King and Queen

Silver Coast College. Five years ago.

One of the prominent tertiary schools in the country ranked one for its quality education. Laboratories and facilities were provided, making an edge over every other school. Full of elite students with higher than average grades that almost filled the topnotch list every year per college course. Anyone who would graduate from this university would be competent throughout the world. 

Out of all the privileged students, a king and queen emerged. They were considered such because of their looks and treasures. “Excuse me, Cassie. How does it feel to be picked as the new queen?” a student reporter asked her amid the crowd. Cassie had to put on a smile even though she was as if digested by these people. "I thank Mr. Ethan Lewis, but I never expected nor aspired to be his queen," she said and stretched her hand to avoid the cameras. When a professor arrived, the students calmed down, making way for Cassie to escape a bunch of people. She heaved a sigh of relief and held her chest. "Jeez, I was going to die in there," she mumbled to herself. 

Some nerdy man was passing the hallway where she stopped. He walked up front towards Cassie, wearing giant glasses, holding books, collars closed, and long socks. His knees were somewhat trembling as well as his voice. "Do yo-you need some help?” he offered and tried to meet her eyes. 

Cassie thought it was just another pervert picking on her, but her eyes found a weird man. She looked up at him without feeling any fear. At this point, she noticed how his knees were quivering, probably because he liked her. A line formed a smile on her lips before she answered, "No, thank you."

“If you want, I—”

“Shh!” Using her forefinger, she made him quiet as she heard footsteps getting louder. In her mind, it was the crowd again hunting for her. “Shit,” she cursed and realized she was doomed. Without further thinking, she hid inside a room as she pulled the man's wrist with her. "Come on!" she said in a panic state. Glancing at the door window, Cassie didn't realize that the man was startled.

When the crowd passed by, she exhaled a huge amount of breath and sat on the ground while leaning on the door beside the man. Baffled by what had just happened, the man looked at her in shock. His heart was rapidly beating as if it wanted to explode out of his chest. Seeing her gorgeous features, porcelain smooth skin, and black straight hair, the man was speechless. 

“Sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you. What’s your name?” Cassie asked directly without hesitation. “Oh. I’m Cassie Leighton,” she introduced herself with a smile and wiped the drop of sweat on her forehead.

The man’s eyeglasses were misplaced, so she used her finger and assembled it in place. He was frozen that he couldn’t speak. He tried to answer her question, “S—Skye. Skye Winslow. 3rd-year business administration.” When he successfully said his name, Cassie nodded. “Alright. Thanks, Skye. Maybe I’ll see you again when things are calmer than this,” she giggled and stood up before going out of the room. 

Skye was left dumbfounded. He had just got to speak and introduce himself to his long-time crush. At this point, his feet were as if numb that he couldn't stand up anymore from the ground. He then placed his books beside him first before he managed to be on his feet. "Wait. Why is she going to meet me again?" he asked, floating on her words. Coldness ran on his skin out of unbelief that a low-class nerd man like him would see her again. 

Deep inside, Skye knew that they couldn't be together, and there was no chance of him to her. Sooner or later, Cassie would fall in love with her king, Ethan, and he wouldn't be able to compete with that. 

After school, while all of his other classmates had vehicles to ride on and a decent house to go to, Skye walked out by himself. The moment he saw Cassie riding in her car already, he went on his way. He would always save his fare in transportation to pay for the debts of his deceased parents. Usually, he would also skip his meals and settle for a biscuit as his lunch. It took a while before he arrived at a small bedroom space, but three individuals were standing at his doorway. 

Their black suits and undistinguishable expressions were his basis for those who he loaned from. Heart accelerating rapidly, he bravely walked towards them with a forced friendly smile. He waved and spoke gently, "Hello, boss. I… You're here," he chuckled nervously. 

"Where's my money?" The man with a colossal build said in a deep voice. He had a tattoo of a dragon imprinted throughout his left arm. He glared at Skye with a deadly look on his face. 

Skye couldn't help but step back before noticing that the other two had baseball bats in their hands. Tensely, his eyes were immediately filled with anxiety as he stopped and told them, "Wait." He then touched his pockets, opened his bag, and pulled out every cent he could. “This is all I have,” he said and reached for the boss’ palm before putting the money on it. 

The boss’ brows scowled as anger arose in his voice. “You said you’ll pay full this time! You know that I don't want broken promises, right?" He hardly kicked Skye on his knees, making him fall helplessly to the ground. Trying to stay away from them, he begged, "I know. But, please. Give me more time. I… I'll find a way to get your money back." 

The boss threw a firm slap at him that his hand left a mark on his cheek. A reddish swelling appeared at the side of Skye's lips as he suffered from its pain. The boss then sat and pinched both sides of his lips while glaring at him. "One month. If you don't have it with you or you run away, I'll make sure to hunt you until the day I die. Do you hear me?"