Chapter b191 /b

    Haider’s POV:

    A loud, shrill ringing tore me from the depths of sleep. My head snapped to the side, and a groan of protest escaped my lips as the bright light from the bathroom, which I had left on before my nap, hit me squarely in the eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut against it, the sound of the phone’s insistent ringing a jackhammer against my skull.

    Covering my eyes with a hand, I blindly fumbled for the phone that kept ringing incessantly. I finally managed to grab it, my fingers wrapping around the cold, cracked screen. I answered it with a groan, pressing the device to my ear.

    “Dude, where the hell are you?!” Henry’s voice came through, a loud shout that was half–drowned out by the muffled roar of music and conversation in the background. My frown deepened for a second as my brain, still half–asleep, struggled to catch up. Then the realization dawned on me. I blinked my eyes open, my gaze falling on the digital clock on my bedside table.

    11:00 AM.

    Shit.

    “Oh, shit. Sorry, dude. Been busy with uni and stuff. Lost track of time. I’ll be there in fifteen,” I said, pushing myself off the bed with a frantic energy.

    Damn it. I had ended up sleeping shirtless after the shower, the cool air of the room made me shiver as it hit my bare skin now. My clothes from this morning were crumpled on the floor. I winced as I remembered the mess. I had forgotten to even get my jacket cleaned.

    I frowned, pushing a hand through my messy hair, as I looked in my closet to find my other jacket. I had a few to choose from, but my eyesnded on a simple ck windbreaker hanging in the back. I pulled it on over a in ck tank top I had put on. “This will have to do,” I mumbled to myself, my gaze falling to the rest of my outfit.

    I shoved on a pair of ck jeans and ck sneakers. I looked in the mirror and frowned. I usually never wore all ck. My clothes were more about function than fashion, but my usual color palette consisted of blues, grays, and the asional cream or white. But for some reason, I had the urge to wear ck today. It was a strange, almost unconscious decision.

    Was it because of her? Because every time I saw her, she was always in ck? I shook my head, trying to clear the image of her from my mind, but it was useless. The memory of her phoenix eyes, the raspiness of her voice, the way she had pped my hand away–it was all seared into my brain.

    I grabbed my car keys and shoved my phone into my pocket, opened my bedroom window and, with practiced ease, swung my legs over the sill,nding softly on the grass below.

    Don’t get me wrong. My parents aren’t strict. But they aren’t that easygoing either. There were rules, boundaries, and expectations that came with myst name, a gilded cage that I sometimes needed to escape. So sometimes… sneaking out like this was necessary. It was a way to feel like a normal person, to bbe just /bHaider, not Haider Kovalyova.

    b12:37 /bbTue/bb, /bbSep /bb16 /b

    i$/i53

    envy

    I made my way to the back garden, my feet silent on the dewy grass. I jumped over the fence before Inded where I had parked my Vespira. The car was a thing of beauty, a sleek, gleaming machine that was the bof /bevery driver. Gifted to me by mom on my sixteenth birthday. Its body was a deep, rich red, like wine. The color was a special shade, custom–made just for me. Since red was my favourite color.

    It truly took me only fifteen minutes to reach my destination. The abandoned air field of Velhaven city. As soon as my car made it through the entrance, my gazended on the massive hordes of young adults and teenagers present.

    The field was a sea of people, their faces a blur of excitement and adrenaline. The thumping beat of a distant bass–heavy song pulsed through the air, a living thing that made the ground tremble. I whistled.

    This was going to get dangerous. I couldn’t help but smirk as the people, recognizing my car, separated like water, giving way until I reached the starting line of the track for the drag race.

    Someone pulled the door open on my side, and I stepped out, the roar of the crowd a deafening sound that filled my ears. Just as I was about to close the door, someone grabbed me and pulled me in for a hug. “Hey, man! You’rete!” Henry said, his voice a happy shout.

    I smiled, my hand patting his back. “Wee back.” I said to Henry. He’d gone on a cruise with his parents, a three–week trip through the Mediterranean. The bastard had ended up staying in Italy for almost six months before he finally decided to juste back alone.

    “d to be!” he answered, pulling back and grinning. My eyes caught a few gasps and fawns as people whispered around us.

    “Is that THE Lion?” someone whispered, their voice filled with a sense of awe.

    “God, he’s handsome.” I was used to hearing that. And I wasn’t going to lie, it did give me a little ego boost. It was a high, a feeling that came close to the thrill of a race.

    Henry then nced back, his grin fading slightly. I followed his gaze to find another crowd circling around somewhere. My brows furrowed in confusion.

    “What’s going on there?” I asked.

    Archie came barreling in behind the both of us, grabbing our shoulders as he spoke, his voice filled with an almost manic energy. “That, my friends, is the up–anding hottest star.” He said, and my brows rose.

    “I was absent for only a couple of weeks… howe you didn’t tell me?” I asked, a hint of genuine curiosity in my voice.

    He smirked, a wicked glint in his hazel eyes. “She only arrived a week ago. It became a sensation. Winning six times in a row on her first day. Then she stopped. This is only her second time here.” He said, and my brows shot up. Six times in a row? That was unheard of. My own record had been four wins in a single night.

    “What’s her name?” I said, as I straightened, making my way forward into the crowd.

    “Rose.”

    I frowned. The name. It was so simple, so in, so… innocuous. My mind went back to Grand Aunt Rose, a sweet, wrinkly old woman with a penchant for baking and gossip. I couldn’t help the tilt of my lips as I

    12:37 Tueb, /bbSep /bb16 /b

    imagined her being the one driving.

    Only the crowd parted just then, and my eyesnded on ‘her. She was a small figure, her body and car both so much smaller than my own. She was leaning against a sleek, ck car, and her head was covered with a helmet, the visor a dark, opaque shield. I tilted my head, my eyes tracing her form, my mind trying to make sense of the person in front of me.

    She was…different from what I had imagined.

    Her head swiveled to mine, as if she could feel my gaze, and for some reason, my heart jolted, a sudden,

    the so- violent kick against my ribs. Her voice, sounding muffled by the helmet, was cold and direct. “Are you called Lion?”

    There had seemed to be a long pause before her question, a pause that felt like she was checking me out, sizing me up. But it didn’t show in her tone. It was a challenge. A dare.

    I couldn’t help but smirk. “That’s me… but you, do you always speak with that thing on your head?” I questioned.