LOGIN~LUCAS~I stare at Camilla, almost as stunned by my own words as she is.Then stay at my place, Camilla.Did I really just say that?Of all the things I could have said to stop her from spending the night at Steven's house, that is what comes out of my mouth. I actually invited her to spend the night at my apartment, where we will be alone together for hours, with no classes to separate us and no university to give me an excuse to keep my distance.Brilliant, Lucas. Absolutely brilliant.So much for my decision to keep things between us strictly professional. So much for the distance I have been desperately trying to maintain since I realized how much I enjoy having her around.Apparently, I am not satisfied with making things difficult for myself. I have decided to make them considerably worse.I should never have let my jealousy get this far, but the truth is that I have been struggling with it for longer than I care to admit.For weeks, I have watched Camil
~CAMILLA~I'm still staring at Mr. Lucas in shock, refusing to believe that he actually replied to my text message.“Did you really reply to my text?” I ask, when I finally find my tongue to speak.He doesn't reply. He just puts my phone down on the table.I quickly grab my phone and take a look at the screen to reconfirm that he actually did reply.“Why did you do that, Mr. Lucas?” I say, not having it at all. “Why did you reply to my text?”“Because I don't want you spending a night at his house,” he replies nonchalantly.“That's still not enough reason, Sir,” I retort. “You have no right to reply to my text negatively, because it's actually something I considered.”"Camilla, do you even know this man well enough to be considering something like that?" He asks.I almost laugh, and it's not because anything about this situation is funny, but because I cannot believe the audacity of the question coming from him."Steven is my friend, Mr. Lucas. We've been spending time together for we
~CAMILLA~I never thought I would find myself enjoying being friends with Steven so much, but here I am.My friendship with Steven has been going on for a little while now, and I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed anyone's company this much in ages. He has somehow managed to become part of our little circle without making things awkward, and these days, he spends most of his time sitting with Esmeralda and me during lectures.Sometimes, he takes the seat beside me and spends the first ten minutes whispering ridiculous observations about our lecturers until I'm struggling to keep my laughter quiet. Other times, he sits between us and deliberately starts arguments about things he knows absolutely nothing about, just because he enjoys watching Esmeralda threaten to throw her notebook at his head.The man is a menace.An entertaining menace, unfortunately, and I have discovered that I rather like having him around.He is also surprisingly thoughtful beneath al
~LUCAS~I know Camilla is sitting in the lecture hall, but I make a deliberate effort not to look in her direction.It is harder than I expected.Since I began teaching at the University of Milan, I have learned to keep my attention on the students who need it, to explain my lessons clearly, and to maintain the professional distance expected of someone in my position. It shouldn't be difficult to treat Camilla the same way I treat everyone else, especially when that is precisely what I have been trying to achieve for the past few days.Yet, somehow, I am more aware of her presence when I am determined to ignore it.I know when she settles into her seat. I recognize the quiet movement of her belongings against the desk, and I can almost picture the expression on her face without turning around to confirm it. I have become so accustomed to paying attention to her that pretending not to notice her requires considerably more effort than I care to admit.I hate tha
~CAMILLA~My excitement lasts exactly five minutes into Mr. Lucas's lecture before I realize that something is terribly wrong.He hasn't looked at me once.Not when he walks into the lecture hall with his notes tucked beneath his arm, not when he greets the class, and not even when he begins explaining the topic we are supposed to cover today.His attention moves effortlessly from one student to another, but somehow, his eyes never settle on me for more than a fleeting second.At first, I convince myself that he simply hasn't noticed me yet. The lecture hall is crowded, and he has plenty of students to attend to, so it isn't as though he can spend the entire class looking in my direction.Besides, I am here to learn, not to demand his attention.I repeat that to myself several times, determined to concentrate on the lecture instead of behaving like a little girl waiting for her favorite person to notice her.Unfortunately, the more I try to ignore his behavior,
~CAMILLA~I have no idea what my professor has been talking about for the past twenty minutes.And judging by the number of times I have looked at the same page of my notebook without writing a single word, I doubt I could repeat even one sentence of his lecture if someone offered me a million euros.My attention is supposed to be on the discussion about psychological development, but my mind keeps drifting back to one particular person who seems determined to make me question everything I thought I understood about him.Mr. Lucas.I don't understand what happened to us.At first, I convinced myself that his sudden change in behavior was only temporary, that perhaps I had made him uncomfortable by asking about his mother, and that he would be back to his usual self before our next tutoring session. I even spent the days afterward carefully thinking about our conversation, wondering whether I had asked the question too casually or whether my curiosity had made h
~ELENA~The whispers multiply until it feels like the entire hallway has turned into a low hum of excitement.“Who is he? Does anyone know?”“They say he is doing his masters.”“I heard he's transferred.”“Transferred? He looks like he walked straight out of a magazine.”“D
Alessandro stands in the middle of his father’s office, tall and impassive, hands in his pockets, face unreadable. His black shirt clings to his frame, sleeves rolled to the elbows, veins prominent, tattoos peeking at his wrists. The room is thick with tension.Behind the heavy mahogany desk sits
~ELENA~Nico's lips graze my cheeks…almost a kiss.Almost.And then the gym door swings open.“Damn!” We both exclaim.Riccardo walks in, towel over his shoulders. He pauses, eyes flicking between our too-close bodies.“Everything okay here??” He asks, voice neutral, but b
~NICO~The moment my fist connects with Alessandro’s jaw, the sound is louder than I expect. A sharp crack that silences even the shrieks around us.He stumbles, spits blood, and collapses onto the floor.The crowd roars….half in shock, half in awe. Phones are out, cap







