Chapter 48 The cornered girl
The next afternoon, Lila balanced her books against her chest as she stepped out of the lecture hall. The afternoon air was heavy with chatter, groups of students laughing, music playing faintly from someone’s phone. She tried to blend into the noise, into the life that still moved on, as if her own hadn’t cracked weeks ago.
She wanted peace. Just one quiet day.
But peace was never kind to her.
Halfway down the hallway, she saw three girls leaning against the wall near the exit. Their glossy hair caught the light, their perfume already filling the corridor before she reached them. At the center stood Vanessa, Damian’s ex-girlfriend. Her blonde curls framed a face too perfect to hide the anger beneath.
Lila’s steps slowed. Something about the way Vanessa’s eyes followed her made her stomach tighten.
“Lila, right?” Vanessa’s tone was sharp, sweet on the surface, sour underneath. She stepped forward, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You think you’re special because Damian smiled at you?”
Lila's eyebrows furrowed “What?”
Vanessa’s friends exchanged glances and smirked. One of them whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “Maybe she thinks she’s the next one he’ll pick up.”
A few students nearby stopped to watch.
Lila’s pulse quickened. She hugged her books closer, wanting to walk past, to disappear. But Vanessa shifted again, blocking the way.
“I asked you a question,” she said.
Lila’s throat felt dry. “I don’t think I’m special,” she said quietly. “You’re mistaken.”
Vanessa tilted her head. “Oh, so you do talk.”
The girls laughed.
Lila tried to sidestep, but one of them bumped her shoulder hard. Her books slipped from her arms and fell to the ground. Pages scattered. She crouched quickly, her fingers trembling as she picked them up. The laughter above her burned through her ears.
Her chest felt heavy, her heart pounding like it wanted out. Just walk away, she told herself. Don’t give them the show they want.
Vanessa crouched slightly, close enough for Lila to smell her perfume. “You don’t belong around people like him,” she said, voice low, cruel. “So stay away before you embarrass yourself.”
Something inside Lila snapped. Her fear twisted into something small, sharp and restless.
She looked up, straight into Vanessa’s cold eyes. “You talk like his nanny.”
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
For a second, there was silence then a few gasps, then laughter. Someone clapped from the back of the crowd.
Vanessa’s face changed, the kind of fury that doesn’t shout, just burns. She stood upright, her jaw tight.
“You’ve got a smart mouth for someone who hides behind people,” she said.
Her hand lifted slowly. She was going to slap her.
But before her hand came down, another hand caught her wrist midair.
“Don’t touch her,” a familiar voice said.
Lila turned to see Asher walking towards them.
His expression was unreadable, calm but dangerous. His eyes locked on Vanessa’s. “You really want to start a fight over something that ended a year ago?”
Vanessa tried to yank her hand back, but his grip didn’t budge until she glared at him.“Stay out of it, peacock,” she hissed. “You don’t know what she’s doing.”
He let her go, slowly, deliberately. “No. But I know what you’re doing. And it’s pathetic.”
People around gasped again.
Vanessa’s face flushed red. Her friends grabbed her arms, whispering for her to let it go. She took a step back, still glaring at Lila.
“You’ll regret that,” she said finally. Then she turned and walked away, her friends following behind her like a storm that had just lost its thunder.
The hallway emptied gradually, leaving behind only Asher and Lila and the scattered sound of footsteps fading away.
Lila stood frozen, her throat tight. She bent again to pick up her last notebook, her fingers brushing against the corner of a torn page.Her hands were shaking. Her whole body was.
Asher knelt beside her and helped her pick the rest up. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
She nodded or tried to. “Yeah, I'm just surprised.”
He exhaled, long and heavy. “Lila,” he said, standing in front of her, “are you ready for this kind of humiliation?”
The words stung, not because they were harsh, but because they were true.
She hugged her books to her chest again and looked at him. “Maybe I should be by now.”
He said nothing after that. He just stared at her for a moment, something heavy in his eyes before walking ahead, giving her space to breathe.
Lila stood still. She could feel everyone’s whispers still clinging to the walls, echoing in her mind.
You don’t belong around people like him.
She pressed her lips together and inhaled, forcing air into her lungs. She didn’t want to cry, not here, not in front of anyone. She was tired of being seen as fragile, as cursed, as the girl's bad things kept finding.
The hallway grew quieter until all she could hear was her heartbeat. She lowered her gaze, trying to steady it.
Then, she heard a soft vibration from her phone.
She blinked, confused. Slowly, she unlocked the screen.
A message. It was a text from Damian” I heard what happened. Please let me make it right.”
Her breath caught. Her chest tightened, warmth and confusion flooding through her all at once. How did he even know already?
She looked down at the message again, her thumb hovering over the reply box.
Part of her wanted to ignore it to pretend she didn’t need help. Another part wanted to say yes.
Because even after everything, there was something in Damian’s tone or maybe just the idea of his attention that made her heart skip in a way she couldn’t name.
She didn’t reply.
Instead, she tucked the phone into her pocket and turned to the window at the end of the corridor, the afternoon sun casting faint light through the glass. Dust floated in the golden beam. For a moment, everything looked still, peaceful again.
But deep down, she knew better.
Peace never stayed long.
And something about the message, the timing, the way it came just as the world fell quiet made her skin prickle.
She pressed her hand over her heart, trying to steady herself. A deep breath and a small shake of the head.
Just another storm.