Chapter Five

The next day, I don’t hear them.

Not really.

Their voices are still there—laughing, calling, whispering just loud enough—but they feel far away, like I’m underwater and everything is muffled.

Because there’s only one thing repeating in my head.

They’re coming back.

I heard it before first period, two students talking near the lockers. I wasn’t even trying to listen, but the names caught me, and suddenly I couldn’t focus on anything else.

The alpha and his younger brother. Back after a year away.

I don’t know why my chest tightened when I heard it. Or why something warm and nervous settled under my ribs at the same time.

Maybe because… before they left, things were different. Not perfect. Not safe. But quieter. Less cruel.

And his younger brother… he had looked at me once like I wasn’t invisible.

Just once.

That memory has lived in my head longer than it should.

“Hey, omega. You deaf today?”

A voice cuts through my thoughts. I keep walking.

Someone steps in front of me, but I move around them without looking up. My hands are steady for once, my grip tight around my bag.

“Wow,” someone laughs behind me. “She’s ignoring us now.”

“Got confidence all of a sudden?”

I don’t answer. I don’t stop. I just keep walking.

Their words bounce off me today, not because they don’t hurt—but because something else is louder.

He’s coming back.

I make it to class without reacting. A crumpled paper hits my shoulder. I don’t turn. Someone nudges my chair. I stay still.

Even when they whisper—

“She thinks she’s better now.”

“Maybe she forgot what she is.”

—I don’t respond.

I just open my notebook.

But instead of writing notes, I open the back pages. The ones no one looks at. The ones I keep for thoughts I never say out loud.

My pencil hovers for a second.

Then I start writing.

They said you’re coming back today.

My hand trembles slightly, but I keep going.

You held the door open once when everyone else walked past me. You didn’t say anything, but you didn’t look away either. I kept thinking about that for days.

I pause, swallowing.

I know it’s stupid. You’re an alpha. I’m… me. But when you looked at me, I didn’t feel like something everyone hated. Just for a second.

My chest tightens, but I keep writing.

I think I liked you from that moment. I don’t know when it turned into something more. I pause, glancing around. No one’s paying attention—or at least I think they aren’t. so I continue writing.

I don’t know why it matters so much. It shouldn’t. You barely talked to me before you left. But when you did… it felt different.

My chest tightens as I continue.

You smile when we’re alone. You ask if I’m okay. You told me once that I shouldn’t listen to them. I keep replaying that in my head.

My fingers grip the pencil tighter.

I know you don’t act like that around others. I know you ignore me in class. But maybe you’re just trying not to draw attention. Maybe you’re protecting me.

I swallow, my face warming.

I think… I think I love you. Even if I shouldn’t.Maybe it always was.I don’t notice how quiet it’s gotten around me.

I don’t notice the shadow falling across my desk.

I only realize something’s wrong when the pencil is gently pulled from my fingers.

My breath stops.

I look up slowly.

Two figures stand beside my desk.

"well this is interesting, what do we have here"

My heart stops. And to my horror it's Tiffany and Wesley .

The notebook is yanked out of my hands before I can react. I freeze, my fingers still curled like I’m holding it.

“Give it back,” I whisper, my voice shaking.

Too late.

They’re already reading.

“Oh wow,” Tiffany laughs. “She’s confessing.”

“‘I think I love you,’” Wesley reads aloud, exaggerating the softness. “This is pathetic.”

My face burns. “Please—stop.”

More voices gather.

“Who’s it about?”

“Wait… the alpha’s younger brother? as in Draven?"

Laughter erupts.

“She thinks he would like her?”

“That’s hilarious.”

I reach for the notebook, but someone pulls it higher, out of reach. My chest feels tight, panic rising fast.

“She says he’s nice to her when they’re alone,” someone snorts. “Yeah, right.”

Another voice cuts in, amused. “Or maybe he’s just pretending.”

My stomach twists.

“Obviously,” someone else says. “Why would he actually like her?”

They toss the notebook back onto my desk. It lands open on the page, the words exposed for anyone to see.

I pull it close immediately, my hands trembling.

The laughter continues, softer now but still there, spreading across the room.

Just when I thought I was going to die from embarrassment, several car honking is heard. Everyone looks at each other with a knowing look and start gathering at the hallway below the majestic stairs, and at that moment all I can think is perfect timing.

Then the door opens.

The alpha walks in first, calm and confident, it's been about four years since I last saw him, he looked different more muscular, jacked, he had a gorgeous face that made my pussy clench with need..... what the fuck did I just have sexual thoughts about the alpha, my boyfriend's older brother. Just then Draven follows beside him. He looked stronger,. more buffed and handsome.

The whispers shift instantly.

“They’re here.”My heart pounds painfully.

I slip through the crowd of people to find a good spot with a clear view of Draven that has little to no crowd, I take out my phone and snap pictures of Draven but as luck would have it Tiffany sees this and struts over to me,she snatches the diary still clutched under my arm and walks away calling Draven.

Others notice.

Someone near the front smirks. “Hey,” they call out to him. “You might want to hear this.”

I freeze.

They repeat part of what was written, mocking, exaggerated. Each word feels like it’s peeling something open inside me.

I don’t look up. I can’t.

Silence stretches.

Then I hear a quiet laugh.

Not loud. Not cruel. Just… dismissive.

“Seriously?” he says.

My chest tightens.

“That’s weird,” he adds lightly. “I barely talk to her.”

More laughter from the class.

I feel something sink in my stomach, heavy and cold.

“I guess people imagine things,” he continues. “Don’t make it a big deal.”

The room settles, satisfied. The moment becomes just another joke.

I keep staring at my feet, my vision blurring.

After a minute, the noise fades back into normal conversation. People leave the hall and return to their classes. Chairs scrape. Books open.

Then—soft footsteps stop beside me.

I tense.

When I glance up, he’s there. Close enough that no one else can hear.

His expression is different now. Softer.

“Don’t listen to them,” he murmurs quietly. “They just like causing trouble.”

My chest tightens again, confused.

“I didn’t mean what I said,” he adds gently. “I just didn’t want them bothering you more..I love you "

He gives me a small smile.

The same smile.

The one that made me believe him before.

“I… it’s okay,” I whisper, even though my thoughts feel tangled.

He nods slightly, then walks away like nothing happened.

Around us, the gossips continues as normal.

But I stand there, notebook pressed against my chest, trying to understand why his words hurt… and comforted me at the same time.

I don’t notice the way he laughs with the others a few minutes later.

Or the glance he gives me —brief, unreadable—before looking away. Then Tiffany walks up to me and snatches my phone from me while I'm looking at his pictures. "Oh, she's doing it again, like what the hell girl are you a stalker" her minions snickered.

"hey give that back it's mine " Tiffany looks at me with disgust "An Omega like you has nothing, nothing belongs to you even the clothes on your body aren't yours and don't touch me". Tiffany shoves me hard and signals to her minions who pour tea and mud water on me. They all laugh at my utter humiliation and my gaze subconsciously wanders to Draven hoping he would help, he didn't have to do much just tell them to stop..... that's all I wanted for them to stop thankfully Draven turns around and sees me but the expression on his face is one I know all too well 'disgust and disappointment' he just looks at me for a few seconds and turns away like he didn't just see his girlfriend being covered head to toe in filth, does he...hate me..

No of course not how can he hate me, he literally just said he loves me a few minutes ago. I probably didn't understand his expression and besides he doesn't want to make our relationship public right... yeah that makes sense that's probably why he didn't help me.

Thinking this I feel relieved.

Tiffany catches me staring at Draven and slaps me hard across the face "listen you slut, you are an Omega, a wolf less worthless piece of trash, there is no fucking way an alpha blood with a strong wolf like Draven will ever like you not to even talk about taking you seriously.... your not even fit to be his bed warmer. Your nothing more than a slave meant to be used as a toy and discarded as a used tissue paper, your just a means to an end that's all"

Tiffany transforms her nails into claws and slashes my uniform, my breasts comes into view.

She and her Minions laugh and just as she's about to make another slash a deep and sexy voice rumble "What the fuck do you think your doing".