c h a p t e r

02

tryst

♔

m y r a

IT WAS LUNCH TIME.

Mira had brought us to a new cafe that had opened up near our campus in Washington. It had a fancy name that I couldn't pronounce, but the rich smell of sweetness and savoury items filled my nose right as we stepped inside.

Lily, our other friend, or more specifically Mira's friend, had tagged along because she wanted to try out the delicacies they too. The other girl removed her jacket and tossed it on the bench beside her as Lily took the seat next to me.

She was clad in black, too, with red lips and noticeably silver piercings on her ears. She had a total of eight as I counted and rubbed my helix unconsciously. During freshman year, drunk Lily had convinced drunk Myra to get her helix pierced, too.

It was a decision I had come to regret right after when the pain, as mentioned earlier, had stuck with me for three whole months, and I was forced to sleep still until it was the only way left.

I had a silver crescent pierced onto my right ear and hadn't really taken it off since I was a little scared of the pain, even though it had already been a year.

"Did you guys hear?" Lily beseeched while Mira ordered us a bunch of club sandwiches for the afternoon. It was supposedly a special.

"Well?" She prodded again, her eyes shining brightly at the newest piece of gossip that had entered her. If you wanted to know about the recent happenings, Lily was your go-to.

She had been detained for a year for being caught drinking in the dean's office and being an influential person; you can't be expelled. She was simply asked to rewrite the semester ends with us again.

"No, we haven't, Lily," Mira muttered, clearly disinterested, while she scrolled through her phone, her eyes narrowed in on the device.

"My goddamn sister can't lift her calls anymore. I wonder what she's up to?" Mira had an elder sister just like mine and was a famous model in Valencia.

"Anyways." Lily turned to me, realising she had my undivided attention, "Have you heard of the de la Garzas?"

The name rang a bell in my mind, but I couldn't pinpoint the exact place in my memories. The same couldn't be said for Mira, however.

"How do you know the de la garzas?" She asked, her phone shoved somewhere far away as she leaned into the table. Her attention was piqued, which meant this man or the family did have something worthwhile in the eyes of Mirabelle Sanchez.

"Girl, you better be kidding right now!" Lily grinned, "Nicolás de la Garza is a sophomore in our college. He's coming back to complete his final year!"

Her eyes widened at the newest piece of information as I stored it for later. Clearly, they were someone huge enough for even the likes of us to be wary of.

Lily was the daughter of a senator.

"He goes here?" Mira demanded, something in her features twisted, but she bit her lip instead, reining her emotions in. You would miss it in the blink of an eye, but it was familiar to me.

"He will! He's starting this semester. Noah won't be the reigning prom king anymore." Lily munched on the sandwich as the sauce spread across her lips unevenly. I held out a tissue for her, making her aware of the mess she was in.

It was terrible for her image, and her father would have a heart attack if a pap caught her like this.

She quickly shot me thank you and wiped the sauce before taking another humongous bite that brought her back to the same state. I simply sighed.

"Good to know, I guess." Mira's tone dropped a decibel, but before I could comment on it, the waitress got us another batch of food.

"We didn't order this." Lily exclaimed, before the waitress smiled, "That gentleman there wanted me to give them to you."

At that, we three turned towards the man sitting on the aisle with just a cup of coffee, working behind a laptop, but his eyes were on us. His light hair complimented the dark attire he had dawned on as his face cracked into a smile.

"He's staring at you."

Our eyes met, and his smile widened slightly before I realised Lily meant me, "Wait, me?"

He raised his glass in acknowledgement as Mira and Lily waved at him while I stared with confusion, "Why?"

"Girl, be serious." Lily rolled her eyes.

Mira laughed before stuffing her mouth with the fresh batch of sandwiches, "You can have this conversation with her, Lily. I'm out."

They both shared a knowing look before Lily let out an exasperated sigh. I clearly felt out of the loop as I pressed on, "Wait, tell me."

"Girl, he fancies you." She waved her hands in the air to emphasise her point, "Did you seriously not recognise Jeremy from economics?"

My eyes widened; he brought me food because he fancied me? I thought that kind of stuff was only expected at clubs. Where a drink meant you had to spend a night together. Point blank. It was one of the reasons I never attended one with Mira. The most I could do were house parties.

"Oh," I mumbled, unsure of how to react, but I made sure not to put a single morsel into my mouth for the rest of my stay.

We returned to our campus after a while, taking the shorter route around the massive playground that Knightson boasted. The field held many inter-uni competitions across the city, even states at times.

Our college had a strong soccer team and had been reigning champions of the inter-college championship they had hosted for years. Sometimes we were called out for foul play, but our team was really that good.

"Guys, I gotta roll." Lily turned on her heel, her phone clutched in her hands, "My guy just texted me saying that he's at the library and he's bored." She wriggled her eyebrows in enunciation of something much more than libraries offered and headed out.

Lily had been in a situationship for over a year now. His name was Abraham, and he was a senior majoring in business management. Mira didn't understand it and simply teased her for it being a relationship, but honestly, amongst the two, we couldn't determine exactly who was the one afraid of the commitment that would come with the official tag.

"What class do you have next-"

The sound of Mira's voice faded as a potent force hit me right across the side of my head, knocking me off my feet.

I felt myself fall, but the sharp pain that shot up the side of my head lingered and consumed my thoughts, jumbling them into a bundle I was unable to untangle.

"Shit" I heard someone say, "Fuck! Myra. Are you okay?"

The voice was a distant echo as I tried to focus on my vision, which had blacked out for a second. The blurred lines danced in front of me as the pain spread, leaving me in the dark.

•••

I woke to a throbbing pain in the side of my head as a white and cream ceiling appeared before me. I blinked in confusion, my face grimacing with each movement as I tried to bring myself up to a sitting position.

"Rest, dear. I got to make sure you don't have a concussion or anything." Dr. Phelps voice cut through from beside me as the familiar blonde woman walked into my vision dressed in her white coat.

Watching her, I realised I was in the infirmary, and the white curtains were dividers that our infirmary had to separate each bed from another. The smell of antiseptic registered next as I winced yet again.

"Is it bad? Here, take some painkillers."

I mumbled something incoherently but took the pills she handed me with a glass of water.

"What happened?"

"A bunch of boys were playing on the ground, and someone kicked you right in the head. Don't worry and lie down. I will be right back." She handed me a familiar deceive, "Here's your phone."

I first noticed a text, or multiple, from Mira asking about my health and informing me that she was in class and would come to me right after she was done. The sliding door indicated Dr. Phelps's departure from the room as the vacancy of the place finally fell to my notice.

I texted back a bunch of replies to her as I waited for the medicine to take effect.

The hammering against my head made me ignorant of my surroundings as I felt my bed shift beneath my weight and looked up to see a boy taking a seat right in front of me, beside my legs.

For a moment, I imagined myself hallucinating.

He was the kind of handsome man who'd make people stop and stare. He had a sharp jaw upon which were nestled green eyes that were nothing like Valeria's. They appeared to have been woven by nature with a woody brown ring in them. Our proximity made it possible for me to examine them in such precision, and as the latter registered in my brain, I jerked away.

"Slow down, princess." He said in a voice so deep it reverted to my own chest as a slight smirk made its way to his face. I felt my heart quicken and wondered what it was.

"Who are you?" It only made him elongate his smirk.

"I didn't mean to kick the ball towards you." He raised his arms in mock surrender, "Honest mistake on my part."

It finally dawned on me that this man was the one behind the whole fiasco. I studied him briefly for the genuine remorse in his expression, but he had none; he looked- almost pleased.

"Well?" I demanded and waited for his apology. Something in the back of my mind seemed to tell me this was not a man that liked to take responsibility.

"Well, how should I make it up to you?" He leaned forward as my eyes fell on his white slim fit top as the muscles underneath it flexed.

"You don't." I tried shifting away, but he took notice of it as his eyes fell on my thighs, covered by the bed sheet but felt every bit exposed under his scrutiny.  

"Oh, but I do." He insisted, his arm coming over to the other side of my leg as he caged me in between them. I was too stunned to speak and too intoxicated in his proximity.

I had my fair share of boys in this lifetime, but none that looked like reincarnated of a god and smelled so damn good. I only had the concussion to blame.

"It's fine, honestly." This time, I tried to completely get out of bed in an attempt to get away from this man, but the look in his eyes made me stop and sit right where I was. "I don't want to be compensated. Dr. Phelps said I just needed rest."

His brows lifted a bit in order to examine me before suddenly his hand shot up and cupped the side of my face. His touch was searing as his fingers wove themselves in my hair.

Until they brushed across a sore spot in my skull.

"Ow," I hissed, before he laughed, not retracting his fingers from there.

"You don't look fine, princess." He said.

"It's Myra." I corrected, not too fond of how he was getting comfortable addressing me with endearments when we were both strangers.

"Oh, I know."

I gaped at him. I had no idea who this man was, but he knew my name. I wouldn't say I was someone who lived under the rock, and being friends with Mira, Lily, and Noah made me known between circles. But I didn't mix with a crowd or have a group to call my own.

"You don't go to Knightson?" I asked, trying a different tactic to get him to say his name since the first two times seemed to fail.

He pondered over my question for a bit as dread seeped in. I was a breath away from a complete stranger, not that I knew who he was before, but he wasn't even from our college. He may be a paedophile for all I knew!

"I will." He tucked a stray strand behind my ear before standing to his full length. He was quite tall, as I craned my head to look at him.

He grabbed his car keys from a nearby table before heading for the exit.

"We will be seeing each other a lot from now on, princess."

He slid open the door, and I realised he still hadn't given me his name, "What's your name?" 

He stopped in his tracks before throwing his head back to glance at me from between the threshold.

"Nicolás."