CHAPTER 32: BACK TO SCHOOL

Nick stood in front of the full-length mirror in his walk-in closet and slid his silk tie under his collar.

The fabric was charcoal today, matching the tailored blazer draped over the chair.

Outside the window, the estate was quiet like it always was at seven-thirty in the morning.

Anything is better than the Red Desert.

Especially the lower floors in Baran Tower City.

So much vomit on the floor from adventurers who couldn’t deal with its heat.

On the velvet chaise lounge behind him, Melis lay on her stomach, bare feet kicking lazily in the air as she flipped through a copy of a fashion magazine she’d found on the coffee table.

She was still wearing one of his oversized dress shirts with the sleeves elegantly rolled up to her elbows while the collar slipped off one shoulder.

Her messy black hair spilled over the pages.

She looked so cute and elegant.

But she is still quite petite in size.

That would explain why she looked a little funny wearing any of his clothes.

They will always be big on her.

Melis needed clothes of her own.

"Oh my..."

She muttered, tapping a finger against a spread of some supermodel in a backless gown.

"This is considered clothing? There’s more fabric in a tavern napkin. If a woman wore this to court in Camelot I can assure you the Queen’s Guard would have her executed for public indecency before she reached the throne room."

Nick snorted lightly, eyes on the mirror as he started the Windsor knot.

"Yeah, welcome to Earth. That’s literally how clothes work here. How many times do I have to say it? You’re not in your world anymore."

Melis turned the page with deliberate slowness.

"Keep telling yourself that."

She stretched like a cat as the shirt rode up to reveal the pale, jagged scars crisscrossing her thighs.

They were old blade wounds, burn marks, and one that looked like a wyvern claw.

Some may say it spoiled her snow-white skin.

But it oddly made her legs a tad sexy.

"I’ve only spent a day here. I’m sure my knights are already scouring the kingdom for the rift that swallowed me. Give it three, four days at most, and they’ll drag me back whether I want it or not."

Nick’s fingers paused mid-knot.

He glanced back at her reflection, brow creased.

"You better not be making it sound like I’m holding you hostage, okay?"

Melis’s smile turned saccharine.

She extended one slender, scarred leg and pointed her toes like a ballerina.

"Hostage? Me? Never."

Then, softer, almost singsong.

"Mind your own scars, child."

He frowned as his eyes dropped to the roadmap of old battles on her skin.

"You’ve got a lot of them."

She flipped the page so hard the magazine nearly tore.

"And that’s none of your business."

Her voice stayed sweet enough to rot teeth.

Nick finished the knot, tugged it snug, and grabbed his bag from the dresser.

Time was slippery between worlds.

Ten days there, barely twenty-four hours here.

And the ratio kept changing.

He couldn’t risk vanishing for too long again.

"I’m heading to school. I’ll be back by four."

Melis tilted her head, genuinely puzzled.

"A mage academy that lets students leave the grounds and return at will? That’s terrible."

He rolled his eyes on his way out.

"It’s called high school."

He was a bit worried she would never realize this wasn’t Phantasia.

No one was coming for her.

It’s also more motivation to learn [Spatial Magic] so he could send her back.

"Whatever..."

The second he stepped onto the tree-lined avenue that led to his school, the staring began.

Two girls from St. Catherine’s dressed in navy blazers and cute plaid skirts stopped on the sidewalk.

"Oh my God, look at THAT!"

She was trying to whisper but it was loud enough for half the block to hear.

"He looks like he walked off a runway."

"His hair’s so nice~ look at that messy bun."

"Do you think he models? He has to model."

A group of middle-schoolers on scooters nearly crashed into a hydrant gawking.

Nick kept his eyes on the pavement cracks, hands shoved deep in his pockets, pace brisk.

It didn’t help.

The whispers followed him like flies.

And then came the brave one.

She bolted across the street.

She was a cute girl with a short bob, huge eyes, drink in one hand, and a phone in the other.

She planted herself right in his path.

"Hi!"

She blurted as her cheeks turned pink.

"Um, sorry, this is weird, but what’s your name?"

Nick stopped, sighed through his nose.

"Nick."

Just Nick. No last name, no smile.

They wouldn’t greet the old Nick like this.

So what’s the point?

The girl kept staring... and staring.

Her smile was disturbingly wide.

Nick shifted his weight.

"Did... you want my number or something?"

The girl’s mouth opened.

No sound came out.

Her smile turned vaguely manic.

Yeah, nope.

He sidestepped and kept walking.

Behind him he heard a tiny, mortified squeak.

Meanwhile, two blocks over, Susan was still talking.

"I mean the extra credit question about Le Chatelier’s principle was completely unfair, right? They never covered stress factors in that much detail and—"

Jace’s knuckles tightened around his backpack straps.

The morning sun felt like a spotlight.

Every laugh from passing students sounded like it was about him.

About what they’d done.

Nick’s body at the bottom of the cliff.

His bruised chubby face.

"Jace?"

Susan’s voice cut through.

"Are you even listening?"

He snapped.

"Can you shut up about Nick for once?!"

The words exploded out louder than he meant.

Susan froze.

Her designer backpack slipped an inch down her delicate slender shoulder.

"I... I wasn’t even talking about Nick. I was talking about the chem test."

Jace blinked when he realized.

He dragged a shaking hand across his forehead.

He was sweating but the weather was calm.

"I—shit. Sorry. I don’t feel good."

Susan’s annoyance melted into worry.

She reached up to touch his cheek.

"You’re clammy. Do you have a fever? Did you eat breakfast? When’s the last time you—"

He swatted her hand away harder than he meant to.

Her eyes went wide.

"I just need to get to class."

He quickly hurried away.

"Leave me alone."

Susan stood there on the sidewalk as she watched him stumble away like he was drunk. She’d begged her dad’s security team to let her walk today so she could have twenty normal minutes with Jace.

And this was what she got.

"Impossible..."

She sighed to no one.

Jace didn’t make it ten more steps.

He collided hard with someone and hit the ground.

When he looked up, the air left his lungs for an entirely different reason.

The guy standing over him was... unreal.

Tall, broad-shouldered, black hair falling in perfect waves, skin like porcelain under the morning light. Eyes the color of winter skies. Every girl within a twenty-foot radius let out a collective squeak that should’ve registered on the Richter scale.

The stranger slicked his hair back with one lazy hand and crouched slightly.

"Sorry about that."

His voice was deep and smooth.

"You okay?"

He offered a hand.

Jace took it on autopilot.

The grip was warm and strong.

Jace stood, legs shaky.

"I—yeah. Fine."

Words tumbled out.

"I haven’t seen you around. You new? A senior? I think I’d remember—"

The guy smiled. Then moved.

One second he was in front of Jace.

The next he was beside him, arm hooked casually but firmly around Jace’s shoulders.

Their cheeks almost touched.

Cold lips brushed Jace’s ear.

"I’m the body you left at the bottom of the cliff."

Jace’s heart stopped.

The stranger pulled back just enough for Jace to see the empty, empty smile.

"Nick?"

The name came out regretfully.

Nick’s eyes were glacier blue and ancient.

"Have a nice day, Jace."

One gentle pat on the shoulder, and he was gone.

Girls parted for him like the Red Sea as they giggled.

Jace didn’t move.

His knees buckled slightly.

A statue in a varsity jacket, sweating through the lining.

Inside 2-B, the classroom was already dead silent when Miss Adeline walked in.

That never happened.

She followed thirty pairs of eyes to the figure leaning against her desk.

He was attractively tall, kept his hair in a messy bun and wore an unbuttoned blazer.

That was definitely the reason for their silence.

The principal said Nick Aarden was resuming today.

This is him. This is definitely him.

But Miss Adeline can’t believe her eyes!

Whispers rippled immediately.

"Why does he have to be at our school!"

"Forget about getting a serious girlfriend now."

"European royalty vibes. Look at the bone structure."

"Bet he’s a vampire. I’d let him bite me."

"Only if it’s between the legs."

Miss Adeline cleared her throat so dramatically it should’ve come with a foghorn.

The room went pin-drop silent.

She adjusted her glasses.

She looked so calm and composed.

『This is NOT Nicholas Aarden!』

She was screaming in her mind.

『I looked at his neck... dammit it I did it again. How the hell does he look so handsome now!? The principal said I’d be surprised by his looks but I thought maybe Nick just shed a few pounds and got a skincare routine. He’s... hnn, I don’t want to think of my student that way but a hopeless novel reading romantic like me... he’s so FOINE!』

She was gushing like a shameless little girl.

But that’s only on the inside.

Somehow she still looked unimpressed on the outside.

Out loud she said, perfectly composed.

"Class, this is Nick Aarden."

Thirty voices, one collective brain cell.

"WHAAAAAAT?!"

Nick just smiled and took his old seat by the window like nothing had changed.

[Ding! Host has school objectives for the day!]

He tilted his head a tad.

"Huh...?"