Academicsetting Stories

❝live. compete. fall in love.❞ Avery Sharma-Miller has absolutely nothing left to lose, and she is determined to make the most of the final year of her master's degree. Unfortunately for Avery, she cannot be rid of Daniel Ward, her longtime academic rival. (Daniel, the nicest guy in their department, who just seems to hate her) (Or does he?) ₊˚‧︵₊୨ᰔ୧₊︵‧˚₊ open novella contest entry started: 09 feb 2026 ended:

Elyas Vance lives his life by a precise schedule, calculating every step toward the massive scholarship that will secure his future. At the elite Aurelian Institute, he is the model of control-cold, perfect, and terrifyingly efficient. To Elyas, emotions are simply inefficient variables, and chaos is a threat to be eliminated. Then there's Cassian Thane. An artist who views the world as his canvas and rules as suggestions. Passionate, volatile, and perpetually on the verge of expulsion, Cassian is the living, breathing embodiment of everything Elyas despises. Their families' ancient decree forces them together: Elyas must tutor Cassian to save his own future; Cassian must pass to prevent his trust fund from being stripped away. They are bound by a high-stakes, eight-month contract, trapped in the crushing proximity of the campus. As the lines between mentor and muse blur, the tension between them becomes unbearable. Cassian sees the fragile longing beneath Elyas's icy façade, tempting him to break every single one of Elyas's meticulously crafted rules. Elyas finds his perfect world crumbling under the sensual, consuming anarchy of Cassian's presence. This isn't a simple study session-it's a confrontation. The Rule Breaker is determined to shatter the scholar's control, and in the process, becomes The Heart Taker. Read Rule Breaker, Heart Taker to witness the explosive collision of order and desire, where the only thing more dangerous than failing the contract is falling in love.

Amara Soleil Bennett doesn't really fit into the noise of college life-quiet, brilliant, and mostly alone in the library. Then Leo Zhian Chayakul arrives, a new transfer student who becomes instantly popular, effortlessly pulling attention wherever he goes. They meet in a seminar, and what starts as distance and curiosity slowly turns into something neither of them expected. Spoiler: Leo has been aware of Amara long before she ever noticed him.

She was the professor everyone admired from a distance-brilliant, untouchable, and bound to a marriage that slowly unraveled her. He was the graduate assistant who arrived on a motorcycle, wearing arrogance like armor and hiding more than he ever revealed. Their worlds collided in the hushed corridors of a prestigious New Haven university, where reputation meant everything and secrets cost more than silence. What began as intellectual friction sharpened into something neither of them named, until the lines between duty and desire dissolved entirely. She carried grief she never spoke aloud, a hunger for motherhood her husband refused, and a private life that crumbled behind closed doors. He carried a long-term loyalty he never questioned, a family legacy he rejected, and a restlessness that found its match in her stillness. Between lecture halls and after hours, between galas and empty offices, between what was permitted and what was inevitable-they became something dangerous. This is a story about what happens when two people who have spent years controlling everything finally lose control of each other. Set against the gothic architecture of an East Coast university town, where autumn leaves bury secrets and winter forces confessions, this novel explores the architecture of obsession, the cost of awakening, and the violence of choosing yourself when every system demands you stay still.

Yence never meant to stand out in college, especially not for all the wrong reasons. But with his endless streak of forgetfulness (and his ability to break every school rule by accident), he somehow always ends up in front of him, Yeop, the strict and intimidating vice president of the student government. Yeop's sharp eyes miss nothing: untucked shirts, missing IDs, loose ties. Especially Yence's. To Yence, he's the definition of "unreachable" smart, disciplined, and annoyingly perfect. But after one too many hallway confrontations and awkward apologies, Yence starts realizing that behind Yeop's cold exterior might be someone who's just as human... and maybe, just maybe, a little bit flustered too. In a campus filled with deadlines, detentions, and coffee-fueled mornings, Clumsy Boy is a warm, funny, and heart-fluttering story about how one scatterbrained boy keeps stumbling, literally, into love.