Ficorpio
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Ethan Sterling—the old-money golden heir of Kingston University—had just staged a public proposal for my roommate.
A helicopter thundered overhead, scattering a rain of rose petals across campus. The entire school was stunned.
My roommate, though, only looked troubled.
“But I’ve only ever thought of him as one of the guys,” Vanessa Hale asked me. “Do you think I should say yes?”
I said, “You should. He’s rich and handsome.”
She narrowed her eyes. Then, in the very next second, she shoved me straight toward him.
“Ethan,” she said brightly, “I think my roommate likes you.”
I stumbled hard and crashed at Ethan Sterling’s feet. Pain shot through my knees.
He didn’t even look at me. He was only staring at Vanessa.
His dark eyes were stormy, and there was something raw in them, something almost wounded.
“Are you seriously that dense?” he snapped. “How could I possibly like someone like her? Don’t you know who I like?”
Vanessa tilted her head like she truly didn’t understand.
Her beautiful eyes curved into an innocent smile. “Wow, you two actually look kind of perfect together. Ethan, I’m shipping you already. Oh my God, Mom and Dad, your babies are here.”
Ethan clenched his jaw. For a moment, nobody around us dared breathe. The whole scene fell dead silent.
But I had a severe people-pleasing trauma response. I never ruined the mood.
So I said, “Yeah, yeah, we’re perfect together. Totally perfect. Husband, husband, let’s go, let’s go—our kids are here already. Ha ha.”
Vanessa’s face went white. Her smile froze.
Ethan looked genuinely stunned and lowered his head to stare at me.
It couldn’t be helped. My people-pleasing problem was bad.
How bad?
I even tried to please cats.
When I was little, the family cat once brought me a mouse as a gift. I didn’t want to hurt its feelings, so I actually took a bite out of the mouse. I only spat it out after the cat walked away.
And once I got to college?
If Vanessa asked me to grab food for her, help write a paper, run errands, or scrub her shoes, I never said no. I did everything perfectly.
Ethan only froze for a moment before a smile tugged at his mouth.
He bent down and offered me the bouquet in his arms.
Deliberately, he didn’t look at Vanessa—the girl he had originally meant to confess to. He looked only at me, seriously, intently.
Rose-colored petals drifted through the air around us. His eyes were long-lashed and beautiful, and in them I could see my own utterly ordinary face reflected back at me.
He said, “Fine. I think we look good together too. So, miss, will you be my girlfriend?”
I said, “Ha ha. Sure, sure. Yes, yes.”
Then came a sharp thud.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Vanessa’s phone slipped from her hand and hit the ground, the screen splitting into white cracks.
Back in the dorm, I packed up my bag, getting ready to head to the study lounge for a while.
The next second, something yanked tight around my neck.
Vanessa had grabbed me by the collar.
She glared at me so hard her pretty features twisted into something almost ugly.
“Sophie Reed, what gives you the right to steal my boyfriend? Seriously, are you that desperate for a man? Can’t live without one?”
I almost never argued with anyone, so I answered at once.
“Ha ha. You’re right, totally right. I’m desperate, absolutely desperate. Your insight is incredible. Truly galaxy-brain stuff. I’m in awe. Full respect.”
I even threw in a meme for flavor.
Maybe it was a little outdated, but it was still kind of funny, right? I was hoping it might make her laugh.
Instead, for some reason, she looked even angrier. Even her lips were shaking.
“You—you actually dare—! Try acting smug one more time!”
Just then, our other roommates came back.
Vanessa immediately let go of my collar. Then she lowered her voice so only I could hear.
“You think you deserve to be Ethan Sterling’s girlfriend? You? A poor, ugly girl like you? If he had to look at your face too long, he’d probably throw up. And Ethan’s only using you to make me mad right now. The second I crook my finger, he’ll dump you without a second thought.”
I gave her a harmless grin.
“Ha ha. Wow, that actually makes sense. Totally. Do you need me to break up with him? I can tell him right now.”
Vanessa choked on her own words.
Through clenched teeth, she hissed, “What kind of question is that? Of course I don’t need that. I already told you, I only think of Ethan as a friend. Do you think I’m like you, throwing myself at any guy I see? But… if you insist on breaking up with him yourself, I guess I could reluctantly accept that.”
I nodded eagerly.
“Ha ha. Sure, sure. Good to know you don’t need that. Your decision-making skills are amazing. Seriously impressive. I admire you so much I’m evolving into a whole new person. Ha ha.”
Weirdly enough, that didn’t make her laugh either.
She looked even madder now, red all the way down her neck.
“You—!”
Sigh. Why was she angry?
Was that meme too old?
That made sense, actually. I’d been so busy studying lately that I hadn’t kept up with new ones.
One of our roommates looked at me with concern.
“Sophie, are you okay? Is she bullying you?”
Vanessa completely exploded.
“What, you think I’m bullying her? Give me a break. She’s the one bullying me, if anything! Who knows what kind of act she’s putting on?”
Another roommate rolled her eyes at her.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
“Oh, please. Everyone knows Sophie’s basically the nicest girl alive. There’s no way she’d bully anyone. Vanessa, cut it out with the dorm bullying routine. If you keep messing with Sophie, I’ll make a whole PowerPoint about you and post it on the campus gossip forum. Since you’re the campus queen, I’m sure it’ll get plenty of attention.”
Vanessa gritted her teeth, slammed a cup down, climbed onto her bed, and yanked her curtain shut. She said she was going to sleep and told all of us to shut up.
I immediately took out my phone and switched it to silent.
Then I saw the text Ethan had sent a minute earlier.
[Ethan Sterling: Come downstairs.]
Ethan Sterling and I sat in the back of his chauffeured stretch limousine while his butler drove.
Ethan lounged against the leather seat like he owned gravity itself.
Outside, Kingsford City glittered through the windows, neon streaking past in ribbons of light. The shifting glow slid over his face, catching the sharp line of his nose and the clean angles of his profile.
Honestly. God really did have favorites.
Then Ethan spoke, his voice cool and tired.
“You catch on fast. I made a public move on you, and you actually said yes.”
I nodded at once. “Haha. Yep, absolutely. Totally on board.”
He gave me a strange look before going on.
“You’re Vanessa’s roommate, right? You’ll be staying in that dorm until graduation, so don’t move out. Stay close to her. If anything happens to Vanessa, you tell me immediately. Got it? I offered to buy her a place off campus before, but she said not to insult her with my dirty money.”
I nodded again. “Sure, sure. No problem. Haha.”
For some reason, that made him unhappy.
“Hey. Why do you keep sneaking looks at your phone when I’m talking to you?” His voice sharpened. “Can’t you tell I’m already in a bad mood? What exactly is so urgent?”
Of course the young master had a terrible temper too.
I immediately lowered my phone. “Sorry, sorry. I was checking on my virtual pet frog. Haha. I’m really sorry. My fault. If you want compensation, just tell me what I should do.”
He looked even angrier.
“What the hell do you mean? What’s so interesting about a stupid frog? Do you know I could get you kicked out of Kingston with one phone call?”
The air conditioning in the car was cold, but I could see the back of the butler’s shirt had gone damp with sweat.
So yeah. When the young master lost his temper, it was terrifying.
And he definitely looked like the kind of person who meant every threat he made.
I hurried to explain. “It’s like this. My phone doesn’t have enough storage, so I need to delete the game. But I have to wait until the frog leaves before I uninstall it. So I need to keep checking to see when it goes out traveling.”
That somehow made him even madder.
“You think I’m an idiot? You can delete the app whether the frog is there or not. Why do you have to wait until it’s gone?”