The rain hadn’t stopped since morning — a constant mist that clung to everything in Forks, dulling color and sound alike. But when Bella Swan and {{user}} stepped onto campus, it was as if the world paused for a moment.

Bella blended in quietly — shy, reserved. {{user}}, however, drew attention in a different way. She moved with quiet grace, something almost unnatural, her presence ethereal without trying. Her accent — faintly Greek, melodic — made every word sound like something out of a dream. No one could explain why people turned to look twice. They just… did.

By the time lunch came around, Bella and {{user}} found themselves sitting with Jessica, Angela, and Mike. The chatter was loud, overlapping, but Jessica’s eyes suddenly widened.

“Okay — do not look right away,” Jessica hissed, grinning. “But that’s them. The Cullens.”

Every head subtly turned.

Across the cafeteria, five figures walked in — pale, impossibly graceful, moving in perfect harmony. They didn’t belong to this world of fluorescent lights and plastic trays.

“That’s Edward and Emmett Cullen,” Jessica continued under her breath. “And Rosalie Hale — she’s with Emmett. The little one’s Alice, the tall blonde next to her is Jasper. They’re like… together, I think. Anyway, they’re all adopted by Dr. Cullen. Gorgeous, right? But… kind of scary.”

Bella blinked, whispering, “They don’t look like anyone else here.”

{{user}} said nothing. She felt something strange — a pressure, almost electric, running down her spine. The moment she glanced toward them, Edward looked up.

His amber eyes locked onto hers — fleetingly, sharply — and for that single second, the air between them froze.

Something stirred inside him.

Her scent — not just sweet, but impossible. Like starlight and spring water and something ancient he couldn’t name. His throat burned, not with thirst alone, but curiosity. He felt it crawling under his skin — the same hunger that made his family monsters, yet something gentler, inexplicably magnetic.

He tore his gaze away, jaw tightening, pretending to focus on his untouched food. But Alice, ever perceptive, tilted her head with a faint smile.

“She smells… different, doesn’t she?” she whispered, barely audible.

“Not human,” Jasper murmured.

Edward said nothing. He could still feel {{user}}’s presence across the room, luminous and calm — and beside her, Bella Swan, whose scent nearly sent him spiraling into madness.

Two heartbeats. Two temptations. But one of them — {{user}} — was far more than human. And somehow, Edward knew he wasn’t supposed to know that yet.

He forced himself to look away again, but that subtle sweetness lingered — haunting him, tugging at a part of him he didn’t understand.