Genius (CENTURIES series: Book #2)

4

• I really only recommend listening to this song when the scene comes •

"While scientists are still investigating the solution of Fermat's last theorem, they have confirmed this morning that the handwriting used to solve the mathematical problem does not match any of the registered students or teachers at the Alexandrettia. Investigations will continue during—"

Mia sighed and shut off her phone. Streaming the live newsfeed going on outside turned out to be a bad idea. People were still obsessing over that mysterious genius. Zoe said the story might even get picked up to go national.

But Mia had gotten over it. So what if there was a genius amongst them? There were loads of geniuses at the Alexandrettia, it wasn't that big a deal. Everyone was just having a conniption over this one because whoever it was chose not to come forward. It was stupid, really. Why spend time solving such a difficult problem, only to chose to stay in the dark?

She didn't even want to spend time thinking about it. She had bigger things to worry about – like her classes.

It had been over two weeks now and Valenches still hadn't let her see the inside of his classroom. She was slowly falling behind and Mia was beginning to grow desperate. She was spending so much time in the private art studios, she'd barely seen Anna and Zoe all week. She was exhausted from all the work, and at the end of the day, it still hadn't paid off. She still wasn't in class and she still had no inspiration.

Mia now automatically thought back to the last time she had been cooped up in one of the art studios; Eli had walked in and seen her staring at her blank canvas and then proceeded to take her breath away in every translation of the phrase.

His body had been amazing – like very chiseled and gorgeously muscular – but the artwork on it had been even more so. Every line looked like it had its own story, every image was a reflection of something inside him. Mia had particularly liked the art on his chest and neck; All of the whimsical feathery lines and patterns. So beautiful. So intricate. So meaningful.

Without even realizing it, Mia picked up a pencil and begun sketching out a male body on her black canvas. The measurements could've been a bit off, but she knew who she was drawing. Especially when she begun sketching out an image of Kali on the male body's stomach.

For a couple of hours, Mia completely disappeared into her drawing. All the fine detailing, all of the shading. Eventually she moved on to charcoal pencils and begun filling in the black parts of his tattoos – Eli's tattoos.

She worked so concentrated she blocked out all sounds, all lights, all everything. It was only when she took a step back to admire her progress, she suddenly collided with a strong body and got pulled out of her concentration.

"That's me," A deep voice said before his tattooed hands grabbed her arms, preventing her from turning around. "You fucking drew me?"

Mia sucked in a breath and looked up and over her shoulder. She would never get used to his intense eyes, the constant clenched jaw or the deep cheekbones. His eyes were drilling into her canvas, looking at it as if he wanted to punch it or something. Maybe burn it. She couldn't describe it.

"How did you get in?" She said, squirming out of his arms. He let go. "This studio is locked, I booked it."

He held up his hand, and around his middle finger, a large set of keys dangled. "Janitor privileges."

"They gave you keys to all the rooms?" Mia asked incredulously. "Are they out of their minds? Why don't they just give you the golden trophies and save you the trouble?"