Kai Ashford's POV
She was on me again.
Like literally, on me.
One arm looped through mine, her chin nearly on my shoulder as she dragged me across campus like we were on a date—which, to be very clear, we were not.
"I'm telling you, Kai, if you ever become a mafia boss, I'd want to be your very sparkly consigliere. Imagine me in all pink, giving orders. Glitter and guns. Adorable and deadly."
"You'd shoot yourself in the foot."
"I know. Isn't that so me?"
I sighed. Loudly. She didn't care.
She never cared about my silence.
And maybe… that was the problem.
People were staring. Phones were out. I heard a camera click somewhere behind us.
"Are they dating?" someone whispered.
"I thought he hated people?" another replied.
"Maybe he secretly loves her," a third voice chimed in, and that made Sky beam. She actually beamed. At me.
Great.
Now everyone thought I had a girlfriend.
I should have shaken her off. Walked away. Told her to go bother someone else.
But I didn't.
Because somehow, this sunshine-soaked disaster of a girl with four pens in her pocket and a bow in her hair she clearly forgot she was wearing had become… routine. Familiar. Predictable in the most unpredictable way.
Every morning she found me. Every morning she smiled like I was the first person she'd ever seen.
She was too much. Too loud. Too cheerful. Too clingy.
She remembered my coffee order.
She waved at the janitor.
She lent her hoodie to a crying freshman yesterday and walked around campus in the freezing cold without complaining.
And now—she was dragging me to class like we were married.
I hated this.
I hated that I didn't hate it.
"Do you like me, Kai?" she asked suddenly, eyes wide and almost too innocent.
"No."
She gasped. "So cold. You've broken my heart. I shall never recover—"
"Sky—"
"—tell our children their father was cruel and emotionally constipated."
I stopped walking.
She bumped into me and then backed up, sheepish. "Too far?"
I looked at her. Really looked.
Her black hair was braided today, heavy and elegant. Her eyes were shining, like she was laughing even when she wasn't. She had glitter on her cheeks. No idea how it got there.
I clenched my jaw.
She wasn't supposed to get to me.
I was Kai Ashford. Rich. Respected. Feared.
I'd handled corporate mergers. Courtroom drama. Paparazzi.
But somehow, this girl… this clingy, dramatic, chaos demon in sneakers and lip gloss was my biggest problem.
And I couldn't stop thinking about her.
Even when I wanted to.
Especially then.