Smolder in the Afterglow | Tales of Luminozenko

Chapter 19| Enemies to Lovers? Gag.

"What?" someone shouted from across the classroom, removing my attention from the piece I was sketching to where the voice came from.

Delaney who had been taking a nap beside me shot open his eyes and a frown immediately made its way to his face. He straightened himself up and massaged the bridge of his nose. "What's going on?" he mumbled, his voice lower than it usually was.

"Who knows?" Guren replied immediately, not taking his eyes off the dagger in his grasp, and wiping it with a clean piece of cloth.

"Seems like someone offended Reed," Lazul said, his words a bit muffled because of the cookie in his mouth, and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, swallowing. "Or perhaps, something more than that." A faint smile crept up his lips.

Indeed, Reed Zenon, the fifth-ranked of the first-years towered over a girl at the door, with his eyebrows furrowed, fists clenched, and jaws locked to a grit ."What do you mean you lost it?" He yelled at the girl, although this time it was louder.

Chatter began to echo in the room.

"Goodness, can't he lower his voice down?"

"Why won't they just take their fight somewhere else?"

"Who's that girl again?"

"Aria Eve, I think."

Delaney's eyes squinted and he ran his hand through his black tresses, making it messy. "What did he lose?" he questioned, turning his face to me.

"Dude, how would I know?" I responded, shaking my head at his unusual airheadedness. Probably because of the lack of sleep. "You know what, just go back to sleep." I patted his back.

His frown worsened. "How can I go back to sleep when—" he motioned his hand at the commotion.

"I can knock you out if you want," Guren offered and stashed his knife, grinning at the emerald-eyed boy.

As if not hearing what the prince said, Delaney silently crossed his arms and brought his attention to Reed and Aria.

The girl, Aria mumbled something in response to Reed, which I could only completely understand by the way her mouth moved. "I swear . . . letter . . . on your locker."

I swear I put the letter in your locker?

"You know how important that letter is," Reed said in a calmer voice, his hand running through his short, messy, orange locks, flattening his cheetah-like ears, only for them to pop up. He spread his hands before him. "And I told you to find me when you get it. But what did you do? You put it in my locker, where anyone could simply pick up the lock and take it!" His voice raised which made the girl flinch and flatten her ears against her head in fright.

"I've asked your friends to tell me where you are," Aria defended in a louder voice than earlier and batted an eye at the boys on the nearest desk to the door. "They told me that you were in the library. But when I got there, I couldn't find you. So I thought, the safest place is your locker."

"You stupid—if you couldn't find me in the library, you have to find me somewhere else," Reed proclaimed, throwing his hand aggressively to the side, for a moment I thought he was going to hit the girl, making her inch back in shock.

"Oh, she's at fault," Guren claimed in a low voice, and his twin hummed in agreement.

"But that doesn't mean he should embarrass her in public like that." I put my pencil and sketchbook inside my bracelet and crossed my arms.

"Well, she's his servant."

My head snapped at him. "So you condone his actions? Do you do the same to your servants?"