Chapter 1: The Senior

I still remember the first time I noticed him.

The classroom was loud, filled with chatter and laughter, but my eyes slipped toward the corridor outside. That’s when I saw him. Adrian.

He was standing with his friends, tall and confident, his careless smile brighter than the morning light. He wasn’t even trying, but somehow every single person looked at him.

My heart did this strange thing.

Skipped.

Raced.

I didn’t know what it was.

“Who’s that?” I whispered, leaning closer to my seatmate, pretending to write in my notebook so it wouldn’t look obvious.

She followed my gaze for a second before replying, “That’s Adrian. He’s a senior.”

Senior.

The word itself felt heavy, unreachable. He belonged to another world — older, cooler, surrounded by people who seemed just as untouchable as him.

But my eyes kept finding him. Again and again.

Every detail stood out.

The way his laugh echoed down the hall like it owned the space.

The way his hair fell across his forehead before he brushed it back with that easy movement.

The way people leaned closer when he spoke, like his words mattered more than anyone else’s.

I told myself it was nothing.

Just a crush.

A silly, temporary crush.

But somewhere inside, I already knew that wasn’t true.

That night, when I was scrolling through Instagram, my finger hovered over his profile. My chest tightened.

Should I?

Shouldn’t I?

It felt ridiculous — something so small, just a tap — but my hand was trembling.

One deep breath.

And then… click.

Followed.

I stared at the screen like my life depended on it. Minutes stretched into forever. Then — a notification popped up.

Adrian has followed you back.

I swear my heart nearly stopped. I pressed my phone to my chest and laughed quietly, feeling like the entire world had shifted just a little.

It was stupid, maybe. Just a follow. Just a name on a screen. But to me, it was everything.

That night I couldn’t sleep. My mind replayed his smile, his laugh, that single moment in the corridor.

And I knew.

This wasn’t a passing crush.

This was the beginning of something deeper — something that would change me in ways I wasn’t ready for.

Because the truth was simple.

Adrian had already stolen a part of me… without even knowing it. And that night, as I lay awake staring at the ceiling, I realized something frightening — this wasn’t just a passing crush anymore. It was a storm quietly growing inside me, pulling me toward him in ways I couldn’t explain. I didn’t know where it would lead, but one thing was certain: Adrian had already become the thought I couldn’t escape.Every little thing about him replayed in my mind like an endless loop — his smile in the hallway, the way his voice lingered in the air, even the sound of his laugh that somehow reached me in the crowd.

I hated how easily he could affect me. How a single glance could make my chest tighten, how a simple thought of him could steal my sleep.

It felt unfair — how someone could walk into your life without knowing, and suddenly, you’re left carrying a heart that doesn’t belong to you anymore.

And lying there in the dark, I whispered to myself what I couldn’t dare say out loud.

“I think I like him.”

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