LOGINI stood in my room, fumbling with the buttons of my pajamas.No matter how many times I tried, my injured arm made even the simplest things frustrating.Just as I gave up with a sigh, there was a knock on my door.“Come in,” I called.The door opened, and Liam stepped inside.“I made dinner,” he said. “Come and eat.”Then his eyes fell on me.He sighed.“Why don’t you ever call me whenever you need help?”“I was just about to finish,” I muttered.He raised an eyebrow.“About to finish?”He walked toward me.“That’s a lie.”I looked away.“You weren’t even close.”He stopped in front of me before gently taking the loose buttons between his fingers.“You can’t even button your pajamas by yourself right now.”His voice wasn’t mocking.It was patient.Careful.Without another word, he slowly fastened each button for me.We were standing so close that I could feel his warm breath.Somehow…That had become normal.Or maybe it hadn’t.Because every single time Liam stood this close to me, my
I waited until Liam finished practicing before getting up from the bench.The moment he reached me, he smiled faintly.“Let’s go.”He bent down and picked up my bag before I could even touch it.I didn’t bother arguing anymore.There was no point.I had never won an argument against Liam.We slowly made our way toward the reception building. The evening breeze was cool, and after hours of sitting, my leg felt stiff, forcing me to walk even slower.Just as we reached the entrance, someone suddenly wrapped their arms around me.“Oh my God!”I almost lost my balance.“Where have you been?” Camilla exclaimed, squeezing me into a tight hug. “I missed you so much! I wanted to come and see you, but school has been so busy.”I laughed softly despite the pain.“I missed you too.”While she was still hugging me, I looked over her shoulder toward Liam.Our eyes met.He leaned closer and whispered quietly, “I’ll head back. Call me when you’re done.”I nodded.“Okay.”But…His eyes weren’t as brig
“Liam, please.” I grabbed his hand before he could take another step. “Please, let’s not enter class like this.”He sighed impatiently. “Then what do you want?”“Give me my bag.”“Noah, you’re sick.” He frowned. “I’m helping you. Don’t you understand?”“I do understand you’re helping me,” I said quietly. “But you’re also making it harder for me. Everyone is going to stare at us.”“Let them stare.”Before I could argue again, he walked into the classroom, leaving me standing outside.I sighed and slowly followed him inside. My right arm was wrapped in a cast, and my leg was still in a plaster brace. Thankfully, the doctor had said my leg wasn’t badly injured—it just needed support for a while.I thought Liam had already gone to his seat, but when I stepped through the doorway, I found him waiting for me. Without saying a word, he gently rested his hand on my shoulder and walked beside me all the way to my desk.Whispers immediately spread across the classroom.I couldn’t blame my class
By the time Blake and the other students returned, the atmosphere between Liam and me had completely changed.I couldn’t even bring myself to meet his gaze anymore. Every time I looked at him, guilt twisted painfully inside my chest. All this time, it had been such a simple misunderstanding between us.“Do you want some water? Juice?” Liam asked as we returned to the tent.I offered him an awkward smile.“Yeah,” I replied quickly.Honestly, anything that got him away from my side for a few minutes sounded good.He nodded and stood up before disappearing outside.A moment later, Blake stumbled into the tent looking completely exhausted. He dropped down beside me, panting heavily.“That was horrible,” he groaned. “Thank God you didn’t come. Honestly, I wish we could just go home tomorrow. I’m tired.”Then he turned toward me.“And you? How are you?”“I’m okay.”His eyes narrowed.“Wait.”He leaned closer.“Your eyes are red.”My heart skipped.“And your hand—”He grabbed my injured wris
Noah’s POVI woke up groggy and drained, my head still throbbing from the music I’d blasted through my headphones the entire night. Those sounds raw, unrestrained moans echoing through the walls had burrowed under my skin in ways I didn’t want to examine. I sighed heavily as I opened my door, the hallway quiet for once. Liam hadn’t mentioned anything about groceries, and though I planned to buy my own soon, hunger gnawed at me now. My first class wasn’t until after lunch, so I padded toward the kitchen, hoping to whip up something quick before the “lover birds” emerged.I cracked a couple of eggs into a pan, the sizzle filling the small space. Just eat and go, I told myself.Suddenly, a voice behind me made me tense. “Morning.”I turned. It was the girl from last night . She was adjusting Liam’s oversized shirt over her shorts, looking far too comfortable.“Liam’s bad for real,” she said with a light laugh. “He didn’t tell me we had a guest.”I forced a smile. “I’m his new roommate.”
Blake sat down beside my chair like he wasn’t sure he had the right to be there.“Hi, Noah,” he said softly.I turned my head toward him. “Hi, Blake.”For a second, neither of us spoke. The air between us felt different now—less sharp than yesterday, but still careful, like we were walking around something fragile.“How did you know where I stay?” I asked.He exhaled slowly, eyes dropping to his hands.“Camilla,” he said. “She told me.”Of course she did.He leaned back slightly, as if the weight of what he was about to say made his shoulders tired.“I didn’t sleep well,” he admitted. “I’ve been thinking about how I acted yesterday… I was really bad to you. I’m sorry, Noah. I was angry because—” he stopped, shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”I looked at him for a moment, then sighed lightly.“It’s okay.”And I meant it.Because I couldn’t fully blame him. Not when I had stirred things in him too—twisted things without meaning to, especially
The first half ended well enough that Coach was smiling — genuinely, the full version, the one he reserved for moments that exceeded what he had planned for.“You’re doing beautifully,” he said, looking around the group. “All of you. This is exactly what we prepared for.” His eyes moved to me. “Noa
The days that followed were quiet in the way that hurts.Kai didn’t speak to me. Didn’t look at me. The anger that lived in his expression whenever our paths crossed reminded me so completely of our earliest weeks together that it felt like something had been rewound — all the grapes and hot water
“What the hell are you doing, Kai?” he asked. But I was too focused to answer. My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles had turned white. “Kai, I’m talking to you. What the hell are you doing?” I scoffed and kept driving like a madman. I didn’t stop anywhere. I just kept
I had made my peace with it.That was the thing I kept coming back to, sitting in the quiet of the room waiting for him to return. I had looked at every angle of what loving Noah meant — what it cost, what it complicated, what it said about me and about us — and I had arrived, slowly and without fa







