Aiden didn’t believe in fate. He believed in calculated decisions, patterns, and staying in control. Feelings were complications. Love? That was something other people suffered from, not him.

Until her.

It started with a glance.

She wasn’t trying to be noticed. No, she walked like the world didn’t exist around her—headphones in, arms crossed, lost in her own storm. She wasn’t dressed to impress, wasn’t laughing with friends. She was… just existing. Quiet. Solitary. But her silence was louder than the noise surrounding her.

Aria.

He didn’t know her name at first, just that she passed by the campus fountain every morning around 8:15, always with the same scowl on her face, always looking at the ground like she couldn’t bear to meet the world’s eyes. But something about that struck him. Hard.

Maybe it was the way she didn’t try. Maybe it was the mystery. Or maybe it was the pain she carried—subtle, but sharp like glass under sunlight.

She didn’t look broken.

She looked like she refused to be.

And damn, that did something to him.

He sat on the stone bench every morning, acting like he was on his phone, pretending she didn’t catch his eye. But every time her shadow crossed the pavement, his chest would tighten just a little. Who the hell are you? he found himself thinking. And why the fuck can’t I look away?

He didn’t speak to her. Not yet. He watched.

And Aiden didn’t watch people. He wasn’t the type.

But Aria… she wasn’t just some girl.

She was a presence.

Untouchable. Distant. But it made him want to touch anyway.

The day she nearly tripped over her own steps and muttered something under her breath? He heard it. A soft, annoyed “Fucking typical,” with a voice full of razor-edged exhaustion. She didn’t even notice him sitting there, but he saw the way she rolled her eyes and kept walking, biting her lip like she hated being human.

God, he wanted to know what her story was.

What had made her like that?

Why did she walk like she didn’t belong anywhere, and why did it make him want to pull her into his world and never let go?

Across campus, Aria adjusted her headphones and turned up the music. She hated mornings. She hated this place. And she especially hated the way people stared like they had any right to figure her out.

She didn’t do friends.

Didn’t do guys.

She was here to survive the year. Nothing more.

The walls around her heart weren’t just built—they were fortified. Reinforced by every lie, every betrayal, every fake promise that still echoed in her head.

Love? Trust?

Bullshit.

People said healing was a journey.

She didn’t care for the map.

And yet… lately, she felt eyes on her.

Not creepy. Not annoying. Just… steady. Warm. Silent.

Someone was watching.

Someone who didn’t interrupt her peace, but noticed her anyway.

She hated that she noticed back.

Later that day, at the campus library, fate would take its next step. Not in some dramatic, sweeping moment… but in a soft click of crossed paths.

He walked in.

She stood by the shelves, flipping pages she wasn’t reading.

And for the first time… their eyes met.

It lasted two seconds. Maybe less.

But Aiden felt the ground shift beneath him.

And Aria?

She looked away.

But not fast enough to hide the flicker in her eyes.

He saw it.

And now, he wouldn’t stop until he knew what that flicker meant.

Aiden couldn’t focus. Not today, not with her walking by him in the hall for the second time this week, distant, yet so close. Her head was down, hair falling in loose strands over her face, and he couldn’t look away. She moved with purpose, but there was an uncertainty in the way she shifted her weight with every step—like the world was just a bit too heavy for her, and she was carrying it anyway.

He almost reached out. Almost. His fingers itched to touch her arm, to feel something—anything—other than the tension that was building between them. But she passed by too quickly. Too easily. She never even glanced up, like she didn’t know he was there at all.

But Aiden knew. He always knew when she was near.

Aria didn’t like to think too much about people. About their gazes, their stares, or the way they tried to piece together a story from her silence. She kept her headphones in, tuned out the world, and kept walking.

It was easier that way.

Until he was there.

He wasn’t a friend, a classmate, or even a stranger anymore. He was a quiet storm—a presence that followed her even when he wasn’t close. She could feel it in the way his eyes seemed to linger on her, like a heat she couldn’t ignore, even when she tried. The more she saw him, the more his silence rattled her.

Why?

She didn’t want to admit it, but sometimes when she passed him, she wondered if he was watching her. The hairs on her neck would stand up when she didn’t even see him—his stare cutting through her defenses, like he knew her, like he was piecing together a puzzle she didn’t want solved.

Aiden watched her from across the courtyard, as usual. He hadn’t moved from his seat on the stone bench for the past ten minutes, his eyes tracing her every step as she walked from the library toward the campus exit.

She was wearing that same scowl, the same armor. But there was a shift today, a subtle change in the way she held herself. Something guarded, something vulnerable, all mixed into one. The moment she turned her head and met his gaze—that little flicker of recognition—Aiden felt like the air had thickened around him.

He wasn’t supposed to feel this. He wasn’t supposed to care.

But damn, he did. More than he should.

What is it about you, Aria?

He wasn’t the type to chase anyone. Hell, he didn’t even like people enough to bother with them. But there was something about her. He couldn’t figure it out yet—didn’t know if he ever would—but that mystery pulled at him, drew him in like gravity, making him want to get closer. Talk to her. Touch her.

The thought of it made him shiver, and he hated himself for it.

Later that afternoon, Aiden found himself in the same building as her, the echo of her footsteps following him even as he tried to focus on his class. His fingers drummed against the edge of his desk, restless. Every time he tried to listen to the lecture, his mind drifted back to her—the way she moved, the way she never let anyone in, the way her eyes seemed to burn when they did make contact.

She was like a fire he couldn’t ignore. A flame he couldn’t touch.

Just when he thought he’d lost the battle, the door to the classroom opened. And there she was.

Aria.

She stepped in like she owned the place, like no one could touch her. Her eyes barely flicked over the room before she spotted a seat in the back corner and slid into it. She didn’t even look his way, not that he wanted her to.

But still, he couldn’t help the pull in his chest when her presence settled near him. The thought of saying something, anything, almost left his mouth.

Almost.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Aria quickly stood, grabbing her things and heading for the door. But this time, when she passed him, something in the air shifted—like they were almost too close.

Aiden felt it, too. The way her shoulder brushed against his as she walked by. The fleeting contact that didn’t even last a second, but left an imprint on his skin.

Aria didn’t stop. Didn’t look back.

But he did.

And that’s when it hit him.

He wasn’t just noticing her anymore. He was craving her.

The next few days were nothing like the last.

Aiden could feel it, that nagging pull in his chest, the constant hum of frustration. Every time he saw her—Aria—he felt something shifting inside him, something restless. It was more than just wanting to know her. It was this aching need to be near her, to understand why she wore that heavy silence like armor.

The thing was, he didn’t know how to move forward. Every time he almost did something, said something, the silence between them grew thicker. And Aria? She seemed even more distant, more untouchable than before.

Meanwhile, Sienna was having her own problem—and it wasn’t exactly the good kind.

Her eyes narrowed as she saw Damon leaning against the hallway wall, casually flipping his phone in his hands like he owned the whole damn place. That cocky, smirk-on-his-face look never failed to piss her off.

But what really made her seethe was how he didn’t even acknowledge her. "Can’t a guy just chill for once?"

"You could've chilled somewhere else," she shot back, trying to suppress the way her chest tightened at his nonchalance. "You seriously don’t care about anyone, do you?"

That hit. Damon raised an eyebrow, finally meeting her gaze, and for a moment, there was a flicker of something—something close to amusement, but just a little too intense. "Is that supposed to bother me?"

The coldness in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. Why did it always have to be this way with him?

Sienna shook her head and turned away, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her frustrated. But she could feel his eyes on her back, could feel the tension building between them, thick and suffocating.

Aiden couldn’t focus in class. Every time his eyes shifted toward Aria, he caught a glimpse of her—always in the corner of his eye, always like she was just out of reach. He wanted to scream in frustration. What was it about her?

She was wearing that same scowl, the same guarded look. Yet, every time their eyes met, it felt like something—something subtle, something barely there—shifted.

But still, she ignored him. Cold, distant Aria.

The universe wasn’t being kind, either. Every time he was about to approach her, someone—usually Leo—would step in and steal her attention. It made him sick, knowing that the guy who was responsible for making her the way she was had all the chances in the world to fix it.

But Aiden didn’t know that. He didn’t know about Leo yet. He didn’t know about the way her heart had been shattered so many times it no longer knew how to love.

He just knew that he couldn’t stand seeing her smile at someone else. And that… that made his chest tighten in a way he wasn’t used to.

Sienna and Damon weren’t the only ones in the hallway now.

Aiden caught the tail end of a conversation—Sienna was walking away from Damon, face flushed with irritation. Aiden heard Damon’s casual voice float after her. "You know, one of these days, you’ll stop pretending like you don’t care, Sienna."

Aiden’s brow furrowed. He didn’t like the sound of that. What was that about? But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He needed to focus. He needed to focus on Aria.

But then, just as he was about to follow her out of the classroom, he saw her talking to Leo again. That same guy who was always around her, always in her space, like he owned her.

That’s when it clicked.

That was her ex. The guy who had broken her. The guy who didn’t deserve a second of her time.

And Aiden? Aiden wanted to take his place. He wanted to be the one to fix her. To show her that not all men were like Leo.

As the days went by, Aiden’s obsession with Aria grew stronger. Every glance. Every near-touch. Every smile she threw at someone else—he couldn’t stand it.

And yet… she still ignored him. Kept her distance, kept her walls high. She wouldn’t let him in.

But Aiden was determined.