"President! You're here!" The black haired girl beamed when she saw the boy enter the otherwise empty room. Her face lit up like a fresh flower when she saw him, a faint redness visible on her cheeks.
"Senior, how come you're always on time for the meetings? You have perfect grades. Always on time, and a good relationship with everyone." She laughed before sighing jokingly, "How are you so perfect, ah?"
The boy became embarrassed and replied awkwardly, "It's, um, nothing. Many others manage to do it too."
Clary sighed again, lost in thought. August really was too perfect. He had good grades, a good family background and most importantly, an excellent face. Almost every girl in this whole university crushed on him.
Although he was the perfect boyfriend material, he never dated anyone. Many girls confessed to him, but he only gave a polite rejection everytime someone asked him out.
Even the number of people he's close with was very few. Although he spoke polite and formal words with everyone, that was it. Getting close to him and overcoming that fellow classmate barrier was very difficult.
Just take her as an example. Clary was the campus beauty, her grades not very different from August's. She had also received countless confessions, yet the only one who can make her blush doesn't even look at her twice. They had been together as the president and vice president for over a year but their relationship was just as it was before. Complete strangers who shared a few words occasionally.
Many times, she even went out of her way to ask him if he was free for the weekend or whether he would like to hang out sometime. Still, he refused every single time, always coming up with some excuse to avoid her.
She wanted to be angry at him for rejecting her, but his face was just so cute that all she felt was the urge to shower him with affection. All she wanted was to protect him like her treasure, even if to him she's nothing but a mere passerby.
Ah, the woes of having a hopeless crush.
Staring at his face in a daze, Clary didn't even notice how fast time sped by and the meeting came to an end.
"That concludes today's meeting." He dismissed them as the members got up and left one by one. He turned to Clary, "Miss Clarence, I assume I can leave the task of informing budget cuts to the art club up to you?"
Ah, there was this overly formal tone again. Even though she insisted he call her by only her first name many times, all she received was this 'miss Clarence'. How much she longed to hear the word 'Clary' from those lips.
"Then, I'll be on my way. Have a good day," With this dry and polite greeting, he swiftly went out, not even sparing her a second glance.
She could only look at his departing back sadly in yearning. Ah, she should really get herself together. The last thing her reputation as an aloof beauty needed was a rejection. Seems like she invested enough in him, but it's still hopeless.
Now, she must give up. If it's possible foe her to give up at this point, that is.
After the student council meeting, August headed to the library. He still had some information he had to compile for his project due next week.
Glancing at his wristwatch, he estimated that it would take him about 1 hour to do it. In exactly one hour, he had a lecture, so it was just perfect.
He couldn't help but smile slightly, the close knitted schedule filling him with a sense of delight. Taking a turn, he saw a crowd of students, blocking the corridor. Excited female students, to be exact.
Their attention seemed to be focused on something, as some of them shrieked in excitement. Rather than something, it was someone, a black haired youth, to be exact. He stood there confidently with a somewhat cold and indifferent face, the attention neither delighting nor bothering him. With his charisma and unique aura, he was easy to spot, someone who naturally stood out in a crowd.
"Kyaa!" Someone shrieked, "He's so handsome!"
"Male god, I'm telling you. I think senior August's throne is finally shaken."
"Omg, hold my purse. I'm going to sneak a shot of this eye candy real quick and upload in on the university server."
"Senior August should be worried hehe....A rival has appeared!"
The man in question, August, just clicked his tongue indifferently to all that commotion and decided to take a different route. It seemed like this hoard wouldn't be dispersing anytime soon.
He glanced at the time, noticing that all this had made him 10 minutes late.
In addition, he had to take a longer route, wasting even more of his time. He heaved a light sigh of disappointment. On his way, the face of the black haired boy resurfaced in his mind, his face still fresh in august's memory.
He really was very handsome. Ebony black hair and light blue eyes created an interesting combination with his tanned skin, giving him an attractive and exotic look.
"Really….beautiful," August couldn't help but mutter.
Still, he was a little sour to this newcomer. Not because he stole his title or something. It was given to him without his consent in the first place. Anyway, he couldn't care less about the gossip of university girls.
What irked him was that this guy, who just came, ruined his schedule and made him 15 minutes late.
"Senior August?" The blond girl chewed on her salad, thoughtful. "You're asking about him?"
Kaitlyn was one of the braver girls who dard to approach this male god. She was with a few others who came forward. Most girls, though, decided to admire this perfect existence from afar, not daring to get closer.
"To be honest, I couldn't care less about him." She pouted, "You really want to know about him?"
Edward curved his lips, the smile not reaching his eyes. "Yes, if it's alright with you." Although it looked like she was indulging her, his next statement made his intention clear. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'll just ask someone else."
"-Wait!" Kaitlyn hurriedly grabbed his hand. Edward was already up, about to walk away.
"I-I'll tell you."
Kaitlyn was one of the better looking girls and was almost always at odds with the campus flower. Since it was common knowledge that Clary has a huge crush on August, she also had some sour feelings towards him. In her eyes, both of them were pretentious people who think they're above others just because they have a better face.
"Senior August…Hmm, how should I put it? He's really popular. He's polite to everyone, but that's it." As much as she hated him, she didn't dare badmouth him in public. Who knew what'd happen if one of his fans heard her conversation?
She continued, "He always has this cold air around him which warns people not to come closer or overstep boundaries. He's also close with very few people….and he doesn't like to take favors. Oh, he's also the student council president, by the way." Concluding with a frown, she clicked her tongue disdainfully and continued, "Then there's this 'campus flower'-"
However, Edward had already left the seat after getting the information he was looking for.
"Thank you for your time, ladies. It was absolutely splendid talking with you. I really want to continue this conversation but-" He gestured to his watch and said with a regretful tone, "There's somewhere I need to be right now."
With a flirtatious smile, he winked and he walked away steadily. Another set of shrieks could be heard as Kaitlyn watched him go. Ah, how can someone be so attractive? What senior August, he was definitely the most handsome man in the university now!
"Hello? Did you gather the information I ordered?"
The person on the other end gave him a reply, making the person on the line stomp his foot in anger.
"What? It's still not done!? It's just a university student!" He exhaled, lips curving in a mocking smile, "Is the mighty underworld organization Black Swan finally slowing down?"
"I'm already agreeing to pay as much as you want! Give me a final and clear answer. Can you do it or not?"
He went silent for a moment as the person on the end explained his reason. However, instead of placating his anger, it only made him more furious.
"You're saying you have to be careful since it's the young master of the Castellan family? Since when was the best organization of the underworld so careful, huh?"
"You know what, I gathered more information from asking the students here than what trash you've given me! I think I should just cancel the contract, right?"
The expression on his face turned ugly as he vented his anger. This side of him was completely unlike the somewhat flirtatious and pure youth in the cafeteria earlier.
This was the real him after all. That....was just a facade he needed for his revenge. For his brother's revenge.
"3 more days, huh? Do you take me for a fool here?" He snapped, "I should just give this job to the white rose instead, right!"
Black Swan was the second best underworld organization, after White Rose. Actually, the difference between the first and second wasn't really that big so there was always some friction between those two. Still, Black Swan had better work efficiency than White Rose. That was why Edward chose them in the first place.
"Tomorrow evening," He spoke with a hard voice that left no room for arguments, "The information should be with me by then. If not, you can say goodbye to this job and your reputation."
The other person hurriedly argued back, but Edward had already hung up. With a dark face, he got out of his car.