The First Glance

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.

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