Snap. Click. Click. Snap.

The lead shattered into pieces for the nth time upon contact to the printed article. With the strength of her grip, a little more and not only the lead stick but also her mechanical pencil would break.

Why did she have to be in the receiving end of the punishment? It wasn’t her who fell asleep. The only consolation she had was that she wasn’t the only one called by the professor but she never liked the idea of being the sacrificial lamb. Dr. Jensen took a long time with her with all those follow-up questions. One more question and she would have raised the white flag.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

She slammed her pencil on the table. Good thing, there were only a few students inside the reading room. Shoving her things inside her bag, Sera stood up and left. There’s no point studying when she couldn’t even focus; when she could still remember her history class.

“Poor you. You must have missed your sleep last night.”

“You can have a copy of my notes.”

“Don’t worry about earlier. No one’s blaming you. It wasn’t your fault.”

The girls were fussing over Lu Han and it irked her to no end. “Not his fault,” she muttered between gritted teeth as she stomped down the stairs. I blame him for everything!

If not for their classmates who acted as his human shields, he would have faced her fury. But then again, it would only cause a scene and Sera never liked being on the spotlight.

Cerium1. Control emotions.  Cesium2. Control self. Cerium. Cesium. She repeatedly chanted her mantra until she calmed down. What’s done is done. Stressing over it would be a waste of energy. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thou-

No more happy thoughts.

The fury that just subsided reached the surface and her control was low. Lu Han just walked past her, without sparing her a glance and proceeded down the vacant hallway. Annoyance getting the best of her, Sera followed him.

Sera wasn’t familiar with the back part of the building and so she just kept her eyes on him. But she noticed that he increased his pace and she was half-walking, half-jogging. Turning to the left, Sera’s eyes rounded as Lu Han took off in a sprint.

“Wait!” she called out, running as fast as she can but Lu Han ignored her.

“Look, I just want to talk! I am your classmate in Prof. Jensen’s class!”

The professor’s name did wonders as Lu Han came to a halt.

With her heart thumping hard against her chest, Sera knew that she needed that workout to release the tension in her mind and body. But that didn’t mean she would let him off the hook.

“Why did you run?” she asked, resting her palms her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

“Why are you following me?” he questioned back.

“Touche,” she nodded. “I want to tell you something.”

She lifted her head and saw Lu Han watching her, his hands tucked inside his jean pockets. “Go ahead.”

Sera straightened up and took a deep breath. She would need it. Clearing , she fixated her eyes on his and bellowed. “What you did earlier was really irresponsible and inconsiderate!”

The moment air was released from her chest, she felt better.

Lu Han moved a step back at her sudden outburst. The look of surprise passed before his eyes but it was only for a fleeting moment.

“You followed me," he said slowly, "just to yell at me?” But it was more of a statement, than a question.

Sera cocked her head to the side, pondering over her actions. It wasn’t like her to just go screaming at others and she believed that she could have phrased it better. But that didn’t h