I push on my coat and collect myself from the last remains of our conversation, Jeremiah is waiting outside my door. He leans against the wall, phone in hand and looking ridiculously charming as ever. On my way out, I flip off the lights and lock the door.

Jeremiah's eyes flicker up on cue and give me his award-winning smiles, creasing his cheeks with an indent. I think it's cute that he has dimples.

"Hey," he greets. "How were your meetings?"

As I open my mouth to reply, an irritated voice draws my attention south. It's Theodore, "What did you and Miss Romero talk about?"

I don't hear a reply and Theodore asks again, his annoyance growing thinner by the second. "Your progress." The billionaire's voice is monotonous like his attention is far more focused on something else.

"But she said it herself that I'm great – there wasn't anything else to discuss."

There's a gasp from Theodore, "You didn't say something bad about me to her, did you?" Although I don't have the guts to turn around and watch the scene, I can imagine Theodore pointing an accusing finger at his brother.

Dimitri scoffs, offended. "No, of course not!" He firmly denies.

Dimitri's voice comes again, a little strained this time. "As I said, I just wanted a further inspection of your progress with your favourite teacher."

That is a lie. He wanted to discuss why I didn't call him after he crashed into my car with no care in the world and fled the scene to avoid a media scandal.

Theodore doesn't say anything more after that but his voice comes out in hushed whispers making it harder for me to concentrate on his words.

"Bella?" Jeremiah calls me back.

I snap back, blinking on the smiling face in front of me. "Sorry," I muttered sheepishly. "I zoned out for a sec. "Yes, my meetings were fine." I nod, wanting to brush it under the rug and not speak further on the matter. Behind my right eyebrow, my head was throbbing – some sort of sharp piercing pain that made me want to strain my eyes and I was exhausted.

He offers me a small smile, "Come on, my dearest Bella. Your carriage awaits." He gestured to the end of the corridor that led out of the building.

I cocked my eyebrow, smirking at his remark. "I feel like Cinderella,"

"Cinderella lost her shoe, not her head, Bella," Jeremiah informs, playing along. The cold air hits my cheeks immediately, draining all the once flustered rosy flush. Jeremiah presses on his keys, the car blinks to life and he opens the door for me.

I thank him, sit inside the leather seats. The car smells like pinewood and his cologne. I think I could stay here forever. He stalks his way around, sliding in, buckling himself in and rolling out.

There's a sleek black car ahead of us and it's a flashy Aston Martin. The indication of the car brand is enough is not enough to dictate whom it belongs to - Trinity was a school for the rich after all, and many students are dropped off or chauffeured in similar cars alike.

My eyes trail down to the number plate. That tells me everything I need to know: A5TER10 – it made sense, he was ahead of us when Jeremiah and I walked out and he and Theodore were the last people in the school I believe.

Jeremiah and I discuss classes for the next week and quite frankly, I'm shattered, exhausted and god damn grateful that today was Friday. I can sleep away for the weekend, binge-out my cringe-worthy romances on Netflix and eat all the ice galore found in my freezer.

Jeremiah stops at the red light, tapping his fingers in time with the music of filtering through his aux cord. It's nothing I haven't heard but old school classics from Drake such as Up All Night. Smiling at the subtle gesture from him, I recline back in my seat and my eyes dart to the left, gazing out of the side-view mirror. Asterio's car has somehow ended up behind us and it sits three cars away comfortable, shining underneath London's illuminated starry canvas and artificial lighting from the street lamps in all his glory.

I frowned, my car was gone. Jeremiah draws my attention back from my sombering thoughts as he makes a right and I direct him down a silent neighbourhood. He parks in front of my house, cutting the engine and giving me his gorgeous smile.

"Thank you for driving me home." I thank him.

He shakes his head, biting his lip. "No worries." Then both of us are silent, it stretches between us like a lifetime, unsure of what to say to another.

"Um... would you like to come inside?" he raises an eyebrow at me, surprised. "– to have dinner, we both haven't eaten and I can quickly cook us up some stir fry." I chew on the bottom of my lip, unsure of how he'll interpret my question. At this rate, I did not care. He deemed it that I was asking him to come inside and help him into my bed and panties – I was.

Desperation was never a good trait to have.

He opens his mouth to speak, glancing between me and the window to my flat block outside. He stretches the back of his neck, a little flustered. "Bella... I would love to, but I've got a busy day tomorrow. I've got errands to run in Westminster and... I'm sorry." he explains, looking defeated but the sincerity in his voice is prominent.

I tell him it's okay and he promises another time before waving me off. I step outside of his car, thanking him once again and watch as his car rolls away into the night.

A black car shoots past me, forcing the wind to immediately engulf my being whole. I blink watching it take a left then shake off the feeling of being watched. As I jab my key into the door and open it to the illuminated pathway of the stairs and led to the fourth floor of my flat.

I buzz into my flat with my keycard, ignoring the fact that that car looked similar to Asterio's. Then proceed to call myself crazy for thinking such a thing.

————

Jeremiah's cute but we gon' have to remove him from Bella & Dimitri's romance :(

— 𝓐.