2.

-HER-

“Cybele, its dinner time!” My mother yells from downstairs. I sigh before putting away the book that I had been reading since I came back from college. I go downstairs to find my family gathered over the dining table.

“How was your first day of college, sweetie?” My mother asks politely as I take a seat. Dad nods at me in acknowledgment while my brother, Agnus, and sister, Agatha, have already started eating.

Shitty. “It was great,” I lie as I look for the food mom made tonight. She made some sort of stew and rice.

“Great, I hope you do well as Agnus and Agatha did in their colleges,” She chimes as she serves me the dinner. I nod at her but my eyes are set on the food while my stomach howls like an angry wolf.

As I eat Agnus and Agatha start talking about their day at their jobs. They’re twins and are best at everything and considered to be godlike while I am an average and socially awkward female Homosapien who claims to be their genetically unblessed sibling.

Agnus is a practicing law just like dad while Agatha is a surgeon. Both of them are best at what they do and quite famous and well regarded in their respective fields.

Average is my middle name, although not officially but I believe it is. I won’t say that I am best at being average. In fact, I am average at being average, that’s how average I am.

I tune in and out of their conversation while I eat. Agnus is discussing a criminal case with dad while Agatha and mom are discussing some diseases. I yawn like a cat hearing them talk. I hate to say it but my family bore me to some extent. Their sophisticated ways contradict my genetic programming. I feel like I belong to the primitive era while my family is the more evolved humans of the future.

Dad asks me about college and I hate it when everyone’s attention on the table is directed at me. I felt like slipping under the table and disappearing in the depth of the earth until I knock on Hade’s door but I kept my calm and answered all his questions. He wanted me to study medicine like Agatha but I liked the arts so I signed up for Bachelors in Arts instead. I know that dad is unpleased by my decision but I know this well enough that I wouldn’t have survived a day in med school had I gone for that.

After dinner, I go back to my room and go to bed. I wait for sleep to claim me. I think about college as I lay in the comfort of my bed, surrounded by darkness. To be honest, I don’t like it but it was just my first day and I didn’t even talk to anyone. I guess, being social won’t hurt, will it?

~

I wake up to my mom knocking on my door, telling me to wake up.

“I am awake,” I tell her groggily before she leaves. I get out of bed before doing my morning routine. I don’t want to go to the college but I guess I have to or my mother will hand my ass to me and dad will lecture me of the adventures of dissecting dead bodies in medical school.

I do a quick breakfast and set off for college. Luckily, I have one of my schoolmates, Emile in my college but she is studying bachelors in science, her specialization is physics. I hope I can meet her and talk. I want to know if she is liking this place or not.

I board a bus to the metro station before taking the metro. The journey to college is so painful. I want to go back. Finally, I reach college. I text Emile to meet me in front of the office.

“Hey!” My eyes light up as I see the familiar blond amongst the flood of unknown people.

“When do you have classes?” I ask her as we head to the common room together.

“My classes start pretty early. What about you?

“Mine starts at noon,” We talk as we climb the stairs. There are students everywhere but it makes me less uncomfortable to have Emile, someone that I know with me. We’ve been great friends in school and she is a genuine girl. We talk about our classes. She tells me that she has befriended a couple of people and that she likes her classes. I tell her the experience of my first day except for the introduction part.

“oh la la, look at that hottie,” Emile purrs, interrupting me. Her eyes are set before us as we walk through the corridors of the second floor. I look where she is looking and my eyes fall on him.

He’s leaning by the door of a classroom, his eyes are fixed at some distance. I narrow my eyes at him. He looks... different for a lack of better word. I just can’t describe this feeling. I was going nuts over him just yesterday and today, he’s standing in front of me and I don’t... feel a thing?

I don’t feel the overwhelming pull that I was feeling yesterday. Wow. This crush has disappeared faster than I had anticipated. I thought it was going to last months but it didn’t even last a full day? Wow, this is weird but it’s good for me anyway.

Soon, we see a girl step out of the classroom. As soon as his eyes fall on her, his face lights up and a grin spread over his face. He steps closer to the girl before warping one of his muscular arms around her waist and pulling her flush to his body. It’s no surprise that he must have a girlfriend given his godlike features.

He mutters something in her ear which makes her giggle. Together they walk away without sparing anyone around them a second glance. They look so much into each other that they do not care about their surrounding.

“Lucky bitch,” Emile mutters beside me as we head towards the common room. I look at the retreating couple before following Emile.

We go to the common room and talk before leaving for our classes. As I step inside the class, some people give me funny looks before resuming what they were doing before. Today, I am sitting two seats in front of the seat I was sitting on yesterday.

“Look who’s here,” I hear someone say. My head shoots up to find an amused girl looking at me. As far as I remember, her name is Holly. There are several other girls with her. They’re looking at me with judging eyes. Holly mutters something under her breath before they start laughing like dying hyenas. It doesn’t take me long to realize that she’s talking about me.

I ignore her and busy myself by taking out my notebook and pen for the class. The professor arrives shortly and the class commences. Fortunately, the whole day passes smoothly.

I am bubbling with happiness as I step outside the class, ready to go home. I climb down four flights of stairs, skipping two stairs at one. Some people give me funny looks but I just ignore them. As soon as I climb down the last stair and turn right for the corridor, my stomach dips. There’s this tension in the air that makes it hard for me to breathe.

Several butterflies erupt in my stomach and in the next moment, I see him again. My heart starts to race in my chest as soon as my eyes land on him. He is turned away from me, talking to the black-haired girl from the welcoming program yesterday. They seem to be deep in conversation, discussing something personal and intimate.

The more I look at him, the more I am overwhelmed by emotions that I didn’t know existed inside me. What is happening? I thought I was over him but now this? Am I sick? Or is this some new kind of lust that scientists are yet to discover and name?

I must have been watching him for too long because I notice his back getting tense before he slowly turns around. I spin on my heels before heading towards the backdoor of the building, hoping that he did not see him.

My steps falter a couple of times but I don’t stop and keep walking without looking behind. I don’t know why but I feel wrong walking away. There’s a voice inside me, telling me that I should have stayed there.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened had I stayed? What would have happened had he seen me?

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