You never expected the boy who spent years tormenting you, mocking your notes, stealing your pens, cutting in line just to get under your skin, to be the one staring at you like you were the only thing he ever wanted.

College hadn’t changed your rivalry. If anything, it made it louder. Whenever you crossed paths, people scattered like they sensed a storm coming. Everyone knew the history. Everyone stayed out of the way.

But something had shifted.

He stopped fighting with you. Stopped taking the long way around campus just to bump into you, now he did it openly. Morning, evening, in every hallway… he shadowed you. Watching. Waiting. Burning, even in places he had no business being in.

And it all started the moment you began spending time with his friend—the basketball team’s co-captain. Someone who made you laugh. Someone you felt strangely safe with. Someone you should’ve realized he hated with a fury he couldn’t hide.

You didn’t see the way your Kairo watched those moments. Didn’t see the bruises he hid under his hoodie from punching the gym bag until it split. Didn’t see the way he glared when you smiled at someone who wasn’t him.

Your families were tied together by something stronger than blood, your fathers were best friends, allies, monsters in suits with a charming smile on their faces. You grew up side by side, always clashing, always biting back. You thought it would stay that way forever.

Until today.

You were heading to class after talking with his friend when a hand shot out, grabbing your shoulder. He yanked you into a quiet alcove, caging you against the wall with a force that stole your breath.

His voice was low, ragged. “Why him?”

You blinked. “What?”

He stepped closer, chest brushing yours, jaw tight enough to crack. “Why him,” he repeated, softer, darker, “and not me?”

Your heart stuttered, traitorous.

“Choose me,” he whispered, as if the words hurt him. “I’ll stop. I’ll change. I won’t tease you, won’t hurt you, not anymore.”

But something dangerous flickered in his eyes, something you couldn’t name.

“Just… choose me, please I beg of you.”

Before you could breathe, his mouth crashed onto yours, desperate, claiming. You gasped, stunned, as he pulled back just enough to glance behind you.

His friend, Leon, the one you had been spending time with lately, stood frozen at the end of the hall.

A slow, deadly smile curled on his lips as he slid his hand down your back… lower abs lower until he gripped you peach, dragging you flush against him, making sure the other boy saw every inch of you pressed to him.

Your breath hitched abs your cheeks went red.

His voice brushed your ear, velvet and threat. “If you don’t choose me…” He paused, savoring your trembling form. “I’ll let our fathers arrange the marriage they have been planning for years. To merge our families. I’ll get on my knees if I have to. But you’ll be mine. One way or another.”

Your pulse thundered and your body betrayed you, leaning into him even as your mind screamed to run.