[JASMINE – POV]
I sat alone in the art room during free period, my fingers gripping the edge of the table like it could anchor me. But it couldn't stop the way my mind spun.
Ayo being here… it was like someone ripped open a wound I thought had already healed.
His voice, his smirk, even the way he said my name—it all brought back nights I spent crying into my pillow, wondering why I was never enough.
Now he was walking the same halls as me. Breathing the same air. Watching me with that same smug glint in his eye like he still had some kind of hold on me.
He didn't.
I wouldn't let him.
But then the door creaked open—and Lucas walked in, his eyes locking onto mine instantly.
"You okay?" he asked gently, sliding into the seat beside me.
I nodded too quickly. "Yeah. Fine."
He didn't buy it.
"You're not," he said. "Talk to me, Jas."
I sighed, the weight of it pressing on my chest. "He lied to me. Cheated. Ghosted me like I meant nothing. And now… now he shows up here, smiling like none of it ever happened."
Lucas didn't say anything for a while. Then he reached out, his fingers brushing mine.
"I don't know what his game is, but I'm not letting him hurt you again. He doesn't get to come back and mess up everything you've built. Everything we're building."
I looked up—and saw it in his eyes. The fire. The protection. The silent promise.
I wasn't alone anymore.
[LUCAS – POV]
She was trembling when she talked about him. Not out of fear—Jasmine didn't fear anyone—but out of rage. Out of the kind of hurt that lingers deep, even when you act like it's gone.
I wanted to fix it. All of it.
But first, I had to understand who I was up against.
So later that night, I found Ayo in the parking lot. Alone. Leaning against a car like he was waiting for trouble.
Good. Because I was trouble.
"You got a lot of nerve showing up here," I said.
He chuckled. "You must be the new flavor."
"She's not a flavor. She's Jasmine."
His smirk slipped for half a second. "Relax, man. I'm not here to start anything."
"Too late for that."
He stepped forward, too close for comfort. "Let's make one thing clear. You're not the first, and you won't be the last. Jasmine? She doesn't stay in one place long."
I clenched my jaw, fists itching.
But I didn't hit him.
Yet.
I just smiled. "Funny. That's not what she said last night when she kissed me like her whole heart depended on it."
That wiped the smugness off his face.
"Stay away from her," I warned. "Because if you don't… I'll end whatever little ego trip you're on."
Then I walked away, leaving him standing in the dark.
But deep down, I knew this was only the beginning.