Chapter 1 : The Boy in the Back Row
461 Words
Janu didn’t need anyone.
She had learned early on that relying on people only led to disappointment. That was why she preferred to handle things alone—whether it was carrying her books, dealing with annoying classmates, or keeping her emotions locked away where no one could reach them.
She wasn’t cold. Just careful.
And then there was him.
Adrian Rivera.
He had a way of making people notice him without trying. His presence was quiet yet commanding, like a storm in the distance—calm, but capable of destruction if you got too close.
Janu had never spoken to him before. She had no reason to.
Until the day she caught him drawing her.
She had stayed behind after class, pretending to look for something in her bag while everyone else left. But her attention had been on him—on the way his long fingers moved over the paper, bringing something to life in his notebook.
She wasn’t prepared for what she saw.
It was her. Sitting by the window, lost in thought. The sketch captured her so well that it almost unsettled her. She wasn’t used to being seen.
“You’re staring.”
Janu flinched, her eyes snapping up. Adrian was watching her, one eyebrow raised, amusement flickering in his dark eyes.
She straightened, masking her surprise. “I wasn’t staring.”
His lips quirked. “You always lie this badly?”
She clenched her jaw. “I wasn’t lying.”
Adrian leaned back in his chair, closing his notebook with an irritating sense of ease. “Then what were you doing?”
Janu lifted her chin. “Observing.”
That made him smirk. “Same thing.”
She exhaled sharply, turning to leave, but his next words stopped her.
“You always try this hard to act tough?”
Janu turned back, her irritation rising. “Excuse me?”
Adrian tilted his head, studying her. “You carry everything on your own, don’t you? Like you have something to prove.”
Her stomach twisted. He was too sharp. Too perceptive.
She scoffed, crossing her arms. “And you? You sit back and draw people without their permission like some creepy stalker?”
Adrian chuckled, tapping his fingers against his desk. “I don’t stalk. I ruin.”
Her breath hitched slightly, but she masked it with a dry laugh. “That supposed to scare me?”
He leaned forward just enough to lower his voice. “It should.”
A challenge. One Janu refused to back down from.
She met his gaze head-on, her own voice steady. “Then ruin me, Adrian.”
His smirk widened, and for the first time, she realized something dangerous—he liked this.
And worse?
A part of her did, too.
- Writer
