🌸 Chapter 1 – The Unluckiest First Encounter
Adrian had long suspected that he had been born under the wrong star. Some people were blessed with charm, luck, or at least the ability to walk across a room without tripping over air. Adrian, unfortunately, had none of those gifts.
If there was a puddle on the street, he would find it with his brand-new shoes. If there was a low-hanging branch, it would smack him square in the forehead. And if there was a situation where he could make himself look like an idiot in front of his peers… Adrian could be counted on to deliver.
"Not today," he muttered under his breath that morning, adjusting the strap of his bag as he walked through the college gates. "Today is going to be normal. Just a regular, boring, incident-free day."
The universe must have heard him and decided to make a joke out of it.
Because the next moment, Adrian collided—at full speed—with someone rounding the corner.
His books flew into the air like startled pigeons. His bag slipped off his shoulder. He himself landed on the pavement with a thud that rattled his teeth.
"Ow…" he groaned, rubbing his elbow.
A sharp, annoyed voice cut through his daze. "Seriously? Can you not watch where you're going?"
Adrian blinked up. His stomach dropped.
It was her.
Selina.
Selina, whose reputation preceded her in every hallway. Smart, sharp-tongued, and effortlessly gorgeous, she was the type of girl who seemed untouchable—like she belonged to a higher plane of existence. The kind of girl who always had her hair perfectly in place, her notes color-coded, and her words ready to cut through anyone's nonsense.
And Adrian… had just knocked her halfway off balance.
"I—I'm sorry!" he stammered, scrambling to gather his scattered books. His fingers fumbled, bumping into the spines, dropping them again, picking them up only to drop them once more.
Selina dusted off her sleeve with a sigh, folding her arms. "Unbelievable."
Adrian felt the weight of her gaze burning into the top of his head as he reached for the last fallen notebook. But just as his fingers touched it, a breeze caught its pages, flipping it open, and something slipped out.
A folded sheet of paper.
Selina bent down and picked it up before Adrian could snatch it away.
"Oh, what's this?" she asked, her lips curving into a mischievous smirk.
Adrian's heart sank. He knew exactly what it was.
On that paper was his doodle—done during a particularly boring lecture—of a clumsy knight leaning in to kiss a princess. The drawing wasn't good. In fact, it was terrible. The knight's helmet was crooked, the princess's eyes uneven, and their lips didn't even line up properly. But what made Adrian's face flame with embarrassment was the giant pink heart he'd shaded above their heads.
Selina tilted her head, studying it. "Wow. Didn't know you were such a romantic."
Adrian's ears turned red. "That's not—it's not what it looks like! It's just, uh, practice drawing! Yeah, practice."
Her smirk widened. "Practice kissing?"
Adrian almost choked on his own breath. "N-no! Practice drawing!"
Selina handed the doodle back, their fingers brushing for the briefest moment. Adrian felt a strange jolt in his chest, like static electricity, but before he could process it, Selina had already straightened up and raised an eyebrow.
"You're weird," she said simply, though the corners of her mouth twitched like she was holding back a laugh.
Adrian wanted to melt into the pavement. "S-sorry again," he mumbled, clutching his books to his chest like a shield.
He bent forward in an awkward half-bow of apology—only for his bag strap to catch on Selina's sleeve.
"Oh no—wait—" Adrian tried to pull back, but his foot caught the edge of the pavement, and he stumbled forward.
Right into her arms.
Time froze.
Adrian's face hovered mere inches from Selina's. He could smell her perfume—something faint and floral, a little too elegant for someone his age. Her eyes widened, her cheeks flushed a faint pink, and for one wild second, Adrian thought the world might actually end right there, in the middle of the campus path, with him crashing into Selina in broad daylight.
Then the spell shattered.
Selina pushed him back, not harshly but firmly enough that he stumbled onto his feet again. Her expression was unreadable for a moment, before she huffed and brushed imaginary dust off her sleeve.
"Seriously," she muttered, her tone sharp but not entirely cold. "Are you cursed or something?"
Adrian's throat felt dry. "Honestly? Sometimes I think so."
For a heartbeat, there was silence between them. Then, to his utter shock, Selina laughed—a short, soft sound that he'd never heard from her before.
"Just… try not to crash into me again," she said, turning to walk away.
Adrian watched her go, still frozen in place, his heart hammering against his ribs.
And despite the embarrassment burning in his veins, despite the humiliation of having his silly doodle exposed, despite the fact that he had just made a complete fool of himself in front of Selina…
A small smile tugged at his lips.
For the first time in a long while, Adrian wondered if maybe—just maybe—his bad luck wasn't so bad after all.