NO One’s Pov

Vivien collapsed onto her bed. She grabbed her phone- finally, the battery showed 100%. At least one thing in her life was fully functional.

But the moment she swiped open her phone, her heart did a frantic jump. Tons of notifications popped up

"Oops... I totally forgot I’m a college student as well," she whispered, her eyes falling on the notifications one by one. Urgent: Lab Exam Schedule, Project Submission Overdue, Attendance Warning.

"I’m so dead. I am actually, officially deceased," Vivien screamed her lungs out into her pillow. She kicked her legs against the mattress in frustration. "Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse! Five months of missed coding labs? I’ll be lucky if I graduate by 2030!"

She sat up abruptly, her hair a mess, her glasses lopsided. The panic about college was real, but there was a bigger mystery to solve.

She opened her browser and typed in the pen name she knew all too well.

She hit search, her breath hitched, hoping to find a real name, a face, a profile- anything.

But the results were a dead end. Link after link of book cover art, fan forums, and publishing stats popped up. There were no interviews, no "About the Author" photos, and the bio section was blank.

"That cunning bastard," Vivien muttered, throwing her phone onto the bed. "He kept everything private. Not even a single picture is out. Tsk, how am I supposed to find him in a city of millions?"

She paced the small room, her mind racing. If he was the one who had been the one paying her bills- he wasn’t hiding from her. He was playing with her.

"I know he won’t give up easily. He’s definitely the type to want revenge for how things ended," Vivien said.

"Why should I break a sweat trying to track him down? All I have to do is wait. He’ll find me. Predators always find their way back to the cage."

Her stomach let out a grumble. "Ugh, I am so hungry." She trudged into the tiny kitchen, her heart sinking as she realized the pantry was practically a desert.

She opened the fridge to find a few containers her mom had left, but after five months of hospital food in another dimension, her soul craved something specific. "I guess it’s grocery shopping time. Tsk."

With a thud of her front door, she left the apartment for the second time that day.

She ducked into the nearby grocery shop. She bought some ramen packets, which she missed so much back when she was Viella.

As she stood at the counter to pay, that same prickling sensation returned. It felt like something pressing down on the back of her neck.

She whipped her head around, eyes scanning the aisles and the storefront, but saw nothing but a distracted teenager and a stack of rice bags.

When she stepped back out onto the sidewalk, clutching her grocery bag, she narrowed her eyes. There, parked a distance away was a black car. It looked quite suspecious.

Just as she took a determined step toward it, her phone vibrated in her hand.

[Unknown Number]

She picked it up, her grip tightening. "Hello?"

The other side was dead silent. No background noise. Before she could hang up, she caught the sound of frantic breathing.

"Seriously, dude?" Vivien scoffed. "Did you just call me to listen to your stupid breathing? If you’re trying to be a creepy stalker, you’re failing. Breathe into a paper bag and call me back when you’ve got better thing to do."

She moved her thumb toward the ’end call’ button, but before she could press it, a low chuckle vibrated through the speaker.

Her entire body froze. The pitch was different but the icy chill behind the laugh was identical.

"Eli- " Before she could even finish his name, the line went dead with a click.

The black car in the distance didn’t linger, it drove away before she could even blink.

"Well, that didn’t take too long," she muttered.

"But dang, I couldn’t even see his face. Guess time will tell." With a shrug, she adjusted her bag of ramen and headed back to her apartment.

The rest of the night was a blur. Vivien spent hours hunched over her laptop, scrolling tons of job offers and applying to every single of them.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The alarm started ringing. Vivien jolted up, her glasses askew. One look at the clock and her blood ran cold.

"Holy Mac and cheese! I’m gonna be so late!" she cursed. She scrambled out of bed, changing into a pair of baggy jeans, an oversized hoodie, and her trusty glasses.

She shoved a piece of dry bread into her mouth, grabbed her bag, and sprinted out the door.

The moment she stepped onto the campus, she slowed down in confusion. The entrance was draped in banners, and there were flowers and decorations everywhere.

"Seems like some festival is gonna happen? Is someone important coming?" she muttered around her toast.

Ignoring the festivities, she glanced at her watch. She was already ten minutes late for her lab. In one hand, she clutched a latte she’d risked her life to grab from a stall along the way.

She lowered her head and began to run toward her department, but as she rounded the corner of the main building, she slammed hard into a solid chest.

The latte lid popped. The coffee went everywhere, soaking into a very expensive looking fabric.

"Oh shit!" she muttered, her eyes widening in horror.

She looked up to apologize, but the words died in her throat. Her breath hitched, and she stayed stunned, her vision blurring for a second.

The man in front of her looked... like Dante. But the features were sharpened, more modern.

His body was more slender and a bit taller than the Dante she remembered, and he had siren eyes that felt like they were pinning her to the spot.

The man looked down at her, his expression twisting into an arrogant glare.

"You have four eyes, yet you can’t see a big man standing right in front of you?" he said, his voice low and had bit of a charm in them "Get your eyes a check-up. You’re a hazard."

The insult hit Vivien like a slap, and her face instantly flushed a deep angry red. "Hey! First of all, you’re the one without glasses here, so you should’ve seen a whole-ass person walking toward you, okay?!" she snapped, pointing a trembling finger at his chest. "You could’ve dodged! Anyone with half a brain could see I was in a hurry!"

He didn’t look offended. Instead, a slow, mocking smirk played on his lips. He looked over her head, then back down at her with a glimmer of amusement.

"My bad," he drawled. "I couldn’t see you from all the way up here."

Vivien’s jaw dropped. The height joke. The audacity. "You-!"

RIIIIIIING!

The final bell for class sounded across the campus. Vivien let out a frustrated growl, realized she was now officially late and covered in coffee, and turned on her shoe. She ran off toward her building, but she could feel those siren eyes watching her back the entire way, burning a hole through her oversized hoodie.

"Oh my Lord!! Boss, what happened to your suit?!"

The assistant arrived in a rush, his eyes nearly popping out of his head as he stared at the brown latte stain spreading across the fabric. He looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack.

"Who dared to do such a thing to you?!" he fumed, his voice reaching a high pitch. He had spent two days preparing this specific suit for today’s event, and now someone had decided to use it as a coffee filter.

The man didn’t look angry, though. His gaze remained fixed on the corner where the girl had disappeared. "Just some sneaky bunny who decided to jump in front of me," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching into a dark smirk.

The assistant’s mouth fell open. He stood there, frozen, watching his boss. Something was deeply wrong. This man didn’t "smirk" at any kind of animal he usually fired people for having pets. His boss was acting far too strange lately.

Suddenly, the smirk vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Arrange a new suit. Now," he commanded, his voice clipping every word as he began walking toward the Principal’s office.

"Yes! Right away, Boss!" The assistant nodded frantically, stumbling over his own feet as he scrambled to make the call.

Meanwhile, Vivien was standing outside the Principal’s office, her heart sinking into her stomach. Her professor hadn’t been in a forgiving mood about her five-month unauthorized leave, and now she was facing the final boss of the institute. She was in so much trouble.

"Okay, Vivien. Deep breaths. You survived a mafia war, you can survive a lecture from a Principal," she whispered to herself.

She took two shaky breaths before raising her hand to knock.

Silence.

She waited a beat and knocked again.

Still no sound from within.

She let out a small sigh of relief, thinking she could escape and come back later, but then a muffled, "Come in," echoed from the other side.

Just as she twisted the handle to enter, the door was pulled open from the inside with sudden force. Caught completely off guard, her foot slipped on the polished floor, sending her stumbling forward.

Slam!

For the second time in less than twenty minutes, her face collided with a hard muscular chest. That same familiar, expensive scent flooded her nostrils.

"You really love to slam against people’s chests, don’t you?"

The sassy remark fell into her ears. Vivien recognized the voice instantly. Her blood ran hot and cold at the same time.

Seriously, not this guy again! she mentally screamed, her face flushing with a mix of embarrassment and pure rage.

She pulled back, her glasses slightly lopsided, and looked up into those piercing siren eyes. He was looking down at her with a half-amused expression. His face glow as the sun light from the window fell on him.

"Are you following me, or is your lack of balance a professional hobby?" he asked, his voice dripping with mock curiosity.

Vivien adjusted her glasses. "In your dreams! I’m here because I was called here, unlike some people who probably just think they own the place and they can just stand anywhere they please!"

The man leaned down slightly, his face inches from hers, and whispered, "Careful, four eyes. You’re currently standing in the way of the person you’re here to see."

"Well, excuse you! I am here to see the Principal," she snapped, her frustration boiling over. "The one with no hair and a fat stomach!"

The words tumbled out before she could stop them. As soon as the description hit the air, Vivien’s eyes went wide. She gasped, slamming her hands over her mouth so hard her glasses nearly flew off. Did I really just say that out loud?

The man in front of her didn’t look offended. Instead, his dark eyebrows arched toward his hairline, and he tilted his head back, letting out a deep chuckle.

Vivien froze. The sound was familiar- Even his chuckle matches Dante! she screamed internally.

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TO BE CONTINUED