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“Ciao,” heit up to his lips

But instead of pleasure, he feltpain

Her pain

He didn’t understand how and why, but he knew that she had seen it all, and she was in pain

His jaw clenched

He ended the kiss, but he didn’t release A that to others it would seem like he was possessive of the model Beside thenored this

He curled an ar her closer to hi to make a statement

You are never going to be a part of my life

He wanted the e to reach her loud and clear

But it didn’t

THEY STARTED PLAYING a cat-and-er and exasperation In so a joke on hielo Valencia III, whose soul was beyond redeet, a full-sized prey being stalked by a tiny, hapless kitty

And what made it worse, he considered tautly, was that she didn’t even see hi the their paths to continuously cross

He would be heading to the dean’s office, see her fro around with ely clumsy haste He would rather take a circuitous route than walk past her

And now, Steel was asking hielo keeping his friend company while they waited for a family friend Steel was supposed to meet

“Well?” His friend arched a brow at him

“Nothing,” Angelo lied in a clipped tone If he adht as well adotten under his skin

And that, he thought grimly, he would never do

Steel was s Remember the time ere supposed to have lunch at the students’ cafeteria because the one for faculty was crowded?”

“So I changed my mind—-”

Steel rolled his eyes “You were starving as much as I was—-”

“You’re exaggerating,” he said brusquely “I wasn’t starving I just realized it would set a bad example if we didn’t maintain the barrier between students and mentors”

“Riiiiight” Steel’s tone was amused “You’ve become rather fickle-minded lately, now that I think of it Like the tied your mind halfway You almost caused a four-car pile-up—-”

Because he had seen her with the convenience store guy, he recalled blackly Angelo looked at Steel “Just drop it, March” His lips coer

Damn it to hell

Why couldn’t he stop being so affected?

And why, daed to someone else?