The Boyfriend Contract

Chapter 5: The First rule

I barely touched my lunch.

The fries had gone cold in a way that made them taste like cardboard, and my drink—once fizzy and sweet—now felt flat, like it had given up on being enjoyable halfway through the day. I poked at my tray more out of habit than hunger, aware that I wasn’t actually eating so much as hiding behind the motion of it.

Across the table, Lucian looked completely relaxed, as if he hadn’t just turned my entire life upside down before noon.

He sat with one arm draped casually over the back of his chair, posture easy, expression unreadable in that annoyingly composed way of his. He even looked comfortable under the attention—like being watched by half the cafeteria was just another Tuesday for him.

I, on the other hand, felt like I was sitting in the middle of a circus.

Every few seconds, someone glanced in our direction.

Some whispered behind their hands.

Some smiled like they knew something I didn’t.

Others didn’t even bother pretending—they just stared openly, like I was part of some live experiment they’d all agreed to observe.

I shifted in my seat, suddenly hyperaware of everything: the noise, the eyes, the weight of attention pressing against my skin.

Maya leaned closer to me, her shoulder brushing mine.

𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤.

I shot her a look.

"I don't want to be famous."

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒.

She said it like it was a fact, not an opinion.

And the worst part was… she wasn’t wrong.

I had spent two years carefully building a life where I didn’t stand out. Where I blended into lecture halls, kept my head down, and avoided anything that might make me noticeable.

Now I couldn’t even eat lunch without becoming everyone’s entertainment.

Lucian cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him.

𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔?

I stared at him.

"You've been saying things since yesterday."

A faint smile tugged at his mouth.

𝐹𝑎𝑖𝑟.

He reached into his backpack and placed a small notebook on the table between us.

The same notebook from earlier.

My eyes narrowed immediately.

"You actually brought it."

𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑.

He flipped it open with unnecessary calm.

Neat handwriting filled the page—too neat, like he’d actually taken time with it instead of scribbling it in a rush.

At the top, in bold, deliberate letters, he had written:

The Boyfriend Contract

I blinked at it.

"You gave it a title?"

𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙.

I stared at him.

"You are unbelievable."

𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡.

Maya, who had been pretending not to listen, suddenly reached over and snatched the notebook before I could stop her.

“Hey—”

Too late.

Her eyes scanned the page quickly, then again more slowly, like she was trying to confirm she was reading it correctly.

Then she burst out laughing.

A loud, unfiltered laugh that made several heads turn.

𝐻𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡.

"Keep your voice down," I hissed, leaning forward.

But it was already too late.

A few students nearby were now openly looking at us again, curiosity sharpening their expressions.

Maya, still laughing, quickly handed the notebook back like it had burned her.

𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦.

She absolutely was not sorry.

Not even a little.

Lucian looked at me, completely unbothered by the chaos.

𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑑𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒.

I sighed heavily.

"What now?"

𝐼𝑓 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐, 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒.

My fork stopped halfway to my mouth.

For a second, I just stared at him.

Then—

"No."

𝐴𝑟𝑖𝑎...

"No."

𝐼𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.

I hated that he made sense.

Again.

I set my fork down slowly.

"What exactly do you mean by acting like a couple?"

𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒... 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑆𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠.

"And?"

He hesitated, just slightly.

𝐴𝑛𝑑... ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠.

I almost dropped my fork.

"What?"

Maya covered her mouth, shoulders shaking as she tried not to laugh again.

𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

I pointed at her immediately.

"Whose side are you on?"

𝐼'𝑚 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛.

I groaned, dropping my head into my hand.

"You are the worst best friend."

She smiled proudly as like it was a compliment.

After lunch, Maya left for her next lecture, still grinning to herself, leaving me alone with Lucian.

We walked across the courtyard in silence.

It felt strange.

Not uncomfortable.

Just… unfamiliar.

I wasn’t used to walking beside someone who attracted this much attention without even trying. People looked at him like he was a headline, and by association, I was starting to feel like one too.

As we reached the stairs leading to the business building, Lucian suddenly slowed.

𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑛𝑜𝑤.

I frowned slightly.

"Why?"

𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦𝑛.

Of course.

I sighed under my breath anyway and resisted the urge to look immediately.

Across the courtyard, she stood with two of her friends.

Her posture was perfect, her expression composed—but her eyes were locked on us.

On me.

She wasn’t even pretending otherwise.

I exhaled slowly.

"She’s been watching us all day."

𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤.

"Doesn’t that bother you?"

He was quiet for a moment longer than I expected.

𝐼𝑡 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜.

That answer surprised me more than I wanted to admit.

Before I could ask what he meant, Evelyn started walking toward us.

Her friends didn’t follow.

She stopped directly in front of me.

Her smile was beautiful in the way expensive things often were.

It was also completely fake.

𝐻𝑖, 𝐴𝑟𝑖𝑎.

"Hi."

𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

"I'm not."

Her smile widened slightly, like she liked that answer.

𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑.

She turned her gaze to Lucian.

𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢? 𝐴𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒.

He didn’t hesitate.

𝐼'𝑚 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑦.

Simple. Final.

Evelyn’s eyes flicked back to me for a brief second. I thought she might say something sharp, something cutting enough to leave a mark.

Instead, she smiled again.

𝐿𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑠.

Then she turned and walked away like she had never stopped in the first place.

I watched her disappear into the crowd of students.

"She really doesn’t like me."

Lucian let out a small, quiet laugh.

𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤.

I shook my head.

"This fake relationship is already exhausting."

𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦.

I stared at him.

"Don’t remind me."

He smiled faintly, and for the first time since this whole disaster began, I caught myself smiling back.

Only for a second.

But it was enough.

Neither of us noticed the student standing on the second floor of the building nearby.

A phone was raised.

A camera lens focused directly on us.

The shutter clicked.

Once.

Then again.

The images captured something dangerously convincing—not just two people standing close, but something that could be interpreted as a beginning.

A story.

And stories spread fast on campus.

By the time I reached my next class, I could already feel it.

The way conversations dipped the moment I walked past.

The way people leaned in closer, whispering behind notebooks and phone screens.

The way my eyes followed me like I was part of something they all wanted to decode.

I didn’t need proof to know what was happening.

The campus had seen something new.

Something interesting.

And it had already decided to make it its business.

Lucian noticed it too.

He didn’t say anything at first, but I saw the way his jaw tightened slightly as we climbed the stairs. His usual calm felt more guarded now, like he was bracing for impact. I wanted to ask him about it, about Evelyn, about the way he had answered her so quickly, but the words stayed stuck in my throat. Instead, I focused on walking, on breathing, on pretending I wasn’t suddenly part of something much bigger than a fake contract scribbled in a notebook.

When we reached the hallway, he finally spoke again, quieter this time.

𝐼𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡.

I glanced at him. “That’s easy for you to say.”

𝐼𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑟.

I almost laughed at that. Almost.

“Does it?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked ahead, like he was remembering something I couldn’t see.

𝐼𝑡 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒.

That was all he said.

And somehow, it made everything feel even more complicated than before.