At dawn, people wake up with the help of their alarms, some with the first rays of the sun, and there are even those whose bodies wake them at the exact time they need to get up. Some decide to bathe in icy or hot water, others eat something (or drink a beer), and there are also the poor unfortunate ones who do not eat at home (or who do not drink beer). Finally, once ready with the clothes they will wear and the materials they need, they leave their homes, not to know anything about them again until the sun goes down.

  Although we all begin our days in a “similar” way, each dawn is different for everyone, and our protagonist is about to experience a new dawn.

  On a bed, we find our protagonist, sleeping peacefully, sprawled across the mattress, his blanket tossed onto the floor and snoring like an engine that refuses to start. It was clear that he would not be waking up anytime soon.

  In that peaceful moment, a series of knocks was heard. Jeff opened his eyes slightly; he didn’t know what had caused it. Maybe a flock of birds had hit his window, maybe children were throwing things, perhaps even the noise of several cars crashing into the building—it could have been anything. Jeff didn’t care and closed his eyes again. (The car part is more of an anecdote than a joke.)

  Soon, those knocks were heard again, this time accompanied by a voice.

  ‘Jeff! Open the door! Aren’t you awake yet?!’

  …well, more like accompanied by shouting.

  Shouting that Jeff obviously couldn’t ignore—more because of the noise that wouldn’t let him fall asleep again than because someone was calling him.

  So, with tired, sluggish movements, he rolled off his bed and dropped onto the floor, getting up from there with great reluctance. With equally slow steps, he headed toward the door while saying, “I’m coming,” hoping to calm the noise. But the knocking didn’t stop; instead, it grew louder and more aggressive.

  And with a great deal of effort, he finally reached the door of his apartment, unlocked it, and opened it, revealing a beautiful girl wearing a red T-shirt, a gray denim jacket over it, and light-blue jeans. Framing the outfit was her silky orange hair, which stood out even more.

  “What’s wrong with you?! Why didn’t you wake up earlier?! We’re running late!”

  And unlike her lovely outfit, her personality left much to be desired.

  “Alejandra? Why are you— Wait! What do you mean late?!” Jeff asked, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping as far as it could.

  “Yes, late! Look!”

  Immediately afterward, Alejandra raised her phone, showing the time on the screen, which was nothing less than… four-thirty in the morning.

  Silence settled in as Jeff stared, wondering whether his eyes or his mind were deceiving him. When he found no mistake, he said to Alejandra, “…It’s four-thirty in the morning.”

  Jeff squinted his eyes as he spoke, but Alejandra replied, “Yes! It’s late! We need to hurry and get you ready.”

  Jeff realized there was no mistake with the time… the mistake was Alejandra.

  “What are you talking about?! Why are you waking me up so early?!” Jeff shouted, frowning, a visible vein showing on his forehead as he tried to close the door, but Alejandra stopped him.

  “Why?! We need to fix your hair, put on the creams, the makeup, and choose what clothes you’ll wear,” Alejandra said, also frowning, with two veins visible on her forehead.

  “But I can do that later.”

  Alejandra laughed sarcastically. “Ha, ha, ha — do it later? You don’t know anything about this. Besides, you’re the one asking for my help, right? So take a shower, put on the outfit I pick for you, and then come to my apartment for the makeup and the mousse.”

  With those words, Alejandra grabbed the doorknob and slammed the door shut.

  Jeff remained standing there. “…I have to take a shower?”

  .

  .

  .

  The entrances of schools, of any kind, are the most common places to encounter friends, enemies, acquaintances, strangers, and many other labels.

  And at the entrance of Green Vida University, one could find the most famous person there, whom many people were waiting to see.

  “Oh, hi, Alejandra,” said a girl who was standing in a group of girls around her.

  Everyone looked in the same direction, and there was Alejandra, walking gracefully, with style, with a handsome boy by her side, with—

  “Eeeehhh,” exclaimed everyone present. It was something incredible to see—no, something impossible to see. That Alejandra would be walking beside a boy toward the university was something almost no one would imagine even in their wildest dreams, yet it was happening.

  As she got closer, Alejandra approached her friends, the boy walking beside her.

  “Hi, girls. How's it going?” Alejandra said with a faint smile and a cheerful attitude.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “H-hello, Alejandra. We’re fine, but… who is he?” one pale friend asked, directing her gaze toward the boy.

  Alejandra looked at the boy for a few seconds, then looked back at the girls. At that moment, she took the boy’s hand.

  “This is Jeff. He’s my boyfriend.”

  “WHAAAAAT?” everyone present exclaimed again. The friends were surprised, the boys were surprised, the girls were surprised, a passerby nearby was surprised, Jeff was surprised.

  “Master, you are the boyfriend. You shouldn’t be surprised.”

  *Oh, right* Jeff thought, changing his surprised expression to a more neutral one.

  “Wow, why didn’t you tell us you had a boyfriend? And such a handsome one too,” commented one of Alejandra’s friends, a girl with black hair tied back in a ponytail.

  Jeff felt his cheeks turn red when he was called handsome, something he had never thought about himself.

  “Well, I didn’t want to cause a fuss at the university, but we care about each other so much that we decided to reveal our relationship, right, Jeffito?”

  “Huh? Ah, yes, what she said.”

  After saying that, Jeff felt something on his foot, and when he looked down, he could see that Alejandra was stepping on it, and then he felt pain.

  “What did you say?” Alejandra asked in a high-pitched voice.

  “I mean, I care about her so much that it felt unbearable not to come with her to the university.” After saying all that, Jeff stopped feeling the pain.

  “Aah, you make such a cute couple, girl.”

  “Thank you.”

  “And tell me, does your boyfriend study here? I’ve never seen him before.”

  “How long have you been dating?”

  “How did you meet?”

  Alejandra’s friends asked all at once.

  “Easy, girls, we’ll tell you everything, right, Jeffito?”

  “Uh—” before he could say anything, Jeff noticed two guys talking to each other and realized they were his friends Mike and Miguel.

  *My escape ticket*, Jeff thought, then he looked at Alejandra. “Yes, I think it’s perfect that you tell your friends about me, and I’m going to—”

  Before he could finish, Jeff felt that pain in his foot again. “…and I’m going to stay with you and support you with the questions.”

  After that, Alejandra and Jeff spent time talking with Alejandra’s friends, which felt more like an interrogation than a conversation.

  An interrogation that ended because classes were about to start.

  “Bye, Jeffito, see you at the break.”

  “At the break too?—Ow!, yes my love, see you at recess.”

  Alejandra walked away with her friends, and Jeff, once they were out of sight, let out a tired sigh.

  *This is horrible. Her friends are worse than the FBI, the CIA, and FIFA combined.*

  With a turn, he headed toward his classroom with his head slightly lowered, until he bumped into someone.

  “Ah, sorry, I didn’t see—”

  When he raised his gaze, he realized he had bumped with a tall, fair-skinned, blond, and robust boy, and beside him stood several other boys, just as big and muscular.

  And all of them were staring at Jeff, who felt tiny before such an audience.

  “Uh… sorry,” Jeff tried to walk to the left, attempting to avoid the crowd, but they moved to the same side.

  “…” Then Jeff decided to go to the right, and the crowd did the same.

  “…Do you gentlemen need something?” Jeff asked, obviously sweating and trembling.

  The boy at the front of the group, the blond one, asked Jeff,

  “Are you the boyfriend of the magnificent Alejandra?”

  “…Yes, I am,” he said, looking away.

  “Perfect. We have some business with you, right, boys?”

  At that question, all the others answered yes in perfect coordination.

  “Business? What kind of business?”

  “A very big one.”

  “…You’re talking about business, right?”

  He received no response. Instead, all the boys stepped closer, surrounding Jeff with no possibility of escape.

  *I think this is the end… and it's all your fault, Esfer.*

  “My fault, Master?” Esfer asked indignantly.

  *Yes, your fault. This plan was your idea, and thanks to it I’ll be going to heaven today. You’ll be responsible for leaving my poor children orphans.*

  “Master, you don’t have children.”

  And what about my Pokémon cards? They’re like my—

  A loud noise distracted him from his monologue, and when he looked around, he saw all the boys kneeling before Jeff.

  “Please, teach us how to date a girl like Alejandra!” they shouted—no, begged—every one of the boys present, heads lowered.

  “This is a strange situation, Master. How will you get out of—Master?”

  On the outside, Jeff looked completely shocked, watching those large and muscular boys kneeling before him like great knights paying homage to a king, and his mind exploded.

  “I AM THE EMPEROR OF MANKIND!”

  .

  .

  .

  "Hey Mike, has Jeff seen the messages yet?"

  "No, not yet. That’s weird, he usually lets us know when he’s not coming to class. Could something have happened?"

  "Excuse me, sorry for being late." Said a handsome guy, sitting down in the chair between Mike and Miguel, while they raised an eyebrow at him.

  "Hey buddy, this seat is taken." Said Miguel.

  "Eh? Really? I was only a few minutes late and you’re already switching me?"

  "What the heck are you talking about? We don’t know you."

  The handsome guy looked incredulously at Mike and Miguel. "You don’t recognize me? It’s me, Jeff."

  The two friends squinted at the supposed Jeff, then opened their eyes wide, like this: 80.

  "No way! You’re Jeff?!" The two friends shouted.

  "Yes, that’s me!" Jeff yelled.

  "Out of my class!" shouted the teacher.

  .

  .

  .

  After classes, the three friends went to the university cafeteria, sitting outside at one of the tables.

  “What the heck did you do, Jeff? You’re unrecognizable,” Mike exclaimed in amazement.

  “Ha ha, what can I say, guys? It’s just my natural appearance, hidden beneath my usual facade.”

  “Natural? But you don’t have curly hair, it’s more like a bird’s nest,” Miguel argued.

  “Hey Miguel, calm down with that envy, it affects my complexion.”

  “No seas mamon, At least you know what complexion is?”

  “…Of course, it’s what we have, but don’t see, something that’s inside, or rather beneath, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t affected by your envy.”

  “…Wait, what did you just say—?”

  “We’ve come to receive your teachings, master,” a deep voice sounded from the side of the three friends. As they turned, they saw a large group of big and muscular guys.

  Mike and Miguel started shaking at the sight of all of them.

  "Relax, guys, I’ve got this; excuse me, disciples, unfortunately the master is a bit busy, so please wait for my call to start the lessons. Also, you need to learn patience—it’s something girls appreciate."

  All the boys exclaimed, "Oooohhh," surprised, and left, not without first thanking Jeff for his advice.

  Jeff smiled with satisfaction, while his friends were staring at him, shocked, like this :0.

  "What do you mean they call you master? Are you giving a course on being handsome or something?" Mike asked, astonished.

  "Haha, no, my little grasshopper, they all want my knowledge on how to court girls."

  "…court girls? But you don’t even have a girlfriend."

  “In the past, my dear friend, I didn’t have a girlfriend… but now I do, and you’ll be surprised when I tell you who she is—Aaaayyy!”

  Jeff yelled as he felt a sharp pain… in his foot.

  “Hey, Jeffito, why didn’t you come for me when you left during break? And why are you shouting?”

  Beside him was the university’s beauty and his fake girlfriend, Alejandra, and behind them were her group of friends.

  “I’m yelling because of this pain… from not being with you, and sorry for not coming to get you—I thought you’d want to talk more with your friends.”

  With those words, Jeff no longer felt the pain.

  “Oh, how considerate your boyfriend is,” said one of Alejandra’s friends. “Oh, and who are those guys?” asked another friend, surprised, looking at Jeff’s two friends with faces like 8^O.

  “Ah, them? They’re my friends. Please don’t embarrass me and behave yourselves,” said Jeff, clamped the mouths of his two friends 8^|.

  “If they’re your friends, they can come with us, Jeffito. Come on :)” Alejandra extended her hand to Jeff.

  “Of course, my love :D,” said Jeff, taking her hand, standing up, and walking with the group. Behind them, Miguel and Mike followed.

  And so, they lived happily… for a while.

  .

  .

  .

  “What the heck was that? >:^” Alejandra asked, pinning Jeff against the wall.

  Classes for the day were already over, and Alejandra excused herself to go on a “date” with her boyfriend, which Jeff reluctantly accepted—and he wouldn’t have agreed if he had known it was going to be a scolding in an alley.

  “What’s wrong, love? What did I do wrong?” Jeff asked in a trembling voice, feeling the cold of the wall and the chill on his forehead.

  “Everything. Your attitude, your manners—you’re simply not up to par.” Alejandra leaned threateningly toward Jeff’s face. “If you want to keep being my fake boyfriend, you’ll have to improve.”

  “I-I’ll try to improve.”

  With that, Alejandra pushed him against the wall again.

  “Don’t just try to improve—you must improve, if you want to be a decent boyfriend for me, capichi?”

  “Yes, I capichi.”

  Alejandra released him and stepped back, but paused for a moment and looked over at Jeff.

  "I'll be waiting in my apartment tomorrow morning, and if you’re late… I’ll wear heels."

  With that, she walked away. Once she was out of sight, Jeff let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the floor.

  "I didn’t know having a girlfriend could be this complicated… in the future, I just want to stay single, like my dad and grandpa."

  "Master, I find that highly unlikely" Esfer commented on Jeff’s declaration. "Setting that aside, did you find anything today?"

  "Huh? What are you talking about, Esfer?"

  "I'm talking about the stalker. “With you showing up as her supposed boyfriend, he probably gave some kind of signal or showed discomfort if he was around."

  "... I FORGOT THE PLAAAANNN!!"

  "... Master, every day you surprise me more… and not in a good way."