Page 43 of 5000 Nights of Obsession

“Letme guess.You’rehere to see your daughter,”Istated matter-of-factly.

Piyafroze in place, muscles tense.Shespun and pulled off her dark sunglasses, brown orbs flaming.Evidently,Ihad hit a nerve. “Howdo you knowIhave a daughter?”Shejabbed a finger at my chest.

Mypupils followed where her nail dug into my flesh.Whatwas it about this woman that caused such elementary effects?

Don’tget hard.

Donot fucking get hard inside a high school.

“Theonly adults here are parents, teachers, and people who recently bought this school.”Ipointed a thumb at my chest. “Seeingthat you don’t look like a teacher, it’d be weird if you were here unless you had a child attending this school,”Icalculated.

Sheopened her mouth as if to ask whyI’dassume she wasn’t a teacher.Icut her off, pointedly nodding at a lady with a top-knot-bun and button-down cardigan.Thewoman crossed something off the list stapled to her clipboard, a dead giveaway of her role.Piyarolled her eyes as if to say,Iget it.

“Butyou specifically assumedIhad a daughter?Howdid you know?”

“Ihave my ways.”

“Whatthe hell?”Piyaappeared livid by my discretion. “Areyou following my daughter as well?I’mtelling you right now, don’t you dare come near my child.Ever.Doyou understand me—”

“Jordantold me about your daughter,”Iinformed as her voice rose.ItsnappedPiyaout of the hysteria.

Hereyes widened as if our mutual link hadn’t crossed her mind, and she seemingly accepted the answer.Piyauncomfortably fixed her conservative knee-length skirt to compose herself, far from hanging up the suspicions.

“Letme get something straight,Mr.Trimalchio.Wehaven’t seen each other in nearly fourteen years, and suddenly, you’re everywhere.Iran into you at a party, and you followed it up by asking me to leave my husband,” her voice dropped toward the end of the sentence as she looked around for witnesses to our conversation. “Totop it off, you broke into my house, and you… y-you,”Piyastammered, unable to voice the occurrence.

“Ifucked you?”Ioffered helpfully since she seemed at a loss for words.

Piyareddened but refused to back down. “AndI’msupposed to believe it’s a coincidence you bought my daughter’s school the very next day?”

“Letmeget some things straight,”Iberated indignantly. “Youcame to my home without an invitation.Asmentioned last night,Iran inside your house to saveyourlife.Iinformed you thatI’dbe coming over, andyougranted me access to your home.You’resending some serious mixed signals here.”

Piyaopened her mouth, thoughIswiftly cut her off.

“NowIfind out your daughter attends the schoolIjust bought, yet you’re turning the tables on me.HowdoIknow you didn’t enroll your daughter in this school just to get close to me?”

“You’recrazy if you think you can engage me with these ridiculous accusations,” she snapped. “Goodbye,Mr.Trimalchio.”Herchin lifted into the air as she continued her strides.Ifell into step next to her. “Willyou stop following me?” she scolded.

“Stopflattering yourself.Weare going in the same direction.”

“Whyare you going to the cafeteria?”

“Tocheck out the food quality.Ihear the parents at this school are nuts.”Ilooked at her pointedly. “I’mnot giving them the chance to complain about underfeeding their kids.”

Piyablew out an exasperated breath, her steps faltering as we reached the cafeteria.Theretort died when her gaze landed on a figure off to the corner.

Thecafeteria was packed from the lunch hour rush and move-in day crowd.Nonetheless, the ambiance was laid-back.Kidsfreely interacted with their parents or each other around the round wooden tables with padded chairs.Everytable was occupied sans the corner one.Alone wolf—dressed head to toe in black—had commandeered it with a stack of books spread out in front of her.Shereverberated “fuck-off” body language with earbuds on and an open laptop.Withquiet determination, the kid had made it known she was unapproachable.

Iwould’ve done the same if no one were paying attention to me.Chosena table far away from useless people, blocked out their garbage noise with earbuds, and made myself unapproachable to the normies.However, as mentioned earlier, it was the normies’ world.Thekid was making herself a blaring target with her standoffish attitude.

Piyanoticed where my attention had landed. “Axel,” her voice lowered, all previous hostility disappearing in favor of a pressing matter. “CanIspeak to you for a moment?”

WhenIblinked in acquiescence,Piyalooked left and right in search of spectators before leading me to the empty buffet line.Shegrabbed two trays and passed one to me.

Thenet worth of this cafeteria’s current population equaled one percent ofAmerica’sfutureGDP.Consideringthe clientele, the food was surprisingly unpretentious—hot dogs, fries, burgers, pasta, and salad—laid out in buffet-style chafing dishes.Piyascooped pasta and some salad onto her plate.Iinattentively did the same, my curiosity piqued byPiya’ssudden interest in a civilized discussion.

“It’sbeen a while since we last saw each other,” she started, her eyes fixed on something in front of her. “Thingshave changed for me since then.”

Irealized then whyPiyachose the food line for a conversation.Itwas the least inconspicuous because it’d simply appear we were both patrons of the cafeteria food.

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