Noel walked out after roughly five minutes of intense waiting. The casual, white, designer T-shirt and grey sweatpants he was dressed in complimented the relaxed mood. Moreover, I could notice the dark circles under his eyes that indicated the loss of sleep. His perfect brown eyes gazed at the table as he sat on the chair.

"We can get started." Noel's voice brought my attention towards the papers on the table. Linyu and Noel picked up their desired equipment and a plain workbook. The sound of flipping papers echoed in the open area, at the same time, the waiters walked around as they added new refreshments.

"The service here is good." Linyu's tone was rather sarcastic. He shrugged, then placed his pen annoyingly on the table.

"There is no need for praise, it's the bare minimum." Noel blurted out without letting his eyes trail away from the inked page. As a third party, I could only quietly watch the two beautiful creations. Immediately, I turned to get a perfect view of Noel and Linyu.

"That's something a royal would say." Linyu's tone was emotionless as he spoke through clenched teeth. I took the time to stare between the two, who happened to be stuck in a fierce eye staring silence.

"Hmm?" That was the only response Noel could think of? As though nothing occurred, he continued writing. But, that wasn't the case for Linyu.

"It's unfortunate that royals come with messed up personalities." He proceeded with his comments.

"Hmm? Isn't it better than an unfortunate man's desires?" The place was dead silent, at that moment, I heard the birds and music from the above floor that I had not noticed earlier. Linyu rolled his eyes as he stood up with the clenched glass of cold juice in his hand.

"I'm out of here!" That was all that he said as the shattered pieces of the glass spread across the floor. The mental and physical messy state of the place was unexplainable. The cleaners hurriedly entered the place, I could feel my anxiety heighten.

"Should we cut the session?" A calm, collected individual stood at the table. It was a man dressed in a fancy black suit, the well shaved face and buzz cut silver hair complimented his olive tone. He had a muscular figure with a neck tattoo that was almost fully covered by the casually unbuttoned, white shirt. The scent of smooth honey, how could such a heavenly, gorgeous man be an omega?

"It depends on what Ms Hexion wishes." Noel had a terrible habit of formalities.

"You can call me Aurora, and I don't mind finishing the remaining part of the assignment." I felt the slight trembling of my fingers, in contrary, my posture seemed well maintained. It might have been a fear of rejection or, maybe, it was because I could clearly see that he wished I had said the opposite.

Noel gave a usual forced smile with his dark eyes, "As you wish, Aurora." His charismatic tone and fingers that tapped the table could not hide the irritated pressed eyebrows and over pressured lip extension. It was so clear to me, I was talking to the fake personality that everyone found charming.

He stared at the man beside him, "Kieran, I will be stuck here for a while. Inform Maxwell about the second car-" The buzzing sound of Kieran's phone disrupted the conversation. He quietly walked away, then lifted the phone as a sign to be excused.

"The young master is occupied, we can't prepare a photoshoot without an earlier notice." His voice became slightly inaudible.

I stared at the book, then pretended to understand what was written down. It was easier to pick up on his scent due to the calm breeze and awkward silence. I had not noticed my release of pheromone until Noel continuously cleared his throat with a cough.

"I'm sorry, your scent was just so enticing." I whispered, immediately, regret filled my mind. "What I meant was-"

His bottom lip curled up in a smirk, I noticed his relaxed eyes and warm cheeks as some colour spread to them. "I didn't imagine you as a blurt type." I couldn't avoid my widened eyed expression when I gasped.

"I got nervous and spoke without thinking." I could feel the glance at me, which made me self-conscious.

"You certainly don't look like the introvert girl at school." Noel ran his fingers through his hair, then held the locs with a loose black ribbon.

"Maybe, because I took off my glasses and uniform." I bit my bottom lip as I rubbed my thumbs.

"..."

"My manager just notified me of a sudden change in my schedule. I must leave now." Noel took off without my response, I watched as he walked inside with a frown on my face.

Hurriedly, I packed my pen and other necessities in the small handbag then followed behind. He seemed in a sudden mood change, which caused me to shiver upon making eye contact. Could he be annoyed? I had said that based on my old experience.

Most people thought I looked different when I was off school premises. It was understandable because typical teenagers like my classmates viewed study specks and bulgy uniforms as unfashionable. In my situation, not to brag, I needed it because my eyes usually got swollen after midnight studies. Moreover, my school uniform was medium which made me avoid dress-conduct penalties.

The lesser the penalties on my school records, the higher my chances on obtaining a scholarship after completion. Every university liked good girls with excellent school records. Hence, after school was my opportunity to outshine my closet and dress as I wished — unfortunately, for the goldfish that my father kept. It wouldn't surprise me if others thought that I pretended to look holy at school.

We were finally out of the complex infrastructure, I was guided toward a grey car while he went with Kieran in the previous white car. Before the door could close, Noel stood next to the car and smiled. "You are quite interesting, Aurora."

For a minute, I stood by the door side and wondered what he meant by those last words. I might have not noticed earlier, but Noel is complicated. The loud sound of the car in motion caused me to relax against the smooth leather seat. "I don't understand you, Noel."

"You fake a charming personality but dislike girls' attention. How could you be so good-looking and sickly looking? Those public charitable actions by a show-off who values class and humbleness. Why are you a sweet talker if you prefer being sarcastic and rude with a smile? That perfect figure and pale rosy lips."

Noel, I really need to see the real you.

I arrived home in time for my online extra classes. It was already a stressful day, and I thanked the heavens for father's meeting. It would have been a lot more stressful if he asked me about the 'date' and what happened.

I stretched my sore back after another round of waist twist workouts. My eye-lids felt heavy, the dozing feeling after I took a bath alerted me of my free day. After two more twists, I picked the pink mat then walked toward my bed. It was already evening, and I had to sleep earlier than usual to avoid a late start to my afternoon study session with my tutor.

Finally, a relaxing zone.

"The air resistance is negligible and the friction that you had to first find is Uk - kinetic friction, not the static friction. Next time, use this equation for acceleration is equal to gravity, sine x for this block as it moved down on the inclined mountain. The x is this angle here, get this in that thick skull." Ruby explained for the third time. I couldn't get over the annoyed expression on her face and the clicking sound of her freshly manicured nail tips hitting the question paper.

"Okay, Aurora. Tell me, what's so hard about this?" I whimpered when she pulled my ear. "You will suddenly have a good memory if I start talking about your little model right now. Huh?"

"He is not just an ordinary model! Noel Von Parschel is the perfect description of beauty." I giggled.

"As if, you are still young and in love with an idol. You are no different from those fan girls." Ruby sat across the study table before letting loose her brown curly locs. "Be honest, are you still stalking him?"

"I wasn't stalking him!" I lied. She raised her eyebrows, which caused a sigh from me. "It's different this time, I was just viewing his profile and news. Oh, I might have chosen my classes based on his previous records." I stared at the open book, "Okay, I might have over done it these past two years, but this time it's different."

"..." There was silence for a while. I looked up through my long lashes at the curvy teen beside me. She had a questioning expression that showed that all my efforts were in vain.

Ruby had always known my deepest, darkest secrets. We grew up together due to our fathers being neighbouring co-workers for years. Before her parents passed on, Ruby lived the most luxurious lifestyle that would equal the royals. But, the fight for the inheritance among her older siblings caused her to be at a considerate disadvantage.

She was then adopted by her brother, Nathaniel, and his wife, Emma – who have sponsored her since then. She is currently a physics major student at one of the best, prestigious universities in the country. Ruby had always been the older sister that I never had.

"I honestly think that you like him because he is 'thee Noel' not Noel." Ruby finally said something after the long silence.

"What's the difference?" I pouted my lips, then shrugged.

"One is admiration and unreasonable attraction towards a known figure, and the other is liking an imperfect teenage boy that you find interesting." She took a deep breath, a sudden wave of emotions crossed her face. "Do you like the vice student council president, Noel? Class representative Noel? Model Noel? Prime alpha Noel? Tennis player Noel? Pianist Noel? Or Noel without all those titles?"

"Come on, you know I like every type of him." I rubbed my face, then took a glass of water.

"Then, be a person that he can freely speak to before confessing your feelings. He might end up liking every type of you, too." Ruby's last words felt like a whisper. After a few minutes, she stood up and placed another book on the table.

"Study these notes on the cyanobacteria's lifecycle and answer the questions. I will check through on our next session on Wednesday." She tightly hugged me, then kissed my uncombed hair. "Oh, tell uncle that dad said if he happened to be absent again on the next hospital appointment, he will be removed as his special case patient. Mwah, bye."

"Love you!"

"Tell that to Noel, stalker."

I laughed out loud while the sound of her heels became inaudible. It was then that the silence in the empty house hit me, I had been so occupied with her company that I forgot about the many things that I had to worry about. The money that I had could only last me three days, and dad might cut my expenses again. It was already three days, would the response for my application have arrived?

Without hesitation, I stood up and rushed towards my bedroom. Since Ruby prohibited the use of my personal devices during her sessions, I often left my phone charging. Quickly, I checked through the messages and noticed an email from the charity organization.

Hello Omega Aurora Hexion,

Thank you for taking an interest in the frost hills charity youth event. Your application was successful, and we would like to invite you to the upcoming week training program, starting on the 20th at the frost training camp in the Rockville mountains.

The card will be delivered to the provided address, verify your address on the link provided. Fill in all the necessary details on the profile including background information and upload identification documents.

Details
username: Aurora_Hexion
Password: FH1234

Enquires should be sent to the youth recruitment office, details are provided below.

@frost-hills_charity
partnership with Li health organization.
Sponsored by Parschel House, Chester House and Winterland Ltd.

Chester house? Evangeline Chester? I glared at the phone with hopes of putting a hole on the word. It doesn't matter, I applied without any knowledge of it. I frowned again, then sighed.

A small smirk appeared on my lips, and I knew this would be the perfect time to go along with my plans to capture Noel's friendship. "Seven days are enough to come up with a foundation for my plans."

Plan A, "Get Noel to befriend me."

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