CHAPTER 3 — SCHOOL DAYS

The morning sun slipped through the narrow gaps of my tiny boarding room, waking me from a short, tangled sleep.

Last night, I had dressed like a dark version of Cinderella—

and now I had to return to being Santi…

just an ordinary girl trying to survive dental school.

I glanced at the clock—and froze.

My alarm hadn’t gone off.

I was late.

Panic hit me instantly.

I washed my face, grabbed whatever clothes were clean, and ran out of the boarding house.

Thankfully, the campus was only a few alleys away.

Even so, I was still breathless when I reached the practical lab.

This morning’s class was tooth restoration on the phantom models.

I had prepared everything—

except one thing:

My nails were still painted bright red.

Courtesy of Mbak Yarni from last night.

And of course,

Mrs. Desi noticed.

“Santi! What is this?!”

I could only force a smile of apology.

I was immediately told to stand outside with a few other girls who made the same mistake.

Fortunately, one of my friends brought a bottle of nail polish remover.

Embarrassing, yes—

but crisis avoided.

---

During lunch, the area behind campus was as lively as always.

Students—mostly female, because our faculty was known as the “Faculty of Extra Girls”—crowded around food stalls.

I ate my favorite chicken curry porridge with friends, laughing at small jokes.

It felt warm, light, normal.

Such a sharp contrast to the world I lived in the night before.

In moments like these, I almost forgot I had a secret life.

After eating, Ani and I headed to the tiny dental supply shop behind campus to buy red modeling wax.

Cheap, but still painful for our student wallets.

I was grateful for Ani.

I often borrowed her micromotor—an expensive tool for drilling on phantom teeth.

We heard that even in the clinic later, we might still use it.

As we stepped out of the shop,

I saw him.

Cahyono.

The senior every girl looked up to.

The one who led our freshman initiation.

Tall, fair-skinned, effortlessly handsome—

he had that quiet, confident aura people noticed from afar.

Every time he walked past, heads turned.

Mine included.

He laughed with his friends near his shiny sedan.

Everything about him looked so easy, so perfect—

like he belonged to a world far above mine.

If he was a portrait of perfection,

then I was the opposite.

I was Santi:

the girl with big glasses,

simple clothes,

often teased for looking strange.

And on top of that, I carried a secret life that no one here could ever know.

---

In our Prosthodontics class, the lecturer began explaining the materials for making dentures.

Her voice sounded like a long lullaby.

My eyelids felt heavy.

My head throbbed—

a reminder that I had only slept two hours after returning at three in the morning.

Until suddenly—

“SANTI!”

I jerked awake, standing up automatically.

The entire class burst into laughter.

My face burned with embarrassment.

I sat down slowly, praying the ground would swallow me.

Two worlds—

my daylight life and my nighttime life—

were already pulling each other apart.

And I had no idea

that very soon,

a new client would enter my life…

and nothing would ever be the same again.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***