The Bad Boy Fell for the Good Girl
Weld
Chapter 1
My love for him was like a dandelion. A single breath and it scattered, filling the whole of summer–Luciana Spencer,
In the late summer of September, on the campus of Jorendale University, torrential rain had just passed, but the sun was already peeking back out from behind the clouds.
The still–wet ground began to steam under its glare, sending waves of heat shimmering into the air. Even the breeze, when brushed against the skin, carried the weight of the lingering heat. The sun burned overhead, and cicadas chirped in the trees,
Luciana Spencer sat at the art club’s recruitment booth, the scorching sun beating down on her in a haze of heat and fatigue, She squinted, trying to block out the blinding light, but the sun still managed to pierce through her closed eyelids, stinging her eyes with its brightness. After pulling an all–nighter to finish a design project for her part–time gig, she spent the morning helping at the administrative office without so much as a bite to eat. Now, her eyelids were waging war against each other, heavy and uncooperative, She was exhausted, hungry, drained, and barely hanging on.
The art club’s booth was quiet.
With her head down, Luciana quietly unlocked her phone and opened her private album, tapping on the photo she had looked at a thousand times if not more. It was taken in the height of summer. Sunlight spilled through a classroom window, and dandelion seeds floated in the air. A boy in a crisp school uniform shirt slept with his head on the desk, his features sharp and striking. There was something effortlessly bold about him, something unforgettable and bewitching.
Time flew, and three years had passed. Whenever things got hard or Luciana felt like she couldn’t go on, she would look at this photo. Somehow, a simple glance was enough to give her a reason to keep going. This had helped her for the last three years,
She set her phone down with a quiet sigh. Under the shimmer of pure white sunlight, she squinted for a fleeting moment. She thought she saw that familiar silhouette, the one she had been dreaming of for over a thousand nights and days now,
A young man alighted from a Rolls–Royce and reached out to her. Even his hands were beautiful–clean and slender with sharp, defined knuckles.
Luciana could still remember exactly where the veins rose on the back of his hand, as if the image had been etched into her memory.
He looked at her, a faint smile creeping onto his usually impassive face. Even his eyes seemed to sparkle with a quiet warmth, and he radiated with a gentle light.
Blood rushed to Luciana’s cheeks as she confessed, “I’m into you, Thiago
“What a coincidence. So am I, babe.”
Suddenly, a cool touch brushed Luciana’s cheek, snapping her out of her daydream.
Nigel Carrington held out a cup of iced coffee, gently tapping the hand she had been resting her face on. “Did you not sleep well last night? Why are you nodding off at this hour?”
She took the coffee, feeling somewhat awkward after being caught. Great, another daydream. It had been three years. When would this endless cycle finally end?
“Hey, Nigel I’ve been busy with my part–time gigs lately.”
“Take a break if you’re busy. Money’s not going anywhere,”
“Okay.” Luciana laughed, ending the conversation there.
Nigel was the boyfriend of her best friend, Vivian Taylor, from the biomedical science department. He was a senior in his fourth year and the student council president. He was quite considerate toward Luciana, mostly because of his relationship with Vivian.
After circling the art club’s booth, Nigel asked, “A bit quiet over here, isn’t it?”
Luciana puffed out her cheeks and took a sip of the iced coffee. “The entry requirements for the art club are way too high, and our beautiful Vivian, the crowd magnet, is out for a competition today. So, it’s less packed today.”
“Aren’t you a crowd magnet as well?” Nigel chuckled, then suggested, “Why don’t you do something in this free period and sketch me for practice?”
“Sure.”
Chapter 1
2/2
Luciana pulled out a sheet of paper and set it on the easel. Using the black hair tie around her wrist, she gathered her wavy, long hair into a high ponytail. The hem of her T–shirt rode up slightly as she raised her arms, revealing a strip of smooth skin at her waist. It looked dazzlingly pale under the sunlight.
She was undeniably beautiful, like the sweet heroine straight out of a novel, and she was quite popular at Jorendale University,
However, only she remembered being an outcast in high school. Back then, she wore glasses, sported thick bangs, and still held on to a bit of baby fat.
Silverlake High School was an elite aristocratic academy in Jaxwell, and she had been a special admit student who had only earned her place among those privileged sons and daughters through a scholarship.
Luciana raised her sketching pencil, and in the sunlight, her soft, glowing face seemed almost translucent–so much so that even the fine fuzz on the tip of her nose was visible.
The pencil scratched softly across the paper, quickly tracing out a sharp, defined silhouette. She smilingly asked Nigel, “Do you want to look cool or charming in my sketch?”
He casually answered, “I’m fine with either. I’ve always found your work better than Vivian’s anyway.”
Luciana was naturally shy, so the compliment made her ears flush with a rosy tint. “No way. Vivian and I excel at different things.”
“I’ve also heard her complimenting your work many times.”
They were chatting casually when she suddenly caught a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye, like the blazing sun had fallen from the sky in the sweltering late summer heat. Then, with a loud bang, chaos erupted.
Before Luciana could react, her easel was knocked over, splintering into pieces on the ground.
A basketball rolled slowly across the floor.
She and Nigel stood up at the same time, exchanging a shocked glance before turning toward where the ball had come from.
Not far away, a tall, slender figure approached. The man wore a simple white T–shirt layered under a light blue button–up. His skin was pale and flawless, and he had broad shoulders and long legs. His sharp, refined features glinted under the late summer sunlight, giving him an almost otherworldly presence.
When Luciana caught a clear look at his stunningly perfect face, she gasped sharply, her mind momentarily blank. What was happening? Was this another daydream?
The man stood with his hands in his pockets, tilting his head. A confident, almost arrogant smile played on his lips.
Then, he turned to another equally handsome man beside him and teased, “Hey, Hugo. Did your dad’s company go bankrupt? How else do you explain buying such a cheap, low–quality basketball with zero friction? It flew right out of your hands like that!”
Hugo Barron was speechless, silently complaining, “Really, dude? You’re going to blame it on my ball and pretend you didn’t just toss it away on purpose?”
Hearing that rich, deep voice again after three years made Luciana’s fingers tremble, almost paralyzing her. Had Thiago Langston returned from Ubrurg?
With a devil–may–care glance at the two before him, Thiago settled his gaze on Luciana.
“Well, if it isn’t Luciana,” he said with a smirk.
Luciana’s breath hitched, and in an instant, memories from her senior year of high school crashed over her like a tidal wave.
Back then, she had been naive enough to think that the only son of the wealthiest family in Jaxwell was just like her–a special admit student attending Silverlake High School on a scholarship.
“Pull yourself together, Luciana,” she quietly reminded herself. “You can’t let him know your feelings again!”
She had already embarrassed herself once, so she wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. She had to preserve some dignity for herself, right?
Standing nearby and seemingly enjoying stirring the pot, Hugo glanced at Thiago with a smirk and chimed in, “Look at you–I didn’t know you could flirt. Also, I bet a cute girl like her has a boyfriend already.”
A soft flush of pink crept up Luciana’s cheeks, her glowing complexion making her look delicate and quiet.
“Ignore him, Luciana. His flirt mode turns on and off like bad WI–FL.” Hugo then asked, “You do have a boyfriend, right?”
At that moment, all she could think about was hiding her feelings. She bit her lower lip gently, leaving behind a faint mark, and nodded. “Yeah… I do have a boyfriend,” Luciana said meekly.
Her response caught Thiago’s attention. With an ambiguous smirk, he cast her a sidelong glance and asked, “What was that? A what now?”
