immaculate luxury; his clothes were impeccably tailored, his crisp button-down shirt pressed to absolute perfection, hugging the broad lines of his shoulders. Wrapped around him like a heavy cloak was his trademark bored personality, fused with a suffocating, unbreakable confidence. It was no wonder all the ladies in the room were instantly strung out on his every move. They couldn't resist him; he was gravity, pulling everyone into his orbit whether they wanted to go or not.

What is he even doing here? I thought, panic and hot, dizzying confusion flooding my system. Why now? Why me?

The girls in the room immediately lost their collective composure. Gasps, giggles, and breathless whispers rippled through the desks as they began calling out his name like a swarm of devoted worshippers. Alexander didn't flinch or look annoyed. Instead, he returned their desperate, starry-eyed attention with a slow-burning, lazy smile. The electric air buzzed heavily with their collective excitement, the entire atmosphere shifting to worship the ground he stood on.

But that spectacle didn't hold his focus for long.

His dark gaze cut straight through the adoring crowd like a laser, ignoring the fluttering eyelashes and desperate calls entirely. His eyes locked straight onto mine. Pushing off the doorframe with a casual grace, he began walking down the aisle, parting the sea of stunned students as if they were nothing more than blades of grass.

Every step he took closer made my stomach twist into tighter, hotter knots. He stopped right beside my desk, towering over me with an expression that was unreadable yet entirely commanding.

"I’ve been calling you," he said, his voice dropping low, rich, and intense enough that only I could hear it over the murmurs. "Where is your phone?"

"My phone has been on silent," I lied instantly, the words tumbling out too fast.

I fought a desperate, losing war to keep the traitorous heat from flooding my face, feeling a fierce blush creeping up my neck and dusting my cheeks. The truth was far more dangerous: I had seen his name flashing across my screen repeatedly, and I had deliberately ignored every single call. Being tied to Alexander meant navigating a labyrinth of intense emotions I had spent years trying to suppress, and avoiding him felt like my only defense.

"Right," he murmured, his sharp eyes narrowing just a fraction as if he saw right through my pathetic excuse, a knowing glint flashing in his gaze. "Let’s go home. Your mom and my dad are waiting outside to pick us up."

I nodded quickly, desperate to escape the mounting pressure of a dozen pairs of eyes burning holes into my back. I scrambled, shoving my notebooks and pens into my bag with trembling fingers, and stood up to follow him.

As we walked out into the corridor, leaving the classroom behind, a wake of heavy, envious murmurs rippled through the lingering students, trailing after us step for step down the long hallway.

“She’s so lucky to be our Alex’s cousin…”

“Ugh, I swear, I wish I was her. She has no idea how lucky she is to even breathe the same air as him.”