Chapter 4: Glances, Whispers, and a Twist

The morning after wasn’t supposed to feel like this.

Layla tugged the sleeves of her hoodie—his hoodie—down to cover her fingers, standing awkwardly by the coffee cart outside the campus library. The sun was too bright, the crowd too loud, and her thoughts far too chaotic for a normal Thursday morning.

She hadn’t seen Kai since slipping out of his room just after sunrise.

No words. No note.

Only silence and a racing heart.

But the ghost of his voice still echoed in her ears:

“If you stay any longer, I won’t let you leave.”

She sipped her coffee to mask her nerves, half-hoping she wouldn’t run into him.

And half-hoping she would.

“Layla?”

The voice that called her wasn’t his.

She turned—and immediately regretted it.

Lucas, her TA from Intro to British Literature, stood there, smiling with two cups in hand.

“I thought that was you.” He held out a coffee. “You looked like you could use a second cup.”

She blinked, startled. “Oh, thanks... but I—”

“I owed you one anyway,” Lucas said, stepping closer. “You helped the girl next to you fix her thesis statement last week, right? I noticed.”

Layla flushed. She wasn’t used to being noticed.

Lucas handed her the cup anyway. Their fingers brushed. He was charming in a scholarly, clean-cut kind of way. The opposite of Kai, with his heavy silence and stormy eyes.

“Want to walk with me?” Lucas offered. “I was heading toward the English building.”

Layla hesitated.

Then—a voice behind her. Low. Unmistakable.

“She already had coffee.”

She froze.

Lucas turned. “Oh. Kai, right? You’re…?”

Kai's eyes didn’t leave hers.

“She doesn’t like it too sweet,” he added coolly.

Lucas glanced between them, picking up on the tension. “Right. Well… I’ll see you in class, Layla.”

As soon as Lucas walked away, Layla finally turned to Kai—heart pounding.

“You followed me?”

Kai raised a brow. “You left without a word.”

“I thought it was just—”

She faltered.

One night.

One mistake.

But his eyes darkened. “Don’t say it meant nothing, Layla.”

Her lips parted, but no words came. He stepped closer, invading her space. She felt heat crawl up her spine as he whispered low—

“I haven’t stopped thinking about the way you sounded when I touched you.”

Someone coughed behind them. Laughter followed.

They weren’t alone anymore.

Layla looked up—students passed by, some staring. And worst of all, her roommate Ava stood a few feet away, holding a smoothie and wearing a knowing smirk.

“I knew you were hiding something,” Ava said. “So… that’s Kai?”

Kai didn’t flinch. “Nice to meet you.”

Ava raised her brows at Layla, mouthing: Oh my god.

Layla wanted to vanish.

As the three stood there awkwardly, a sudden voice rang across the quad.

“Layla Summers? You need to come with me.”

She turned.

A woman in a campus security vest stood there, flanked by a dorm RA.

“What’s going on?” Layla asked, confused.

“It’s about your keycard activity and unauthorized stay,” the woman said. “We need to ask you a few questions. Room 303, correct?”

Layla’s stomach dropped. The system flagged her overnight stay. Her name. His room. It wasn’t allowed.

Kai stepped forward. “If there’s an issue, talk to me—”