Kiss Of The Enemy I Married

ONE EMERY VALE'S POV: They shouldn't have let me back in. Empire College eats girls like me. Two years ago, I swore never to walk through its diamond adorned gates again, but here I am, stepping down from my dad's beat-up Honda Civic. I stretched my hand to grab my tote bag from the backseat when I noticed his eyes on me. "Will you be okay?" He asked, worries laced every single word. I forced out a smile that hurt my cheeks. "Yes, Dad. It's just... school." I murmured, not believing my words. "Besides, I need to get this degree." But it isn't just school…… It is Empire College. A school that only admits the top 0.1% in the world. A school that I got into with my sweat and blood. The school I was disgraced from two years ago and cast out like trash. Here, students don't carry a tote bag that has been used for more than two years. They don't get dropped off in an old rusty car that puffs out smoke and air with an engine that roars louder than a morning bell. Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes flank the car park. In this school, everyone wears privilege like a second skin. It was stitched with their dress. A follow-come privilege. Their parents own companies, some of which are even involved in politics; mine barely own a functioning car. And me? I was the abomination that got readmitted after two years away. I adjusted the strap of my bag and straightened. Dad didn't leave immediately, he was seated behind the wheel, waiting for me to change my mind and follow him home. Stalling. If he asked me, maybe I would. But he didn't ask. The car engine roars as though it pitied me and there were already murmurs around. I nodded my head at him, and he nodded back before driving off. I let out a shaky breath, my hand tightening around the strap of my backpack. I clutch it tighter. Just a year left for him to graduate. Survive one year and he will be gone for good. I try to console myself with these words, but I can hear them. The intensified murmurs from students arriving. "Is that the Vale girl?" "Don't you know her? She had a thing with Killian," A thing. They'd never let me forget that underground incident. They made it seem as if I did something ridiculously slutty. "The audacity to show up in Empire College after everything." "Unbelievable." But then I hear his name, the one name that freezes me in place. "Has anyone seen Killian Cross?" Of course, he's still here ruining people's lives in school like his mother does in the business world. Killian Cross. The deeply traumatized demonic American boy who ruined me. The guy who sent me into hiding for two years. But it ends now. I don't let him get to me like he did before, I'm no longer that starved girl who runs after him like a lost puppy. I am 22. My chest tightened, but I kept walking. My legs didn't shake, nor did my head bow. Let them whisper, let them stare. The old Emery would have been trembling but she's dead. They wanted to see me crumble…. to see me break so they could fill their gossip site with my face, but I refused to give them that. I walk with my back straightened and the strap of my bag tightened around my shoulder, and I push through the rich students who gathered. The front yard was packed with students gathered around, dressed like they belonged in Vogue magazine. Their eyes followed me like I was a walking scandal. "Back from the dead," Someone muttered from the crowd, and laughter rippled. But I ignored it. I've spent two hard years away, and so close to getting to my dream job, for me to just mess it up over something silly. Inside the administration building, the air was cooler but I could still feel sweat dripping from my neck down to my shirt. The polished floor of the hallway throws my reflection back at me. I told myself it didn't matter. I shouldn't care about my appearance much. Whether I looked like the old Emery Vale or not, it doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that I would fulfill my dreams that I thought were long gone. "Vale." The voice slid down the hall. Cold and commanding, stopping me dead in my tracks. My hand tightened around the strap of my tote. I knew that voice. It's the voice of the boy who turned my dream into my biggest disgrace. Shouldn't he be in his department instead? Why is he here, and of all times, why now! I turned around, my eyes landing on him. Killian Cross leaned against the white wall, as if this were his kingdom, and we were just his servants. His shirt was tailored to fault, the arms rolled to his elbow while the first three buttons were undone, and his hair brushed carelessly over his forehead, falling over his eyes that appears dead. My heart started beating rapidly against my chest at a frequency I don't understand. My throat dried up as I took in his appearance. The fact that he is well while I was out there suffering and getting crucified left and right got my blood boiling. How dare he? "Well, well," His lips curved into a smirk that used to make me high on ecstasy, but now makes my stomach curl, but I didn't show it. "Look who crawled back." The hall was silent. I needed to go to the Professor's office to get my documents, and I didn't have time for chitchat. I didn't. "Disappointed?" I asked, my voice was steady, cutting through the painstakingly silent hall. His brow lifted, amusement flashing in his almost dead eyes, "surprised actually, thought disgrace would have kept you away." I stepped closer, my eyes staring into his steel but slightly amused one. "Guess you thought wrong," I retorted. If he wanted a show, I'd give him one. I wouldn't play the part of the victim either. Something flashed through his eyes, but he was quick to conceal it, his smile sharpened, his eyes assessing me like I was some sort of prey, I was, to an extent. I refused to shrink. "Careful Vale, this school hasn't gotten any softer since you ran with your tail tucked between your ass c***k," "Neither have I," I replied, my bottom lip shaking as I tried to force a smile on my lips. Thankfully, he didn't notice. Two could definitely play the game. For a heartbeat, we both held our breath. Waiting for what he'd do, what he'd say. He pushed off the wall, brushing past me with the ease of a king. "This year is going to be an interesting one,” I watched as he left the hall, then I exhaled the breath that I didn't know I was holding. It's just one year, I will survive. And if Killian thinks I'm going to break twice, he needs to rethink, I don't shatter twice.