The second it clicked from her heels on the campus pavement, the buzz started.
The student parking lot at Austen University was the scene for the arrival of a silver luxury car. It slid in smoothly, gleaming in the midday sun like a razor blade. A woman stepped out of the tinted window, moving effortlessly and grinning as if she had never heard the word "no."
Her name was Cristelle.
And today she officially became a student at Austen University.
Everyone stared. Conversations stopped. Whispers were spreading much quicker than fire.
"Is she a model?" "She's not from around here for sure..." "Did you see her shoes? They are really designer." "She looks like a goddess,"
Cristelle let everyone talk but took it all in with a cool smile. Neither pride nor shyness. Just a little charm that would seem to suggest that she was on the same level with them, and a bit of mystery to make them keep watching. The driver that had been with her unlatched the door behind her and suddenly, the earth seemed to have turned slightly.
She moved the strap of her lovely bag from champagne-colored leather and the tiny stones embroidered on her dress sparkled brightly in the light. Every move she made was measured, thoughtful, and certainly self-assured. No one could help but naturally clear the way for her even though she never directly asked them to.
Nevertheless, she was not here because of them.
Without much of a hurry, her eyes traveled over the different buildings until they found the Department of Astrology.
It was the place where Zac Aaron would be.
And she was going to let him know she was there.
---
Zac was still deeply at his desk long after the students had mostly filed away. The lesson was over, yet he stayed, his notes open, his pen rolling from one finger to another absentmindedly. He leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling with the sun that was coming through the large windows of the classroom slowly and lazily.
He ought to have been starving. He ought to have been on his way to the cafeteria like everyone else. Nevertheless, the heaviness of the previous night—Cristelle's coming, her peculiar questions, and that feeling of familiarity that he couldn't get rid of—was still with him like a half-forgotten constellation that you could have seen before in another sky but weren't sure about.
Phones still in his hand, his fingers hovered. No new messages yet. Januz hadn't yet responded to the meme that Zac had sent him earlier this morning. Not that he cared. (Well, maybe a little.)
Perhaps Zac was simply too busy, Zac thought. Or maybe, I am just overthinking everything.
He was brought back to earth just by a soft knock on the open classroom door.
He turned and was quite surprised.
Framed by the entrance, Cristelle looked like a scene from a movie. A faded light outlining her made her champagne dress slightly sparkle.
Zac immediately straightened up and furrowed his brow. "Uh… Cristelle?"
She returned the smile and before she could even say a word, her heels were already making their impact on the floor, it was almost as if each sound was uniquely dominant. Even the cracked tiles were at their best with her presence.
"I hope that I'm not causing you any inconvenience," were her sweet initial words.
"I can't tell you where you belong here," Zac answered slowly, "I wasn't expecting you."
Cristelle tilted her head, her hair sliding over one shoulder in a glossy wave. "Well, well be seeing more of each other. I've just enrolled. Your father and mine thought it was a good idea. Isn't that wonderful?"
Zac blinked. "Hold on- enrolled? Here?"
With a bigger grin, she replied, "Yes. In the department where you are."
He was so shocked he could only make a gesture with his mouth as he said, "Astrology?"
Cristelle's eyes sparkled. "Why not? I've always been fascinated by the stars."
Zac felt like his throat dried up. "You certainly don't seem like the person who would-".
"Who'd what?" she queried, lifting her eyebrow.
He mumbled, "Never mind," after he cleared his throat.
Cristelle drew near with her usual charm and said, "You don't seem to be happy about this."
"I just didn't realize that you were quite serious,"
"Oh, I truly am," she said softly, her voice like velvet. "On many things."
After he was about to step away again, Cristelle put her hand on his arm. The touch of her fingers was cold, delicate and left a trail of goosebumps on the skin.
"You look even better in the daylight," she whispered. "The sun makes you look like the kind of man someone would fall in love with."
Zac was petrified.
It was exactly the moment Januz entered.
---
He didn't mean to witness it.
While passing, with his notebook under the arm, deciding whether to ask Zac about their upcoming research paper, he was stopped by the view he had instead.
Zac stood there. And so did a woman - stunning, elegant, enchanting - who was standing too close to him. Her hand rested on his arm. Zac was not smiling, yet he wasn't turning away either.
A sharp and unpleasant feeling penetrated Januz's chest.
He had no idea what it was.
He didn't like it.
He turned and walked off before he had time to stop himself.
His steps were purposeful and swift, but the heart that beat inside him was not in tune with it. Holding the notebook closer than usual, he seemed to be anchoring the storm that had just erupted within him.
---
Back at the classroom, Zac saw the quick movement at the door.
"Januz?" he shouted, going out through the door and passing Cristelle. But the corridor was already empty.
Feeling let down, he pulled off the grip on his arm and, "Look, I have no idea what our parents are up to, but I'm not interested in being part of their plans," he said.
There was no change in her expression. "You don't have to agree with me if you don't want to. Just stay receptive," she said.
"Receptive to what?" Zac tone became sharper as he asked.
Her smile spread. "Destiny is capable of being rewritten. Particularly under the right stars."
Zac face got even darker. "You make it sound as though everything is written in the stars," he said.
Cristelle moved nearer still with her scented breath brushing against him. "Maybe it is," she said.
She left and got Zac to stand there, still confused and unsettled.
---
In the meantime, Januz is in the astronomy lab with his notes all over the desk, looking completely useless. His pen is above the paper but he can write nothing.
He just couldn't focus- not after what he saw.
The pictures of Zac and Cristelle were deep imprinted on his mind—her palm on his arm, the way Zac hand hadn't moved away instantly. The wound in his chest seemed to come back every time he recalled it.
"What's that?" he asked to himself, his voice quiet but hoarse.
He was not certain what among those things that upset him most: either the fact that Zac had a person who was flirt with him in an open manner, or the feeling that it gave him.
Jealous.
I mean, was he jealous?
For what reason?
His fists tightened so much that the veins on his hands stood out. He had been the type of person who was always very careful in his dealings with people; he was distant and detached. Emotions were something that he could not indulge in—they were luxuries that were impossible to afford for him—not here, not now. He had done this thing of making a promise to himself, to the world he had left behind.
No more love. No more vulnerabilities.
But after seeing that woman taking Zac's hand…
He was so painfully choked with the feeling that he had to look away, yet he was unable. He wanted to forget it, but he didn't know the way he could do it.
Danger signaled his mind. Emotions are dangerous.
Still—
He remembered Zac's face. His smile. His stubbornness. His warmth.
Januz shut his eyes, put a hand on his chest as if it could stop the tumult inside him.
This was perilous. Too hazardous.
Yet he was not convinced that he wanted to quit.
---
That night, Zac ended up strolling the campus garden by himself with his hands in his pockets. The night was crisp with stars dotted all over the sky. Connecting the dots in his mental sky map was what he was doing, as he tilted his head up.
His musings were not about the constellations, though. They revolved around what Cristelle had said. On Januz walking out. On the uncomfortable feeling that even the universe was trying to influence outcomes that were beyond his view.
He sighed deeply, and a bit of his breath showed in the night. "What in the world is going on here?"
---
Cristelle sat in her dorm room, window open, moonlight flooding her floor. She shifted the phone from her lap and went out to the balcony, her champagne dress changed for a plain silk robe.
Her smile was a small one as she lifted her face towards the heavens.
"The stars are finally shifting," she muttered, her voice barely audible but melodious. "Let's see who remembers the lesson."