Introduction

My name’s Elian Collins, and I live in this lively town right in the heart of New York. the kind where something’s always happening.

Cars, noise, flashing lights, people talking too loud. yeah, that’s home.

Life’s been a rollercoaster lately. Ever since Dad passed, everything’s been… different. He was one of those people who filled every room he walked into.

A politician, the CEO of our family company, and honestly, kind of a legend in his own right. People loved him. I did too. Still do.

Now it’s just Mom and me. She’s been holding everything together — the house, the business, herself and somehow still finds the strength to smile every morning.

I admire her for that. Really, I do. But sometimes, it feels like she’s trying to be strong for both of us, and it just reminds me how much we lost.

I guess that’s why I spend so much time behind the wheel. My car — a sleek black Mercedes that Dad got me before he passed and it feels like the one place where I can breathe.

The engine’s hum, the city lights flying past, that brief sense of control… it’s the closest thing to peace I’ve got.

But lately, I’ve been feeling it — that weird tug in my chest, like I’m standing at the edge of something new. Something big. And maybe terrifying.

There are moments when I catch my reflection in the rearview mirror and think, Okay, maybe life isn’t all bad.

I’ve got that look people tend to notice — tall, a bit lean, decent enough face. My brown hair’s usually a mess, waves falling into my eyes no matter how many times I push it back.

Mom says I got that from Dad. And my eyes. brown too, though people say they look lighter in sunlight — I’ve always hoped they could tell a story on their own.

Girls at school smile when I walk past. Some wave. Some whisper. I smile back when I feel like it. Most times, I just keep walking.

It’s not arrogance, at least I don’t think it is — it’s just that I’ve never been great at figuring out what people really want from me.

Everyone assumes life’s easy when you come from money. Big house, private school, perfect everything.

But that’s the thing — it’s too perfect on the outside. People stop trying to look deeper. You start wondering if they ever saw you at all.

That’s probably why I don’t have many real friends.

Or rather… I have one.

Kaelin Giles.

Kae’s different. He’s one of those people you notice even when you’re trying not to.

He’s tall — much taller than me and strong. The kind of guy who walks into a room and doesn’t need to say a word before people make room for him.

He’s got tattoos that snake along his arms, black ink against fair skin, and somehow, they just fit him. He doesn’t try to be mysterious. He is.

And yeah, he can be a snob. Like, world-class level. The kind of guy who gives you a blank stare instead of an answer, or shrugs and walks away when people are talking.

But once you get used to it, it’s kind of… charming.

He doesn’t fake anything. Doesn’t care what people think. Doesn’t waste time trying to impress anyone. I guess that’s what I like about him — he’s unapologetically himself.

We’ve been close for a while now — close enough that people love to whisper. I’ve heard it all: “They’re definitely dating.” “No, they’re just weirdly attached.”

Honestly? I don’t care. And Kae? He couldn’t care less.

He only comes to school because I make him.

If it were up to him, he’d stay home all day, half-asleep on the couch with his hair in his face and his phone ignored somewhere under a pile of clothes.

The guy lives like he’s allergic to effort.

And yet, when we show up together — usually in matching outfits that I convinced him to wear, people stare. Some out of shock, others out of envy.

It’s kind of funny, watching them try to figure us out.

Kae just smirks and moves on.

That’s the thing about him. Rumors bounce off him like rain off a windshield.

Me? I try to pretend I’m the same way, but I’m not. I notice the stares, the whispers, the assumptions.

And somewhere deep down, I know that as much as I call him my best friend, a part of me feels like he acts like something more than that.

But what can I say?

Kae has this way of making everything else fade.

When I’m with him, it’s like the noise of the city, the pressure of school, the weight of my family — all of it just… quiets.

He doesn’t even have to do much. Just being near him feels like enough.

That’s Kaelin Giles for you — careless, complicated, impossible to ignore.

And me? I’m just the idiot who keeps getting pulled closer every time he pushes away.