Chapter 1: Start

Beep-beep ... Beep-beep ... Beep-beep...

I slammed my hand down on the alarm, shutting off that irritating ring the second it cut through the quiet of my room. I groaned, rubbing the sleep from my blue eyes as I sat up in bed. Ugh, what time is it?

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand to check the screen. My heart instantly dropped.

10:00 AM.

“What?!” I gasped out loud. “No, no, no...”

I had college at eight. I was two full hours late, and Professor Elena was going to absolutely kill me.

I bolted out of bed and went straight for my closet in a sheer panic. Thankfully, I already had my charcoal-grey ribbed tank top on, so I didn’t need to waste time changing. I grabbed my favorite heavy vintage flannel shirt-the green and black plaid one and a pair of distressed light-wash jeans. After yanking the jeans on, I took a microsecond to glance at my sandy-blonde hair and freckles in the mirror, threw the open flannel over my shoulders, and sprinted right downstairs.

As I rounded the corner at the bottom of the steps, I came right across my mom, Mrs. Amanda Miller. She was already busy, hauling a heavy basket of laundry toward the washing machine.

“Travis, what the hell?!” she snapped, dropping the basket onto her hip as she stared at me. “I thought you left early this morning with Chloe! I had no idea you were still up there sleeping it off!”

She glared at me with a look of pure, disappointed irritation. She was clearly annoyed by my laziness, though at this point, it was practically a regular part of my daily routine.

“Uh, sorry, Mom,” I mumbled, offering a weak, guilty grin. “You know how it is ... I was up studying until late last night.”

It was a blatant, straight-off-the-cuff lie, and it was so obvious that she immediately saw right through it. She knew for a fact I had been up gaming until the sunrise.

“Whatever,” she sighed, rolling her eyes and heading toward the laundry room to continue her chores. “Just learn something from your younger sister, Chloe, for once in your life.”

I rolled my eyes as she walked away, entirely text-book annoyed at getting compared to my supposedly disciplined younger sister yet again. If only my parents actually knew what their perfect princess of a daughter was really up to at college, I thought.

Either way, I didn’t have time to argue. I grabbed a green apple off the dining table, pocketed my phone, and headed straight out the front door.

Once I got outside, I looked toward the driveway and groaned. The family car was completely missing from the garage. Oh, come on. Don’t tell me Dad went to work early today and took the car...

Ugh. It looked like I was taking the bus.

I jogged down the sidewalk to the campus transit stop. While waiting, I pulled out my phone and pulled up the main college group chat to pass the time.

“No way,” I muttered, scrolling through the feed.

The chatter was buzzing. The annual college fest was coming up fast, which meant an official announcement would probably drop in class sometime today. I kept scrolling through the endless wall of text-classmates making fun of each other, shared lecture documents, and random study materials.

Then, my thumb paused on an old message from a week ago. It was a shady, unverified app link sent by our department’s resident tech-nerd. Everyone had completely ignored it back then because the guy was famous for sending out phishing scams and accidentally loading people’s devices with malware. Most of the campus had just swiped past him, and so did I.

Just as I locked my screen, the heavy brakes of the campus bus squealed to a halt in front of me. I shoved my phone into my pocket, hopped up the steps, and found a seat.

30 Minutes Later

I was practically flying down the college corridors. I skidded to a halt outside the room, gripped the handle, and slid open the door to Professor Elena’s lecture hall.

“-okay class, that is your social assign-”

Thud!

The heavy door slammed against the frame with a resounding echo, cutting her off mid-sentence. Instantly, the low hum of the auditorium died, and every single eye in the room pivoted to stare straight at me.

I froze in the doorway, my chest heaving. Standing at the front of the stage, right by the podium, was Professor Elena. She was an absolutely commanding presence, possessing a striking, ultra-voluptuous hourglass silhouette. Her remarkably narrow waist tapered down into wide, soft curves, and her incredibly generous, heavy E-cup breast size heavily dominated her frame, straining tightly against the fabric of her professional attire. Today, she wore a tailored silk blouse in a vibrant, deep magenta that fitted exceptionally tight across her generous chest, tucked flawlessly into a high-waisted, cream-colored linen pencil skirt that tightly casing her curvaceous hips. Supported by towering four-inch patent leather stiletto pumps, she looked down from the stage with pure, authoritative confidence.

I had to admit, even in the middle of a panic attack, the woman knew exactly how to look appealing. I was completely transfixed until her sharp gaze snapped me right back to reality.

“Well, Mr. Travis Miller ... you are fifteen minutes early,” Professor Elena said, her voice smooth, mature, and dripping with an icy, calm sarcasm.

I blinked, completely confused. Early? I was definitely forty-five minutes late for the actual lecture.

“Uh ... what?” I mumbled nervously, shifting my backpack on my shoulder.

A collective smirk rippled through the front rows as she corrected me, her piercing hazel eyes narrowing slightly. “Fifteen minutes early for the cafeteria lunch break, Mr. Miller. Now turn around, get out, and come back after the break is over.”

The entire room burst into a wave of quiet snickers. I finally realized she was just brutally taunting me. She wasn’t letting me slip into the back row; she was officially kicking me out for showing up at the tail end of her class.

I let my eyes scan the rows of laughing students and immediately spotted my roommate and best friend, Min-jun. He was sitting toward the back, completely losing it, laughing his absolute ass off at my expense.

Yeah, yeah, enjoy it while it lasts, dude, I thought to myself, throwing him a sarcastic glare.

Not wanting to push my luck with Elena any further, I pulled the door shut, retreated back into the empty corridor, and slid down the wall to wait for the lunch bell to finally ring.

After few minutes.

The buzz of the college bell cut through the corridor, and the lecture hall doors slid open. Professor Elena stepped out, the sharp clack-clack of her stilettos echoing against the floor. I instantly straightened up against the wall, trying to look like a sorry, pathetic student as she approached.

She stopped right in front of me, bringing her towering heels nearly eye-to-eye with me, her massive E-cup boobs practically invading my personal space.

“Be obedient, Mr. Miller,” Elena said, her voice smooth and dripping with amusement as she looked me up and down. “My next lecture is right after the break, so don’t fuck up again, young man. I know exactly what you students are up to. Trust me ... I’ve been in those exact shoes this week.”

She let out a soft, sultry chuckle that made her chest heave, then turned on her heel, her wide, tight-skirted ass swaying as she walked away down the hall.

I stood there, completely blank. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Before I could think about it, a heavy palm slapped down hard on my shoulder.

“Haha, what’s up, Mr. Late-Ass Miller?” Min-jun laughed, leaning into my space. He glanced down the hallway at her retreating figure and gave me a sharp nudge. “Oh ... admiring Elena’s sexy ass while she walks away, huh?”