CHAPTER TWO:

Saphielle's POV:

‘I'm breaking up with you.’

My smile fell right off my face. My heart slammed.

Maybe I hadn't heard him right. Maybe it was a prank?

“Yeah, I'm not falling for your silly prank,” I let out an awkward laugh but his expression remained cold.

He… he was dead serious.

Sweat broke out across my skin, panic seized my lungs—I couldn't breathe.

“Babe…” I tried to reach for him but he flinched.

“Don't touch me!” His voice was a low growl, his eyes were cold and hard.

Kasper never looked at me like he was doing now—disgusted and furious.

The knots in my stomach tightened. “I… I don't understand?”

My heart was beating so loud, I could barely hear anything else. “Did something happen? Was it me? Did I do something wrong? I-I-I… you—”

Breathe… Saphielle, breathe. I tried to get myself to calm down but it was futile.

Leanne moved up to my side. “What has gotten into you, Kasper?!” she snapped.

Kasper gave her a death glare. “Stay out of this!”

I fought back tears, grabbing his arm, desperately clinging onto it, “Babe, whatever I did, I'm really sorry. But… but can we talk things out, please?”

Until yesterday, we were okay. Or so I thought.

He combed his fingers through his light brown hair, frustration rolling off him. “Didn't you hear me?” His voice was higher now, attracting a little crowd. “I'm done. Fucking done. It's over between us!”

My heart sank to my stomach. Blood rushed to my ears as panic crept in.

“Will you fucking calm down?! People are watching!” Leanne hissed but Kasper ignored her.

“Why?” The question slipped from my mouth as the first drop of tears rolled to my chin, I let go of his arm.

“I… I didn't do anything wrong. I've been a good girlfriend. I've loved you wholly, so why —”

“Why?” He laughed bitterly, his dark eyes flashed with anger. “You know what they've been saying about you? About my own fucking girlfriend?”

Sadly, I did.

But he'd never bothered with them before… Why now?

“Don't tell me you don't believe what they are saying, babe,” I pleaded. “I'm only being framed because Master Gavril asked me out and I turned him down...”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “The same lies and stories over and over. Saphielle, everyone knows you're a slut. You’ve been run through by too many guys like some cheap whore in a brothel. You disgust me!”

His words hit like a punch to the gut. My face flamed from the humiliation.

“That's not true!” My eyes burned with tears, my nails dug into my palm. “You know that. You of all people should know that.”

“No. I thought I knew you but clearly I didn't,” he snarled. “Do you know how hard this past year has been? Do you know how hard it was dating someone like you?”

I felt anger and shame in equal measures and tears won't stop falling. “Kasper, I—”

“Everyone thinks I'm pathetic for being with a disgusting whore!” He barked and I flinched. “My friends mock me. Seniors beat me up for it. They called me weak!”

My heart tore into a million pieces.

“B-but I'm… I'm innocent,” my voice was small. So small even to my own ears.

“I've only kissed one boy. I’ve only made out with one boy all my life.” My lips trembled as tears wet it, the salty flavour hitting my tongue. “And that boy was you, Kasper. No one else. Why wouldn't you believe me?”

His face shifted from pained expression to a disgusted sneer as he inched closer to me. “Believe you?” His angry eyes burned a hole right through me. “My friends overheard those seniors brag about how good it felt to fuck you and you expect me to believe you?”

Lies.

The same lies they've been spreading about me for months.

My eyes fell shut as a shuddering breath left me. “I'm a virgin, Kasper.” I was going to finally take things further today. Finally let him take my virginity.

“Yeah right, a virgin,” he mocked and the crowd that had gathered laughed.

This hurt too much.

“...You may have fooled me for months. But that ends today. You let those bastards touch, no one wants a used and damaged product!”

My chest split open and my heart bled.

The crowd cheered, laughing loudly.

It was humiliating.

Tears flowed freely, my whole body trembled as it took everything in me to not crumble to the ground.

Leanne grabbed my arm. “Babes, let's leave here.”

I snatched my arm away. And broke into a run.

The wind whipped my face, drying the tears on my cheek as I ran.

“Saphielle!” I heard Leanne call after me. “Stop!”

But I didn't. I couldn't.

The hate. The humiliation. Kasper…

It was all too much.

Why was I being punished when I was the one who had been wronged?

For the past year since I arrived here, I'd become a shell of the girl that I used to be back home.

All this started with Master Gavril. Annika's boyfriend. Last year when I'd been a freshman, I ran into Gavril on my first week here.

I was naive and foolish to have thought he was just a kind guy who wanted to help me navigate this weird academy. When he started showing interest in me, I turned him down politely.

Of course that didn't end well.

Suddenly, it was rumored that I'd seduced Gavril into having sex with me. And that was how Annika and Rosita began bullying me.

They said I whore myself out so much and that was why my boobs were as big as they were.

Sure, at nine years old, I'd started developing rapidly. And right now, at eighteen, they looked significantly larger.

They swore I'd been whoring myself out which was why my hips were wider than an average teen’s hips.

They swore my body was as a result of fooling around with too many men. They said disgusting things about my body.

And because of that, I hated my body. I was ashamed of it.

I couldn't wear fitted uniforms or clothes anymore. I couldn't be as loud as the other girls. I couldn't make friends.

I avoided spotlight like a plague, missed out on debates or activities I liked for fear of attracting more attention to myself than I already had.

I couldn't have fun like other students. I constantly lived in fear and was always sad save for when I was distracted from the chaos inside my head.

Now, I've lost my boyfriend, Kasper. Maybe next will be Leanne. And then, I will be completely alone.

I just—

“Oomph!”

Air whooshed out of me forcefully as I ran to a hard wall.

Everything happened so fast and soon I was falling but strong arms grabbed me.

The air shifted. I felt a suffocating presence as a waft of expensive cologne hit my nostrils.

I looked up.

Intense green eyes stared back at me and I forgot how to breathe.

I forgot everything that had happened moments ago as I got lost in those eyes.

My pulse quickened and my tongue suddenly felt dry.

What was wrong with me?

I should step away from him and thank him for catching me but my brain and my body seemed to be at war with each other.

My eyes fell to his lips.

Then he smiled, slow and cruel. When he spoke, his voice was a deep, sultry drawl that twisted something in my stomach. “When do you plan on letting me go?”

“I'm sorry!” I jerked away from him like I'd be burned.

My face flamed as embarrassment washed over me and I fixed my gaze at my shoes.

And it was only then I noticed the little crowd of students around us. Their gasps and murmurs filled the air but my heart beat was louder.

Who was this guy? A popular senior?

“I'm so sorry. I didn't see you coming,” I said quickly. Because the last thing I wanted was to get into another senior's bad books.

When he scoffed, my eyes snapped up to his.

“I must admit…” He leaned in until I could feel his breath on my face.

“This is the most desperate way a girl has tried to gain my attention.”

I gaped. Anger flaring inside me.

But before I could snap at him and tell him that I had no intention of getting his attention, he brushed past me.

In the same breath, students screamed happily, waving wildly as the guy and his friend walked away.

And just then, Leanna grabbed me, panting wildly like she'd be running.

I stared blankly. “Why are you running?”

“Girl, what did you do to make him speak to you?” She shook me excitedly.

My brows furrowed. “And who is he?”

“That was the Alpha Prince!” She squealed. “That's Prince Azrael!”

My eyes widened as they darted to his retreating figure.

That arrogant prick was the Alpha Prince?