Chapter Eight

I couldn't hear a single word the teacher said for the rest of the lesson.

The chalk scraped across the board.

Pages turned.

Students answered questions.

But none of it reached me.

My mind kept replaying the same moment.

Damien's calm voice cutting through the classroom.

"Leave it."

He hadn't shouted.

He hadn't raised his voice.

Yet everyone had stopped.

Even the students who spent every day making my life miserable had backed away.

Why?

I wrapped my fingers around my pencil so tightly they began to ache.

He hadn't defended me because he cared.

He was Damien.

The future Alpha.

He probably hated injustice, no matter who it happened to.

That's all it was.

It had nothing to do with me.

It couldn't.

I swallowed the strange disappointment settling inside my chest and forced myself to look at my notebook.

The words blurred together.

When the final bell rang, chairs scraped loudly against the floor as everyone rushed toward the door.

I stayed exactly where I was.

I always did.

Leaving with everyone else only made it easier for them to shove me into lockers or trip me in the hallway.

So I waited.

One by one, the classroom emptied.

Only a few students remained.

Damien was one of them.

He was speaking quietly with the teacher while packing away his books.

I lowered my head immediately.

The memory of earlier made it difficult to even look in his direction.

As I reached for my school bag,I subconsciously look at my wrist.

A neatly ironed navy-blue blazer.

My breath caught.

His blazer.

I had almost forgotten.

Everyone else seemed to have noticed.

But didn't say anything.

I had spent all morning wondering how to return it without attracting attention.

Slowly, i wrote a little note thanking him and promising to wash and return it, then I folded it smoothing every crease with my hands.

Then, after making sure no one was looking, I walked toward Damien's desk.

He was still facing the teacher.

I placed the note blazer neatly on the corner of his table.

For a moment, I hesitated.

Would he even know I returned it?

Would he think someone else had?

I stared at him, the words on my little note felt weird.

They looked too simple.

Too small compared to what I wanted to say.

I wanted to thank him for making the classroom feel safe...

Even if only for a few minutes.

I wanted to thank him for proving that not everyone looked away.

But those words belonged in my diary.

Not on a note.

I folded the paper and put it neatly at the corner of his table,where only he would notice it.

Then I hurried away before anyone saw me.

My heart pounded all the way to the classroom door.

Someone deliberately tried to trip me, I stumbled and quickly left the classroom hoping Damien didn't just see that.

Please don't look.

Please don't call my name.

Please don't stop me.

I stepped into the hallway.

The familiar whispers started almost immediately.

"There she goes."

"Look at the omega."

I kept walking.

Today their voices seemed farther away.

The walk home felt longer than usual.

Not because of the distance.

Because my thoughts refused to leave the classroom.

No matter how hard I tried, Damien's face kept appearing in my mind.

The way he had stood up without raising his voice.

The way everyone had stopped.

The way he had looked at me—not with disgust, not with amusement... just quietly.

I hugged my schoolbag tighter against my chest.

"No," I whispered to myself.

I shook my head as though I could shake the thoughts away.

I wasn't supposed to be thinking about Damien.

I wanted those memories to belong to Draven.

I wished it had been Draven who had stopped them.

I wished it had been Draven who had lent me his blazer.

I wished it had been Draven whose kindness had stayed with me all day.

Instead, every time I closed my eyes...

I saw Damien.

Guilt settled heavily inside my chest.

It felt wrong.

Draven was the one I cared about.

Draven was the one I had written pages and pages about in my diary.

So why wouldn't my heart stop remembering Damien?

By the time I reached home, I had convinced myself I was simply confused.

Nothing more.

I quietly opened the front door.

"I-I'm home."

Silence.

For one hopeful second, I thought no one was there.

Then—

"So you finally decided to come home."

My mother's voice echoed through the living room.

Andrew stood beside the sofa with his arms folded.

Catherine was scrolling through her phone, a satisfied smile already forming on her lips.

The moment she looked up and saw me, she laughed.

"There she is."

My stomach tightened.

Something was wrong.

"You've become quite popular today," Andrew said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I... I don't understand."

"Oh, you understand perfectly."

Catherine stood and walked toward me.

"Imagine our surprise when our friends started sending us messages."

She held up her phone.

"They said the pathetic omega in their class wrote a love confession in her diary."

My face drained of color.

"They found your little diary, didn't they?" she continued with a mocking smile. "How embarrassing."

"I..."

"I told you she was bringing shame to this family," Andrew muttered.

"It wasn't..." My voice trembled. "It wasn't supposed to—"

Before I could finish, my mother strode across the room.

The slap caught me completely off guard.

My head turned sharply to the side.

The sting spread across my cheek almost instantly.

Tears blurred my vision.

"You never stop embarrassing us," she snapped.

I lowered my head immediately.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Andrew scoffed. "Do you think sorry fixes anything?"

"I didn't mean—"

"You didn't think," my mother interrupted. "That's the problem."

Catherine folded her arms.

"And now everyone thinks you've started chasing Damien."

My eyes widened.

"What?"

"Don't act innocent," Andrew said. "People saw you hanging around him after class."

"I wasn't."

"You expect us to believe that?"

"I only..."

I stopped myself.

I couldn't tell them about the blazer.

I couldn't tell them about the note.

They would never believe me.

"It doesn't matter," my mother said coldly. "Listen carefully."

She stepped closer until I could barely breathe.

"You will stay away from Damien."

"I already do."

"You'll stay even farther away."

Andrew's expression hardened.

"Future Alpha Damien is completely out of your league."

Catherine laughed.

"The idea is ridiculous."

"You are an omega," my mother continued. "Nothing more."

"People like him don't even notice people like you."

"So stop filling your head with impossible fantasies," Andrew added. "You've already humiliated us enough."

"I don't..." My voice broke. "I don't have fantasies about Damien."

"Then explain why everyone is talking about you."

"The diary was about Draven."

The room fell silent.

Andrew let out a short, humorless laugh.

"That doesn't make it any better."

Catherine rolled her eyes.

"As if either brother would ever choose you."

"They're both destined for powerful mates," Andrew said. "Not someone who spends every day getting bullied."

"You'll only drag them down."

Every word settled inside me like a stone.

I stared at the floor, blinking back tears.

"I understand."

"No," my mother replied sharply. "I don't think you do."

She pointed toward the hallway.

"From now on, you will go to school, come home, and keep your head down."

"No more embarrassing this family."

"No more delusions."

"And if we hear your name connected to Damien again," Andrew said, his voice low and firm, "there will be consequences."

I nodded quickly.

"Yes."

"Louder."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes... I'll stay away from him."

It wasn't difficult to promise.

I had never intended to get close to Damien.

He had simply been kind.

And kindness...

Kindness wasn't the same as affection.

I bowed my head one last time before quietly walking to my room.

Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it and slid slowly to the floor.

The tears I had been holding back finally escaped.

I buried my face in my knees.

"I know," I whispered into the empty room.

"I know he'll never look at me that way."

I wasn't talking about Damien.

I was trying to convince myself...

That I still meant Draven.

'Draven still loves me, this just isn't the right time to go public. When it's time we will and then I'll show everyone what our love looks like' .

that's what I told myself over and over again but now it was beginning to sound weird, doubtful... pathetic even.

But am I really just delusional, am I really that unlovable. Is it so wrong for me to be in love with Draven. Does he even love me.

No, I shook my head of course he loves me this.. this...this isn't the right time when it's time it will happen.

I smiled, the thought of us going public always made me smile.

I reached for my diary and hugged it diary to my chest as I stared at the beautifully jewelled rose necklace tucked between its pages. To everyone else, it was just a necklace that was pretty. To me, it was a silent promise from him. Every accidental glance he gave me in the hallway felt like a secret message. Every polite smile convinced me that he was simply too shy to admit his feelings in front of everyone.

I knew people thought I was imagining things, but they didn't see what she saw. They didn't notice how he paused for a second when we passed each other or how he once picked up the pen I had dropped. Surely, someone didn't do things like that unless they cared.

At night, I replayed those little moments over and over, weaving them into a beautiful love story only I could see. I imagined him waiting for the right time to confess, held back by fear, family, or the opinions of others. I wasn't angry that he hadn't spoken yet. I believed love was patient.

So I smiled every morning, convinced that destiny was quietly bringing us together. I never realized that the story I treasured so dearly existed only in my heart, while the Draven remained completely unaware that he had become the hero of my dreams.