The Lustre [On Hold]

chapter one

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chapter one • royal dynasty of oudh
Z A R A  A U R O R A  O U D H

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"I absolutely cannot fathom how he's your type."

I scoff and roll my eyes at my best friend's statement. This is the fourth time she has criticized the guy I'm seeing, ever since I told her. I have never doubted my taste in men so I couldn't comprehend why Jia wasn't having it.

"Jia, please. This is the fourth time you've criticized him. It's not cool."

"What's not cool? Me stating facts?"

"Jia, shut the fuck up." I was gonna lose my cool in a snap of a finger.

"Fine, I'll shut up and not comment about him anymore." She pauses. "Till further notice."

"Oh, for the love of Christ! What's your issue with him?"

"Oh, nothing much. Maybe because he's jobless, not that good-looking, and has the personality of the trash can that's in my room?"

I stand and fold my hands in front of my chest. "How the fuck would you already know his personality? Judgy much?"

Jia stands up with me and starts walking through the crowd in the cafeteria. "Why are you speaking as if you don't about me? Have I ever judged someone without any reason?"

I follow her out of the cafeteria, making our way to the location of our next class. "What's your reason then?"

"What's the point? Even if I tell you, it wouldn't make you less blind than you already are."

I pretend to be extra pissed and walked faster leaving her behind me. We arrived at class and made sure to focus on the lecture. As soon as we exited the lecture hall, we started arguing like kids.

"You're not going home until we finish this topic." I walked fast enough to show her I wasn't having any of it.

"Oh, definitely." She scoffs.

We walked outside the campus and found a group of guys standing at the stall in front of our university. My heart skips a beat because the guy Jia keeps bitching about is standing there with his friends.

"Great." I hear Jia sigh inaudibly.

His friends turned to look at me but his back was facing me. This man looks really young. He's probably only one or two years older than me.

"Gael, look who's here."

Gael.

Jia nudges my arm. "Congratulations, we found out Mr. Weirdo's name."

"Shut your wormhole." I whisper-shout and she giggles like an idiot.

"What do we do now?" Jia asks me.

"Just walk past them like nothing happened."

Just as I said, without making eye contact, we walk past them but to my surprise, I hear someone call me.