The rumor didn't start loudly.
It slipped through the classroom like a quiet breath—soft, curious, impossible to trace.
By lunchtime, Aria could feel it.
Whispers followed her again, but this time they were different. They weren't just about her sitting next to Lucien or answering questions correctly. There was something sharper hidden beneath the curiosity.
"She doesn't act like a normal transfer student…"
"Did you notice how confident she is?"
"I heard she came from overseas."
Aria kept her gaze on her notebook, pen moving steadily as if she hadn't heard a thing. She had mastered this skill long ago—appearing untouched even when words tried to reach her.
Lucien, however, noticed.
He leaned closer, his voice low. "They're talking about you."
She smiled faintly. "They always are."
"That's not what I mean," he said, eyes narrowing slightly as he scanned the room. "This feels different."
She paused.
It did.
The turning point came during break.
A group of students near the windows were speaking just loudly enough to be heard.
"My cousin follows a lot of entertainment news," one girl said. "She said Aria looks familiar. Like… really familiar."
Another laughed nervously. "You're saying she's an idol or something?"
"I don't know," the girl replied. "But people like her don't just appear out of nowhere."
The words hung in the air.
Aria's fingers tightened around her pen.
Lucien stood up.
The sound of his chair scraping against the floor cut through the chatter instantly. Conversations died mid-sentence as everyone turned toward him.
"She's a student here," he said calmly. "That's all you need to know."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried authority.
The group fell silent.
Lucien turned back to Aria, his expression softer now. "Ignore them."
She looked up at him, surprised.
"You don't have to say anything," she said quietly.
"I know," he replied. "But I wanted to."
For a moment, the noise of the classroom faded.
She studied his face—the sincerity in his eyes, the quiet determination. People often mistook Lucien's calm for indifference, but she knew better.
He cared deeply.
After school, Aria didn't head home immediately.
She stood at the gate, watching students leave in groups, laughter filling the air. Normally, she would have found this scene comforting. Today, it felt heavy.
"Are you okay?" Lucien asked beside her.
She hesitated. "What if they find out?"
He didn't ask what she meant.
"Then they find out," he said simply. "It doesn't change who you are."
She laughed softly. "You make it sound easy."
"It's not," he admitted. "But you don't have to face it alone."
Her heart skipped.
She looked at him then—not as the school's top student or the boy everyone admired—but as someone standing firmly beside her.
The rumor hadn't disappeared.
If anything, it was growing.
But for the first time, Aria felt steady.
Because no matter what people said—
She wasn't facing it by herself.