A Labyrinth of Forbidden Desire

VOLUME 1 - Chapter 7

A R I A

I walk as quickly as I can through the hallway leading to my classroom, having wasted enough time already. As I scurry through the hallways, I notice the number of people still lingering around. People rushing to class, people still distracted by the news about Jessica Sanders, and some completely unbothered and carefree. Lucky them. My mind travels to the missing girl and how upsetting it makes me feel for her and her friends. Wherever she is, I hope she’s alright and found in time… What I don’t like is how Soren quickly dismissed the situation and became extremely insensitive about it. I don’t know why he behaves like that sometimes… okay, a lot of the time… and I don’t know why I allow myself to tolerate it. On top of the way he acted this morning with Oliver, as well as his reaction to the news about the missing girl, and now with the way he ditched me to talk to some cheerleader and inappropriately hugged her AND, wasn’t able to see the wrong he did in the situation… he’s honestly the last person I want to be thinking about right now.

My mind then unintentionally travels to the man I had bummed into on my way to class. The thought of him made me angry and I don’t even know why. As if I wasn’t even in a bad mood already. But despite how angry he made me, I can’t seem to shake the thought of him… and that only frustrates me more. You know what? Lemme just try and focus on this quiz I have…

I finally reach the door of my classroom and suck in a slow breath as I reach for the hand and begin to opening it slowly, once I enter, I begin glancing around the room, finding people talking among themselves and there seems to be no sign of our lecturer. I begin to frown to myself and carry on walking in, looking around the room for the set of classmates I usually hang out with. Once I spot them I begin making my way over to them, clutching my back over my shoulder carefully as I make my way towards them.

I spot Karako first, one of my close friends, sitting next to another classmate of ours, Clarissa, The two of them whispering something to each other quietly until they take notice of me, their faces lighting up as soon as they see me.

“Aria, you’re here!” Karako cheers, her accent Japanese considering she was born and raised there and only moved here to Leopard’s Grove a few years ago. Karako had extremely long dark hair that she loved to keep either in high pigtails or one high pony tail. She had pink and blue highlights in her hair and always loved to match her makeup with the highlights in her hair, always blue and pink, while her style was edgy and bold, similar to Japanese street fashion. Clarissa on the other hand rich auburn hair thanks to her Irish ancestry. She has beautiful green eyes and freckles and beauty marks layered across her skin.

“Hey guys, what’s going on? Where’s Myers?” I ask them, referring to our lecturer, as I remain standing in front of them, the two of them glancing at each other excitedly before glancing back at me.

“Apparently he’s sorting out a new student. Someone just transferred here… so everyone thinks the quiz is canceled, it’s already been like 15 minutes.” Karako says excitedly, and now I understand why everyone seems so relieved and excited at the same time.

“Who gets transferred in the middle of the semester…” I shake my head just as I take my usual seat in front of them and drop my back. Even though their my friends, I usually like to sit alone in class, that way I can concentrate, the exception, of course, being group work.

“His name is Lucian… and he’s like the hottest person I’ve ever seen…” Clarissa answers me and I turn around so I can face them properly as we converse, smiling back at her as I begin to shake my head.

“You say that about a guy almost every week Clary… including Mr Myers...” I joke with her and Karako covers her mouth as she lets out a soft giggle. She’s always had a crush on the lecturer, a little weird if you ask me and I personally don’t see the attraction but then again, this is Clarissa we’re walking about… she can fall in love instantly depending on the right circumstances.

Clarissa then rolls her eyes at us but still keeps the grin on her face.

“1, watch how you talk about my man, two, I mean it this time. And this new guy? He smells amazing… he’s got these eyes… I’ve never seen eyes as perfect as his…” She continues, and it seems she’s already got a crush on him.

“How do you know he’s being transferred here…” I ask her, wanting to verify where exactly she got this information from.

“Because…” She begins to say but trails off once her eyes begin to follow something behind me, towards the door, the smile on her face becoming more cheeky. My curiosity gets the best of me, and it makes me turn around as well and follow her line of vision, trying to see what exactly has her attention. My eyes land on our lecturer, Mr Samuel Myers, a man in his mid-30s, who some even had a crush on… He has dark brown hair that he kept quiet long just under his jawline, but usually he kept it neatly tied whenever he would teach us. But it doesn’t seem like he’s come alone…

“Alright class sorry for the delay… was just sorting out some issues…” He lets out as he walks further into the class and it seems everyone’s attention is somewhere else entirely and not on the lecturer, but instead, on the person he’s walked in with.

“We have someone new joining our photography family today.” Mr Myers lets out and that’s when my heart begins thumping in my chest as I realise who has just walked in. The all black outfit, the large leather jacket, and the powerful cologne that whips my face from all the way over here. It can’t really be him…

“That’s him…” Clarissa whispers behind me, finally finishing her sentence as to who she had been talking about all this time.

It’s the guy I bumped into on the way to class.

“Everyone, please meet Lucian Creed.” Mr Myers then introduces him and the guy, Lucian, remains calm and laid-back, glancing around the classroom to meet everyone’s curious gaze.

“Hello everyone…” He finally greets, his voice just as deep as when he spoke to me for the first time. As the class greets him back, the response being mostly enthusiastic females, he gives a small smile and continues to look around up until his eyes land on me. Once we lock gazes, I can practically feel my heart in my throat. Why the hell is he in this class?! Especially after the way I spoke to him… But to be honest, he shouldn’t have been in my way… and he shouldn’t have held me like that, like some creep…

I find myself blushing angrily, out of embarrassment? I have no f*cking clue. All that I know is that I don’t want him in my class and I would’ve been very content with never seeing him again…