All Chapters of OUR UNEXPECTED UNIVERSE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The morning light was just beginning to filter through the towering glass windows of the mansion when Antonia’s eyes fluttered open. She checked her phone—it was exactly 5:30 AM. As she tried to sit up, she immediately noticed a comforting, heavy warmth enveloping her body. She looked down, completely shocked to find herself covered in a thick, luxury cashmere blanket. Antonia blinked, staring at the high-end fabric. A fleeting, absurd thought crossed her mind—could Portia have put this over her? But she immediately shook her head, swinging it side to side as if to physically erase the unbelievable thought from her brain. She must be getting delusional from the stress. Portia? The campus tyrant who modeled her entire personality after Dao Ming Si? The girl who had literally extorted her, humiliated her with eggs, and dragged her to a party just to treat her like living furniture? There was absolutely no way. "Get a grip, Antonia," she muttered to herself, smoothing down the plu

Once Antonia finished the last bite of her breakfast, Portia stood up abruptly, tossed a stack of bills onto the table without waiting for the check, and marched toward the exit. Antonia quickly grabbed her backpack and followed closely behind. Before stepping back into the luxury vehicle, Portia stopped by the glass doors. She glanced back to make sure Antonia was sufficiently distracted, then leaned in toward her driver, speaking in a low, intense whisper. "Not a word of this to my mother," Portia ordered, her eyes narrowing threateningly. "Not about the girl staying over, and absolutely nothing about this restaurant. If she asks, I spent the night studying alone, and I came straight to campus from the estate. Do you understand?" The driver, well-aware of the absolute authority Portia wielded within the household, gave a quick, respectful nod. "Understood, Miss Portia. My lips are sealed." Portia took a deep breath, smoothing down the front of her uniform as she reset her col

"Mind your own business, Tristan," Portia snapped back aggressively, her voice sharp enough to echo through the crowded hallway. She stepped fully in front of Antonia, her eyes flashing with a dangerous, protective territorialism that hadn't been there before. "What I do with my staff is none of your concern. I told you last night, and I will tell you one last time—stay away from my personal errand girl." Tristan completely ignored Portia’s lethal glare, his eyes passing right over her shoulder to lock onto the freshman. He took a deliberate step forward, speaking directly to Antonia, his tone softening into genuine concern. "Antonia, are you okay? After how she dragged you out of the party last night, I wanted to make sure you were safe." Antonia froze, the weight of the two most powerful students on campus pressing down on her. She hesitated to speak. From her peripheral view, she could see Portia’s rigid posture and the tight, defensive clenching of her jaw. Portia was deeply un

Portia aggressively denied it to save face, but Antonia noticed how flustered she secretly was. The aggressive defense was mostly a desperate shield to save Antonia from the immediate danger that Tristan might bring to her now that he was circling them like a shark. "Don't be ridiculous!" Portia snapped, her voice raising a fraction too loud for the quiet library atmosphere. She scrambled to reconstruct her crumbling walls, her chest heaving as she glared at Tristan with sheer hatred. "She is a nobody! A charity case scholar who ruined my clothes. I am using her to do my dirty work because that's exactly what people like her are good for. If you think I care about an errand girl, you've completely lost your mind!" Tristan merely raised his hands in mock surrender, his sinister smirk never leaving his face. "If you say so, Portia," he whispered maliciously, taking a step backward out of the aisle. "Let's see how long that story holds up." With a final, chilling glance at Antonia

Later that afternoon, the heavy double doors of the student council office finally swung shut, leaving the two of them completely alone. The suffocating silence from the hallways had followed them inside, and Portia immediately marched to her desk, aggressively flipping through folders to look busy. Antonia decided it was time to break the ice. She set down Portia's luxury tote bag and stepped closer to the desk, her calm eyes studying the rigid, flustered posture of the campus royalty. "What's wrong with you?" Antonia asked, completely confused by the chaotic energy Portia had been radiating all morning. Portia hissed, her eyes snapping up defensively, though she refused to make direct eye contact. "There's nothing wrong." "Is this about the kiss?" Antonia pressed, her voice dropping to a softer, gentler tone. She took another step forward. "Do you want me to apologize? I won't do it again if that made you feel ill—" "That's not it! It wasn't like that—idiot!" Portia int