Chapter 1

Everywhere I go, people can't help but notice me. I catch people staring at me, and I know what they are thinking. How can she be so perfect?

I’m staring at my reflection in the mirror, standing in my undergarments; I can't do anything but think about the models. How do they pose in a bikini?

Since childhood, I have been wanting to become a model, because I think I'm very pretty. I love myself way too much. I'm kind of obsessed with myself. Many of my classmates talk behind my back, and say I'm a fossil. Am I? I don't know. I'm not a native American, maybe that's why they think that. Or maybe they are jealous of me. I have a skinny hourglass body, dark brown almond shaped eyes, full lips, slim face, dark brunette long wavy hair that reaches my hips, an average 5 '6 height, and rosy complexion. Everything about my body and my looks makes me fall in love with myself. I am a slight narcissistic, I guess.

In Corsica, a couple lost their two baby boys, and then a girl took birth at their home. They did every possible thing they could do to keep her alive; they gave her name 'Belle' because she was beautiful—so much beautiful for them.

And yeah, that would obviously be me. I'm Belle Dubois. Just like my name; I am very beautiful. Well, I'm not trying to brag about myself, but people say that. People in my hometown, my family, and guys who have proposed to me till date—always admired my beauty. Rich, handsome, athletes—almost every kind of guy has fallen for me, even when I didn't want them to fall. Every single person complimented me by saying beautiful and sexy that it doesn't seem anything new to me when a person compliments me now.

I am seventeen-years-old, from Corsica, and now my family lives in Bulgaria. My father is a millionaire. I have been a topper since childhood, and ranked first in all my classes, because apart from being pretty, I'm a perfectionist also. When I got a scholarship for my high school studies, I came to New York City for my studies. I am in my senior year of high school now.

Even when I'm pretty, I never had any boyfriends. Never ever in my life have I let any boy touch me. Not because I don't think about marrying, having a boyfriend, or boys don't propose to me, or show interest in me. It's because I have loved a boy since my childhood. His name—I didn't know. His face—I didn't know. His location—I didn't know. Overall, I didn't know anything about him. I didn't know if he still remembered me or not, but I did remember him, and I believed that maybe someday he'll meet me. We will both fall in love again, and he did. We met again, and he is now my boyfriend.

Well, that's a long story.

I was sitting in my dorm room, reading a book. I am very fond of reading books. You'll always find me reading books. So, I was reading a book, then out of the blue my best friend, who is also my roommate—Emily, told me that I have to go on a date. At first I gave the brush off to go on the blind date, but then she emotionally blackmailed me and sent me on the blind date on her behalf.

On that blind date, I met the bad boy and most popular boy of our school, Aiden Allen. The girls are so crazy about him, and always keep a crowd around him that I had not seen his face till that day. I only heard his name.

Why did a bad boy start coming on a blind date? Actually, his best friend had dared him to go on a blind date, otherwise he would not normally go on dates.

In the first meeting itself I found Aiden useless. Certainly heinous! Because in the first meeting itself he told me that he wants to fuck me. I still loathe that moment. He wanted to date me, and make me his girlfriend. At first I had rejected him, because I was waiting for that childhood boy. However, I then figured out that Aiden was the person I was looking for. And then—what else? Without waiting for a second, I said yes to him.

So far so good, I am very happy with Aiden. Literally. Too much.

It's Saturday. I'm going on a date with Aiden tomorrow. I put on a face mask; I just want to look beautiful, and I don't want to ruin it. I can't wait. I hope nothing bad happens now. I don't want to lose him again.

Pulling me back from my thoughts, my phone starts ringing all of a sudden. I furrow my brows, and reach out for my phone.

Is it Aiden? No. It's Anna. Why is she calling me? She's my classmate.

I gasp as I pick up the call, saying, “Hello.”

“Umm…Belle. I want to talk to you urgently. Are you free?” she asks.

What does she want to talk about now?

“Say,” I shoot a quick response.

“Actually, my dad's friend's son…Ethan. He caught sight of you somewhere, and told me that he likes you, wants to talk to you. Since he didn't have your number, he asked me to call you and tell you about it,” she retorts.

Oh! So that was the thing. A boy likes me. What's new about that?

“I'm not interested,” I say, without giving a second to this thought.

“At Least meet him once,” she insists.

“Actually, I already have a boyfriend. I don't want to meet any other boy. Tell him I'm not interested,” I inform.

Usually, I don't tell people about my relationship, but now I needed to.

“Oh! Okay,” she says.

I hum in response and end the call.

I never thought Anna would ever request me like that. Well, I don't care who's that boy and how he looks. I'm not interested in any other boy. I'm saving myself for my baby. I grin shyly.

I put on a hot pink v-neck full sleeves crop top, in which my cleavage is visible, pairing it with blue denim straight jeans. I am fond of full sleeve crop tops and high waisted straight leg jeans. That's my everyday comfortable clothes.

Well, my best friend—Emily, might be waiting for me in the cafeteria. I'm dead hungry. I need to grab something soon otherwise I'll die of hunger.

As I walk outside of my room to reach the cafeteria, Anna approaches me.

“I want to talk,” she says.

I scowl. What does she want to talk about now?

“Say,” I say.

“He's stubborn. He's not listening to me. Just meet him once.”

She's again talking about that boy. I gasp and shake my head.

“I told you I have a boyfriend. Did you not tell that to him?” I shoot a quick question.

“I did…but he said he doesn't seem to care about that thing.”

“What!” My jaw drops.

She nods.

What kind of person is this? He doesn't seem to care if I have a boyfriend. Strange!

“Do you not know Ethan? He's in section A. He's headstrong and does whatever he wants. Everyone knows about that thing,” she wheezes as her eyes pop out in dazzle.

“No. I don't know him,” I growl and shake my head.

“Girls die just to have a talk with him and you don't even know him. Seriously!” She lets out a bitter chuckle. “Don't act now,” she says, making me furious now.

Who is this now? I don't know any Ethan and neither do I want to know about him.

“I don't know him, and I'm not interested,” I announce.

“You go and tell him on your own that you are not interested. Maybe he'll believe it then,” she demands.

What will I do now? How am I supposed to talk to him? What if Aiden gets angry? Aiden always gets angry when he sees me talking to another guy. But I have to talk to this boy now. Only that's the last option remains.

I sigh and nod. “I'll talk to him,” I declare.

“He’s waiting for you at the basketball court.”

I gasp and march towards the basketball court.

As soon as I reach there, I see a tall boy standing there alone. I can only see his back. He's truly a headstrong person. I don't know how I will talk. I start walking towards him and stop as I reach near him.

He's wearing a black shirt, the sleeves rolled up and black pants, paired with black shoes and a black belt. He has some kind of tattoos on his hands. Snakes, skulls, swords, rose flowers, butterflies and a dragon tattoo which was reaching to his neck.

What kind of a person is this? I don't like tattoos. Thankfully, Aiden has no tattoos.

He has not turned yet. It's fine if he doesn't turn—so that I can say it without feeling scared. I gulp my saliva down and pile up all my courage.

“Anna said that you like me and want to talk to me…but I'm not interested in talking to you. I have a boyfriend and…..” I am saying, but get interrupted as he turns.

“Say that again,” he demands.

My eyes dart as my eyes meet his dark brown eyes. My heart beat increases, and I start breathing heavily.

His long hair worn back in a messy bun with hairs on the lower neck laying down with loose strands in the front hair. He might have a height of 5 ‘11 approx. His masculine silhouette and toned chest is visible in the black shirt he's worn over his broad shoulders, and an analog silver watch adorned his big veiny hands.

As he starts taking steps towards me, his clean shaven skin glows in the light. His strong clenched jaw and steady gaze makes me vexed.

What is he doing here? Is he that boy Anna talked about? It's the first time I'm seeing him from this close.

I call off the memories of the moment when I saw him for the first time on the basketball court. He was playing when my eyes fell over him. Out of all the guys I've seen till the date, he looked handsome. And at that minute, I thought only one thing, I wished that he was my boyfriend. I got a crush on him the second I saw him because his looks were my type. That was the first and last time I saw him. After that I never saw him. I didn't actually try to because I didn't think there could be a chance between us; and then, I met Aiden and started dating him. I was unsure of the fact that Ethan is one of my classmates. Today—he's here because he likes me. How could that be possible?

As he takes more steps towards me, I begin to hear my heartbeats in my ears. We both are unable to break our eye contact. There's something strange in his eyes which makes me confused if I should look into his eyes or look away. His eyes are intoxicating me.

“You were saying something,” he says in his deep voice.

Why am I feeling this? Why is it hard for me to look away from his eyes?

He leans and whispers in my ear, “You will fall in love if you keep looking at me like this.”

I gasp and look down as my cheeks flush in embarrassment.

He leans back as he utters, “Hi! I'm Ethan…Ethan Wilson .”

I look into his eyes and gulp my saliva down, still feeling embarrassed and nervous.

“I'm…”

“Miss Belle Dubois. I know,” he states.

He already knows my full name. Does he know about me?

“Wh…why did you want to talk to me?” I ask, furrowing my brows.

“I like you and want to date you,” he says, looking into my eyes. My heart is pounding in my chest. I'm feeling like it will explode at any minute.

He likes me because he must have found me beautiful and sexy just like other guys. I never thought he would also fall for me. Is he pranking or does he really like me?

“I have a boyfriend.” His jaw clenches as soon as he hears that, and his veins pop up. I look at my feet, taking rapid breaths. “I hope you find someone else for yourself. I'm not interested.”

There's a pause between us. I nervously glance up into his eyes after a few seconds. He's looking a bit disappointed.

“Excuse me!” I say and walk away from him.

I don't know if that's a prank or if he really likes me. I just know one thing that is: I am not going to leave my boyfriend, my Aiden. I love him and only him. No person can ever make me leave my baby.