𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗥 𝗗𝗘 𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗘. Demetrius Desmond

11

"YEAH, I THINK SO." I said into the receiver, trying to sound casual as my dad's voice came through, filled with concern as he scolded me for being so reckless and receiving four gunshots. 

"Be a little more careful, will you?" he scolded lightly. "Don't make this old man worry more than he has to." He sighed.

"I won't." I promised, stifling a laugh as i continued to talk. "Sorry to make you worry but I'm alright."

"Alright, then." he said, a touch of reluctance in his voice. "Have a good day, bun-bun." He said. "Papa, seriously?" I muttered, rolling my eyes as I heard him chuckle and then the line clicked dead.

Shaking my head, I hung up the phone and stepped out of the telephone booth to see my friends waiting, Well my only friend was Naomi.

The others were her friends and had no choice but to accept me into their group since Naomi seemed to love me

"Did you know that artist Chingli was actually from Sweden?" Naomi chimed in, jumping right in as if she hadn't waited a full five minutes for my call to end.

"I mean, with a name like that, who'd have guessed? His family actually lives up by the mountains there, I saw his house when we went skiing!" She exclaimed as we began walking back to class.

"Really? I didn't expect him to live near the mountains." I said as i glanced at the others to find them nodding along as Naomi launched into details about her trip.

Her parents had taken her on a luxury vacation to the Swedish Alps and she wasn't going to let anyone forget it anytime soon.

The others were just as eager to share details about their own glamorous trips—the tropical islands, private resorts, exclusive shopping sprees. Meanwhile, I'd been traveling the world, working my heart out to keep the peace, but there was no way I'd be telling them that.

Instead, I just nodded along as we entered class, half-listening as they compared spa treatments and luxury hotels. My gaze drifted across the classroom and landed on Demetrius.

As usual, he was surrounded by a circle of high-status classmates, their laughter and chatter ringing out as they shared stories of exclusive vacations and elite gatherings.

But for just a brief moment, his eyes met mine from across the class and allowed myself a small smile, a subtle acknowledgment in the sea of people who likely saw me as little more than background noise.

"So what about you, Y/N?" one of them asked, a slight forced smile on her lips. "What did you do during the break?"

"Nothing special." I replied easily. "I was working, Nothing special about it." I lied.

The girl's smirk turned into a barely disguised giggle and her friends looked between each other as though I'd said something amusing but I didn't give them the satisfaction of a reaction, It felt like the whole class was watching at this point.

"Oh and sometimes Leon stopped by a few times to hang out." I added casually, knowing that would set off the jealousy I could already see brewing.

Their faces immediately faltered, a mix of envy and annoyance flickering in their eyes. Leon wasn't even a student at Eden, yet he had a mysterious way of winning people over whenever he visited.

Despite being a "commoner" himself, his undeniable charm seemed to make everyone forget that detail—Leon was someone with the looks and the charms so didn't blame them.

If I didn't know Leon my whole life, I'd think he was just a charming troublemaker but beneath that handsome and easygoing front, he was ruthless

—a complete psycho with no mercy, who enjoyed the thrill of killing and torture.