𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Stepping Up Your Game.

(Second Edit)

𝐉𝐚𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞

After I dropped Andrès off at school, I drove to St. Francis and parked in the nearly full parking lot.

Grabbing my bag from the passenger seat, I slung it over my shoulder, picked up my laptop case, and headed towards the entrance.

As usual, the campus was bustling with activity.

Students filled the walkways and hallways, moving between classes in small groups while others stood around chatting before lectures began.

Some looked half asleep, others looked stressed beyond belief. With midterms approaching, the atmosphere on campus had shifted noticeably.

The library was packed from morning until evening, computer labs were filled with students studying and conducting research, some people even arrived as early as six o'clock in the morning to squeeze in extra revision before classes began.

I had briefly considered signing up for extra tutoring sessions myself.

But then again between college, studying, and my responsibilities at home, my schedule was already full enough.

Besides, I spent enough time away from Valentino during the day. The thought of sacrificing my evenings too wasn't particularly appealing.

"Jas!"

I looked up to see Evelyn waving at me from the second row.

"What're you standing around for? Get your ass down here!"

Beside her sat Collette, who looked significantly less dramatic.

I couldn't help smiling.

Over the past five months, the three of us have become incredibly close. We attended many of the same classes, sudied together, shared notes, ate lunch and even shopped together.

The three of us had fallen into an easy friendship that felt surprisingly natural. The only difficult part was making sure they never learned about the other side of my life.

They knew Jasmine. The college student, their friend.

They didn't know about the bloodshed, the violence, or the criminal empire I ran alongside my husband and family members. And I intended to keep it that way.

The less they knew, the safer they'd be.

"So," Collette said, leaning forward, "how was your weekend? What'd you do?"

I opened my laptop and pulled out my Economics notebook.

While I did that, my mind supplied an answer.

"Well I disguised myself as a poor, homeless girl and used my feminine charms to lure an associate of a drug cartel to his apartment so my husband and I could extract information out of him via torture methods. Then we killed him and went home to take a shower and fuck each other's brains out."

Yeah that didn't sound too good to me either.

"Nothing much," I replied casually. "I mostly relaxed at home."

"Didn't you go out?"

"Just for a nightly walk through Central Park on Saturday. And I had a study session at the library yesterday."

Evelyn nearly dropped her pen. "You did what?"

I blinked. "Went for a walk?"

"In Central Park?"

"Yes."

"At night?!"

Her eyes widened. "Girl, are you insane? That's how people end up on crime documentaries!"