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🏙️ Setting:
The story takes place in Columbus, Ohio, where Lumina Academy is one of the top modeling institutions in the Midwest. The city offers a balance of urban culture and small-town roots, making it the perfect setting for a character like Iris, who's rising from humble beginnings, and Ethan, who's hiding from a glamorous past.
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📘 Chapter One: The First Walk (Updated for Ohio)
The early autumn air outside was brisk, but inside the Lumina Academy of Modeling, the atmosphere was tense and electric.
The training studio was sleek—mirrored walls, a polished black runway, and high ceilings with industrial lighting. It felt like New York had been compressed into a box and dropped in the middle of downtown Columbus.
Ethan Cole leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, clipboard in hand. His reputation preceded him—a former runway star who'd disappeared from the European fashion circuit almost overnight. Now, he ran Ohio's most elite modeling program like a boot camp. No smiles. No leniency. No second chances.
The new trainees lined up at the edge of the runway, nervous energy radiating off them.
"Walk," he said without looking up.
They went—one after the other. Polished, practiced, and forgettable.
Then came Iris.
She wore no makeup, just jeans and a black tank top. But something about the way she stepped onto the runway silenced the room. She didn't try to impress. She didn't pose. She simply moved—like the runway belonged to her.
Ethan's gaze lifted.
She was grace and steel all at once. Her eyes locked forward—not on him, but beyond him, as if she could already see the future she was chasing.
When she stopped at the end of the runway, she finally met his eyes. No nervous smile. No flirtation. Just calm. Focused. Powerful.
He felt a flicker in his chest—a crack in the stone wall he'd built around himself.
He looked away and scribbled something on the clipboard.
"Dismissed," he said.
The others shuffled out. But Iris lingered, just for a second. Long enough for him to notice. Long enough to wonder.
As the door shut behind her, Ethan exhaled slowly.
She was going to be a star.
And that was exactly why she was dangerous.