The Proposal

002

Mira didn't move.

Sebastian Kessler was offering her something, she could see it in the way he stood, loose-limbed and patient, like he had all night. Like he had been waiting for her. Which was ridiculous. He didn't even know she was coming.

"You have terrible timing," she said.

"I have perfect timing." He took another sip of coffee. Didn't offer her any. "I was here grading philosophy papers. Heard footsteps. Saw the ice queen sitting on the steps like someone canceled her favorite show."

"I don't watch television."

"Exactly my point."

Mira should have walked out, reminded him they were rivals, brought up last year’s sabotage accusation, and pointed out that his reputation was a dumpster fire while hers was the only thing keeping her alive. But her feet wouldn’t move. And her mouth was about to betray her.

It was being honest.

"You said you had a proposal."

Sebastian set down his coffee. Walked toward her. Not close, he stopped six feet away, giving her enough space. But his eyes never left her face.

"I saw what happened tonight. I'm not talking about the bedroom part. I mean the hallway. I was getting coffee from the machine by the stairs." He tilted his head. "You walked out of his apartment like you were walking out of a funeral for someone you didn't even like."

"I didn't like him."

"Then why are you here at 2am looking like someone died?"

Mira's throat closed. She pressed her nails into her palms. The scar on her left palm, from breaking a glass during her parents' last fight, throbbed.

"Because I'm replaceable," she whispered. She hadn't meant to say it out loud. The words hung in the cold air between them, ugly and raw.

Sebastian's expression didn't change. But something in his eyes shifted. Darkened.

"You're not replaceable, Chen. You're terrifying." He said it the same way he had freshman year. Like a promise. "And I think you know that. Which means you're not sad. You're angry."

"I'm not angry."

"You're furious." He stepped closer. Five feet now. "Because he didn't break your heart. He broke your armor. And now everyone can see you're not made of stone."

Mira's breath caught. No one had ever said that. Not her therapist, not her mother, not the one friend she'd had before Jenna. They all saw the control and called it strength. They saw the silence and called it poise.

Sebastian saw her standing in a hallway, watching her boyfriend betray her, and recognized exactly what she felt.

Humiliation.

"So here's my proposal," he said. His voice dropped. Quiet enough that she had to lean in. "Fake date me, let's make Ethan miserable. And I'll help you win the Covington Scholarship."

Mira laughed. It came out sharp and bitter.

"You want to help me win the thing you're also trying to win?"

"I want to beat you at your best. Not at your worst." He shrugged like it was obvious. "Right now, you're a mess. Your debate performance tonight was sloppy. Your timing was off. You lost because you were distracted"

The truth stung. Mira hated him for saying it.

"Fake dating you would destroy my reputation."

"Your reputation is already destroyed. You just don't know it yet." He pulled out his phone, scrolled, handed it to her. Campus gossip page. A photo of her walking out of Ethan's building, red-eyed, coatless, clearly devastated. The caption: "Ice Queen Melts? Mira Chen caught fleeing ex's apartment at 2am. Who hurt you?"

Two hundred comments. Most of them cruel.

Mira handed back the phone. Her hands were shaking. She hated that too.

"So what's your plan?" she asked. "We hold hands in public, Ethan gets jealous, and suddenly I'm healed?"

"No." Sebastian smiled. It was not a nice smile. It was sharp and hungry. "We make him watch while you move on to someone better. Someone he's terrified of... who doesn't care about rules or reputations or what anyone thinks."

"You."

"Me." He stepped closer again. Three feet. She could smell coffee and smoke and something underneath, clean, warm, human. "I'll be the worst boyfriend you've ever had. Publicly. I'll show up late. I'll say the wrong things. I'll make you roll your eyes in front of everyone. And he'll still hate it. Because he'll know, every time I touch you... that you chose chaos over his boring, predictable, cheating ass."

Mira's heart was beating too fast. This was a terrible idea. Sebastian Kessler was a walking scandal. Half the campus thought he was a saboteur. The other half thought he was dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with debate.

But he was right about one thing.

She was furious.

And revenge was a language she understood.

"What do you get out of this?" she asked.

"The scholarship. I help you prepare. You help me prepare. We push each other to be better. And when we're both finalists, which we will be... we debate like we mean it. No mercy." His gray eyes held hers. "I don't want to win because you fell apart, Mira. I want to win because I'm better."

The way he said her name, Mira, not Chen... felt like a hand on her skin.

She should say no, walk out, and go back to her dorm to cry and call her mother, accepting that she was human, that humans got hurt, and that it was normal.

But Mira Chen had never been normal.

"One condition," she said.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"No real feelings." She made her voice cold. Distant. The voice she used in finals. "This is strategy, a transaction. The moment either of us catches feelings, the deal is off."

He watched her for a long moment. Then he extended his hand.

"Deal."

Mira took his hand, his palm was warm and rough. His fingers curled around hers like he was memorizing the shape.

Neither of them let go for some seconds.

When she finally pulled back, her skin was burning.

"We need a contract," she said. "Rules. Boundaries."

"Your place or mine?"

"Library. Study room 3B. Tomorrow at midnight."

Sebastian grinned. It transformed his face, made him look younger, softer, sweet and almost dangerous.

"I'll bring the coffee," he said. "You bring the trust issues."

Mira turned and walked toward the door. She could feel his eyes on her back. She didn't look away.

But when she stepped outside into the freezing night, her hand was still warm, and she was already thinking about their next meeting.