The silence of the library sounds louder than it usually is.

Or maybe that's just the affect you have.

Your milky teeth clack ever so gently against the tip of your pen lid, glossed lips briefly grazing the plastic as you chew on the cap absent-mindedly. His eyes have been drawn to the way you suck on the tip like a betrayal from the focus he should be having on tutoring you.

Alhaitham had always been the one everyone goes to when they need academic support. After all, he's the best person to seek advice from, being the Head of the Student Council gave him access to revision resources and extra support. Being the top of every class always drew students to him too, leaving eager individuals looking forward to scheduled study sessions.

You were just another one of those students. Same slot during a free period every Friday afternoon to study in the same seats at the back of the library. Unlike the others, it felt like a mentally testing hurdle to sit and help you revise.

Thing is, you weren't just any student at this school.

You're the popular, sweet Miss Perfect whom everyone loves. The very adoring girl who's been testing Alhaitham since the start of high school. And it infuriates him how he secretly adores you too. If you weren't such an annoying tease, a minx, perhaps he'd give in and let himself fall into the mesmerising softness you carry. But Alhaitham is too stubborn to give in to the feelings you try to make him admit through flirts and smooth talk.

His thoughts carry on into a quiet whirlwind as he watches you write along the paper now, your handwriting a gentle scratch of cursive atop the practise paper for the next Biology mock he's supposed to be helping you revise on. He watches how your pretty fingers hold the pencil with care, how your manicured nails gently catch on the warm glow of the Library's lights.

You don't have to look up to know his gaze is on you. You sense it in the way you see his fingers twitch over the book before him in your peripheral, how his head hasn't shifted from the same tilt it's been at for the last five minutes.

Alhaitham snaps out of his very trance when he feels the tip of your polished shoe graze his shin. Your foot gently lifts, tracing his leg through tailored slacks, a feeling that sends a warm heat straight up his spine.

"Focus," he snaps quietly, voice annoyed authority. He jerks his foot back at the same time, distancing his leg from your teasing touch under the table.

You lift your gaze and flutter your lashes.

"I am focused." You respond quietly, voice soft, expression angelic.

Alhaitham knows that look better than he knows himself. It's the look of a minx who knows exactly what she's doing under the façade of innocence.

His jaw tenses.

"You're not."

"Neither are you."

Alhaitham's gaze flickers barely. A gentle shade of pink crosses his cheeks, embarrassment briefly flooding his chest knowing he'd been caught staring at you.

His Adam's apple gently bobs as he swallows. Your gaze drops immediately, watching the shift in his throat, before lifting back up to those green eyes. He watches the way your lips curve slightly, that knowing smirk triggering an unwanted flutter in his heart.

Alhaitham narrows his brows at you.

"Cut it out." He murmurs.

"Cut what out?" You question back innocently.

Those green eyes narrow at you with a twang of irritation behind his dark glasses frames.

"Checking me out." He answers, jaw ticking in a nervous habit only you've learnt after all this time. "It's inappropriate."