Page 42 of Toxic

Seeing his seriousness, I swallowed and thought hard about what he had said. If I protested, resisted, he would surely say ‘fuck you’. Giving him counterarguments would have the opposite effect—I could grasp Soren’s personality well enough to walk around it and hope for another door of chances to open.

So… I slowly nodded.

"I understand. These are your boundaries. I accept them."

Soren stared at me for a second, something flickering across his face. A weird suspicion crossed my mind. Was he…disappointed I didn’t fight him on this? But it passed too quickly to make anything of it. Could’ve just been a nervous twitch.

"And that leaves us in fuckbuddy status," he finished. "Or… blowjob buddies, whatever the proper term is. With limits."

"What limits?"

"Don’t… touch me sexually outside of my room. I… for some reason, react strongly… to you." He blushed, as if saying it made him embarrassed.

"Just looking at you makes me react strongly," I said in a low voice.

Soren quickly turned his head to the side and let out a wheeze.

"Well, now that we’ve established that, back to boundaries. No sexual touching during the day, in class, in the cafeteria, or anywhere else. It's only allowed in my room. And maybe a little of it while I smoke."

"I accept."

Soren pursed his lips and also nodded. The silence was strange. He twitched his fingers a bit nervously and murmured, "Let’s get back to the lecture hall."

As we walked in, other students looked at us again, their brows raised in amusement.

After we sat down, the omega sitting closest to us suddenly turned back and whispered in a dramatic tone, "You guys reek of cum."

Soren raised his middle finger and showed it to him, his face haughty and aloof. He didn’t even blink.

More heads turned toward us as I chuckled loudly.

***

Later that same day, Sean noticed us in the cafeteria and approached slowly.

"So. Are you guys dating? This is another day I’ve seen you together."

Soren snorted. "No."

Judging by this answer, I figured it wasn’t the right time to discuss our arrangement with others.

"So why are you sitting with him?"

"It’s simple. I prefer his company over yours and Alvin’s." Soren's face didn’t even twitch. He remained calm and unruffled.

Sean stared at him, gaping. "Jeez, you’re such a bitch, Soren."

"Don’t… call him that," I growled.

"I wasn’t the one who started with the whole ‘being a bitch’ thing, Sean, may I remind you…" Soren snarked.

But Sean just rolled his eyes, stood up, and left.

Still… Soren’s face stayed impassive. He continued putting pieces of food into his mouth and chewing as if nothing had happened. I observed him for a while, but he seemed completely unfazed by the short convo with Sean.

"You’re kinda sexy when you’re acting bitchy." I sighed. "But being like that will leave you… friendless."

"I don't have any true friends besides Liam anyway." He shrugged and took a few sips from his coffee mug.

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