Khrysopos ✔

S I X T Y F I V E

I fucked up the time zone in this book. I can't remember if it's January or February or April. So, for the plot's sake, it's the beginning of May. Okay? Thanks.

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Juliet was walking back to her dorm. She had gone for a long run and was heading back, hungry. She chose to take the elevator, too tired to climb up the stairs, and waited. Her black hoodie covered her head properly, and she just looked down, closing her eyes, resting, her heartbeat loud.

Two girls walked in, whispering - one blonde, one brunette. It was random gossip, talks about chemistry and how the teacher made a racist comment the other day, ice cream, and then, palm trees and orangutans and nutella. And then she heard it.

"Who was that girl who threw herself all over Alex? The one with the monolid eyes. Kind of short." They still hadn't paid any attention to Juliet.

"You mean the one who engaged in PDA with Alex at the library a few minutes ago?" The brunette asked.

"Yeah." She snickered. "Alex looked bloody uncomfortable."

Juliet suppressed her smile.

"That was his new girlfriend, Niah someone."

Juliet stiffened, and her eyes opened. She stared at the ground. He has a new girlfriend? Already?

"Girlfriend? I saw a ring on her finger, Priya. They're definitely engaged. She called him future hubby," the blonde one said.

Juliet blinked rapidly. He is engaged to Niah.

He is engaged to Niah.

HE IS ENGAGED TO NIAH.

"She may have called him that, but did you see his face? He looked disgusted."

"What? No. It looked like a smile to me."

"A forced one," the brunette named Priya said. "Something is fishy. But who cares? Either way, Alex is hitched to that chick, whether it was forced or not."

"How awful," the blonde commented. "That Niah woman bumped shoulders harshly with me and didn't even apologise while leaving."

"Probably because you were staring at Alex too long," Priya said, her tone amused.

"Can you blame me? He is so gorgeous." And then, in an almost defensive tone, "Juliet never hit my shoulder like that when I stared at Alex."

THIS BLONDE HAD STARED AT ALEX? WHEN?

"That's because you weren't even a threat to Juliet. She was too busy staring at her boy," Priya laughed loudly.

A smile threatened to split across Juliet's face. She liked this Priya girl already.

The blonde sighed. "Yeah, I know. She was nice to the other girls even though they all tried to flirt with him. Either Alex never told her how the other girls tried flirting with him, or she just is that confident that he'd never leave her."

"Its kind of nice that he didn't tell her. All of my boyfriends were always like so, you know, a girl hit on me today, but I avoided her. Do get a cookie for being loyal? Like, no, Dylan, you aren't getting brownie points for abiding by the most simple, obvious requirement of our relationship. Good to know that Alex isn't like that."

Juliet blinked. Alex had never mentioned any girls flirting with him... then again, Alex didn't really address any flirting unless it was from Juliet. Well, he used to. Not anymore