Chapter 26 CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 26
YAEL
You’d think I’d be over it by now.
But no. My brain was still on replay mode.
Every time I blinked, I saw his face. Every time I breathed, I remembered how close he’d been. Every time I—
Okay, yeah, this was getting ridiculous.
“He kissed me.”
Maya dropped her phone. Literally dropped it. “He what?”
Across from me, Jordan smirked over her can of soda. “I knew it. The tension between you two could’ve powered the entire building.”
I slumped onto the couch, covering my face with both hands. “This is so bad.”
“No,” Maya said, picking her phone back up, eyes wide with way too much excitement, “this is so good. Yael, you have to tell me everything—how, when, why—start from the beginning!”
“I’m not telling you—”
“Oh, you’re telling me,” she cut in, grinning like a maniac. “Because you’re red. Like, violently red. Girl, you’re blushing so hard, you look like you sat on a heater.”
Jordan laughed, low and lazy. “So, Knox finally kissed you.”
I snapped my head up. “Finally?”
Jordan raised a brow. “You didn’t notice the way he’s been looking at you? Like he’s two seconds away from committing a crime?”
Maya gasped dramatically. “Oh my God, she’s right!”
I groaned. “Can everyone stop making this sound like some sort of love confession? He’s annoying. He teases me. He drives me insane.”
“Uh-huh.” Jordan leaned back in her chair. “And yet, you let him kiss you.”
“I didn’t let him!”
Maya gasped. “Did he force—”
“No! Not like that,” I interrupted quickly, feeling heat rush up my neck. “He just—he came close, and then before I knew it—he kissed me, okay?”
Jordan chuckled. “And before he knew it, you kissed him back, huh?”
I froze. “Excuse me?”
She grinned. “You didn’t push him away, did you?”
My silence said enough.
Maya shrieked, clutching a pillow. “YAEL!”
“Stop yelling!”
She was practically bouncing on the couch. “You kissed him back!”
I buried my face in my hands. “Kill me now.”
Jordan’s smirk softened. “You don’t look like someone who hated it.”
“That’s the problem,” I muttered into my palms.
Maya squealed again. “This is so romantic. Academic rivals to lovers? Hot, brooding leader meets feisty genius? I’d read that.”
“Stop writing my life like it’s your Wattpad draft.”
She giggled. “Too late. The title’s already ‘He Called Me Princess and Then Kissed Me.’”
I threw a pillow at her.
Jordan laughed so hard she nearly fell off her chair.
“You guys are impossible,” I muttered, standing up and pacing. “Do you know how humiliating this is? He’s Knox. The Knox. He’s arrogant, infuriating, My brother's rival and—”
“Hot?” Maya supplied.
“Exactly—no!” I glared at her. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
Jordan grinned. “It’s what you were thinking.”
I glared at her next. “You’re not helping.”
“Didn’t say I was trying to.”
I sighed, collapsing onto the couch again. “He kissed me. And now, I can’t stop thinking about it. Which is so annoying because I hate him.”
Maya nudged me. “Do you though?”
“Yes.”
Jordan smirked. “Then why are you smiling?”
I froze again. “I’m not.”
“You totally are.”
“I’m not!”
They both exchanged that look — the look that said we know something you don’t want to admit.
Maya sighed dreamily. “This is giving main-character energy. You, the feisty heroine. Him, the morally gray academic prince.”
I groaned. “He’s not a prince, Maya.”
“Fine, then he’s the dark knight.”
Jordan snorted. “More like the chaotic gremlin.”
That made me laugh — unwillingly, but it still came out. “Chaotic gremlin fits better.”
“See?” Jordan shrugged. “You already know him too well. You’re screwed.”
Maya gasped again. “Do you think he’s going to kiss you again?”
“I don’t know!” I shouted, throwing my hands up. “And I don’t want to find out.”
Jordan grinned. “You do.”
“I don’t!”
She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “Okay, serious question — what are you going to do about it?”
I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Jordan said, “you’ve got a co-lead partnership with him for the next few months. You’re going to be seeing him. Working with him. Arguing with him.”
Maya giggled. “Flirting with him.”
Jordan added, “Probably kissing him again.”
“Stop!” I nearly shouted. “No kissing! No flirting! Nothing!”
Maya pretended to zip her lips, eyes twinkling. “Whatever you say, Yael.”
Jordan grinned. “We’ll see.”
I groaned again, falling backward onto the couch. “You people are the worst.”
Maya leaned over me. “You love us.”
“I tolerate you.”
“Same thing.”
I laughed softly, shaking my head. “You guys are insane.”
Jordan sipped her drink. “Maybe. But we’re not the ones kissing our rivals in hallways.”
I threw another pillow at her. She dodged it easily.
My phone buzzed on the table, and I grabbed it. One new message.
Knox: Meeting at 3. Don’t be late, princess.
My heart skipped. Again.
Jordan caught the look on my face instantly. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
Maya leaned over my shoulder. “What did he say?”
“Nothing.”
Maya snatched the phone from my hand before I could stop her. She read the text and gasped dramatically. “He called you princess again.”
Jordan whistled. “Man’s got a death wish.”
Maya giggled. “Or a crush.”
I snatched my phone back, cheeks burning. “It’s not a crush. He’s just—”
“What, obsessed?” Jordan teased.
“Provocative,” I muttered. “He likes making me mad.”
“Because you look cute when you’re mad,” Maya said, dead serious.
“Stop romanticizing him!”
Maya laughed. “I’m just saying, he’s clearly into you.”
Jordan stood, stretching. “And you’re clearly into him.”
“I am not!”
Both of them gave me that infuriating smirk again — synchronized, evil, all-knowing.
“Whatever you say, princess,” Jordan said, winking.
I threw a pillow at her again.
She ducked, laughing, and Maya started giggling uncontrollably.
By the time they left, my cheeks hurt from how much they’d teased me.
But as I sat alone in the quiet room, staring at my reflection in the dark window, my lips tingled again.
The memory of his touch.
The sound of his low, rough voice when he whispered my name.
I pressed my palm to my mouth, whispering to myself, “I’m so screwed.”
And the worst part?
A part of me — the reckless, stupid, traitorous part — didn’t even mind.