ログイン~Noah~I considered making it worse, but I wasn’t interested in spending the rest of my evening cleaning up after myself.Besides, I only needed the mess to be convincing enough to explain why I had called Grace in on a day when she wasn’t supposed to work.I took out my phone and called her.She answered after the fourth ring, sounding slightly breathless.“Hello, Noah. Is everything all right?” she asked, and I could hear faint traffic in the background. “I’m just leaving now, so if there’s something you need me to do at the apartment, you can tell me. I might be a little late because I still need to get home and collect my things.”“You’re not going home first. My driver will pick you up from wherever you are.”There was a brief silence.“Your driver?” she repeated uncertainly. “Noah, you don’t have to do that. I can take the bus, and honestly, I’m already used to travelling around by myself. I don’t want you spending money on something that isn’t necessary.”I pinched the bridge o
~Noah~By the time I got home, I was hungry enough to consider eating the driver who had spent the entire journey irritating me with his terrible choice of music. Unfortunately for him, I was now in a reasonably good mood, so I settled for ordering food from a restaurant I occasionally visited and eating it in the kitchen while scrolling through my phone.The food was decent, although I barely paid attention to it.My mind kept returning to a certain brunette who apparently had a talent for filling every waking hour of her life with work.Classes, babysitting, cleaning houses. What next? Would I discover she spent her nights delivering newspapers and her early mornings digging graves?I wouldn’t put it past her.After finishing my meal, I carried my plate to the sink and wandered into the living room, intending to find something interesting to watch.Instead, the moment I switched on the television, my brother’s face appeared on the screen.I immediately regretted every decision that
~Noah~I was almost outside when I remembered that I had left something important in my locker.It was my phone charger.I stopped in the middle of the entrance hall and stared at the ceiling, wondering whether the universe was deliberately testing me. I could survive the afternoon without a charger, but the thought of my phone dying before I could arrange Grace’s transport was irritating enough to make me turn around.I had barely taken three steps back toward the staircase when I heard a familiar voice.“Mr. Romanov?”I turned.One of the teachers stood a few feet away, clutching a stack of papers to her chest. Mrs. Bennett, if I remembered correctly. She taught one of the subjects I had already decided I wasn’t going to attend today.Her expression suggested that she had been looking for me.Wonderful.“Noah Romanov,” she said, approaching with the expression of someone who had finally located a particularly troublesome student. “Where exactly do you think you’re going?”“Out.”He
~Noah~The corridor was nearly empty by the time I reached the quieter side of the building, but my thoughts continued circling back to the same irritating problem. Grace.I could still see her standing in front of me, her wet hair framing her face as she pleaded with me not to interfere.She had looked so frightened, and the most infuriating part was that she wasn’t frightened for herself alone. She was worried about what Arabella might do to me, as though I were the one who needed protecting.I had spent years learning not to get involved in other people’s problems. It was a simple rule, and for the most part, it worked.People were exhausting. They lied, manipulated, and begged for help before resenting you for giving it.They wanted you to fight their battles but hated you for the consequences, and most of the time, the smartest thing to do was keep your distance. Yet here I was, breaking my own rules for a girl who could barely look me in the eye.I stopped beside a window ove
~Noah~By the time I reached the locker room, my patience had deteriorated considerably.The place was nearly empty, save for a few guys changing after their afternoon training, and the smell of deodorant, damp towels, and whatever cheap body spray someone had apparently emptied into the air made me want to turn around and leave.I ignored them and headed straight for my locker, hoping I could change without having to endure another conversation.Unfortunately, the universe appeared determined to test how much irritation one person could tolerate in a single afternoon.I had barely pulled the locker door open when a familiar voice spoke behind me.“Jesus Christ, Noah. What happened to you?”I didn’t turn around as I reached for my spare clothes. “Nothing.”“Nothing?” The amusement in his voice was unmistakable. “You look like you lost a fight with a swimming pool.”I pulled my wet shirt over my head and tossed it onto the bench. “Congratulations. Your powers of observation are improvi
~Noah~Was she seriously kidding?I folded my arms across my chest, ignoring the water dripping from my sleeves. “She was already coming after you.”“Yes, but now she has a reason to be angry with you, too.”“And?”Grace looked at me as though I had just announced that I intended to set the entire school on fire. “And she’ll make your life miserable!”I glanced down at my soaked clothes before looking back at her. “She seems to have made an excellent start.”“Noah!” she exclaimed, clearly growing frustrated with my refusal to take her seriously. “Please, I’m being serious.”“So am I.”“No, you’re not!” she argued, and for the first time since she had approached me, I noticed a little fire in her eyes.It was faint, almost immediately smothered by the nervousness that seemed to follow her everywhere, but it was there.Apparently, Grace was capable of being assertive when she was sufficiently desperate. Who knew?She drew a shaky breath and continued, “Arabella is not like other people.







