Completed • First Draft - not edited. || "You gonna sit there all night?" Luka glances at me, smirking. I glare back. "I was enjoying the last few seconds of peace before having to spend an evening pretending to like you." "That's funny," he says, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Why?" I snap. "Because I was thinking the same thing." || The rules? Easy enough. 1. Pretend to be the perfect couple. 2. Keep it professional. 3. And whatever you do, don't. catch. feelings. Simple, right? Sofia Calloway never planned on going viral for throwing a drink in Luka Mikhaylov's face. But one video, one pissed-off hockey star, and one furious university later... she's suddenly stuck in a fake relationship with the guy she can't stand. He needs to clean up his image before the NHL draft. She needs the free tuition that comes with the deal. All they have to do is smile for the cameras, hold hands at the games, and act like they don't want to strangle each other. Then come the late-night arguments that last too long. The stolen glances that feel too dangerous. The moment where "pretend" starts looking way too real. Because when you break the rules, someone's bound to lose. And this time, it might be both of them.

-'𝜗𝜚'- 𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗛 ⎯ chris sturniolo winds up messaging a stranger without realising his mistake and somehow finds himself falling for her the more they get to know one another, their meeting destined in unexplainable ways. their shared flustered states are obvious to everyone beside one another until the eye contact begins driving them crazy and they have no choice but to leap into the heavy hammering of their chests. -'𝜗𝜚'- 𝗢𝗥 𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗛 ⎯ verena mason receives a message from a not so stranger on a random day and somehow ends up falling in love with everything about him, all the way from his captivating smile down to the goodness of his heart that she just can't seem to ignore despite how terrified she is of being hurt once more. her fears only seem to dissipate through his words of reassurance and she can't help the beautiful love that sprouts within her chest at the mere thought of his persona. 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 ⎯ chris sturniolo ✘ fem!oc 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 ⎯ social media | real life 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 ⎯ 07/08/22 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 ⎯ 14/08/22 𝗿𝗲w𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 ⎯ 30/05/23 to 11/07/23 𝗖𝗢𝗣𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧, ©XIXZAYN.

What's worse than falling in love with the one person your parents keep at the bottom of the list of people you can date? The 𝘰𝘯𝘦 person, restricted access to even talk to you?

WARNING! This story was my first (unedited/draft). Grammer, plot, etc is messy so please beware! thank you :))) - He couldn't get enough of the emerald in her gaze. And the one colour she thought she'd be afraid of was a colour her heart was set to beat towards a million times a day. - 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙠. He is the most feared person in their town. Anyone who crossed his way was met with brutality and cruelty within him. He kills without remorse. But when he locks his grey eyes on a pair of green ones, everything he trained to become had vanished, because of her. 𝙇𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙖 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨. She is known and loved by many, she was as gentle and sweet as a flower. She is the light in the darkness. But when she sets her green eyes upon his grey ones, she can't help but let her light shine through the darkness of him.