Alex woke around his usual time, about 7 a.m., to sunlight cutting across his pillow and the faint scent of melon soda still clinging to his skin.
For a moment he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling while last night played in high definition. The cleaning staff room marathon, Alice's tiny goodnight kiss under the streetlamp, the way she had backed away waving both hands like a flustered penguin, and finally the 3:07 a.m. text that had made his heart perform actual gymnastics all replayed in his mind.
Liza's voice drifted into his mind, lazy and amused.
'Morning, Alexy~. Your little girlfriend sent you a love letter while normal people sleep. Shall I have it engraved on a heart-shaped stone?'
It was unusual for him to receive a message at such an unexpected time. He ignored her playful comment and opened the message again.
03:07 – Alice ✨
I can't sleep.
I keep replaying last night and smiling like an idiot!
Is it weird that I already miss youuuu and it's only been six hours?
Don't reply if you're asleep!! Just... wanted you to see this when you wake up ♡
---
"Woah... I thought she was a shy girl," Alex murmured, but he knew to himself that Alice was writing those messages with a face like a tomato.
'Just girls in love, get used to it~,' the succubus commented, and he nodded. He typed back before his brain fully booted.
---
07:04 – Alex
Good morning.
I hope you slept a bit after.
But it's cute. Coffee in 30 min? Vending machine corner.
---
The reply arrived before he finished pulling on his pants.
---
07:06 – Alice ✨
YES, but I look like death. Give me 45 min pls T_T
---
He showered in four minutes flat under cold water only, because certain parts of his body still remembered yesterday in excruciating detail, and reached the nearby vending machines at 7:38. Alice arrived at 7:53, drowning in his black hoodie.
The sleeves swallowed her hands completely, and the hem brushed mid-thigh. Her long black hair was twisted into the messiest bun humanity had ever witnessed, with strands escaping everywhere, and she was clutching her phone like a life raft.
This was very unusual compared to her normal tidy uniform, but it was college; people sometimes came in pajamas.
She stopped three meters away, bowed at a perfect ninety degrees, and squeaked, "G-G-Good morning..." She held her hands between her thighs and avoided eye contact the best she could.
Liza wheezed.
'Ten seconds until she achieves spontaneous human combustion. Place your bets.'
Alex held out the iced latte he had been guarding against his thigh for fifteen minutes. Alice shuffled forward, took it with both sleeve-covered hands, and then immediately hid half her face behind the cup.
"Thank you... for yesterday. All of it. Even when I was... um... terrifying."
Alex smiled. He was unused to being around girls, especially his crush, but sharing a heart with a succubus made him feel like a celebrity dealing with a cute fan.
"My pleasure."
He reached out and gently tugged the hoodie string. The hood flopped over her eyes. She flailed, made a noise like a dying kettle, and then peeked out from under the fabric, her cheeks scarlet.
They walked to their separate morning lectures in the most painfully adorable silence, their pinkies brushing every three steps. Alice jumped like she'd been shocked each time. She also had some problems walking straight; after all, her first time had been extremely intense.
Her thighs still trembled like jelly as she stepped forward, but she tried her best to act normal.
The entire day unfolded like that, one long string of awkwardly cute moments of Alice trying to spend time with him.
She waited outside his 8:00 lecture, pretending to study the noticeboard, then lit up like a Christmas tree when he appeared. Between classes, she materialized at every corner with a new excuse ("I was just passing by!") and a new offering. Melon-pan, Pocari Sweat, shrimp chips, and a tiny crescent-moon keychain that she shyly clipped onto his bag while pretending it was an accident.
Every time he thanked her, she turned the color of a traffic light and speed-walked away, her hoodie sleeves flapping like wings.
Liza provided live commentary the entire time.
'She just wrote "Alex ♡" in her notebook seventeen times.'
'She's sniffing the hoodie sleeve again.'
'She accidentally sent you heart emojis and is currently trying to delete the evidence while staring at her phone in horror.'
'Ahhh, youthful love~'
By noon she had run out of excuses and finally joined him on the quiet bench under the oak trees, a large order of fries between them like a fragile peace treaty.
Alice sat on the very edge, her knees pressed together, stealing fries one by one like a nervous mouse. She kept sneaking glances at him, then immediately looking away when he met her eyes.
She had no idea how to start a normal conversation with the calm, handsome, vampire-looking guy who had become her entire world since the day before.
But before she could spit a word out, she heard footsteps closing in. She looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a familiar figure. It was one of her best friends.
She had a dark-blue bob, emerald eyes, and a posture that was perfect but brittle. She wore tight black leggings that showed off the perfect curvature of her huge, flawless ass.
They were literally head-snapping buttocks, big, soft, and well-shaped. Goddess perfection.
Her upper body was no less impressive. Her large tits were squeezed into a casual white crop-top, paired with a small, slender waist.
She was taller than most girls, yet she hadn't abandoned her curviness and thickness. She was a god's gift to both the male and female gaze.
She stopped a few steps away, her arms crossed, staring at Alex with an expression caught somewhere between shock and seriousness.
The change in him was impossible to miss now. He had a sharper jaw, a calmer presence, and crimson eyes that no longer had that scary look to them, along with something else she couldn't name.
She was even more shocked by the appearance of her friend Alice, who looked messier than usual. She was in an unfamiliar hairstyle and clothes, plus she had a different lunch buddy than her and their friend group.
"Thanks, but I already had lunch. I'm on a diet, you know," she said flatly and dropped onto the bench beside Alice.
Alice flinched, her guilt from disappearing yesterday still raw. "I'm really sorry, Anna... I was in... the library with Alex yesterday."
Anna's brow arched. "The library? You don't go to the library, your father is a bookworm and you're afraid to become like him. And you always study home."
Alice opened her mouth, then closed it, her face cycling through every shade of red. Anna knew her too well; they had been best friends since primary school, went to the same middle school, same high school, and lived in the same neighbourhood their whole lives.
"Plus, I waited fifteen minutes in front of your house this morning! I rang the bell until your sister cursed at me."
Alice's eyes were spinning, and her cheeks were flustered. Her lips couldn't form a single word. She had made up a story for her parents but was too wrapped up in love to reply to her friend's messages.
"Auhh! I-I was just..."
Alex cut in smoothly, his voice perfectly calm. "My fault. I asked for help with a reference book. Alice is smarter than people give her credit for. As a show of gratitude, I invited her for dinner. Her phone was dead, and she probably didn't charge it until she woke up the next day."
Alex tried to smile while making up a story on the spot. The succubus helped a bit with it, but the short-haired girl wasn't buying it.
Anna's sharp, suspicious green gaze flicked to him. "I know you! You're Alex, right? You're top of your department. You don't need help studying!"
"Having good grades doesn't mean I have the library of Alexandria in my head," he replied without blinking. "And I'm not smarter than Alice."
Alice's blush reached catastrophic levels. Anna noticed immediately and pressed the back of her hand to Alice's forehead. "Hey! You're burning up. Are you sick?!"
"N-No! I'm fine! It's j-just so hot in here," Alice squeaked.
Alex hid a tiny smile behind his iced coffee.
Anna was not convinced. "Are you sure? Your face is the color of a tomato."
Alice shot to her feet like the bench had caught fire. "I-I'm sorry, I need the bathroom!" She fled, her black hair streaming behind her like a panicked banner.
The moment she vanished around the corner, Anna's mask shattered. She didn't seem to be in a good mood even before she joined them, but she had tried not to show it in front of Alice.
'Hmmm~ the succubus zone isn't working on her. It doesn't work well when the person is in great sadness, worry, or anger. I guess she's not okay. Too bad she has a huge ass,' Liza chuckled after trying to bring the blue-haired girl to Alex's knees to no effect.
She hadn't been that crazy when she saw Alex the first time, either. She stared at the sky, her shoulders sagging and her eyes suddenly looking ancient. Alex asked quietly, "You okay?"
She laughed, a brittle, broken sound. "Define okay. I put my leg in the mud," she said, holding her face with her hands.
Before he could answer, footsteps approached, confident and swaggering. A guy appeared.
Blonde, blue-eyed, with a soccer jersey stretched over tanned muscle. He was the kind of guy who believed the world had been invented for him to ruin.
Anna's entire body went rigid. Alex heard the soft, venomous "I will kill you, Jake" slip from under her breath.
Jake didn't even glance at Alex. "There you are, babe. Let's go. You made me worried after you disappeared."
Anna stood up like someone had flipped a switch, her face blank. "Sorry, Alex. I need to go."
Alex watched them walk away, Jake's hand sitting too low on her back, and Anna's spine trembling with the effort of holding herself together.
He stayed on the bench long after they disappeared, his fries cold and confusion simmering beneath his calm surface.
'I think she needs help? You should help her; you might get lucky and steal her heart~ You can't be planning to just stick with your little crush, right? You agreed to help me! Crack more butts!' The succubus interrupted the silence, giving his brain more things to think about.
"..."
He was already halfway there with Erin, the library girl, so it wouldn't hurt if he made another girl fall crazy for him, right?
The succubus's ear-whispering was making his heart more and more lustful.
.
.
.
Evening classes dragged. By 6:00 p.m., Alex was emotionally and physically drained in a way that had nothing to do with stamina and everything to do with the quiet, burning uncertainty in his chest.
He headed to the bathroom area to piss and wash his face.
Before he could step inside, he heard some loud voices. A man's and a woman's, coming from behind the male restrooms.
He followed the voices and peeked around the corner. Two familiar figures came into view.
It was Alice's bestie, Anna, and the guy who had picked her up earlier, the so-called Jake.
He was cornering her, holding a phone up and yelling at the girl.
Jake's voice was loud and ugly. Anna's voice was furious and cracking.
There were tears in the corners of her eyes and a recent slap mark on her pale cheek.
"..."
Looking at that sight, Alex's eyes glowed red. He was getting furious.