A tough nut to crack

Luka. Has Yana heard right? Was it the Luka she met during lunch? Twisted Yana looked at the piece of paper with his phone number.

"I'm not too sure."

"You could even win a grand prize money," the professor now had the lofty dreams Yana lacked but at the word 'money' Yana's ears perked up.

"Yes, I'll get along with Luka, it'll be no big deal!" Yana saluted.

So what if Luka was an outcast? If he was really good and she could get her free meals and extra cash on top of that, who cared if he was controversial? She didn't care about politics anyway. Luka- this nut, Yana would crack.

"Do you have a topic you're interested in?"

Yana was shot out of the cloud full of dreams and fell on the hard ground of reality.

"Oh yeah sure," even though Yana knew she should discuss it with Luka, she panicked as she wanted to leave a good impression, the last thing she read in the textbook became the holy grail she held onto.

"Maybe something on reforming or discovering the exploitation of the tax policy in enterprises," Yana said and hoped she was right.

"Sounds brilliant!"

Anything Yana would say at this point would sound like a surge in reputation for the department in the professor's ears.

"Really?"

"Yes, go and talk about it with Luka. I'll inform the university," with this the professor left Yana alone in the room where her soul left her body.

She only realised now what she got herself into but her VIP food was on the line and it just tasted too good to regret her decision and back out of it now.

The first thing Yana had to do was to contact Luka. She preferred to talk in person, if she couldn't find him then she'd call him.

After the classes ended, Yaana was on her way to find Luka. Experiencing how cold and distanced he was, Yana decided to buy some snacks to ease the tension, after all food was the way into anyone's heart.

Making her way against the ongoing streams of students pouring out, Yana heard more than once her name being called out.

"Hey Yana, you wanna head with us to the karaoke bar?" a girl and a bunch of guys stopped Yana.

Karaoke bar- the hot spot for all students to fool around, sing their hearts out and drink.

All in all, the favourite place to have fun. Yana was incredibly tempted, she hasn't been there in a long while during the exam's period but she had to focus her mind on important matters.

Luka! Maybe she could get him to join and then he could make friends with everyone and would be forever eternally thankful to her.

Yana balled her fists and laughed before realising the others were still there, she quickly cleared her throat and said, "Sorry guys, I've got something. Maybe later, I'll let you know!"

"Aww but ok let us know!" the girl was sad but Yana already left for the cafeteria.

The ladies were already about to roll down the shutters when a loud bang stopped them. The doors flung open and Yana, panting, ran to the counter.

"Nothing… left?" Yana put her hands on the counter and wore a sad puppy expression.

"Sorry, dear, the student back there has already bought everything," the lady apologetically pointed at a seat in the far back. Yana had to squint her eyes to make out the small, pitiful person in the back.

Then when she realised, her heart skipped a beat. She felt a bit anxious. What should she do now? She wanted to make a good impression and buy her way into his heart but how could she do that when he literally bought everything?

Yana suddenly felt Luka was too frightening. Could it be his aversion to people, his outcast senses were so strong he knew what Yana was about to do and beat her to it?

Each step she took towards him she could already see the mocking smile plastered on his face, his snarky tone of spotting Yana that she thought she could convince him. So, he wanted to get her away from him so badly!

There was a little room in Yana's brain where the wheel stopped spinning and prompted her to overthink and come to absurd conclusions. Luka only sat there, looking through his study material, munching on some snacks as he suddenly got hungry.

How could the innocent him knew that Yana pictured him as an evil mastermind and her as the poor abused victim? If he knew, he would've slapped his face on hers and sent her miles away, never to get close to him. But luckily, he didn't know.

Finally, Yana took the last step towards him and was stunned at the clear view she got. From the windows the sunshine hit his soft black hair giving it a golden layer, magnifying his handsome face.

While the strands of his hair fell over his eyes and his long eyelashes grazed his skin as he looked down.

Then his ocean blue eyes met hers and Yana drowned in them. His eyes held the bottomless deep water while he was the oasis she sought to escape on.

The eye contact lasted only for two seconds before Luka pulled away and completely ignored her.

On the other side, Yana had only one way to describe Luka: Adonis.

Which made it even harder for her to understand why in the world he was shunned. Even if he had a different opinion from everyone else, could anyone resist him?

Yana could. She felt a bit pissed that he just blatantly pretended she was air.

She sat on the chair opposite to him and the next words that came flushing out of her were absolutely not planned, "You want to head to the karaoke bar? The others are waiting. It'll be fun to join them after a busy uni day."

Yet-

1, 2, 3 minutes passed and he continued to write down and look through his papers.

Yana felt awkward. Absolutely devastated that he was a brick wall and her words bounced off him back into her ears before they invaded her brain to force her to replay to the situation over and over again.

It was utterly embarrassing and a crushing defeat for Yana. Alright, the evil mastermind won.

His plan to ignore her so her health bar was drained, worked. Not even a word or a movement and K.O.

Yana laid sprawling on the floor but she couldn't give up so easily. After all, money and food were on the line.

She had to admit that her words were too casual for a stranger and sounded like they were friends which they absolutely weren't.

Come on! Which friend or even stranger would ignore someone like that? Not even giving a reaction.

No 'Sorry, you got the wrong person.' Or 'Aren't you being too casual?' or 'Do we know each other?' or even a 'Go away.'

Nothing!

She was worse than a pile of trash left on the streets no one bothered to pick up because she was simply pure pollution!

Yes, Luka made her feel like air pollution. Yana silently sighed to steal her nerves. A second attempt was made, "I'm sorry, are you perhaps mad at me because of lunch?"

Luka's pen relentlessly scribbled on his paper.

"Because I didn't know who you were? I've got a bad memory, so don't take it to heart!"

The pen stopped and Yana saw that Luka briefly froze. Her words worked. Could it be he was really pissed at her because she bluntly asked who he was?

That was nothing to be mad about! Anyone who didn't know a stranger would ask this, right? Right?

If Mia was here, she would've rolled her eyes and then kicked Yana off her chair.

"It's ok, I mean anyone would feel your way," now that Yana thought she got to know the root of the problem she instantly blabbered away, not knowing she made the situation worse.

Luka finally dropped his pen and Yana with expectant eyes followed his movement only to have another blow dealt to her. Being revived and gaining a second life only to receive another K.O.

Luka packed his things and left the open-mouthed Yana alone in the cafeteria looking like a fool. Not even a glance was spared.

Yana closed her mouth and rubbed her temples. Getting Luka as her partner would be a pain in the ass. Before she could even ask him to join her research project, she had to first make sure he even looked at her and stopped pretending she was air!

Yana's goal pitifully downgraded from making him her research partner to even getting him to acknowledge her existence. What a fucking bother.