Karina pushed the rooftop door open, its creak echoing through the empty space. She froze at the sight before her.

It wasn’t Giselle.

Winter, a junior and one of Ningning’s classmates, was perched casually on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling over the third-floor drop. Sunlight framed her, catching the sharp lines of her profile as she turned toward the sound of the door.

The movement felt surreal, almost cinematic. Winter’s short, silky hair swept back, catching the light with every strand. Her cold, deep-set eyes locked onto Karina’s, and for a moment, Karina couldn’t breathe.

Winter's cold, deep eyes locked onto hers. Her junior's beauty was striking-sharp yet soft, with an almost androgynous allure. Her lips, a delicate pink, pressed into a thin line.

She froze.

For a split second, she realized-
Oh my god, did I just check out my junior?

The thought hit her like a freight train, and she stumbled awkwardly into the doorway.

Winter’s brow furrowed in mild confusion, though her face betrayed neither fear nor guilt. If anything, she looked faintly amused, as though Karina’s reaction were far more puzzling than being caught breaking a school rule.

Karina tried to compose herself. She was the student council president, for crying out loud. This was her job—to reprimand and enforce the rules.

But instead of sternness, panic came tumbling out.

“D-Don’t move!” she blurted, throwing her hands up as if Winter were moments away from catastrophe.

“It’s okay! You don’t have to worry. You can tell me anything.”

Winter blinked, then tilted her head. A slow smirk curled the edges of her lips, her eyes glinting with something between amusement and mischief.

Was this really happening? She thought this was going to end with a trip to the principal's office, but Karina was acting like this.

“Thank you, President,” Winter said with exaggerated politeness, her tone lilting with teasing.

Karina’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. “I—what—”

Before she could form a coherent thought, Winter rose gracefully from her spot on the ledge. She moved with an air of effortless confidence, brushing past Karina with a casual stride.

Cute, Winter thought, feeling her heart skip slightly. She hadn't expected their president to be so, endearing.

She paused at the door, glancing back over her shoulder, her smirk widening. “I’ll see you around, President.”

And just like that, she was gone.

Karina stared after her, utterly dumbfounded. She hadn’t yelled, hadn’t handed down any punishment—not even a warning. Winter had walked away scot-free.

Bad luck times two within one day!

She groaned, dragging her hands down her face.

“Good job, Karina,” she muttered bitterly. “No Giselle, and you let that stupid kid get away. Perfect.”

The warning bell echoed through the school, snapping her back to reality. With a sigh, she turned toward the stairs, her legs still trembling from her earlier sprint. Each step was a painful reminder of her fruitless search.

By the time she returned to class, Karina was a shadow of her usual composed self. Her immaculate appearance was in shambles, her hair mussed and uniform wrinkled. She slumped into her seat, ignoring the curious glances from her classmates.

The door swung open just as the bell rang, and Giselle slipped in, breathless. Their eyes met for a brief, fleeting moment before Giselle looked away, her expression unreadable.

Karina’s chest tightened. That single glance, filled with distance and unspoken hurt, stung more than she’d expected.

Giselle sat down without so much as a word, and before Karina could muster the courage to speak, their math teacher burst into the room. With dramatic flair, he announced a surprise test.

The class groaned in unison, but there was no room for protest as test papers were passed around.

Karina stared blankly at the questions in front of her. Normally, she’d breeze through such challenges, her pen flying across the page before anyone else even started.

But today, her mind was a tangled mess. The numbers and equations blurred together, and her hand remained still.

Giselle, too, sat frozen. Her mind drifted from the test to her best friend, who should have been tackling the questions with her usual ease. But when she glanced at Karina, what she saw made her stomach drop.

Karina looked utterly lost.

Her brows furrowed in frustration, her lips pressed into a thin line of concentration. But it wasn’t the focused, confident Karina Giselle knew. This was someone barely holding herself together.

She looks like she’s been through seven heartbreak, Giselle thought with a pang of guilt.

For the first time all day, Giselle realized she might have been too wrapped up in her own hurt to notice what was happening to Karina. The anger that had simmered within her began to fade, replaced by concern.

Something was wrong, and she had been too blind to see it.

When the test finally ended, Giselle packed her things, preparing to leave without another word. But just as she reached the door, a soft, desperate voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Giselle… wait.”