Prodigy In Modern Family

Four days had passed since their bathroom moment, and Klaus had noticed something strange—Alex was avoiding him. After Saturday's barbecue, they had submitted their assignment on Monday and received the highest grade in the class. Yet, despite their success, Alex barely spoke to him. She dodged him in the hallways, sat away from him during lunch, and even acted unusually distant in class.

By Friday, Klaus had had enough. After their biology lesson, he made his move. As Alex gathered her books, he smoothly stepped in front of her, cutting off her exit. She looked up, startled, only to find herself caged between his arms, her back pressed against the cold wall.

"Alright, Dunphy," Klaus murmured, his voice low and teasing. "You've been avoiding me all week. Care to explain why?"

Alex shifted uncomfortably, clutching her notebook tightly. "I—I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered, avoiding his eyes.

Klaus arched a brow, his lips curling into that infuriating smirk. "Oh, really?" His voice dipped into something dangerously smooth. "Because I remember a certain someone whispering in my ear, telling me I could touch if I wanted."

Alex's face burned at the memory. She snapped her head up, glaring. "That—That was nothing! Just playful banter!"

Klaus chuckled, clearly entertained by her flustered state. He leaned in even closer, his breath ghosting over her ear. "Playful, huh? Then why are you running away?" His fingers lightly traced down her arm, making her shiver. "Or is it because you can't stop thinking about it?"

Alex sucked in a sharp breath, her heart pounding. Her body was betraying her, heat pooling in her chest despite her best efforts to appear unaffected.

"You're full of yourself," she muttered, pushing lightly against his chest, but he didn't budge.

Klaus smirked, his fingers brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Maybe. But I think we both know I'm right."

Alex clenched her jaw, determined not to let him win. Summoning all her courage, she looked him dead in the eye and whispered, "You're insufferable."

Klaus chuckled, his eyes dark with amusement. "And yet, here we are," he said, his lips mere inches from hers. "You still can't resist me."

Alex exhaled sharply, rolling her eyes. "You wish."

Klaus grinned, his gaze flickering to her lips before meeting her eyes again. "Oh, darling," he murmured, voice dripping with mischief, "I know."

Then she told him what happened.

Klaus's smirk faltered for a split second before he regained his composure, tilting his head slightly. "Your mom heard us?" he asked, his voice laced with amusement and curiosity.

Alex groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Yes! And now she thinks you're some kind of bad influence who's distracting me from my future," she said bitterly. "She basically forbade me from seeing you outside of school."

Klaus leaned back slightly, crossing his arms. "Ah, so that's why you've been avoiding me," he mused. "And here I thought you were just playing hard to get."

Alex shot him a glare. "This isn't funny, Klaus. She's serious."

He studied her for a moment, his smirk softening into something unreadable. "And what do you want, Alex?"

She hesitated, her breath catching in her throat. "It doesn't matter what I want," she muttered, looking away. "I have to focus on my future. I can't risk disappointing my mom."

Klaus clicked his tongue. "Sounds to me like you're just scared."

Alex snapped her gaze back to him, anger flaring in her chest. "Scared of what?"

He leaned in again, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Scared of how much you want me."

Her breath hitched, and she hated how right he was. She was scared—scared of how easily he made her lose control, how much she craved his touch, how her world seemed to tilt when he was close.

But she couldn't let him win.

"This thing between us," she said, forcing herself to sound firm, "it has to stop."

Klaus exhaled through his nose, studying her intently. Then, with a slow, almost predatory grin, he leaned down so their lips were barely a breath apart.

"If that's what you really want, baby girl," he murmured, his voice dangerously smooth, "then say it without looking like you're about to kiss me."

Alex's stomach flipped, and for a second, she almost gave in. Almost.

But then she clenched her fists, turned her head away, and whispered, "I have to go."

Without another word, she slipped out from under his arms and walked away, leaving Klaus standing there, watching her retreat with a knowing smirk.

Alex Pov

Alex's heart pounded in her chest as she walked away, each step feeling heavier than the last. She didn't want to leave him, didn't want to fight this pull between them. Every part of her ached to stay, to feel his warmth, his presence. His words, his teasing, they had become a constant in her mind, a temptation she didn't want to ignore.

But as she made her way down the hallway, she could hear her mother's voice in her head, echoing the same warning over and over again. You have a future to focus on. Don't let him distract you.

The thought felt like a weight around her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs. She wanted Klaus, wanted him more than she could admit, but deep down, she knew that this wasn't just some passing feeling. There was something real between them, something that could either make or break her.

Her mother wasn't wrong. She had goals—goals that required focus, determination, and the ability to avoid distractions. Klaus was the very definition of a distraction, a dangerous one that made her forget everything else when he was near.

Yet, despite the self-control she tried to summon, she couldn't help but long for his touch, the way he made her feel alive in a way nothing else ever could. The way his breath against her skin sent shivers down her spine, the way his gaze made her feel like the only person in the world.

But as much as her heart screamed for him, she couldn't afford to let herself fall completely into this. She wasn't ready to risk everything she had worked for.

She couldn't let love—this love—distract her.

She glanced back, just for a moment, but when she saw him standing there, his eyes burning with intensity, something inside her broke. She forced herself to look away and pushed the ache down deep inside her chest.

"Focus," she whispered to herself. "You can't lose sight of what matters."

Days Later

For days, Alex couldn't shake the emptiness that settled in her chest. Every day felt like she was missing something, a piece of her world that had been abruptly taken away. Klaus no longer sat beside her in class. He didn't even glance in her direction when they passed each other in the hallways. He was... avoiding her.

It was strange. After all that had happened, she had expected him to be persistent, to challenge her decision, to at least say something. But instead, it was as if she had never mattered to him.

In class, she tried to focus, but her eyes would constantly flicker to his seat. Every time she found herself doing that, she'd quickly look away, trying to fight the sense of loss creeping in. It was ridiculous. She had made the decision to walk away, and now he was respecting it. But that only made her feel more disconnected. More distant.

She missed the way he teased her, the way he'd make her heart race with just a look. She missed the feeling of his presence, the warmth of his voice when he'd speak to her. She missed the way he made her feel seen, wanted, special.

And yet, as the days went on, it became clearer that Klaus was doing what she had asked him to do: he was staying away. He was respecting her wishes—no matter how much it hurt her.

Alex felt conflicted. She couldn't help but wonder if he was hurt by her rejection, if he felt the same emptiness she felt. But then again, maybe he was just moving on. Maybe she wasn't the distraction he needed to get rid of.

She tried to focus on her studies, on her goals, but it was harder than ever. Every corner of her mind seemed to bring her back to him, to the feeling of his touch, his presence. She knew what she needed to do, and yet every time she saw him from across the room, a part of her still yearned for something more.

Just as she thought he forget about her, she met an unexpected gift.

Alex stood in front of her locker, her hand frozen mid-air as she stared at the bouquet of white orchids. The delicate petals seemed to glow, almost ethereal, like something out of a dream. She felt her heart skip a beat, a rush of warmth flooding through her. For a moment, she couldn't even comprehend what she was looking at.

Her eyes slowly drifted to the note that was tucked between the flowers. It was a simple sheet of paper, the words handwritten with a neat and careful precision. Her heart pounded in her chest as she read:

"I wanna write a thousand pages to you but even then it wouldn't be enough. Words fail me the way stars fail to outshine the moon. Every letter I would write would feel like a shadow of what I mean. A mere echo of the way you make me feel. I would fill each page with metaphors, comparing your eyes to galaxies and your smile to dawn but it still wouldn't capture the way you light up my world. You are the poem I will never finish, the song I will hum for a lifetime, and the reason that I shall wait for you forever."

-Niklaus Blake

Her hands shook as she finished reading, the paper suddenly feeling heavy in her grasp. Niklaus. His words. His confession. It was beautiful, raw, and full of longing. It was everything she had been avoiding, everything she had told herself not to feel.

Alex looked at the bouquet again, and for the first time in days, she felt a flicker of hope. He hadn't forgotten her. He hadn't moved on. He had been waiting. The realization hit her like a wave, and with it came the rush of emotions she had been trying to suppress. The yearning, the frustration, the longing.

She wasn't sure what to do. Part of her wanted to confront him, to ask him why he had pulled away, why he hadn't said anything to her. But another part of her was terrified. What if this was just his way of saying goodbye? What if he had moved on, and this was his final gesture before he walked away for good?

Her thoughts were a tangled mess as she closed her locker, the bouquet still in her hands. She could feel her heart beating wildly, her mind racing. All the walls she had built up, all the reasons she had convinced herself to stay away from him, seemed to crumble with the simple power of his words.

And for the first time in days, Alex found herself unsure of what she wanted. Did she still want to walk away from him? Or was she finally ready to let herself feel the things she had been too afraid to embrace?