Ch. 14
By the next day, the school was buzzing again. Apparently, just talking to Adrian Vale was enough to start a wildfire of rumors.
"Did you see? Adrian actually spoke to Selene yesterday."
"No way! The Adrian!? Student council president?"
"Yeah, near the east hall. They say he was smiling at her."
"Seriously? What is she, a magnet for popular guys?"
Selene walked through the corridor, keeping her expression carefully blank as she listened to the nonsense swirl around her like background music.
She didn't even say anything worth gossiping about yesterday barely a handful of sentences, polite and detached. But here everyone was, making it sound like she'd declared a love confession under the cherry blossoms.
She exhaled softly.
Unbelievable.
Is this school allergic to silence? Why are they so triggered when I'm talking to those idiots male leads?
By the time she reached her classroom, she could already feel the curious stares following her. Some students whispered, others pretended not to look.
One girl leaned toward her friend.
"Do you think she's aiming for Ethan and Adrian both?"
The other giggled.
"Wouldn't be surprising. She's rich enough to get whoever she wants."
Selene stopped just beside her desk and slowly turned her head toward them.
Her gaze was calm and unreadable enough to make the girls freeze mid-whisper.
Should I raise my middle finger to these teenagers?
A faint smirk tugged at her lips. The teacher entered soon after, but the whispers continued to hum beneath the surface.
Later that day, during dismissal, Selene caught sight of Adrian from across the courtyard. He was speaking with a professor, completely unaware of the attention their brief encounter had stirred.
She shook her head, amused.
The power of teenage imagination is terrifying.
Then because of course, fate had no sense of timing Ethan appeared from the other side, falling into step beside her.
"Seems like you've made quite a new impression now," he said casually.
"On who?" she replied, deadpan.
He grinned, tone playful.
"What, you didn't hear? You're basically the school's headline today. Should I start calling you Miss Famous Valen now?"
Yuma shot him a flat look.
"Try it, and I'll sue you for defamation."
Ethan laughed under his breath, clearly amused.
"You really don't care, huh?"
"Not even slightly."
Yuna stopped walking and turned her head slightly toward him, her expression calm but sharp.
"Why are you here talking to me like we're close?"
The words hit harder than she intended so blunt, direct, cutting through his easy charm. Ethan blinked, caught completely off guard. For a moment, he just stared, lips parting slightly before he gave a small, disbelieving laugh.
"...That's cold, Valen."
"I'm aware," she said, resuming her stride without another glance.
Ethan watched her walk away, still wearing that half-smirk, half-frown expression like someone who just got checkmated and didn't know whether to be annoyed or impressed.
"She's... really something," he muttered to himself.
From a short distance, Adrian stood near the corridor's corner, holding a folder and pretending to read it. In truth, his attention had been on the two of them the whole time.
His gaze lingered on Selene's retreating figure then briefly flicked to Ethan, who was still staring after her. And just like that, the triangle the book had written began to stir but this time, Selene was no longer a character written by fate.