The professor was smiling, which honestly, was rare enough to deserve a photo.
Rix barely noticed. His eyes had already drifted to the girl at the front.
There was something... different about her.
She wasn't doing anything. Just standing there... But the way she stood, Arms folded loosely behind her back, posture straight without looking robotic. Like she'd been taught to stand that way.
She scanned the room, calm and Confident.
Her clothes were casual, nothing too flashy but somehow she made them look like a uniform.
She wasn't nervous. Wasn't trying to impress anyone. Like being in front of people didn't bother her at all.
Rix watched her for a second longer, piecing it together.
That posture....and..control.
Military-- maybe? Or something close to it.
His gut said discipline. The kind you don't just pick up from YTube tutorials.
He wasn't sure.
But his gut rarely lied.
Professor Harin's voice pulled him back.
"Good morning, students." There was something different in his tone-a little more formal than usual. A little more respectfull.
She offered a small smile. Not wide. But it rippled through the room anyway...
A few students adjusted their hair. One dude in the third row actually straightened his collar like he was about to propose.
Her eyes ocean blue, calm--swept across the room, completely unbothered.
"Good morning," she said quietly. "My name is Seraphine Ashbourne. Nice to meet you."
That was it. Short and Polite...
But half the guys in the room suddenly looked very awake, very interested, and very delusional about their chances.
Rix watched the chaos unfold, one eyebrow raised.
Somewhere in the middle of the room, someone's brain clearly finished loading.
"Wait--Ashbourne?!"
The voice cracked through the murmurs, just loud enough to snap heads around.
Even Seraphine glanced over. Just a flicker of her eyes. But that alone made the guy shrink into his seat, hand slapping over his mouth like he'd just leaked classified information.
A beat of silence.
Then the room started buzzing.
"Wait, what? What's Ashbourne?"
"Dude. Ashbourne." The guy's voice dropped, eyes wide. "Are you serious right now?"
"I don't...what's the big deal?"
You don't...bro, where have you been living? Under a cave !!?"
A quieter voice chimed in from the side, barely holding back a laugh. "Even people in caves would've heard about them by now."
A few snickers rippled through the row.
"Okay, okay," the first guy started defensively, then suddenly froze mid-sentence.
"…Wait." His eyes widened a little as he looked back at her.
"Hold on. Ashbourne… as in that Ashbourne?"
A guy beside him let out a sharp whisper.
"Which Ashbourne did you think we were talking about? The bakery down the street?"
A few muffled laughs broke out.
"No, no" the first guy stammered, sitting up straighter. "I just.. I didn't connect it at first, okay?"
"Sorry, alright? Damn," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "You can't just drop a name like that at early in the morning."
"Oh my god…"
"No way. There's no way she's..."
"Look at her," someone whispered urgently. "Look at how she stands. You think that's normal?"
"I thought they were just… I don't know… one of those families you only hear about on the myths?"
"Myths don't enroll in your college, genius."
"Her dad's literally a general. Not just some officer but a big one."
"Like runs-half-the-military type," another added dramatically.
"Okay, now you're exaggerating."
"I'm not! Just Guluoogle it."
"Shut up, don't Guluoogle it right now, what if she sees?"
A nervous wave of laughter passed through them, quickly dying down when she shifted slightly at the front of the room.
"…Why is she even here?" someone murmured.
"Yeah. Out of all places… here?"
Rix sat perfectly still in the back, listening to the chaos unfold.
He glanced at Seraphine again.
She hadn't moved an inch. Hadn't reacted at all. Just stood there, calm as ever, like this happened everywhere she went.
Ashbourne.
Yeah. That explained the posture.
The Ashbournes weren't just a family. They were a name. The kind that carried weight in boardrooms, military bases, and government offices across the country.
Generations of military officers. Strategists. Leaders who didn't wait for history to happen .they shaped it themselves.
And her father?
Commander-General Thorne Ashbourne.
He didn't shuffle papers at some desk job. He ran the Central Defense Forces: the core, the engine of the entire military. The man made calls that moved thousands of soldiers, shifted national strategies, changed the outcome of conflicts most people would never even hear about.
From what Rix had heard and he'd heard plenty. Thorne Ashbourne was the kind of man who didn't need to raise his voice. You will just listen. Because if you didn't, you were already done.
Ruthless when he had to be. Respected by everyone.
Even the people who hated him respected him.
That was the Ashbourne name.
And right now, his daughter was standing at the front of the classroom, smiling politely like this was just another ordinary day.
" Anyway ..... whatever ,it's not my problem" rix mattered. He adjusted his position, folded his arms on the desk again, and let his forehead rest against them and continued his sleep.
Hearing the murmurs start to spiral out of control, Professor Harin raised his voice. "Silence!!"
The noise died down. A few whispers still clung to the back rows, stubborn and hushed. This was college after all, Not high school. Professors didn't have the same iron grip they had over kids in uniforms. You could only do so much.
Once the room settled, Professor Harin cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. He looked... off. More nervous than usual. Which was weird, because he was normally calm, composed.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat again. "Everyone, please welcome Miss Seraphine. She'll be joining us this semester to continue her studies due to... some family circumstances."
A brief silence followed his announcement.
Then someone snorted.
"What the fu...k? Did he just say Miss Seraphine?" a guy whispered, barely hiding his grin.
It was small at first, but it spread quickly. A few quiet laughs slipped out across the rows.
"Bro," another muttered, "he's never called anyone 'Miss' in his entire career. Even he calls me by my last name ".
A few more suppressed chuckles.
"She's been here two minutes and already has more respect than we'll get in four years."
More stifled laughter. A girl covered her mouth, shoulders shaking.
Professor Harin realized the awkwardness approximately one second too late. The word was already out there, floating in the air, impossible to take back.
He pressed on anyway. Like a brave warrior.
But the whispers kept coming.
"Bro Miss. He said Miss..."
The laughter stayed low and Controlled though...Nobody wanted to be the idiot who laughed too loud in front of her.
Seraphine stood through all of it, quiet and composed.
Then, gently, she turned to the professor.
"Sir," she said, her voice calm, almost warm. "There's really no need to be so formal." A faint smile touched her lips. "I'm just a regular student."
Even she hadn't expected that level of respect from a professor, the title caught her a little off guard, though she didn't show it beyond that small smile.
The professor offered an awkward smile.
"Ah, alright then... Seraphine it is," he said, before gesturing toward the room. "Please, feel free to take any seat you'd like."
The front rows were already packed, as expected.
Seraphine scanned the room once, then made her way toward the back.
Every step she took carried somethingJust a quiet, deliberate grace that felt less natural and more trained.
Heads turned as she passed.
Some students watched with open admiration, almost reverent. Others sat up unconsciously.
And then there was everyone else. Elbows nudging and Whispers erupted.
"Bro."
"I know."
"She's walking this way."
"I know."
"Should I say something?"
"What would you even say?"
"Sit down. You're genuinely embarrassing."
The whispers kept spreading. Imaginary scenarios and delusional fantasies of first conversations that would never happen.
Half the row was already gone. Mentally and emotionally.
-------------------------------
Sitting in the middle row, cross-legged with a casual elegance that usually turned heads, was Rina Velmont.
Campus belle. Sharp wit. Social instincts sharp enough to cut glass. Her Instapick following dwarfed most clubs combined.
She wasn't used to being outshined.
Atleast not on her turf .
And yet she'd gone still.
Her gaze tracked Seraphine across the room with a perfectly neutral expression.
But the slight tilt of her head, the barely-there twitch of her jaw was felt by the girl who sat beside her .
"She's gonna hate this," one whispered, eyes sliding sideways toward Rina.
"Velmont's turf just got a new queen."
Seraphine remained completely unaffected. Moving through it all like none of it existed.
She scanned the back rows.
Mostly empty, Quiet and unclaimed.
And then her eyes landed on him.
There he was, slouched over his desk at the very back, arms folded beneath his head, completely unconscious.
Actually asleep.
Seraphine paused for half a second.
By her standards, this was borderline sacrilegious. Raised in a household where discipline wasn't a habit but a way of life, behavior like this would've earned a sharp reprimand.
But what surprised her more was the rest of the class.
Nobody cared.
Interesting.
She didn't comment. Getting into other people's business wasn't her style.
She simply pulled the chair beside him, and sat down .
The screech of a chair dragging across the floor slipped into Rix's unconscious.
He cracked one eye open.
Drowsy and half-conscious.
Somewhere between a dream and reality.
His eyes drifted lazily to the side.And snapped fully open, Sleep evaporated.
Not in the 'whoa, a goddess is sitting next to me' way most guys would react.
No!!
More like the why is the universe specifically targeting me?
'Of all the empty seats in this entire classroom... why this one?'
It wasn't jealousy he felt from across the room.
It was the very specific, very real sensation of multiple death glares converging on the side of his head simultaneously. Practically echoed in his ears:
"Try flirting with her, and you're done."
Rix shuddered slightly under the weight of those murderous stares. Of course, he knew they wouldn't actually do anything beyond glare but sometimes a glare was enough to ruin your whole day.
See--Rix have many things. But delusional wasn't one of them.
if it had been any other student, they probably would've been grinning ear to ear or silently losing their mind in excitement.
But Rix? Rix was built different unfortunately.
Sure, he wanted a girlfriend, what college guy didn't? But unlike most, Rix was very aware of two very important truths:
One, he knew exactly where he stood in the grand hierarchy of attractiveness--somewhere between "background character" and "guy who's only noticed when taking attendance."
And two, thanks to his deeply introverted nature and yeah… he'd pretty much accepted that he was destined to ride solo.
And the girl now sitting beside him? she was in a whole different sport. It was like comparing heaven and earth.
So, why not just keep his distance from people like her? That was Rix's philosophy, one that some might call overly cautious, others might call plain ridiculous. But Rix knew better.
Trying not to look like he was sweating under the pressure, he slowly turned his head toward Seraphine. His eyes, half-lidded with sleep
"...Hey?"
Seraphine turned her head, her expression calm, already anticipating the typical half-baked attempt at flirting
"Yes?" she replied, politely, more out of habit than expectation.
But the next words out of this guy's mouth shattered whatever polite expectations Seraphine had.
Rix mumbled, deadpan, "Are you seriously here just to make my life worse?" His tone was flat, his face unreadable but there was a flicker of irritation behind his eyes that she caught instantly.
Seraphine blinked.
"...What?"
Of all the things she'd expected, compliments, awkward introductions, someone nervously asking her name. But this was completely out of her expection 'what did I even do?'
"Excuse me?" she asked, genuinely unsure whether to be confused, amused, or offended.
Rix was already frustrated. And when Rix was frustrated, his filter had a tendency to clock out early.
"Don't play dumb," he muttered, voice low. "You see these stares I'm getting? All because you picked this seat." He gestured subtly at the room. "Out of every empty chair in this classroom, you chose the one next to the guy who was peacefully asleep. You planning to ruin my entire morning?"
In truth, he knew it wasn't her fault, just a coincidence. But that didn't matter to him right now. When it came to defending his precious nap time, Rix showed no mercy. How was he supposed to drift off peacefully with all these laser-sharp stares drilling into the side of his head?
Seraphine glanced around, and sure enough, the moment her gaze swept the room, Heads snapped forward, eyes locked onto the board.
She immediately caught on to what Rix was getting at.
Truth be told, she'd never paid much attention to her own appearance. She didn't see herself as particularly beautiful or worth all the fuss. But judging by the reactions in the room, she finally understood, maybe this poor guy had a point.
Seraphine wasn't the type to snap at someone just because they spoke rudely or didn't use the right tone. She wasn't that petty.
So instead, she let out a quiet sigh and stood up.
"I'm sorry," she said simply, voice calm and cool.
She slid over to the next empty seat. But just before she fully turned away, she paused.
"That's not the way you talk to a woman."
Rix blinked...
'what did she mean by that,do I need to call her miss too?' Rix looked up, still half drowsy, and said "I talk to everyone like that."
"Then everyone around you must have very low standards."
Nobody heard it and nobody looked up. Just two people at the back of a classroom.
Rix's eyes sharpened. Sleep, completely gone.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You literally just transferred here," he said, voice still controlled. "You don't know a single thing about me."
"I know enough."
"Oh really." He leaned back slowly, "Enlighten me."
"You're the kind of person who blames others for their own discomfort." Her voice stayed calm and measured. "That kind of person usually ends up very alone."
A few heads in the nearby rows shifted. Barely perceptible.
Rix's jaw tightened.
"At least the people around me are there because they actually want to be," he said, voice dropping lower. "Not because they're scared of a last name."
The nearby students who'd half-heard it stilled.
One girl slowly stopped writing mid-sentence.
Seraphine went very still.
Not the flinching kind but the dangerous kind.
She turned toward him Fully.
"What did you just say?"
Two rows ahead, Ravi glanced sideways at Dev. Dev gave the smallest shake of his head. 'Don't.'
Rix held her gaze. Pulse climbing. But he didn't look away.
"You heard me."
Three rows ahead, a girl's eyes went wide. She slowly turned to face the board. Like she hadn't heard anything.
Professor Harin's chalk stopped moving.
He didn't turn around.
But his hand had stopped.
Even Rina Velmont, who'd been watching the whole thing unfold with quiet interest from the middle row, had straightened slightly in her seat.
Seraphine stared at Rix for a long moment.
Something moved behind her eyes. Not fury Colder than that.
"I'd think very carefully," she said softly. Voice so controlled like it was almost gentle... Almost. "About what you say next."
Rix's pulse kicked up.
It wasn't a threat but It was quieter than a threat.
Rix opened his mouth.
But..
Something in her eyes made him close it again.
His brain screamed to stop.
But his mouth-his absolute disaster of a mouth wasn't done.
"Or what?" he said. Quiet and Steady. "Your father deploys someone?"
The air left the room completely....
The girl in the second row looked like she might actually pass out.
Dev closed his eyes briefly. The expression of a man watching something terrible unfold in slow motion.
Ravi had physically leaned away from the direction of the back row.
Professor Harin turned around Slowly.
He looked at Rix Then at Seraphine.
Then back at Rix.
His expression said one thing and one thing only.
'Son...What have you done'.
Seraphine didn't react immediately
One second.
Two.
Three.
"No," she finally said. Barely above a whisper.
She tilted her head slightly."I handle my own problems."
And the way she said it, without a single flicker of emotion was somehow the most threatening thing Rix had ever heard in his life.
His throat went dry.
She held his gaze for exactly four more seconds.
Then she turned away. Sat down and Opened her notebook. Picked up her pen.
Pens found paper and Eyes found the board. Normal sounds crept back in.
Professor Harin turned slowly back to the board.
His chalk resumed moving. Slightly less steady than before.
Rix sat at the back, completely still, Staring at his desk.
His own heartbeat was unreasonably loud in his ears.
He replayed the last line in his head.
'I handle my own problems.'
'Okay', he thought quietly, staring at nothing.
'That was the single dumbest thing I have ever said in my entire life'.
The unbothered scratch of her pen against paper filled the silence between them.
Rix stared at his desk surface, replaying the conversation in excruciating detail. Every word.
Every moment his mouth had opened when his brain had clearly waved a red flag.
'I handle my own problems.'
The way she'd said it.
He exhaled slowly through his nose.
Sleep was gone.
He shifted slightly, trying to find a comfortable position that didn't exist anymore. The desk that had felt perfectly fine twenty minutes ago now felt like a slab of concrete.
He turned his head sideways, cheek pressing against his forearm, eyes drifting involuntarily toward her.
She was writing notes, probably. Neat, precise lines filling the page in a handwriting he could already tell was annoyingly perfect.
He looked away , staring at the ceiling instead.
'Your father deploys someone?'
He closed his eyes. 'Why', he thought with genuine anguish, 'did I say that?'
No answer came. Just the continued, relentless scratch of her pen.
He pulled his arms tighter around his head.
He turned his face back into his arms.
Go to sleep, he told himself.
His brain laughed at him.
Go to sleep, he repeated, more firmly.
His brain replayed 'I handle my own problems' in her exact tone, exact cadence and pitch.
He groaned quietly into his sleeve.
The pen kept scratching.
Rix lay there, wide awake, staring at the darkness behind his eyelids.
'Great', he thought flatly.
'Fantastic Morning.."