The beginning of something they couldn't name

Days passed.

Adrian stayed in Section C. Evanna stayed in Section A.

Different classes. Different worlds.

But somehow, he was always there.

Sitting alone on the edge of the field during P.E., hoodie pulled low over his face.

Slouching at the back of the assembly hall, pretending not to listen.

Leaning against the hostel stair rail, flicking his lighter open and shut like a habit he couldn’t break.

And then there was the mask.

Always the mask.

Even when his bruises began to fade.

Evanna told herself it wasn’t her business.

But something about him got under her skin.

Maybe it was the silence.

Maybe it was how no one cared what happened to him, and he pretended he didn’t care either.

Until that night.

---

A Week Later – Study Hall, After Hours

Evanna was working late.

The room was mostly empty. Just her, a few juniors, and the sound of rain tapping against the windows.

She was so focused on her notes, she didn’t notice someone sitting at the back table.

Not until he spoke.

“You’re the only one who doesn’t stare like they know me.”

Evanna froze.

Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder.

Adrian.

No mask this time. Just him.

Messy black hair falling into his eyes, knuckles bruised and scabbed where he tapped a pen against the table.

“I don’t know you,” she said simply, turning back to her book.

He gave a soft snort. “Exactly.”

For a moment, there was only silence.

And then, footsteps.

She heard him stand, chair scraping quietly against the floor.

She thought he was leaving.

But then he was there.

Dropping into the seat across from her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“You always this quiet?” he asked, chin propped on his hand.

Evanna blinked at him.

“I study,” she said. “That’s why I’m here.”

Adrian smirked. It was small. Barely there.

“Most girls here either stare or run.”

“I’m not most girls.”

His dark eyes flickered, something unreadable passing through them.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I figured.”

---

After that night, it changed.

Not all at once.

But it changed.

He started showing up in the study hall when she was there.

Sometimes sitting across from her.

Sometimes not speaking at all.

And sometimes, when she packed up to leave, he’d walk a few steps behind her.

Not close enough to talk.

But close enough she noticed.

It wasn’t friendship.

It wasn’t anything.

But it was something.

And Evanna wasn’t sure if she wanted to stop it.

Weeks passed.

Study hall. Quiet conversations. Long silences shared between them.

It became their thing.

Unspoken, undefined.

Evanna never asked about his past.

Adrian never pried into hers.

They just… existed together.

Like they were both waiting for something neither of them would admit.

And then, one afternoon, everything shifted.

---

Courtyard — Lunch Break

Evanna was sitting under the banyan tree, sketching something mindless in her notebook.

Maya and Aria were gossiping nearby, their voices blending into background noise.

Until Aria suddenly gasped. “Oh my God. Look.”

Evanna didn’t want to look.

But she did.

Adrian.

Standing by the water fountain.

And beside him—a girl. Shreya. From Section B.

Pretty, loud, and bold.

She was smiling at him like he was hers already.

“Shreya asked him out,” Maya whispered, eyes wide.

“And he said yes,” Aria added.

“He’s dating her now.”

Evanna felt… nothing.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

“Good for them,” she said, flipping another page in her notebook.

But her hand was stiff around the pen.

And for some reason, the lines she drew started to look like cracks.

---

Later That Day — Hostel Corridor

Evanna passed them on the stairs.

Adrian with Shreya.

Her hand looped through his arm. Laughing at something he’d said.

His mask was gone now.

But the way his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes?

That hadn’t changed.

He glanced up.

Caught Evanna’s gaze as she walked past.

For half a second, their eyes met.

He didn’t say anything.

Neither did she.

But something sharp twisted in her chest as she kept walking.

And for the first time since they’d met, she wondered if maybe…

Maybe he wasn’t hers to figure out after all.

Adrian’s POV

Later that night, Adrian sat on the rooftop alone.

Shreya had gone back to her dorm.

And he was left with the same emptiness he’d always had.

No matter how many girls smiled at him, no matter how many numbers he collected…

None of it mattered.

Except maybe when she was around.

Final Term Exams — A Turning Point

The hostel was quieter now.

Even the gossip had died down.

There was no time for drama when exams were staring them down like loaded guns.

Evanna thrived in this kind of pressure.

Head down, sleeves rolled up, textbooks spread like a battlefield in front of her.

She had a plan.

She always had a plan.

Adrian?

No one expected anything from him.

The teachers wrote him off as a lost cause.

His classmates barely noticed if he showed up for class.

Shreya had already stopped hanging around him, realizing he wasn’t boyfriend material once his charm wore thin.

But still…

He came to the study hall.

Not every night. But more often than Evanna expected.

And sometimes he just sat there, staring at the same page for an hour.

Sometimes he flicked his lighter open and shut, over and over, until the sound burrowed under her skin.

And sometimes…

He actually studied.

---

Two Days Before Finals — Study Hall

“You’re going to fail,” Evanna said bluntly, not looking up from her notes.

Adrian slouched across the table, arms folded, his book open but barely touched.

“Probably,” he agreed, watching her instead of the page.

She sighed.

“If you’re not even trying, why are you here?”

Adrian was quiet for a long moment.

Then, in a low voice, he said, “Because you’re here.”

Evanna’s pen stopped moving.

Her heartbeat didn’t.

But she didn’t respond.

Just flipped to the next page.

After a while, Adrian picked up his pen.

And he started writing.

---

Finals Week

The days blurred into nights.

Students shuffled between classes and exams like ghosts.

Evanna did what she always did:

Focused.

Prepared.

Survived.

Adrian… surprised everyone.

He showed up.

Every day.

Even for the subjects everyone knew he hated.

And when the results came back,

He passed.

Barely.

But he passed.

---

Courtyard — Evening After Results Are Posted

Adrian stood under the neem tree, looking up at the sky like it owed him something.

Evanna found him there without meaning to.

“You did it,” she said, coming to stand beside him.

He shrugged.

“It’s just numbers.”

“Still,” she said. “You passed.”

Adrian glanced at her then.

Something almost soft in his eyes.

“Yeah,” he said. “Guess I did.”

And for the first time, Evanna wondered what he could be if he ever stopped holding himself back....

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***