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Ashes & Obsession
Zyra’s POV
The next day in college felt longer than it should have.
Not because of classes — Zyra never cared much about lectures — but because she couldn’t shake last night’s messages.
Every time she remembered Rogue’s words, Maybe I like watching you win, her chest felt tight in a way she didn’t understand.
She was leaning back in her seat, chewing the end of her pen when Layla, her only real friend, poked her arm.
“You’re zoning out again,” Layla whispered.
“I’m listening,” Zyra muttered, even though she wasn’t.
No one needed to know her mind was somewhere else. Somewhere dark and fast and wrapped in the sound of an engine.
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When the door opened, the air in the room shifted.
Caelan stepped in.
He didn’t walk like most professors — rushed or awkward. He moved slow, confident, like he owned the room before he even spoke.
A few girls in the back straightened in their seats.
Zyra wasn’t one of them. But she did watch him.
Her eyes followed the way he placed his books on the desk, how his gaze swept the room… and landed on her.
It wasn’t a soft look.
It was sharp, assessing — like he was trying to see what was beneath her skin.
She broke eye contact first.
Why did he keep looking at her like that?
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The lecture dragged on, but her mind was restless.
She felt his presence the whole time, even when she pretended to take notes.
Once, she glanced up and caught him watching her again, mid-sentence, as if he’d forgotten the rest of the class existed.
When the bell finally rang, she stayed in her seat, letting the others leave first.
“Miss Veylor,” Caelan’s voice stopped her as she stood.
She turned slowly.
“You’ve been… distracted lately,” he said, not smiling. “Whatever it is, keep it outside my lectures.”
Zyra tilted her head. “You always watch your students this closely, Professor?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but there was no anger. If anything, there was… interest.
“Only the ones who think they can’t be read,” he replied.
Her heartbeat jumped, but she didn’t let it show.
She just gave him a small smirk and walked out.
---
That night, her phone buzzed again.
Rogue:
Still awake, Queen?
Zyra:
You always start with that?
Rogue:
Only with you.
She rolled her eyes, even though she could feel a smile tugging at her lips.
Zyra:
You’ve got a strange way of spending your nights.
Rogue:
You’re one to talk.
There was a pause, and she wondered if he’d stopped typing. Then the next message came.
Rogue:
You were thinking about me today.
Her stomach tightened.
Zyra:
In your dreams.
Rogue:
Not dreams. I know.
She stared at the screen. She should have told him he was wrong.
Instead, she locked her phone and tossed it aside — only to pick it up again minutes later.
Zyra:
Why do you sound so sure?
Rogue:
Because I’m the only one who sees you the way you really are.
She didn’t reply this time.
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Caelan’s POV
The next evening, Caelan stopped at a quiet coffee shop near campus to grade papers.
He wasn’t expecting to see his younger brother there.
“Silas,” he greeted, sliding into the booth across from him.
Silas looked up from his phone, smirking. “Still alive, Professor?”
They spoke briefly about family — surface-level things. Neither liked talking too deep.
Caelan didn’t notice at first, but Silas’s phone kept buzzing.
Silas would glance at it, type something fast, then lock the screen.
He didn’t know those messages were to Zyra.
Silas didn’t know Caelan had a student named Zyra.
For now, they were two men in the same place, completely unaware they were already circling the same flame.
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Zyra’s POV
Later that night, she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling again.
She didn’t know why Rogue’s words stayed with her so much.
She didn’t know why her professor’s eyes kept coming back to her mind either.
Two different men.
Two different kinds of danger.
And she was walking straight toward both.
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