My Rival is My CEO

Chapter 3:Finals

*ELENA'S POV*

Finals week at Crestwood.

The air conditioning was blasting but everyone was sweating. Last exams of our entire college life. Four years came down to this hall.

I walked in, simple ponytail, black pen, water bottle. I just wanted to finish and leave.

Then I saw him.

Damian Knight. Front row — he never sat front row. Black shirt, sleeves pushed up, that cold focused look. He was already watching the door.

Watching me.

Our eyes met for half a second. I didn't look away. I gave him that same savage, tired smirk.

_You again._

He gave it right back.

Professor Miller dropped the papers. "You have three hours. Final year Advanced Corporate Strategy. This paper decides your honors. Begin."

Silence. Just pens scratching.

I was halfway through question two — valuation of a failing empire, ironic — when I felt it. That stare.

I glanced up. He wasn't writing. He was looking at me.

Not in a creepy way. In a _I dare you to look away first_ way.

I raised an eyebrow. Went back to writing.

A minute later, I felt it again. I looked up. Same thing.

This time I mouthed, _"Write your paper, Knight."_

He mouthed back, _"You first, Evans."_

I almost laughed in the middle of finals. Zara, two rows over, kicked my chair — _what are you doing?_

It was irritating and slightly disturbing. The whole hall was stressed about graduation, and he had decided I was his distraction.

For the next hour, every time I finished a question, he would glance up like he was timing me. When I tapped my pen, he tapped his. When I took a sip of water, he did too.

It was childish. It was annoying. It was calculated.

With ten minutes left, I stood to submit. As I walked past his desk to the front, I dropped my water bottle cap. On purpose.

He bent to pick it up. Our hands brushed for a second.

His eyes flicked up to mine. Close.

"You're going to fail if you keep staring at me instead of your paper," I whispered, confident, low.

He handed me the cap, smirk sharp but cold.

"I'm not worried about failing, Evans. I'm worried you will run out of time trying to ignore me."

I walked away without another word. That tired annoyance when someone won't leave you alone.

Behind me, I heard his pen start scratching again, fast.

---

*DAMIAN'S POV*

She was fast.

I finished question two and she was already on four. Most people in final year were panicking. Evans was calm, like she had done this before in a real boardroom.

Cole still hadn't found much. "Elena Evans, 22, final year, no social media, lives off-campus, GPA 4.0, keeps to herself." Too clean. People with too clean files are hiding something.

So I watched her.

Not because I liked watching her — because she was an anomaly. A problem I couldn't solve.

She caught me staring twice. The second time she mouthed at me. _Write your paper, Knight._

Bold. In the middle of finals.

I mouthed back before I could think. _You first, Evans._

For an hour we did this stupid game. She writes, I watch. I write, she glances. Like a chess match no one else could see.

When she stood to submit, she dropped her cap by my desk. On purpose. I knew it was on purpose.

Our hands brushed. She smelled like vanilla and paper.

"You're going to fail if you keep staring at me instead of your paper," she whispered, all confidence.

I should have let it go. Final year, last exam, I had a company to run.

Instead I said, "I'm not worried about failing, Evans. I'm worried you will run out of time trying to ignore me."

She walked away. Didn't even look back.

I looked down at my paper. I had written the wrong answer for question three because I was too busy watching her.

I erased it hard.

It was irritating. She was irritating. And slightly disturbing how unbothered she was by me.

Curiosity. That's all it was.