Smug Smirk

Living with my aunt and her family was meant to be a temporary, quiet arrangement just helping out and keeping to myself. On the first day of the new year, while everyone else was out celebrating, I stayed home, enjoying the rare silence and catching up on sleep. But when we ran out of water, I reluctantly stepped outside to fetch some, and that’s when I saw him. He stood by the gate of the house next door, effortlessly commanding attention with just a glance. A smirk played on his lips, and a flicker of amusement danced in his eyes behind his blue-ray glasses. At that moment, he was impossible to ignore. Meanwhile, I felt disheveled and barely awake, my hair was a mess and still shaking off sleep. But he didn’t seem to mind. There was something about him an air of mystery that made me wonder who he was and why he was there. Before I could look away, he spoke, “Hi.” Caught off guard, I managed a quick, “Hi,” while trying to pull myself together. “Can I know your name?” he asked. I hesitated but replied, “I’m Clara,” and kept walking. “Can I have your number?” he called after me. “Just as friends.” I almost refused but reluctantly agreed, entering my number into his phone. “There,” I said, handing it back. “I’ll call you,” he promised with a smile, as I turned to leave. What began as a chance encounter soon became an inexplicable connection. He had secrets, but there was something about him that saw through me, understanding things no one else did. The man I met next door wasn’t just a fleeting stranger,he became the reason I started questioning everything I thought I wanted.

After a terminal diagnosis, quiet psychology student Quinn Sinclair decides to live her final days with no regrets. Step one: finally date her longtime crush, hockey captain Kade Salvatore. But when a class project forces her to spend every waking moment with Ace Blackwood—Kade’s rival, her enemy, and the most arrogant, chaotic badboy on campus—her carefully planned endgame unravels. Ace is lazy, rebellious, and infuriating… until he isn’t. Until their arguments turn electric. Until his cold smirk becomes a hungry stare. Until he starts showing up everywhere she goes—not to annoy her, but to claim her. He wasn’t supposed to notice her. He wasn’t supposed to care. But now that he knows her time is running out? He’s not letting her go without making her feel every second of it.

Bryson POV Blackridge University was already a nightmare before I dumped hot coffee all over Julian Hayes. He's tall, built, with this perfect smirk that makes me want to punch him. Captain of the hockey team and the biggest asshole I've ever met. He destroyed me in front of everyone. Made sure I knew exactly where I stood. But then I joined the hockey team to make my mom happy, and suddenly everything changed. I could actually play. And Julian? He started looking at me like he wanted to destroy me in a whole different way. Now every practice feels like war. Every time we're alone in the locker room, I can barely breathe. I hate him. I want him. And I'm pretty sure he knows it. Julian's POV I run Blackridge University. Team captain, golden boy, everyone wants to be me or be with me. Then some transfer kid crashes into me and ruins my shirt. Bryson Miller. Smart mouth, cheap clothes, and eyes that look at me like he's not impressed. I should've crushed him and moved on. But the little shit joined my hockey team and turned out to be good. Really good. Now I can't get him out of my head. Every practice, every fight we have feels like something else entirely. Something I don't want to think about. I thought that was complicated enough. Then I walk into my house tonight and find Bryson unpacking boxes in my living room..

“Fine, but there should be rules.” I said sitting back down. “There is one, don't fall in love with me, Ice Queen.” He said with an ecstatic voice. “I’d be caught dead before that happens!” “We’ll see.” He muttered with a smirk on his face. Everything… Amara Forger had lost everything, from her company to her name. She had given years of hard work and love to the people who tore down to the ground. She is now caught in the middle of a whole lot of drama, but something happens. She is offered help from the one person who she would have never imagined to help her. Her number one enemy, Roman Winters. He offers to marry her and in return he would help her save her firm and return everything she lost while she would help him do something that was biting him down. Amara agrees, but then she sees the terror in the Winters household and she also learns things about Roman that she didn't know. She begins to put things together, but the question remains. Can you fake emotions forever without them turning real?

It was finally the day of the auction "And now we are presented with a human who looks a little unkempt right now, but with a little care from her owner would be as good as new" the hosts voice rang over the speakers in what seemed like a dungeon used for illegal gambling. But I couldn't look much, being locked in a basement for three months without any form of light coming in, and suddenly being on stage where all attention and the center light was on me was enough to just make me shut my eyes and wait for what was to come. "We'll start with $25,000" is that really my worth. Do I really amount to nothing, that I have to be sold at an auction. "$26,000" "$26,500" "$30,000" "$30,000, is there anyone who wants to bid higher? Going once, going twice... This went in for a few more minutes and I gave up hope. This was it, this is where my life journey ends. I will get sold here then if my buyer is an organ trafficker he would probably kill me and sell off my organs. "Five hundred million dollars" a deep manly voice grunted from the corner of the room "Wow that's a very high bid...I doubt if anyone is willing to go higher than that. Going once, going twice, sold. Congratulations Mr Jimmie Hendrix, you just won yourself a hot looking toy...everyone is left to wonder what you will be doing with her tonight." Jimmie who was sitting in a dark corner of the room gave a sinister smirk and uttered under his breath "Found you!!!"

Kissing Jace Carter was never on my bucket list… but maybe it should’ve been. One impulsive night. One clingy creep. One fake boyfriend request blurted out to the first decent-looking guy behind me in a club. It should’ve ended with a nod and a “thanks for the save.” But no. It ended with his lips on mine — slow, smug, and heart-stopping. I didn’t know until the lights hit his face. I didn’t realize I had just kissed the Jace Carter. The Billionaire. Tech genius. Tabloid magnet. And now, apparently… my unfinished business. He said he’d find me again. He called me “Bella” because I never gave him my real name. I laughed it off, thinking he’d forget about a random girl from a crowded dance floor. But billionaires don’t forget. Especially not ones like Jace Carter Now he’s back in my life, popping up in places he absolutely should not be. Charming, arrogant, and dangerously curious about the girl who tried to disappear. And me? I’m stuck between hiding my identity… …and wondering if one kiss was really enough.

Tamine Jordan has three rules for surviving Blackridge Academy: 1. Keep her head down. 2. Avoid the Thorpe brothers at all costs. 3. Never, ever, let her heart get involved again. But rules have a way of shattering, especially when your cheating ex and his infuriatingly charming half-brother are determined to make your life impossible. Atlas Thorpe, the boy who broke her heart, is cruel, smug, and still playing games that leave her humiliated in front of half the school. Evans Thorpe, the hockey team’s golden boy, should be easier to ignore… except one reckless night left her tangled in his memory and in his sights. Now Evans has maneuvered his way into her Literature class, and thanks to the world’s most sadistic teacher, Tamine is stuck tutoring him. Being near him is dangerous; not just because of his relentless teasing and disarming smile, but because she can’t stop remembering the way he once touched her. And when two brothers are locked in a rivalry where the prize is her, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets burned. The real question is, will Tamine survive the game, or end up playing it too?