"Good afternoon, everyone." My voice cut through the silence - calm, cold, practiced.

"Good afternoon, Professor."

I gave a brief nod, letting my gaze sweep across the room until it found her.

Her eyes didn't hold that usual spark - only a quiet sadness that shouldn't have bothered me, but did. She looked at me once, then down, not challenging me this time.

I should be glad that she was no longer paying attention to me.

That she wasn't challenging me with those sharp eyes, wasn't provoking me with that damned attitude.

But something ached inside me-an unfamiliar pull in my chest that I couldn't reason with.

I turned to the board and began the lecture, my voice steady, words mechanical. Yet no matter how hard I tried, my eyes found her again and again.

✩

"Class dismissed."

"And Miss Mehra, you stay here," I added.

I had nothing to do with her, but here I was. Asking her to stay even though she has no reason to. Soon, everyone left, leaving me alone with her. I walked towards her bench. My steps are slow and steady.

"Yes, professor?" Her sweet voice entered my ears.

"Today, you were distracted."

"I wasn't." She replied, my smile pulling up. Here she was, the girl I knew.

"You were."

She frowned. Cute.

"So, what happened?"

She took her hands to her face, rubbing them, and sighed as she replied, "I didn't get to sleep well last night."

I looked at her, dark circles clearly visible on her face.

"Why?" I asked, not caring if I was even allowed to ask her personal questions.

"Nothing of your business, professor." She stood up as these words rolled off her mouth.

Yeah, she wasn't my business. But I wanted to know everything. Everything related to her. What she thinks all day in that pretty head of hers, what she loves to do, what she hates...and everything.

"Anyways, is there any work for me?"

"Pay attention to class, Miss Mehra," I spoke, my voice cold, and made my way out of the class. I ignored the pang I felt after hearing her words.

⋆.˚༄

"Nyx, sit," I commanded my black cat as she prowled across the study table.

She looked up at me with those black eyes, unimpressed, before letting out a low growl and climbing onto my arm.

A sigh escaped my lips as I stroked her fur."You don't listen either, huh?"

Her tail flicked, brushing against my wrist. The room was silent except for her purring-and the noise in my head that refused to quiet down.

Amaira Mehra.

No matter how many times I told myself to stop, her name kept echoing inside me.

Shaking my head, I put Nyx down and looked at the board. It's been three years since I joined this college, and ten deaths in this short span of life. I wasn't curious about this at all, hella, I didn't even know that it was all planned until the last six months, when I received the painting of my best friend, Karthik. It was sent to me at my house.

The painting was so hauntingly disturbing, his hollow stare piercing right through me, set against a dark background.

All the names and pictures of the victims stared at me from the board. I dug up information on everyone, even asking their family members and relatives about the painting, and each of them received the painting. Somehow, the paintings were connected. I could feel it -the strokes, the texture, the prints. A dark skull is printed at the bottom of the drawing of each painting, proving my point that the same person drew them.

I covered the board and gazed outside the window- the dark surrounded me everywhere. But amidst all that, my eyes tried to find her. I looked at the student's residence, wishing I could catch her glimpse.

But she was not there, my eyes moved towards the ground, and some students were walking while some were just sitting and chatting. And in this I found her, there she was sitting with her group. Nodding at something someone said. Her pink crop top, on which was written, "Dark Verse obsessed".

"Dark Verse? What's that?" I whispered.

I opened my phone and googled Dark Verse. Oh- a book series? So she loves books? I smiled at the information. I glanced at her last time before taking my laptop and sitting on the bed, searching for the Dark Verse series. Downloading the first book,' The Predator', I started reading it.

⋆.˚༄

I closed my laptop as I finished one whole book in just one night, which was no surprise because I loved reading, but reading dark romance was my first time.

"So, Vixi loves this book?" I smirked as I muttered those words to myself.

I thought of her- she finds comfort reading these books- and not gonna lie- her choice is elite, the book was filled with tension- the burning. I dragged my hand down my face, exhaling sharply.

But then, the washroom scene from the book flashed in my mind, and I was not a teenager, but I enjoyed, loved every second of that scene. A random thought popped into my mind- She also read that?

A strange heat coiled inside me at the thought. Did she blush while reading it? Did her breath hitch the same way mine just did?

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath, pressing my hand over my face.

What the hell was I thinking? It was three in the morning, and my mind was wandering places it shouldn't. She was my student, for God's sake. The one girl I should be keeping boundaries with, not imagining while reading some dark, twisted book.

I leaned back, staring at the ceiling, trying to steady my breath.

Why her? Why does every damn thing about her get under my skin?